Let's talk money. Budgets. Life.

[Rich M]

Not read any other responses:

You cant budget what you dont have. Saving $x$ a week does not equal making more $ per week. The best $50k budget can not equal the savings potential from $100k. Do you need a better job?

Otherwise max out 401k & Roth IRA and colkege fund as able.

You can take the money you might spend on vacations and save it, then go camping. Buy a reasonable house and or car when the time comes. Dont incur unnecessary debt. Only go out to eat on special occaisions kind of stuff.

We keep a loose budget and my wife went back to work once we realized how much just the medical ins was. So we saved that and are getting her income to help go towards retirement.

This bout of inflation hasnt helped many folks. No one is complaining and that bothers me.

 

[Marble]

Stay out of debt. If you have debt of any kind, besides a home, do whatever you can and pay it off.

Live within a budget

Invest 15% of your income



Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[insanelupus]

A budget is great and very helpful, if you adhere to it.

For us, uncontrolled spending was an issue. Better to say, untracked spending.

Biggest help for us:

1. Construct an accurate budget.
2. Bring ALL credit card balances to zero.
3. All bills paid ahead of time (OCT monthlies paid for in SEP).
4. PROBABLY THE BIGGEST CHANGE WE MADE WITH THE MOST EFFECT, TREAT ALL CREDIT CARD PURCHASES LIKE A DEBIT CARD AND WRITE OUT EVERY CHARGE FROM THE CHECKBOOK IMMEDIATELY.
5. All online, non-emergency purchases (Amazon, for instance) placed in the cart with a 24 hour "cooling off" period before purchased. Really cuts down on impulse spending.

Of all these, step 4 was the biggest. When every purchase takes the bottom line lower, it seems we evaluate it's value more carefully.

Good luck.

 

[roadrunner]

FYI - debt isn't a bad thing if done for the right reasons. That doesn't mean a primary residence.

Debt incurred to set you up for life is good, especially when someone else pays it back for you.

A 401K merely chains you to working for someone else through the best years of your life.

Remember, we're middle aged at the age of 40 - 45...

 

[Ross]

Have a budget and a plan but also be flexible. We are not widgets and things happen. Good luck

 

[Gutshot007]

Right now unless someone gets a big fat raise . This inflation is making it difficult for folks to keep a budget . I have read credit care debt is at a all time high as people try to maintain their current standard of living without the inrease in income . Your dollar certainly doesnt go as far as it used to. Making $300,000 a year is the new $100,000 . Good luck and try to stay out of debt.

 

[TN2shot07]

Right now unless someone gets a big fat raise . This inflation is making it difficult for folks to keep a budget . I have read credit care debt is at an all time high as people try to maintain their current standard of living without the inrease in income . Your dollar certainly doesnt go as far as it used to. Making $300,000 a year is the new $100,000 . Good luck and try to stay out of debt.

You solved the riddle, if you can’t maintain your standard of living on your income one of the two needs to change.

 

[TN2shot07]

A budget is great and very helpful, if you adhere to it.

For us, uncontrolled spending was an issue. Better to say, untracked spending.

Biggest help for us:

1. Construct an accurate budget.
2. Bring ALL credit card balances to zero.
3. All bills paid ahead of time (OCT monthlies paid for in SEP).
4. PROBABLY THE BIGGEST CHANGE WE MADE WITH THE MOST EFFECT, TREAT ALL CREDIT CARD PURCHASES LIKE A DEBIT CARD AND WRITE OUT EVERY CHARGE FROM THE CHECKBOOK IMMEDIATELY.
5. All online, non-emergency purchases (Amazon, for instance) placed in the cart with a 24 hour "cooling off" period before purchased. Really cuts down on impulse spending.

Of all these, step 4 was the biggest. When every purchase takes the bottom line lower, it seems we evaluate it's value more carefully.

Good luck.

Curious - what’s the advantage of paying bills a month ahead? I’ve always leaned I’d rather hold my cash then let somebody else for free?

