Poll

What Was Your Savings Rate For 2015?

0-10
15 (3.4%)
11-20
31 (7%)
21-30
46 (10.3%)
31-40
59 (13.3%)
41-50
74 (16.6%)
51-60
99 (22.2%)
61-70
71 (16%)
71-80
34 (7.6%)
81+
11 (2.5%)
N/A - Retired, Kept Within My Personal SWR
3 (0.7%)
N/A - Retired, Did Not Keep Within My Personal SWR
2 (0.4%)

Total Members Voted: 431

Author Topic: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]  (Read 22655 times)

FausseBourgeoise

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #50 on: December 31, 2015, 11:36:34 PM »
28% for me. I also just landed a new, better paying job and paid off my student loan a week before graduating. Here's to a prosperous 2016!

Heckler

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #51 on: January 01, 2016, 10:33:14 AM »
68% of net income went to mortgage and investments in 2015.  Not bad for year 1 of MMM ten year plan.  I suspect at this rate, the plan will get shortened since next year, 65% will be going to investments alone!

JustGettingStarted1980

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #52 on: January 01, 2016, 11:10:35 AM »
2015 = 55.8% of Gross Pay, 23% better in 2015 as compared to 2014 because of MMM, and all you folks on this forum. Thanks everyone!

Jim2001

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #53 on: January 01, 2016, 12:08:32 PM »
In 2015 I was able to put away 28% of gross income or 38% of estimated after tax income.   The goal for 2016 is 38% of gross / 50% after tax.

Zikoris

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #54 on: January 01, 2016, 06:39:16 PM »
Now that the year is officially over, we have an actual number - 56%. Lower than 2014's 65%, due to a shit load of travel spending. Time for some cheaper trips...

Jim2001

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #55 on: January 01, 2016, 06:57:02 PM »
The results are a nicely distributed bell curve

And only on these forums is it centered around 50-60%!

I really used to think I was a bad ass at saving for retirement until I started seeing what this group of people is accomplishing!  I'm humbled.  Thank you! 

Bardo

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #56 on: January 02, 2016, 11:53:16 AM »
I do the calculation on a cash basis based on my net pay (so I'm not adjusting for 401k contributions, mortgage principal etc).  Anyway, on that basis I was at 62% for 2015, a shade less than my target.

arpies

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #57 on: January 04, 2016, 07:29:30 AM »
-19% on the year for me! But I'm a new grad, only started full time in September. Last two months have been averaging 60% not including pension deductions/matches.. doing so would put me up around 77%.

Tjat

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #58 on: January 04, 2016, 08:15:04 AM »
Including debt principle reduction, excluding non-property taxes (both from income and expenses) - 54.7%. 2015 included payoff of my student loan, which I'm excited about redirecting to Vanguard. However, with my wife transitioning to SAHM for most of 2016, our % savings may decrease somewhat.

Rosy

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #59 on: January 04, 2016, 09:11:12 AM »
Well - it varied widely in the first 6 months then settled in at 54% then slowly crept up to 63% and for 2016 I just might manage to break 70% for the first three months anyway - then I'll take an expensive break - aka vacation - and hopefully resume undaunted at around 72% for the remainder of the year.

Without coming to this forum for inspiration and support I doubt it would have happened - once I found MMM the impact was almost instantaneous. Wondreous results all around:)

Cromacster

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #60 on: January 04, 2016, 09:14:34 AM »
I compared my 2014 and 2015.

Spending: -5%
Savings: +6%

Overall savings rate for 2015 was 51%.  Goal was 55%, so something to improve upon for 2016.

Keep on stashin' everyone!
« Last Edit: January 04, 2016, 01:34:17 PM by Cromacster »

Making Cents

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #61 on: January 04, 2016, 09:42:35 AM »
I'm very impressed with the majority in the 50-60 range too.

In reading this I just realized I could have answered the poll differently. We are at 39% if calculating from gross, but into the fifties if we don't include taxes. I'm surprised and encouraged by that! Especially since i only found MMM in April and my spouse would happily lean further toward the spendypants end of the spectrum. With new strategies for 2016, I might even get to join y'all in the badass range sometime soon.


adam

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #62 on: January 04, 2016, 01:10:38 PM »
Tell me if I did this math right:
Gross Pay - Tax (state/fed/Medicare/OASDI) = 'After Tax Pay'  (this is not net, because I still have all different kinds of insurance coming out as well). Call it ATP.

