Aged under 35? What's your biggest financial challenge?

[sam]

Hey fellow Mustachians!

I’m researching what financial questions sub 35yr olds have; so would love to open a discussion about what your financial pains are?

What questions do you have around personal finance?

Thanks,

Sam


- UPDATE - 14/9/15:

After analyzing the results the biggest issues were under 35's struggling with student loan payments and staying afloat with the costs adulthood brings (lifestyle creep, start-up costs ect).

I wanted to personally thank all those that wrote a reply :)

Seeing as I have personal experience with many of these (student loan, start-up costs, lifestyle creep ect), I plan on teaming up with others who are at the level we aspire to be, to help answer these questions.

The site will be at: http://www.moneynest.co.uk you can sign up today to get notified as soon as the first article is launched.

Feel free to check it out, if it’s not for you no worries have a great week!

[daymare]

I'm nearly 26 (and my husband is 26).  I don't think that I have lots of financial questions per say - I read a lot about finance and am constantly learning, and because I've been doing that for awhile I know a lot.  We're on top of our finances, invest more than we spend, and are aligned.  The big thing is that there are a lot of unknowns - where our careers will go, how much our salaries will rise, where we will live, whether we will buy real estate, whether we will work in our current fields or different ones, whether we will work part time, how many kids we have and what that will entail.  I target 40 as the age where we're FI and don't have to work, but mostly because so much is up in the air!

I do really want to learn more about taxes and estate planning, so if anyone has good resources, please share them!

[JustGettingStarted1980]

My wife and are are in our mid 30's and had a similar discussion last year. I guess the gist is that we are both professionals, both poor for a while, finally able to dig ourselves out of student loan debt, and have now established a long term plan for financial independence.

The biggest question we have is ....can we stay the course? Keep the same careers for 10 years? Not get lulled into lifestyle creep? Keep the same values that led us to (relative) mustachianism in the first place?

I guess it is easy to be mustachian when your net worth is -250K (what other choice is there?), much harder when you have some money to spend without it hurting later on.

[CletusMcGee]

We don't really have any financial challenges per se(no debt, big 'stache, etc...), but a possible financial challenge is progeny.  If DW tricks me into having a kid, any dreams of ER will likely go out the window and we will sentence ourselves to another 30 years of servitude.

[boarder42]

my biggest challenge is trying to figure out a way to make the stock market perform like it did in 2013 annually.  Do you have any solutions to this.  If so i'm all ears. 

[BarkyardBQ]

We don't really have any financial challenges per se(no debt, big 'stache, etc...), but a possible financial challenge is progeny.  If DW tricks me into having a kid, any dreams of ER will likely go out the window and we will sentence ourselves to another 30 years of servitude.

Can you please elaborate on why you think a child would cost you 30 years of work?

[cityfolks]

My husband and I are early 30s, so our main financial concerns are occasionally re-running our rent-vs-buy numbers, and figuring out if/how to afford children. Which is to say, we're both interested in having children but are also a little overwhelmed by the idea. Right now we're saving up for a possible down payment, under the idea that we'd like to have the option to buy a house someday when it makes sense for us.

Neither of us has debt at this point (consumer or educational), so right now we're focused on cutting little things here and there to improve our habits, and as relative newlyweds we're working on some of our "specializations" (I manage laundry, he manages taxes, for example).

His parents have some health issues, but have excellent health care and state pensions that seem stable for the time being. They're not totally open to chatting about finances and long-term plans, but we're working on getting them to open up about that. My parents are financially sound and have been pretty frank with my sister and I about their finances, their end-of-life plans, and where all the important documents are - which is a relief. It's depressing to think about, but it's also important. Many of our friends have parents who are facing uncertain futures, so this allows us to plan better for the future.

Get Your Shit Together (http://getyourshittogether.org/) was a great resource for us as our relationship progressed, and is good for thinking of long-term financial issues like the ones @daymare mentioned.

[Kitsune]

We don't really have any financial challenges per se(no debt, big 'stache, etc...), but a possible financial challenge is progeny.  If DW tricks me into having a kid, any dreams of ER will likely go out the window and we will sentence ourselves to another 30 years of servitude.

Can you please elaborate on why you think a child would cost you 30 years of work?

