Author Topic: Saving in your 20's  (Read 19917 times)

passiveKonnoisseur

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Saving in your 20's
« on: October 07, 2015, 05:58:43 PM »
Shout out to the 20-somethings trying to reach FI. Comment below to express your goals and current status.

I am 23 and trying to build my savings and IRA etc and so far I am doing less than I should.

Current stats:
IRA: $2,200
LendingClub: $1,100, 14.07% returns after 1 year
Savings: $22,000
Savings rate: Around 57% for the few months that we have been married
Job: $16.50/hr
Website/blog making a measly $30/mo but is steadily rising.
Student with two and a half years left in school.


Goal $50,000 when I finish school in 2018.
« Last Edit: November 10, 2015, 10:32:09 AM by passiveKonnoisseur »

aetherie

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2015, 07:04:23 AM »
Welcome to the forums! I'm also 23. Done with school and working as a software engineer. Still working on defining my goals, but I should be on track for FI by age 30.

I'm not sure being part of a challenge group, especially one with such vague parameters, would be helpful for me personally, but I wanted to let you know you're not alone here in your age group. Best of luck to you! :)

passiveKonnoisseur

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #2 on: October 08, 2015, 09:58:31 AM »
Awesome. What would you think is a goal that we could work towards? Would it be more short term (1 year) or long term (time until FI)?

jasminegeekface

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #3 on: October 23, 2015, 07:50:44 AM »
I'll jump in here! I'm 22 and I've been at my first full time job as a systems engineer for a little over a year now. My goal is to reach a $50k net worth by the end of the year. So far I've hit $43k.

Good luck to you! :)

southernhippie

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #4 on: October 23, 2015, 07:58:53 AM »
I am in.  I am 27 been working full time for 5 years now.  I am trying to go back to school full time.  So I will lose income for two years and accumulate some student debt.  But when I am done with school I will be able to triple my salary.  So it puts my at a FI goal t 35

monstermonster

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #5 on: October 24, 2015, 01:27:27 PM »
I'd love to join in. I'm 28 and my short-term goal is to get to 10K networth (should be there by May 2016), and my medium-term goal is 100K networth by 2022 (or age 35). I don't have a specific FI goal date as I don't want to quit working, but 50% savings rate is my steadfast.

eyePod

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #6 on: October 26, 2015, 09:12:39 AM »
Good for you guys. I start saving until I was out of college. I came out with about 25k in debt and that's all gone. We own a house now and in the past 3 years have almost put away 150k including our principal for our mortgage. You can do it too!

P.S. Kids slow down savings. They're awesome but they just cost money. FI target for me is 40 at the earliest.

Cromacster

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #7 on: October 26, 2015, 09:50:49 AM »
Currently 28 and married.  Combined we have about 210k in invested assets.  Our goal is to have over 300k invested by the time we are 30.

With a conservative projection we will hit this number by August of 2017.  I turn 30 in March 2017, so my goal is to hit 300k before then. Gauntlet down.

YoungGranny

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #8 on: October 26, 2015, 01:34:39 PM »
I'm currently 25 and my net worth just popped over $100k. For a pretty large challenge I'm going to aim for $250k by the time I'm 28 That's ~$50k a year and I'm currently saving closer to $30k. It'll definitely be a challenge but knowing I have a few raises coming in the next year + trying to live a more mustachian lifestyle it's worth a shot :)
« Last Edit: October 27, 2015, 09:08:36 AM by YoungGranny »

mrteacher

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #9 on: October 26, 2015, 02:10:33 PM »
I love hearing from other 20somethings regarding saving, networth, etc, as most of my 20something friends are not concerned with such matters.

I am 26 and at the doorstep of $100k networth (should end October just under $90k) and should cross that threshold sometime in March, April, or May of 2016. Then, on to $250k! I could hit $250k around 32-33, given my back of the napkin calculations.

I've been preaching MMM to my girlfriend, and she has been working on frugality and boosting her own savings rate. She's about to hit $10k networth!

Although I discovered MMM a few months ago, my savings rate and outlook on saving and a spending has MMM-esque for several years. I am however, not driven as much by the prospect of early retirement as I am financial independence, as I genuinely like my job, the work-life balance, and the people with whom I work. So, I embrace frugality and work to boost my savings rate as a way to accumulate so that I have options and security.