Then I added my Retirement(s) up: (TSP, TSP match, TSP loan payment, and Pension Contribution) to get 'retirement savings'.  Call it RS.

Then I took my debt snowball and decided to classify it as savings, but I'm not including additional principal on things like the mortgage/cars/student loans.  If I wasn't paying down debt at the moment this would be in the savings/investment category.  This will be SB.

So: SR = (RS+SB) / ATP?

If so, 61.45%!

Tjat

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #63 on: January 04, 2016, 01:24:09 PM »
Tell me if I did this math right:
Gross Pay - Tax (state/fed/Medicare/OASDI) = 'After Tax Pay'  (this is not net, because I still have all different kinds of insurance coming out as well). Call it ATP.

Then I added my Retirement(s) up: (TSP, TSP match, TSP loan payment, and Pension Contribution) to get 'retirement savings'.  Call it RS.

Then I took my debt snowball and decided to classify it as savings, but I'm not including additional principal on things like the mortgage/cars/student loans.  If I wasn't paying down debt at the moment this would be in the savings/investment category.  This will be SB.

So: SR = (RS+SB) / ATP?

If so, 61.45%!

I believe you would want to include all debt principle paid as "savings" as it's a net zero impact to your net worth. Expenses on the other hand, reduce your net worth. I would also include any income that was not spent (but also not sent to dedicated retirement accounts or debt repayment) as saving. So the equation would become (and generate a higher #)

SR = (RS + SB + all debt principle payments + Other non-spent income) / ATP. 

adam

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #64 on: January 04, 2016, 01:38:35 PM »
Tell me if I did this math right:
Gross Pay - Tax (state/fed/Medicare/OASDI) = 'After Tax Pay'  (this is not net, because I still have all different kinds of insurance coming out as well). Call it ATP.

Then I added my Retirement(s) up: (TSP, TSP match, TSP loan payment, and Pension Contribution) to get 'retirement savings'.  Call it RS.

Then I took my debt snowball and decided to classify it as savings, but I'm not including additional principal on things like the mortgage/cars/student loans.  If I wasn't paying down debt at the moment this would be in the savings/investment category.  This will be SB.

So: SR = (RS+SB) / ATP?

If so, 61.45%!

I believe you would want to include all debt principle paid as "savings" as it's a net zero impact to your net worth. Expenses on the other hand, reduce your net worth. I would also include any income that was not spent (but also not sent to dedicated retirement accounts or debt repayment) as saving. So the equation would become (and generate a higher #)

SR = (RS + SB + all debt principle payments + Other non-spent income) / ATP.

Oh god I forgot my wife's income. lol.

Close the poll, we need to start over.
« Last Edit: January 04, 2016, 01:50:38 PM by adam »

With This Herring

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #65 on: January 04, 2016, 04:05:24 PM »
I'm at 78.3%.  I was at 82.4% for 2014, but this year included fewer bonuses (though my spending did decrease slightly!).

I am using the after-tax income as the divisor for after-tax income less non-tax expenses.  If I had debt, the principal repayments (scheduled or paid in advance) would be excluded from non-tax expenses.  I am not including investment dividends and/or other returns in my income.

mbk

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #66 on: January 04, 2016, 04:13:41 PM »
Now that I did the final tallying, the final savings rate was much lower than expected.
My personal expenditures went down, but due to new job with lower pay, and due to multiple big one-time expenditures, the final rate was only ~30%. (Oops, I didn't consider taxes. I considered total gross, rather than take home pay. Will update the figure once I do the taxes.)
The positive are 1) maxed 457b offered at the old job, 2)  retirement accounts value increased by $34k (most of it due to contributions), 3) borrowed $9k from bank at 2% and loaned the same to a relative at 24% APR.
The negatives are a major change in the forex rate drastically reducing the value of my assets outside USA.
« Last Edit: January 04, 2016, 04:20:24 PM by mbk »

therethere

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #67 on: January 04, 2016, 04:22:16 PM »
My goal was to hit a 50% Savings Rate.... I actually feel like there is a TON of wasteful spending and so I'm still down on myself. But anyway it was close but barely succeeded.