Also clarify 'trick' in this context? Because either you mean it metaphorically (in which case wow gender stereotypes being offensively applied) or you mean it literally (in which case perhaps some open communication might help you...).

You don't need to want kids. Your wife doesn't need to NOT want kids. But you should probably be on the same page about what you as a couple want/are going to do; that's kind of a dealbreaker for most relationships.

[APowers]

Age 26 (+ wife + 2 kids). Biggest financial challenge is finding a job that pays well. Currently delivering pizza, but totally could be an office manager or logistics administrator of some sort if I could find such a job. Currently in the process of remodeling and then planning on moving to a larger city for better job prospects. Also working on learning javascript on the side (slowly).

On the bright side, we own our home outright and if we had $50k/year in income we could possibly be RE in about 4 years. On our current track, we'll hit RE when I'm 35.

[TheInsuranceMan]

Hey fellow Mustachians!

I’m researching what financial questions sub 35yr olds have; so would love to open a discussion about what your financial pains are?

What questions do you have around personal finance?

Thanks,

Sam

Student loans, 100%.  We bought our place 3 years ago, on a 15 year mortgage - no problems, happy with our interest rate, had the 20% down.  Had a kid, probably going to have another if things go well in the next couple months (practice makes perfect, right???).  Daycare runs $500 a month, eh, not terrible.

But student loans...they are a killer.  Without them, I could be saving an extra $500 a month.  $500 a month is 11.9% of our take home pay.  Hopefully we'll get our acreage sold, clear the student loans and mortgage, pocket the extra, and rent for a bit while we wait for someone better to come around...

[iamlittlehedgehog]

I'm 26, soon to be 27 and at this time my largest hurdle at this time is making enough money. Between 1 full time office administration job, a legal assistant side hustle and freelance work I'm barely cracking 35k a year post taxes.  I know I need to complete my degree but I have no passion or idea what to pursue and to be quite frank I'm not very intelligent so the high income STEM jobs are out of the question.

There are worst challenges to face so I'll thank my lucky stars I only have this.

[socalteacher]

Living in SoCal is very expensive and is where we want to be. Our biggest challenge is finding a way for the wife to stay home with the kids. I teach full time and she currently works a 40% teaching position (2 days/week) and that is enough to pay all of our costs etc and save a little.  We are really in a holding process, waiting for the kids to be school aged so that she can go back to work full-time.

20 years ago in So Cal a teacher could live in a decent neighborhood and be able to provide enough for mom to stay home and raise the kids. At our school she is the only mother who is not full-time. The other teachers don't understand how we can afford it but they don't get how frugal we are either.

So I guess the challenge comes down to the value of having more money vs the value of a stay home parent to raise our kids.
 

[AZDude]

I am exactly 35, but the biggest challenge I had as a younger man was earning enough money. Due to unfortunate circumstances and some lack of initiative on my part, it took awhile for me to land a job where I was making more than $50K. Once that happened, life was smooth sailing. Prior to that, it was a struggle.

[Zikoris]

28 years old. My challenge is that my wealth isn't quite at the point where it consistently snowballs like crazy and I can retire. I've only had a handful of months when I've made more money from my investments than my day job.

...but yeah. This is probably not a great place to look for people struggling to get by.

[CletusMcGee]

Also clarify 'trick' in this context? Because either you mean it metaphorically (in which case wow gender stereotypes being offensively applied) or you mean it literally (in which case perhaps some open communication might help you...).

Or I mean it in a joking manner, as DW and I joke about it all the time (But you wouldn't know that so I can see how my phrasing comes off poorly). 

While my earlier comment about 30 years of toil may be on the high side, it is going to be a reality for most moustachians that having kids will delay retirement. 

[Vertical Mode]

Speaking for myself (27/M):

1. HCOL area housing prices are prohibitive - I've thought about buying a house, but it's hard to be anywhere desirable and close to downtown without tying up huge assets.
2. Lifestyle creep - trying to be reasonable when friends want to do things like go clubbing with bottle service in other countries.
3. I know, it's a first-world problem, but...honestly, "frugal fatigue" has started to set in a bit. It can be psychologically trying to work your ass off when the needle feels like it's barely moving as a result of your efforts.