This is a cool thread idea; I'm looking forward to hearing from other 20somethings!

Rodgers12

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #10 on: October 27, 2015, 08:43:08 AM »
I am going to hop in as well. I like hearing from people close to my age to compare how well I am doing. I am a 26 year old male sitting with about $38k net worth. Paid off all my student loans in qtr 1 of this year so since then I have been adding about $1500-$2k per month to my net worth. My rough estimates have me projected at 100k net worth around age 29, which is a personal goal I hope to accomplish.

Compared to all my close friends in the area I am leaps and bounds a head of them so unless one of them asks advice I tend not to chime in or comment on finances. It seems like everyone my age could care less about savings/FIRE/Net worth. However, I do have one buddy I talk finances with monthly, motivating each other to keep savings and or paying of student loans as much as possible. We both share our net worth every few months to keep pushing each other. He had about 30k more in student loan debt than I but he is soon to be married so with that dual income I am sure his stash will soon catch up to mine. 

VTD0918

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #11 on: October 27, 2015, 08:33:37 PM »
Hello everyone! I started to get serious with saving this year in May. I am 28 years old with a NW of $117k with no debt.  Hope to hit 175k by the end of 2016. I don't own a home so what you see there is all from my taxable and tax deferred accounts. I only disclose my financials and my FIRE plans to my best friend but not to others since people will think I'm crazy for trying to RE at 43. I try to educate my other bff to max out her 401k and pay off her loans but she rather save the money in the bank so she makes the min payments to her bills. Through my work,  I am able to contribute both to the 401k and 457 which I max out. That is $36k a year. When asked by a coworker how much I contribute each month, I told her I do $1500 to each account. We both make the same amount of money. She looked at me crazy! Haha!! She doesn't know how I survive. Being frugal was my answer!

monstermonster

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #12 on: October 28, 2015, 09:09:01 AM »
Through my work,  I am able to contribute both to the 401k and 457 which I max out. That is $36k a year. When asked by a coworker how much I contribute each month, I told her I do $1500 to each account. We both make the same amount of money.

How much do you make that you're able to save that much 0_0? That's more than my annual income! Awesome job, congrats!

2Birds1Stone

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #13 on: October 28, 2015, 11:16:46 AM »
Goal for 2016 is

$12,000 Taxable
$  9,500 401k (Max is 20% of base salary for us)
$  5,500 Roth IRA
$  3,000 HSA
$30,000 Total New Contributions

This would put me at $175k in investments at age 29 :)

zephyr911

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #14 on: October 28, 2015, 11:18:03 AM »
I'm currently 25 and my net worth just popped over $100k. For a pretty large challenge I'm going to aim for $250k by the time I'm 28 That's ~$50k a year and I'm currently saving closer to $30k. It'll definitely be a challenge but knowing I have a few raises coming in the next year + trying to live a more mustachian lifestyle it's worth a shot :)
You can always hope for enough investment returns to make up the difference ;)

VTD0918

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #15 on: October 28, 2015, 03:23:33 PM »
Through my work,  I am able to contribute both to the 401k and 457 which I max out. That is $36k a year. When asked by a coworker how much I contribute each month, I told her I do $1500 to each account. We both make the same amount of money.

How much do you make that you're able to save that much 0_0? That's more than my annual income! Awesome job, congrats!

Thank you! I make 56k a year and will receive a 5% increase for the next 5 years. I failed to mention I am able to save so much because we live off of my fiancé's income which is not much but enough. He makes less than half of what I make but we still live a comfortable life.  So we save my income and spend his.

FIRE_Buckeye

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #16 on: October 28, 2015, 06:36:28 PM »
Great thread
I'm just a hair under 40k net worth at age 26. Conservative goal is obtaining a net worth of 100k by age 30. It's encouraging seeing so many ITT doing so well at such a young age.