50.4% Savings Rate
54.0% with Student Loan Principal
56.1% with Student Loan Principal and HSA Savings.

Overall we did pretty well but we also had unlimited OT for most of the year. There was also a disgusting amount of unexpected spending to grab some Amex offers before the end of the year with ~$1,000. 2016 will be much more challenging with uncertain job security but I'm still shooting for 50% or higher not counting student loans or HSA. I suppose I should count student loan principal. But I don't want to count HSA savings as I consider that money will all be spent on healthcare at one point in the future. More importantly, as a super stretch goal, I would like to reach "save one income" but that would require huge sacrifices and changes that I think may be too overwhelming at once.

MrStash2000

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #68 on: January 04, 2016, 04:39:47 PM »
We are at about 65% but I am not pleases about it at all. I want to hit 75% sometime this soon but I'm about a year or two away from this.

Tyson

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #69 on: January 04, 2016, 06:11:09 PM »
Just squeaked in at 61% - I had a long stretch of being unemployed before finding MMM, so I'd already started to dial down my lifestyle, but finding MMM this year accelerated my savings rate way past what I'd been able to do on my own. 

The cool thing about MMM is that it's it's truly able to create substantial wealth via frugality and savings rates.  And even with a 61% savings rate (way higher than anyone I know in real life), my life is pretty freaking awesome.

dontwannaworkforever

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #70 on: January 05, 2016, 04:22:03 AM »
I started my FIRE journey last year and this graph sums up 2015 for me...



My savings rate was about 25% last year. All the money in the 13k went to either investments, roth ira, or my emergency savings fund...Looking to make much needed improvements this year.

Monkey Uncle

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #71 on: January 05, 2016, 04:27:13 AM »
Tell me if I did this math right:
Gross Pay - Tax (state/fed/Medicare/OASDI) = 'After Tax Pay'  (this is not net, because I still have all different kinds of insurance coming out as well). Call it ATP.

Then I added my Retirement(s) up: (TSP, TSP match, TSP loan payment, and Pension Contribution) to get 'retirement savings'.  Call it RS.

Then I took my debt snowball and decided to classify it as savings, but I'm not including additional principal on things like the mortgage/cars/student loans.  If I wasn't paying down debt at the moment this would be in the savings/investment category.  This will be SB.

So: SR = (RS+SB) / ATP?

If so, 61.45%!

If you include your TSP match in your RS term, you also need to include it in the ATP divisor.

Tyn

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #72 on: January 05, 2016, 07:28:23 AM »
16%, if I include the money I'm putting aside for a house deposit it goes up to 40%.  At the end of the year I shifted my focus towards retirement savings rather than house savings, so my SR for 2016 should look a little better.

adam

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #73 on: January 05, 2016, 08:22:18 AM »
Tell me if I did this math right:
Gross Pay - Tax (state/fed/Medicare/OASDI) = 'After Tax Pay'  (this is not net, because I still have all different kinds of insurance coming out as well). Call it ATP.

Then I added my Retirement(s) up: (TSP, TSP match, TSP loan payment, and Pension Contribution) to get 'retirement savings'.  Call it RS.

Then I took my debt snowball and decided to classify it as savings, but I'm not including additional principal on things like the mortgage/cars/student loans.  If I wasn't paying down debt at the moment this would be in the savings/investment category.  This will be SB.

So: SR = (RS+SB) / ATP?

If so, 61.45%!

If you include your TSP match in your RS term, you also need to include it in the ATP divisor.

Ugh, down goes the rate again.

After reviewing the wife's paystub it was down to 38%

edit: 35% with the match added back into income.
« Last Edit: January 05, 2016, 09:10:30 AM by adam »

With This Herring

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #74 on: January 05, 2016, 08:47:05 AM »
Just squeaked in at 61% - I had a long stretch of being unemployed before finding MMM, so I'd already started to dial down my lifestyle, but finding MMM this year accelerated my savings rate way past what I'd been able to do on my own. 