Otherwise, I wouldn't say I have any particular "challenges". I consider myself very fortunate.

[Mississippi Mudstache]

We don't really have any financial challenges per se(no debt, big 'stache, etc...), but a possible financial challenge is progeny.  If DW tricks me into having a kid, any dreams of ER will likely go out the window and we will sentence ourselves to another 30 years of servitude.

Wow, I'm sure you're exaggerating, but I have two kids and one on the way, our household income is well under $100K, and I still plan to retire before 40. I don't think you know the first thing about what it costs to have kids.

[2Birds1Stone]

Figuring out the fastest way to ramp up income.

As DINK's we are not too stressed but would like to FIRE asap.

We have managed to go from ~$70k last year in W-2 income to an estimated $120k this year. Definitely on the right path.

[MrsPete]

I'm over 35 now, but when we were younger, our biggest obstacle was that we made a relatively low salary (and don't earn high salaries now), yet we were determined to save.  It was difficult to see the numbers adding up slowly at first; however, a friend told us that the first $100,000 is difficult to save, but after that point it starts to move fast -- that was true.  With inflation, perhaps the number should be adjusted upward, but the concept is valid. 

Also clarify 'trick' in this context? Because either you mean it metaphorically (in which case wow gender stereotypes being offensively applied) or you mean it literally (in which case perhaps some open communication might help you...).

Or I mean it in a joking manner, as DW and I joke about it all the time (But you wouldn't know that so I can see how my phrasing comes off poorly). 

While my earlier comment about 30 years of toil may be on the high side, it is going to be a reality for most moustachians that having kids will delay retirement.

My husband and I are working longer because we have children, but it's not 30 years longer, and I can't imagine not having had them. 

[Kitsune]

Also clarify 'trick' in this context? Because either you mean it metaphorically (in which case wow gender stereotypes being offensively applied) or you mean it literally (in which case perhaps some open communication might help you...).

Or I mean it in a joking manner, as DW and I joke about it all the time (But you wouldn't know that so I can see how my phrasing comes off poorly). 

While my earlier comment about 30 years of toil may be on the high side, it is going to be a reality for most moustachians that having kids will delay retirement.

My husband and I are working longer because we have children, but it's not 30 years longer, and I can't imagine not having had them.

Inside joke not translating so well... :)

Word on the 'kids don't cost as much as you think'. My daughter isn't in school yet, but at the moment, not including daycare, we're averaging about 200$/month for everything (diapers, toys, extra food and milk - dear god, the amount of milk that can go into one toddler, etc). Daycare where we are is subsidized and under 300$/month. We also get about 200$/month from the govt. So... not CHEAP, by any means, but definitely not as expensive as we had been led to believe before having kids.

[EricP]

Also clarify 'trick' in this context? Because either you mean it metaphorically (in which case wow gender stereotypes being offensively applied) or you mean it literally (in which case perhaps some open communication might help you...).

Or I mean it in a joking manner, as DW and I joke about it all the time (But you wouldn't know that so I can see how my phrasing comes off poorly). 

While my earlier comment about 30 years of toil may be on the high side, it is going to be a reality for most moustachians that having kids will delay retirement.

My husband and I are working longer because we have children, but it's not 30 years longer, and I can't imagine not having had them.

Inside joke not translating so well... :)

Word on the 'kids don't cost as much as you think'. My daughter isn't in school yet, but at the moment, not including daycare, we're averaging about 200$/month for everything (diapers, toys, extra food and milk - dear god, the amount of milk that can go into one toddler, etc). Daycare where we are is subsidized and under 300$/month. We also get about 200$/month from the govt. So... not CHEAP, by any means, but definitely not as expensive as we had been led to believe before having kids.

$100 for daycare is far from the norm, though.  Most do not have that level of government support.

[lostamonkey]

my biggest challenge is trying to figure out a way to make the stock market perform like it did in 2013 annually.  Do you have any solutions to this.  If so i'm all ears.

Be very highly leveraged. Of course they are some risks associated with this.

[BarkyardBQ]

Also clarify 'trick' in this context? Because either you mean it metaphorically (in which case wow gender stereotypes being offensively applied) or you mean it literally (in which case perhaps some open communication might help you...).

