not that hard but unfortunately it takes discipline and budgeting. Something a lot of people in this thread probably struggle with. If in your wildest dreams you can't imagine saving up 30k. You probably shouldn't buy a 30k car..
Average auto loan now over $30k
- Thread starter Goothrey
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not that hard but unfortunately it takes discipline and budgeting. Something a lot of people in this thread probably struggle with. If in your wildest dreams you can't imagine saving up 30k. You probably shouldn't buy a 30k car..
exactly what I'm talking about. It's not reality. If it was, only the wealthy (or upper middle class) could ever retire.
They may not be able to travel the world, or live in a luxurious house, or drive the newest car but they can damn well retire with well below that level of savings. I know they can, because I've seen it and continue to see it. I'm pretty sure my grandparents don't have 100k to their name (or close to it) but between my gpa's military pension and SS, they get along just fine, with even some leftover money to blow at the casino.
Maybe your parents are richer than mine, I don't know, but I'm fairly confident neither of them will get to that 1 million mark, and guess what...they'll both retire (assuming they don't drop dead before getting there of course)
lol, if you say so. median income in this country is 52k supporting 3 people. So over 10% of your yearly before tax income would go to retirement.
Good luck with that.
I guess I live in a bubble world where saving 10% doesn't seem that much for such an important part of my life. I saved 7% when I made $20k my first year out of college. Employer matched 3.5%. I wonder how many of these people would think twice about buying a car that takes 10% of their salary instead.
$5500 a year in retirement savings shouldn't be that tough if you have a job where you want to buy new cars. That's $458.33 a month or a $27.5K car every 5 years at 0% financing.
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is this where I'm supposed to explain to you the obvious point about how 10% to someone making 50k is a lot harder on them financially than 10% for someone making 100k?
I'm glad you brought up your experience, though I have a feeling it's been a few years so that 20k might be underselling it by today's dollars. Did you pay rent? car insurance? gas? food? cell phone? have to support any children?
Annual Income = $52,000
Effective Tax Rate (Assuming no deductions) = 17%
Post-Tax Income = $43,160
Post-Tax Monthly Income = $43,160/12 = $3600
Monthly Expenses:
Mortgage/Ins./Taxes = $900 (25% of income)
Health Insurance = $300
Utilities = $150
Internet = $50
Cell Phones = $150
Groceries = $600
Retirement Savings = $5500/12 = $460 per month
Total Month Expenses = $2600
Total Remaining = $3600 - $2600 = $1000
That assumes no employer contributions and no tax exemptions and still leaves you an extra $1000 per month. What am I missing?
That's not even remotely difficult. Although it probably would be if one were making 52k and had a $458.33/month car payment.
Car Payment = $500
Wife shopping at Mall = $700
Starbucks = $300
Cigarettes = $150
Sweet Cable Package = $100
I wasn't advocating spending savings on a car. I was actually making the point that the exact opposite is an option if you're talking about zero interest loans. I ended by saying a straight "you should do this and only this" approach is also incorrect.
The person I was replying to was saying to pay cash for the car (though he mentioned nothing about using an emergency fund to do it). Not me.
it assumes a hell of a lot of tax exemptions because ss and medicare taxes alone are 15%
$150 for utilities? where are you living because I want your house.
health insurance $300 a month? again, where are you getting your insurance, I want some of that.
it's also amazing these people get to their jobs without a car (no insurance, registration, payments, or gas listed)
All of that, and it's probably possible for someone right at the 50% area to make it work, so long as they never take a vacation and never have uncovered medical bills.
Who can you get a sweet cable package from for $100 per month? No way that includes HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz, and the sports package.
Guys, Clark is an Iowa fan who lives in Ottumwa....let's stop arguing with him, because obvs he lives in a trailer park and his Meth customers don't match 401k.
I live in a 1700 sq ft house in south Minneapolis. I pay, on average, about $160/month for utilities. My house is 70 years old, mind you, so it's not exactly efficient at retaining heat/cold.
I actually pay $200/month for insurance for me and my family (3 total people). So I was being conservative in my estimation with $300.
I did forget gas, so that probably takes another $150 out the $1000 left over. If we add an additional $50/month for car insurance and $20/month for registration, that leaves us with: $1000 - $150 - $50 - $20 = $780 that would be there to cover all the other things in life like medical bills, kids clothes, eating out, etc.
lol, I'm fairly lucky in that I will hopefully never again know what it's really like to not have money. That said, I do consider myself lucky that I happen to have have experienced not having money when i was a child so I have some idea of what it's like. It appears that some of the people in this thread do not have that experience
there is honestly no way your health insurance costs that little without an employer pitching in or your deductible being sky high (or you having the greatest insurance plan i've ever seen)
the national average cost in 2014 was $346/month for single coverage and $667/month for family coverage
And I find it really hard to believe your utilities are that low but it's possible you're one of those people who keep their house 80 degrees in the summer and 60 degrees in the winter(gas, electric, water, and sewer, we'll just assume these people don't even own a tv)
you never did explain your tax rate. Does that include ss and medicare taxes?