The cool thing about MMM is that it's it's truly able to create substantial wealth via frugality and savings rates.  And even with a 61% savings rate (way higher than anyone I know in real life), my life is pretty freaking awesome.

[Only semi on topic...] Yes, mustachians' lives are pretty awesome.  Take it away, Christopher Walken! (4:30, but the entire sketch is great.)
https://video.yahoo.com/census-taker-000000855.html

I started my FIRE journey last year and this graph sums up 2015 for me...



My savings rate was about 25% last year. All the money in the 13k went to either investments, roth ira, or my emergency savings fund...Looking to make much needed improvements this year.

I have to ask...over half of your spending is in "Uncategorized" and "Others"?  Narrowing those down might help you find the holes.

Patrick A

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #75 on: January 05, 2016, 08:56:28 AM »
65.5%, it helps when both the wife and I work too much and don't take nearly enough vacation.  Looking to fix that this year and find more balance while still stashing. 

Pretty proud of what we have done and the fact that we have something to show for all of the hard work, but approaching burnout with work is never fun. 

adam

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #76 on: January 05, 2016, 09:21:23 AM »
I think I'm confusing myself again.  Pretend you make $100k and you do an automatic 15% contribution to a tax deferred retirement account.  So that's $15k/yr.

In MMM terms you're paying taxes and whatnot on that $100k so you're really making $75k (simplified math subtracting state/fed tax, SS, Medicare).  $15k/$75k = 20%.

So by saving 15% on your gross you're actually at a 20% savings rate?

2Birds1Stone

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #77 on: January 05, 2016, 10:15:12 AM »
I think I'm confusing myself again.  Pretend you make $100k and you do an automatic 15% contribution to a tax deferred retirement account.  So that's $15k/yr.

In MMM terms you're paying taxes and whatnot on that $100k so you're really making $75k (simplified math subtracting state/fed tax, SS, Medicare).  $15k/$75k = 20%.

So by saving 15% on your gross you're actually at a 20% savings rate?

Yes

Ms Independent

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #78 on: January 06, 2016, 08:47:59 AM »
On just [saving]/[salaries - federal taxes] = ~67%
On [saving]/[salaries - federal taxes + 401K matches + employee stock benefit + father-in-law's gifts] = ~75%

Wahoo!

... But we can do better. Housing expense is most bloated ($17K this year, excluding mortgage principle), but we are planning to build an addition this year, move into it, and rent out our main house so someone else can cover the big fat payment. Food also bloated, but less room for improvement there -- probably only $2K savings or so to be found.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2016, 02:05:10 PM by Ms Independent »

Pooperman

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #79 on: January 06, 2016, 02:44:58 PM »
46%. We are average mustachians haha. 2016 is expected to be less. 35%-45% roughly (depending on raise, bonus, and side income). And that's ok.

Conjou

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #80 on: January 06, 2016, 02:52:46 PM »
Made the low end of my target at 70% and would have done better except I had to replace the old rust bucket that finally died. Went used but still...

Have 80 in mind for the goal again this year.

forestj

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #81 on: January 06, 2016, 07:53:53 PM »
73% went to successful elimination of all debt and a maxed 401k. Aiming for 80% next year unless my car fubars itself.

Reader

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #82 on: January 09, 2016, 08:09:29 AM »
Just squeaked in at 61% - I had a long stretch of being unemployed before finding MMM, so I'd already started to dial down my lifestyle, but finding MMM this year accelerated my savings rate way past what I'd been able to do on my own.
Congrats! here's to a even more thrifty year ahead in 2016..

albireo13

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #83 on: January 09, 2016, 01:22:43 PM »
Just ran the numbers.    Using the MMM approach I get 37.1% as our current SR.  Better than I thought.

The average for the year was lower because I had a college loan and 2 credit cards that I paid off during 2015.
Now the only debt I have is the mortgage.  We need to get our spending under control now.  I want to get over 50% for next year.

Optimiser

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Re: Savings Rate For 2015! [Poll]
« Reply #84 on: January 12, 2016, 01:39:45 PM »
Only about 7% here, but I feel good about it because I was borrowing money to finish grad. school and not working for half the year. I didn't start working until June. I expect it to be higher this year and to keep climbing.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!