Or I mean it in a joking manner, as DW and I joke about it all the time (But you wouldn't know that so I can see how my phrasing comes off poorly). 

While my earlier comment about 30 years of toil may be on the high side, it is going to be a reality for most moustachians that having kids will delay retirement.

I think you're assuming that kids will force a delay of FIRE, but forget that the strongest of Mustachian traits is to adapt and figure out how to achieve your goal anyway.

We're 31, looking to have kids over the next few years, we should be FI in 6-7 and RE in 10. While expenses will rise with kids, we also have 10 years to figure out how to make more, spend less, and make it work. We also have a contingency* that even if we don't have a 'target' number in 10 years we're still going to semi-retire, because working part time for the COL expenses is part of our plan. Not too difficult for 2 adults to earn 20-30k/year with a minimal number of hours. That doesn't delay retirement, it allows you to appreciate all the time you HAVE bought, no matter where you're at. So many people seem to think that FIRE is about a target number, for us it's about a target year, we're doing everything we can to make sure we are fine with pulling the trigger despite the calculations. If the portfolio doesn't allow a 4% withdrawal rate of COL, I bet we can pull 4% to cover travel expenses while the 'earned' income covers everything else.

*contingency or not, we're planning on part-time/passive income streams to cover expenses, the real contingency is the portfolio.

If you have a goal of retirement without a year in mind, you will never achieve it.

[Kitsune]

Also clarify 'trick' in this context? Because either you mean it metaphorically (in which case wow gender stereotypes being offensively applied) or you mean it literally (in which case perhaps some open communication might help you...).

Or I mean it in a joking manner, as DW and I joke about it all the time (But you wouldn't know that so I can see how my phrasing comes off poorly). 

While my earlier comment about 30 years of toil may be on the high side, it is going to be a reality for most moustachians that having kids will delay retirement.

My husband and I are working longer because we have children, but it's not 30 years longer, and I can't imagine not having had them.

Inside joke not translating so well... :)

Word on the 'kids don't cost as much as you think'. My daughter isn't in school yet, but at the moment, not including daycare, we're averaging about 200$/month for everything (diapers, toys, extra food and milk - dear god, the amount of milk that can go into one toddler, etc). Daycare where we are is subsidized and under 300$/month. We also get about 200$/month from the govt. So... not CHEAP, by any means, but definitely not as expensive as we had been led to believe before having kids.

$100 for daycare is far from the norm, though.  Most do not have that level of government support.

No, of course not. But for those of us who do, it's a HUGE help. (Quebec: our taxes are high, but we have fantastic social programs and excellent and free healthcare. I ain't budging.)

For those who don't have that particular benefit, though, there are alternatives. My point was that, daycare aside, kid-related costs have accounted for about 200$ in budget differences. Daycare is only for a limited amount of time, and alternatives can be found (shared in-home babysitter, part-time work/child care split with another family, different shifts so that parents can be home at different time, family members who are willing to help...). Daycare is the single biggest expense of young children, but it isn't a fixed huge expense, and the rest of it isn't all that expensive.

[Darryl Musashi]

My wife and I are 32 -- our biggest challenge (as I've mentioned in my own journal on this site) is trying to buy a house in LA without going completely bankrupt. We put an offer in on a place yesterday -- but I have no idea how we'll afford that AND a kid, if we decide to have one.

[therethere]

DH and I are 31. Our biggest challenges all sort of feed off each other:
1. Student loans and outrageous interest rates. We both made the mistake of 100k student loans at a private college. Of this ~65k each was at high interest for 5+ years (8% or higher). Multiply that x2 we started at -200k. The amount we have paid to student loans including interest could have paid off an entire house or two.  ): Additionally, paying down student loans have burned me out and we still have 55k left 10 years after we graduated. This is beyond depressing and really kills your drive. Its hard to see flexibility when you are paying off obscene loans for a career you don't even want to be in.
2. Unemployment -  Jobs just aren't stable like they used to be. I can never assume our jobs will last. Combined we've had 4 years on one salary while the other was looking for work. I took a 40% paycut after my unemployment and have just now gotten my salary near my first job out of college. This also plays into 401k vesting schedules. Combined we've lost out on ~40k in employer matching contributions that were taken back because we were laid off prior to vesting which appears to be the norm.
3. Two technical job household. Although people love to hate DINKs. Its difficult in its own right. Its very tricky to navigate two technical careers in different industries. Nowadays, getting a new technical job means relocating. And to relocate you then need to make sure the other person can get a reasonable job in the area also.