YoungGranny

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #17 on: October 29, 2015, 06:59:37 AM »
I'm currently 25 and my net worth just popped over $100k. For a pretty large challenge I'm going to aim for $250k by the time I'm 28 That's ~$50k a year and I'm currently saving closer to $30k. It'll definitely be a challenge but knowing I have a few raises coming in the next year + trying to live a more mustachian lifestyle it's worth a shot :)
You can always hope for enough investment returns to make up the difference ;)

I'm sure it'll make up some but not enough. I think learning to be a bit more disciplined and really starting to flex my mustachian muscles should make up the difference though :)

makane

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #18 on: October 31, 2015, 01:42:59 PM »
Through my work,  I am able to contribute both to the 401k and 457 which I max out. That is $36k a year. When asked by a coworker how much I contribute each month, I told her I do $1500 to each account. We both make the same amount of money.

How much do you make that you're able to save that much 0_0? That's more than my annual income! Awesome job, congrats!

@monstermonster I'm guessing that your income, just like mine, is on the low end of the spectrum of this website. I make €1,900 per month. So for us building a stache goes a lot slower than for a lot of the others on mrmoneymustache.
Saving a lot is nice (and I do save most of my income), but still for the lower earners on this forum I think it's best if we focus on getting a higher paycheck as soon as possible.

monstermonster

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #19 on: November 01, 2015, 01:02:29 PM »
Through my work,  I am able to contribute both to the 401k and 457 which I max out. That is $36k a year. When asked by a coworker how much I contribute each month, I told her I do $1500 to each account. We both make the same amount of money.

How much do you make that you're able to save that much 0_0? That's more than my annual income! Awesome job, congrats!

@monstermonster I'm guessing that your income, just like mine, is on the low end of the spectrum of this website. I make €1,900 per month. So for us building a stache goes a lot slower than for a lot of the others on mrmoneymustache.
Saving a lot is nice (and I do save most of my income), but still for the lower earners on this forum I think it's best if we focus on getting a higher paycheck as soon as possible.
Definitely on the lower end- I make about €2,300 euros gross (with about 35% taxes + $180 for health insurance) but unfortunately it is par for the course in my chosen field (charity work) so I won't be making any more anytime soon. But I can save over 50% of my income because I am very frugal.

passiveKonnoisseur

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #20 on: November 05, 2015, 09:55:36 AM »
Goal for 2016 is

$12,000 Taxable
$  9,500 401k (Max is 20% of base salary for us)
$  5,500 Roth IRA
$  3,000 HSA
$30,000 Total New Contributions


What is the benefit between using a Roth and a regular IRA? Same question for the HSA.

Cromacster

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #21 on: November 05, 2015, 10:02:52 AM »
Goal for 2016 is

$12,000 Taxable
$  9,500 401k (Max is 20% of base salary for us)
$  5,500 Roth IRA
$  3,000 HSA
$30,000 Total New Contributions


What is the benefit between using a Roth and a regular IRA? Same question for the HSA.

Roth IRA - Pay taxes now, but no taxes upon removal after age 59.5.  Generally a good idea if you are in a lower tax bracket, 15% and below.

Traditional IRA - Tax deductible below a certain income level.  Pay ordinary income taxes upon withdrawal.

HSA - Tax deductible, including FICA if done through payroll withholding.  Tax free when used on medical expenses.  You need a qualifying HDHP plan, but if available this is a great vehicle.

All three accounts have there place in FIRE.  It will vary by individual as to which ones to use.

use2betrix

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #22 on: November 05, 2015, 11:19:40 AM »
27 here. I'm right at around 95k net worth, all in my tax sheltered investments and my taxable VTSAX.

While my net worth is high for my age (outside of this forum) it's rather embarrassing considering my income. I've made around 550-600k since I was 21, but lived a very very unmustachian lifestyle. I'm getting ahead quick, I've probably increased my net worth 60-70k this year.

I am engaged and will be married this winter. My fiancé doesn't work as she travels with me for work, and it's simply not practical for her. It will help me a TON on taxes, and she is very, very mustachian on her own. While she doesn't "call me out" for my poor spending, she is incredibly thrifty and is very much "on board" to saving money in any way we find extra efforts.

Always good to see others my age excelling. It really pushes me as most our age are just spend spend spend. My long term goal is to continue this traveling/contract work lifestyle for another 8 years or so. Then either find a small part time job doing something I love, or just travel and do contract work like I do now for a couple months a year and take the other months off. We plan to have kids in a 4-5 years so a lot will depend on what I think would be best with them. We will continue traveling until they start school.

flan

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #23 on: November 05, 2015, 11:46:56 AM »
***edit*** Oops, forgot to mention that I'm 25 years old this month.