Combine all of these its difficult to keep your head up. House downpayment is a pipe dream right now. In our area and prices are going up faster than I can save which is probably for the better. I don't even consider having a family because of all the risk and uncertainty with our finances. Admittedly, we are likely huge spendy pants in comparison to everyone on the forum but I would not say we live super lavishly at all.

[TrMama]

I'm 35 and DH is a few years older, but our biggest financial challenge in the past 5 years has been the fact that we're firmly in the "Sandwich Generation". We have young kids and a MIL who is in poor physical and financial shape. We're trying to save for our own early retirement, raise our kids and make sure that MIL doesn't drag us all down like the Titanic.

[parkette]

I'm 31, my husband is 37 and we have 6 month old twin boys. We are a Canadian/Aussie couple and our biggest challenge is figuring out how to balance our desire to spend as much time as possible between the two countries before the boys start school, and not losing sight of our goal of financial independence.

This challenge includes the need to find income streams in both countries or virtually, keeping travel costs to a minimum (travel hacking) and making sacrifices in other areas to maximize our desired lifestyle.

[I'm a red panda]

I'm 33 and my husband and I are doing very well right now.

We are worried about college costs for our future children.  I think we are on an okay track to save for retirement (I say "okay" because it is difficult to really know what is needed. We certainly have well more than average for our age, and maybe even average for people reaching retirement; but with NO pension, and a question of whether there will be much social security, and it all depending on the market, well it is still scary); but to also pay for the incredible rising cost of college, for more than one child, just makes retirement look so far away- if even ever possible.

[Sibley]

Me? 29, single, 2 cats. I'm an accountant, so job security is pretty decent.

Student loans - not too bad, I got lucky. Though I am taking over payment of the Plus loans my parents took out for me, it's morally right for me to do so.
Past stupidity - I have cc debt, car loan. Working on it. My car was paid off, then it got totaled, and I bought a stupid car, then traded it in for a new, much less stupid car (no negative equity at least). So not great, but I'm sticking with what I've got.
Cost of houses - I'm in the Chicago area. I'd like to buy, but concerned that some of the places I'd like to be in will be out of reach. I can adjust, but I know other places are much worse.
My parents are going to need help. Not yet, but there will be a meltdown eventually. I'm planning that they'll end up moving in with me at some point. This also affect the house decision.

I have dealt with the initial costs of buying professional wardrobes, setting up a house, furniture, pantry, etc. Plus I've moved long distance twice, not cheap.

[I'm a red panda]

Inside joke not translating so well... :)

Word on the 'kids don't cost as much as you think'. My daughter isn't in school yet, but at the moment, not including daycare, we're averaging about 200$/month for everything (diapers, toys, extra food and milk - dear god, the amount of milk that can go into one toddler, etc). Daycare where we are is subsidized and under 300$/month. We also get about 200$/month from the govt. So... not CHEAP, by any means, but definitely not as expensive as we had been led to believe before having kids.

I'd call this phenomenally cheap.

My daycare bill is going to be $240 a week (the places I looked ranged from $220-$280 per week).  I live in freaking Iowa. I can't imagine what someone in New York City pays.  You get 1 week of vacation a year where you can pay half-price to hold the spot.

And then we have to buy all the other things you included in "everything".

[Lanthiriel]

My (27) and my husband's (32) biggest challenge has been trying to do too much too fast after starting from behind. He was in school FOREVER, graduating with a BS only two years ago at 30. I was also building my career at the time and was only making about $47k when he graduated. We managed not to have any consumer debt, drove paid off cars, etc. but we had a combined $77k in student loan debt. We moved to a HCOL area to help him with his job search, which doubled our rent and increased other costs without a pay increase. It took him more than a year to find a job in his industry, and when he did, I switched jobs at around the same time. So we went from about $70k in income to $120k. We did good for a while with the extra income and knocked the student loan debt down to $27k by the end of 2014, about a year and a half after he graduated.

But then we got tired of paying the insane rental prices in Anchorage, and took the plunge to buy a house with only 5% down. At the same time we upped 401k contributions to max them out because our tax bracket is so much higher now. Then the house needed work, and a bunch of people close to us got married or graduated or had milestones that we wanted to be part of, and this year got horrendously off course. I was really hoping to be done with the loans this year, but instead of focusing on one goal, we're trying to do the house, the loans, and 401ks all at once. Now it's hard to right the course because we love our house and it would be insane to sell so soon after we bought it (not to mention we wouldn't realized much cost savings with rental prices being what they are) and reducing our 401k would mean that 25% of our money would be going to taxes versus paying the 6.55% on the student loans.

Our hope now is that we have a quiet winter. We currently have no travel or other large expenses scheduled after this month, other than replacing our 21-year-old water heater. We are really buckling down on our spending to make sure that we can knock out the rest of the loans before next summer. I feel like a total failure still having student loan debt, only $57k in retirement, and a house that I'm paying PMI on. That said, on our current plan, we'll wipe out the debt and hit the $100k mark in retirement accounts by the end of next year. Hopefully it's smooth sailing from there and I can look back on this year and laugh.

[mozar]

How many years until a robot takes my job?

[Stlbroke]

We would both like to take 3 months of fmla whenever we have our first kid.  She would take the first three months, and I would do the next three months, maybe. 

I don't really have a plan yet.  Hopefully her student loans and car will be paid off by then. Maybe Cut back on retirement contributions for a few months as well

[boarder42]

will my NASCAR DFS system keep winning and allow me to bank an extra 100k a year decreasing my time to FI to 4-5 years?  really dont wanna work past 35 current projections are 38.

[Thegoblinchief]

31, married with 3 kids.

Honestly, our biggest challenge is patience. We've turned the corner on debt/income (two years ago, SLs and mortgage PITI was north of 50% of our take home) but those line items are still 1/3 of take home and act as one hell of anchor in amassing savings goals.

[Middlesbrough]

24, single male. The biggest thing I have to deal with is student loan debt and future uncertainty. I don't know what my future will look like at the moment, but I know I don't want to work forever. I constantly struggle with building a safety net, stuffing all retirement accounts, and taking advantage of life while I am young. I guess I would say balancing life and budget is my biggest finance struggle.

[belgiandude]

How to find a balance between different investment profiles.
 We are early 30, have 100k/ year to invest after taxes, but one of the two is extremely conservative while the other is much more aggressive (w.r.t. investing). That may hamper building wealth efficiently.

[CoderNate]

Kiddo is definitely the biggest challenge for us. The associated costs nearly double our overall living expenses, with daycare being the biggest chunk ($16k and we get no subsidies). If we go through with our plans to have another kid, it will likely delay our FIRE plans by around 5 years.

[firewalker]

@belgiandude ... You have 100K savings (after taxes, mortgage, utils, etc) and your worried about how it's invested? Put it under a rock and you'll be FI in no time. You have no challenges.

[Paul der Krake]

My biggest problem is that the mathematical inevitability of our success makes me a lazy bum. What's the point of reaching out for more and taking risks when you can just coast and be boring?

Still working on that one.

[BunnyBoi]

I guess my biggest challenge would be starting to invest.

Compared to others here, being quite young I feel that financial advisers in the banks or at a brokerage are all thinking that I am an easy picking. Its kinda hard to stand up for myself sometimes because as a person my age (20) no one expects that I know or have any experience with investing (thank goodness I found MMM!). Or the opposite problem, where because I am so young they are disinterested in serving me and my interest at investing.

Other than that I guess just getting prepared for adult life seems quite confusing, sometimes I just have no clue how people balance student loans with mortgages and even the possibly of raising a family while investing.

[K-ice]

I have recently passed the 35 mark.

2 things

1)Many years in school so a long wait befor I was out in the workforce. Not a regret but a challenge. I do not look down on anyone young who wants to take a 2y certification and get working.

However, during all my school I was always able to have no major debt & save a little.

2) But looking back I feel that I was not an educated investor. Even the small amount I had saved could have been better compounding. I feel that once I am finally older and have money to save I have lost years of good investing.