It's nice to have the camaraderie and feel like there's a little community of us thrifty youngsters when my facebook feed is full of tropical vacations, new purchases, and general YOLO-buy-everyone-shots shennanigans.

I'm a part of a pair but will try to post my independent financial situation/goals:
  • current net worth: 80K ($10K emergency, $25K investments, $45K share of house)
  • salary: 65K/yr pre-tax, only started 4 months ago. Before that were odds & ends while in school
  • short-term goal: cut-down on frivolous spending, consider learning technical skill for a part-time job (e.g. programming? waiting tables? medical scribe? tutoring?) to help reach FI on time
  • long-term goal: FI (400K in assets) by Nov 2020  in the sense that I no longer have to choose a job based on its salary. I've always enjoyed working and will likely still maintain a part-time position of some sort, but it'll feel significantly more like a hobby than work.
« Last Edit: November 05, 2015, 11:50:26 AM by cai »

Hall11235

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #24 on: November 06, 2015, 06:30:48 AM »
Hi all,
I'm 22 and graduated college in May with 30k in student loans.
Down to 20K.
$2,500 dollars in savings.
Company is not getting a 401K until 2016 so no 401k or IRA yet. Just working on crushing student loans.
Make 45k net, but live outside of Boston for work, so HCOL is eating my gainz.

Totemic

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #25 on: November 06, 2015, 10:14:10 AM »
Hey all! This is my first post, and figured this thread was a good place to start :D

I'm 27, my partner is 23.
Currently working my first job out of school as a software developer (I took some time off before school) making 50k. No debt.
Partner is in her last year of school, no income currently. She has ~7k student loan debt, currently 0% interest as it is deferred, and a ~4k line of credit @ 7% interest.
I'm also an electronic musician! I make some extra cash from playing gigs and am hoping to do a few month tour this summer, for which I have the goal of being financially neutral during that time. My soundcloud is here if anyone is interested https://soundcloud.com/totemicmusic/

Current stash: ~50k
Saving:  ~2-2.5k/month currently, out of 3200 after-tax monthly salary + random extras from music.
Short-term goal: We plan to move across the country (Toronto-Vancouver) this summer, during the aforementioned tour. We are going to buy a truck and trailer for this out of the stash money (and also to live out of the trailer at music festivals instead of tenting!). Trying to save up ~12k in emergency fund before we leave, in order to be able to cover the trip on 0 income (even though I expect quite a bit from gigs during that time). If we end up spending less than that by the end of the summer, most of the extra will go right in the stash!
Long-term goal: FI at 400k! This is a VERY safe goal, as I plan to continue working as hard as I can on my music career after FI, and my partner plans to continue with her career as long as she enjoys it (concept artist for animation) and do freelance art gigs after. We can absolutely live on our income from music/art, although it doesn't leave very much room for saving with current projections. Essentially the 400k would just sit around working for us and building itself up indefinitely!

The long-term goal is seriously long-term, probably by 2030, as I plan to take multiple long sabbaticals where I will not be saving very much to continue with my music career. Essentially my plan is to take short (6-8month) contracts in tech during which I save a lot, followed by music-focused touring and/or music production periods where I mostly break even and let the stash build itself up!
« Last Edit: November 06, 2015, 10:39:44 AM by Totemic »

TheAnonOne

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #26 on: November 06, 2015, 12:01:34 PM »
Shout out to the 20-somethings trying to reach FI. Comment below to express your goals and current status.

I am 23 and trying to build my savings and IRA etc and so far I am doing less than I should.

Current stats:
IRA: $2,200
LendingClub: $1,100, 14.07% returns after 1 year
Savings: $22,000
Job: $16.50/hr
Student with two and a half years left in school.

Goal $50,000 when I finish school in 2018.

I will use your format...

I am 25 and trying to build my savings and IRA etc and so far I am doing less than I should.

Current stats:
IRA: $22,500
LendingClub: $42,650, 9.8% returns after 3 years
401k: $47,000
Taxable: $30,000
Savings: $30,000 (checking acct, will probably buy more shares soon)

Job: $82.00/hr (with a lot of OT, about $200,000 yearly)

Goal $1m (or very close) when I finish being in my 20s.
« Last Edit: November 06, 2015, 12:03:37 PM by TheAnonOne »

mrteacher

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #27 on: November 06, 2015, 12:03:29 PM »
Shout out to the 20-somethings trying to reach FI. Comment below to express your goals and current status.

I am 23 and trying to build my savings and IRA etc and so far I am doing less than I should.

Current stats:
IRA: $2,200
LendingClub: $1,100, 14.07% returns after 1 year
Savings: $22,000
Job: $16.50/hr
Student with two and a half years left in school.

Goal $50,000 when I finish school in 2018.

I will use your format...

I am 25 and trying to build my savings and IRA etc and so far I am doing less than I should.

Current stats:
IRA: $22,500
LendingClub: $42,650, 9.8% returns after 3 years
401k: $47,000
Taxable: $30,000
Savings: $29,000
Job: $82.00/hr (with a lot of OT, about $200,000 yearly)

Goal $1m (or very close) when I finish being in my 20s.

What do you do for work?

TheAnonOne

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #28 on: November 06, 2015, 12:04:19 PM »
Shout out to the 20-somethings trying to reach FI. Comment below to express your goals and current status.

I am 23 and trying to build my savings and IRA etc and so far I am doing less than I should.

Current stats:
IRA: $2,200
LendingClub: $1,100, 14.07% returns after 1 year
Savings: $22,000
Job: $16.50/hr
Student with two and a half years left in school.

Goal $50,000 when I finish school in 2018.

I will use your format...

I am 25 and trying to build my savings and IRA etc and so far I am doing less than I should.

Current stats:
IRA: $22,500
LendingClub: $42,650, 9.8% returns after 3 years
401k: $47,000
Taxable: $30,000
Savings: $29,000
Job: $82.00/hr (with a lot of OT, about $200,000 yearly)

Goal $1m (or very close) when I finish being in my 20s.

What do you do for work?

Software Consulting (.NET generally)

I started when I was 18 with my first full time job, I have transitioned to an hourly setting in the last 4 years. I have around 7-8 years of experience professionally.

The consulting world is not for everyone. Failure is not really an option, as it can mean painting you as unemployable professionally. Though, if you are good, the rewards are there.
« Last Edit: November 06, 2015, 12:11:20 PM by TheAnonOne »

use2betrix

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #29 on: November 06, 2015, 01:45:04 PM »
Shout out to the 20-somethings trying to reach FI. Comment below to express your goals and current status.

I am 23 and trying to build my savings and IRA etc and so far I am doing less than I should.

Current stats:
IRA: $2,200
LendingClub: $1,100, 14.07% returns after 1 year
Savings: $22,000
Job: $16.50/hr
Student with two and a half years left in school.

Goal $50,000 when I finish school in 2018.

I will use your format...

I am 25 and trying to build my savings and IRA etc and so far I am doing less than I should.

Current stats:
IRA: $22,500
LendingClub: $42,650, 9.8% returns after 3 years
401k: $47,000
Taxable: $30,000
Savings: $30,000 (checking acct, will probably buy more shares soon)

Job: $82.00/hr (with a lot of OT, about $200,000 yearly)

Goal $1m (or very close) when I finish being in my 20s.

Is your overtime rate at 1.5x or are you a flat rate? Always nice to see young high income earners who have worked hard to get there. Do you have a degree? My income is similar to yours and I only have my associates which wasn't needed and after several years in the business (industrial construction). There certainly are ways to earn the high incomes without a degree for those who work hard and take the right path.

YogiKitti

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #30 on: November 06, 2015, 05:55:55 PM »
Hi everyone! I'm 22, married, and in grad school. I'm not  in my "real" job yet for another few years, sadly.

Based upon a comment above I created my own journal, does anyone else have one? I'm really hoping to connect with others my age. It is so hard to be frugal or try to push yourself when the people that surround you are spendypants. It once came up that we went out to eat twice a month max my coworkers starred at me like they saw a ghost.

srose

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #31 on: November 08, 2015, 02:24:11 PM »
Thanks for the inspiration, everyone! I am 21, just starting on this adventure. I'm graduating college this year with 19k net worth. What I'm really interested in working on is field botany research, so I've made my money during the summers only so far, working hard and living the dirtbag life. I'm grateful to this community for letting me know that it is possible to choose whatever life I want, and be financially independent enough to choose to work seasonal jobs wherever I want, for a while at least.