In other words, when you are young and uneducated about investing it is tempting to just keep a savings account or purchase the banks product. But at that young age you should be investing in equities or at least Vanguard.

Once you are older and more confident about investing is around the time you should be switching to safer investing.

I feel the learning curve and ideal investing curve are working against each other in my case.

All you young MMM out there. It is great you are reading this blog & educating yourselves in good investing at your age.

[birdman2003]

Saving enough cash to buy parents' property when they pass on.  Nothing ever lasts but it would be nice to keep it in the family.

[marty998]

Saving enough cash to buy parents' property when they pass on.  Nothing ever lasts but it would be nice to keep it in the family.

Parents didn't name you in their will? Why do you have to buy it?

[birdman2003]

Saving enough cash to buy parents' property when they pass on.  Nothing ever lasts but it would be nice to keep it in the family.

Parents didn't name you in their will? Why do you have to buy it?

Of course the parents can do what they want with the property, but I would assume they would pass it equally to their kids.  I have a couple siblings who I would probably have to buy out if I wanted sole control of the property.

[11ducks]

F31, with 1 child (11) single parent.

As far as all the above comments re kids and expenses, I've found that while we can live fairly frugally, my biggest cost is in loss of opportunity- can't take on a 2nd job, a promotion would mean more time away from home + daycare costs, even career choices are somewhat limited (I became a teacher precisely because it suits us best time wise).
In 5-6 years I look forward to adding to my stash by taking on a PT job.

Otherwise, in Aus, the housing market is crazy right now (house prices are ridiculous- we are in a mega bubble-we rent), and $30k student loans can be a real hindrance to getting ahead.

Frankly though, it's unmustachian to whinge about all of this without also pointing out some of the awesome advantages i have, like perfect health, a good brain, great hair, solid work ethic, being born in a free 1st world country in such an amazing age, being educated, and having an awesome support system. All things considered, I am incredibly lucky, and pretty darn satisfied.

[meep]

The hardest thing for us were the capital costs involved in starting an adult life. In the last five years, we've moved three times for work, bought a car, filled an apartment with furniture, gotten married, stocked a pantry, stocked a kitchen, bought two professional wardrobes, and paid for my husband's immigration. Those are all fairly expensive things. Some of these we will never do again, or won't do again for many years. Now we're at the point of maintaining existing systems, so while we might replace a couple articles of clothing in a month, or buy a single piece of furniture or restock our spice cabinet, the cash outlays are not the same. It's actually been great; we have a lot more money to save now that we aren't being hit with a couple multi thousand dollar expenses per year. We put $50,000 into retirement last year and are on track to do it again.

Pretty much this.

[ArcadeStache]

For me the biggest challenge is all the extra expenses that come along with children, especially daycare and 529 contributions that reduce what I can put into retirement savings or toward paying down the mortgage faster. I also worry about our earnings losing a bit of ground to inflation over time. As my wife and I are government employees, we see about a 1% (me) or usually zero % (her) pay increase each year, whereas professionals in the private sector are seeing more generous annual raises. I am still very grateful and make a good living and the extra job security is worth a lot in its own right. But it will be nice when kids are out of daycare and (if) the economy really gets rolling and forces better annual raises.

[asiljoy]

The hardest thing for us were the capital costs involved in starting an adult life. In the last five years, we've moved three times for work, bought a car, filled an apartment with furniture, gotten married, stocked a pantry, stocked a kitchen, bought two professional wardrobes, and paid for my husband's immigration. Those are all fairly expensive things. Some of these we will never do again, or won't do again for many years. Now we're at the point of maintaining existing systems, so while we might replace a couple articles of clothing in a month, or buy a single piece of furniture or restock our spice cabinet, the cash outlays are not the same. It's actually been great; we have a lot more money to save now that we aren't being hit with a couple multi thousand dollar expenses per year. We put $50,000 into retirement last year and are on track to do it again.

Pretty much this.

This plus student loans. They were a necessary evil to get me my current level of income (really not debatable), but they're constantly throwing a wrench in long term planning/saving/investing/procreating questions. Like, should we save for a down payment and move out of our townhouse to pull out the equity while it's high to our forever house, or keep paying student loans off.