I actually just finished working my way through the list of all posts since the beginning of time, so was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions for good blogs or websites that have good stories and Mustachian values? I've started ERE and JD Roth's, just wondering if I'm missing some other great ones?

Not exactly financial, but here's one of my favorite websites: http://zenpencils.com/comic/161-shonda-rhimes-a-screenwriters-advice/
Inspirational quote comics!

jamface10

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #32 on: November 09, 2015, 01:16:11 AM »
I'm 24, have about $38K in savings and kiwisaver, and about the same in student loans (interest free, with compulsory payments from my income). Make about $80K before tax.

My goals are to save for a Europe trip, and a deposit for a house. Probably in that order.

Misstachio

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #33 on: November 10, 2015, 06:54:47 AM »
I'm 23,just found MMM, and just started my first real job as a mechanical engineer!
I've only been full-time for a few months but luckily I saved up a bit from summer jobs at school despite not knowing what I was doing at all.

Current stats:
Roth IRA: $7,000
HSA+401k: $6,800
House Down payment fund: $9,917
Liquid: $4740
Job: $63,000/year

Short Term: Make more money
Long Term: Get over $400,000 by 30s so I can quit my corporate job and become a (non)starving writer and hopefully raise some kids. Or maybe move abroad and teach English, idk yet.

Guizmo

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #34 on: November 10, 2015, 07:04:05 AM »
I'm in! I work in education and make about 42k from the job. I'm 26 and here are my current stats:

IRA: $14,000
457: $17,000
401k: $1,000
Condo Equity: $70,000
House Equity: $10,000
Liquid: $3,000

Short term goal: Apply for grad school, continue maxing out 457 and IRA
Mid term: Continue fixing up my house, rent it out by next year and move into my condo, earn more money
Long term: FIRE by mid to late 30s.

andyp2010

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #35 on: November 10, 2015, 07:28:18 AM »
Hey, I'm 25, I've been really lucky to get into property investing at the same time as a huge upswing and found a fun and profitable niche. Now concentrating on holding, making a few improvements to the rentals and paying down debt.

Was at $40k NW 3 years ago.

I quit work a few months ago, Should be well under $1m debt by this time next year and planning to travel the world a bit more and work odd jobs to pay for flights etc along the way. Looking forward to 13 years and 7 months time when I have no debt on these properties and stand to double my income as a result assuming rents stay flat and interest rates don't go up. It'll probably be a mixture. It's looking something like this -

After expenses income from rentals - approx $60kpa
Property - $1.4m
Debt, all mortgage - $1.03m
Cash - $5k
Kiwisaver retirement (no time for it right now, rather pay down debt)- $5k

NW - $380k

TheAnonOne

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #36 on: November 10, 2015, 10:48:51 AM »
Shout out to the 20-somethings trying to reach FI. Comment below to express your goals and current status.

I am 23 and trying to build my savings and IRA etc and so far I am doing less than I should.

Current stats:
IRA: $2,200
LendingClub: $1,100, 14.07% returns after 1 year
Savings: $22,000
Job: $16.50/hr
Student with two and a half years left in school.

Goal $50,000 when I finish school in 2018.

I will use your format...

I am 25 and trying to build my savings and IRA etc and so far I am doing less than I should.

Current stats:
IRA: $22,500
LendingClub: $42,650, 9.8% returns after 3 years
401k: $47,000
Taxable: $30,000
Savings: $30,000 (checking acct, will probably buy more shares soon)

Job: $82.00/hr (with a lot of OT, about $200,000 yearly)

Goal $1m (or very close) when I finish being in my 20s.

Is your overtime rate at 1.5x or are you a flat rate? Always nice to see young high income earners who have worked hard to get there. Do you have a degree? My income is similar to yours and I only have my associates which wasn't needed and after several years in the business (industrial construction). There certainly are ways to earn the high incomes without a degree for those who work hard and take the right path.

No, it's a flat bill rate. Overtime to me is just any time past the typical 40/w but in reality, to the business, it's just another company taking 45/h/w to complete something, and not necessarily an employee. (I hope that makes sense, since I am in essence a company, not an employee)

grenzbegriff

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #37 on: November 10, 2015, 11:47:22 AM »
I'm 25 and have always saved most of my money and intend to continue doing so.

In 2014 I spent $25k, 2015 I'll have spent ~$28k by year end.   Half of that goes to silicon valley rent, I pay $1150/mo to live very close to work and not own a car.  I'm hoping to cut my spending some, at least stay below $25k / year, hopefully lower.  If do that, I'll be FI before I'm 27. 

What I want to do is keep my living expenses flat throughout my life or at least not start spending more, and not worry about income when deciding what to work on in the future, and eventually give away my savings once I decide what's the best place to use them.  I do give away 5-10% of my income right now, because it's fun and to remind myself that everything I have is a gift and I don't need to cling to it.  Telling people that this is my plan helps me stick to it and think better before I spend money on myself.
« Last Edit: November 17, 2015, 08:43:35 AM by grenzbegriff »

passiveKonnoisseur

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #38 on: November 16, 2015, 03:19:55 PM »
I'm 25 and have always saved most of my money and intend to continue doing so.

Last two years I've spent a total of $25k / year which is rather extravagant.   Half of that goes to silicon valley rent, I pay $1150/mo to live very close to work and not own a car.  I'm hoping to cut my spending some, maybe get closer to $20k / year.  If do that, I'll be FI before I'm 27. 

What I want to do is keep my living expenses flat throughout my life or at least not start spending more, and not worry about income when deciding what to work on in the future, and eventually give away my savings once I decide what's the best place to use them.  I do give away 5-10% of my income right now, because it's fun and to remind myself that everything I have is a gift and I don't need to cling to it.  Telling people that this is my plan helps me stick to it and think better before I spend money on myself.

I am impressed you have gotten your expenses down that low in California, Silicon Valley no less.

grenzbegriff

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #39 on: November 17, 2015, 08:55:05 AM »
I lied actually.  I hadn't calculated my expenses when I wrote that, I was just estimating.  I have since made the spreadsheet of all my expenses.  2014 estimate was correct (under $25k), but I've already spent over $25k this year.  I've broken it down in detail here so anyone can see how I'm doing it:
http://www.grenzbegriff.com/2015/11/i-decided-to-track-my-living-expenses.html

Given that $4k of that was to get nice camera equipment -- I could pretend my expenses this year will still be ~$25k... but that's cheating.  Photography is my main hobby / creative outlet as of the last two years outside my job.  I intend to do better next year though, now that I'm actually keeping track.  This year I already bought a lot of stuff that should last me many years.  I also just got back $300 selling stuff on craigslist and have $1300 more for sale.

I think I'm in a very fortunate situation -- being young and healthy and single and in a place that's very easy to live with no car, there's not much I need to spend money on other than rent.  However, I dare say there are a lot of people in this same situation who are spending a lot more in this area.  I at least don't know anyone else here who's living without a car.  :p

Britan

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #40 on: November 18, 2015, 12:04:56 PM »
Woo go millenials!
I'm 26 in the DC area.

401k:18k
Roth IRA: 3k (just started today!)
HSA: 1000.01 (started last month)
Other: 5k
Total: 27k. Wow. Not as amazing as some but it's the first time I've added it all up and better than I expected!
Income: 60k pretax (3400/month)

One thing I'm trying to work out... With my current income and rent, it's hard to max the retirement accounts, pay rent and expenses (mostly rent) AND save for a house. It's a hard spot though. I'm in an area where buying would dramatically lower my housing costs (rent super high but home prices really low) but because of my housing costs, it may not make sense to prioritize a down payment if I have to give up puttin stuff in retirement. I guess there's the 401k loan but that option squicks me out for some reason.

monstermonster

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #41 on: November 19, 2015, 12:13:33 PM »
Woo go millenials!
I'm 26 in the DC area.

401k:18k
Roth IRA: 3k (just started today!)
HSA: 1000.01 (started last month)
Other: 5k
Total: 27k. Wow. Not as amazing as some but it's the first time I've added it all up and better than I expected!
Income: 60k pretax (3400/month)

One thing I'm trying to work out... With my current income and rent, it's hard to max the retirement accounts, pay rent and expenses (mostly rent) AND save for a house. It's a hard spot though. I'm in an area where buying would dramatically lower my housing costs (rent super high but home prices really low) but because of my housing costs, it may not make sense to prioritize a down payment if I have to give up puttin stuff in retirement. I guess there's the 401k loan but that option squicks me out for some reason.

You can save in your Roth IRA, depending on how comfortable you are with that - anything you withdrawal for a first-time home purchase is penalty-free.

retirementhunter

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #42 on: November 19, 2015, 12:30:17 PM »
I'm 27, currently at 195k NW. I've been saving since my first real job at 23 with 1k NW.

401k: 30k
Securities: 165k
Income: 39/hr

My goal is to FIRE at 30 with 450k NW in 2018.

Gone Fishing

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #43 on: November 19, 2015, 12:49:09 PM »
Great thread! 

JPinDC

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #44 on: November 19, 2015, 01:20:40 PM »
I'm in an area where buying would dramatically lower my housing costs (rent super high but home prices really low)...

Are we talking about the same DC? I live in NoVA and definitely wouldn't call home prices low in the DC metro. I like living here for now, but I don't really want to stay long enough to consider buying a home.

Britan

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #45 on: November 20, 2015, 11:26:03 AM »
I'm in an area where buying would dramatically lower my housing costs (rent super high but home prices really low)...

Are we talking about the same DC? I live in NoVA and definitely wouldn't call home prices low in the DC metro. I like living here for now, but I don't really want to stay long enough to consider buying a home.
Same DC, different direction. Think places you can get to DC from on public transit, but which have less than stellar neighborhoods and murder rates. That sort of thing tends to bring prices down. ;)

CientoUno

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #46 on: November 23, 2015, 10:30:44 PM »
I'm always simultaneously motivated and overwhelmed by these threads, for these reasons:

Age: 25 (26 next month)
Savings: Around $15,000
Investments, 401k, etc: 0
Income: Around $1,200/month (but I'm in Thailand)
Debt: 0

I decided post-college to just not get a typical, well-paying job and instead go teach English abroad for meager sums (very, VERY livable in the local context, but horrible for FIRE goals). Now I'm in my mid-20s, educating myself on investing and stash-building, and reorienting my priorities, but I'm quite behind. My future progress depends entirely on what job I'm able to find back in the States with a communications degree. And, if all my friends around the 20-30K/year range are any indication... we didn't do things as intelligently as many of you here.

Gah. I know I still have lots of time to turn things around, I just wish I'd gone a smarter route earlier on. I could have been halfway there by now, and then done all my traveling. I have some savings, and no debt, which is nice. I regret nothing, but now I've got some catch-up to do.

GuitarBrian

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #47 on: November 24, 2015, 01:08:15 AM »
I am 27. Been saving more than I earn my whole life.

Bought 2 rental properties in Phoenix area in 2010/2011.

I don't earn enough steady income to qualify for a loan. Was able to borrow some (50%) from family.

Both properties are paid off now.

With the rent coming in, plus the apreciation (up about 300% now) this was so far a good decision.

Current NW 320k.

Goal: Buy a 3rd rental. Live of the rent.

2Birds1Stone

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #48 on: November 24, 2015, 05:33:14 AM »
I am 27. Been saving more than I earn my whole life.

Bought 2 rental properties in Phoenix area in 2010/2011.

I don't earn enough steady income to qualify for a loan. Was able to borrow some (50%) from family.

Both properties are paid off now.

With the rent coming in, plus the apreciation (up about 300% now) this was so far a good decision.

Current NW 320k.

Goal: Buy a 3rd rental. Live of the rent.

Your story is so freakin awesome!! Once you have your third rental you will be golden!! Just goes to show that you don't have to be a multi millionaire to reach financial independence at a young age.

grosvenor6

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Re: Saving in your 20's
« Reply #49 on: November 24, 2015, 06:21:01 AM »
Age: 20
Savings: 17k
401k: 3k
Gross Income: 37k/year
3% raise every 4 months so I can't wait to see my saving numbers next year at this time.

Started my first full time job 10 months ago, looking into starting an IRA pretty soon.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!