 

[Yoder]

My first marriage was a financial disaster. We were extremely young and stupid. I always had two newer cars and a truck. Reasonable house but things I couldn't really afford like a camper, new hot tub, trip to Disney World. We always had credit card debt, 401k loans and were refinancing the house to take out more money. I think my ex wife spent money faster than if we would have thrown it on a fire. If the real estate market didn't go up so much, I absolutely would have gone bankrupt. After my divorce I was upside down $100k in my house that needed a bunch of work, had a $50k 401k loan to pay back and my ex got the rest of it. I earned every bit of that mess. Now I'm almost debt free. I started listening to Dave Ramsey. I didn't follow his plan completely but I used a lot of his ideas and it helped. I only buy cars I can pay off in three years. I use credit cards strictly for rewards points and pay them off immediately. Dave wouldn't recommend either of those two things but I've gotten a lot of free hotel stays and flights using card points. My money goes to extra mortgage payments and retirement savings first. All vacations and toys are paid for with cash or it doesn't happen. Reading some of your posts makes me realize I really need to budget better. I know I still waste money on stupid little things. At least I have it now but I could do a lot better.

 

[Yoder]

Right now unless someone gets a big fat raise . This inflation is making it difficult for folks to keep a budget . I have read credit care debt is at a all time high as people try to maintain their current standard of living without the inrease in income . Your dollar certainly doesnt go as far as it used to. Making $300,000 a year is the new $100,000 . Good luck and try to stay out of debt.

I know inflation is a problem but I don't see it that way. I see people buying things they can't afford and blaming inflation. A new truck is not worth $50k let alone $100k. There is no possible way they actually cost that much to make and the value is not there. People still buy them. I was just in Bozeman this summer. A one bedroom condo was selling for $450k. What insane person thinks that is a good purchase? I guarantee the people buying them aren't making $500k/year. Most people in this country behave like Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka. "I want it now!!" Bozeman is my dream so I'm entitled to live there. It's only $X/month for 100 years so I can afford it. This is not sustainable. I really think we are going to see a financial collapse very soon.

 

[insanelupus]

Curious - what’s the advantage of paying bills a month ahead? I’ve always leaned I’d rather hold my cash then let somebody else for free?

That's what worked for us. The ROI for me is a little better quality of sleep knowing that if I have an income issue, I've got basically s 30- day headstart/buffer between now and the need for a solution.

It also gives breathing room for my wife to contend with immediate issues if something catastrophic happened to me.

If one were looking solely at the mathematics of that equation, it may not add up. I've learned, for us, finances involve habits, stress, and life play which additional parts to finances, in addition to the math.

 

[woods89]

My wife and I have 4 children, and she's a stay at home mom. So 1 income.

Lots of good advice here. One thing I'd add, is don't slack off on building what Cal Newport calls career capital. Continue to think and explore what makes you more valuable in your employment, whatever that is. These additional skills can be traded for both more income and more flexibility. I'm self employed, but this absolutely translates to employees as well. Either your current employer/customers will notice or another employer/customer will. I have seen this play out in person. As someone else said, saving is great, but it's hard to beat being able to increase income.

The "cooling off period" that someone else suggested is a really good idea. Put that thing in the Amazon cart and give it some time. 24 hours is good, a week is better.

A quote I've heard is that " Most Americans are only 1 new toy away from happiness." Think about that for a bit. Learning to be happy with what you have is a huge asset.

 

[SDHNTR]

I suggest you meet with financial planner and craft a formalized, written plan. This will tell you exactly how much you need to save each year and what to do with the savings. Then…

DO NOT do as the vast majority of Americans do:

1. Bring in your income each month
2. Meet your budgetary/lifestyle demands
3. If there’s anything left, then save. (News flash, there will never anything left to save)


Instead, to ensure success:

1. Bring in your income each month
2. Save the required amount as identified in your financial plan
3. Whatever is left dictates your lifestyle/budget/standard of living

Getting this order wrong is why so many Boomers are broke today. Pensions disappeared and Boomers failed to pay attention. They went about their lives like some Secret Santa was going to magically care for them. Now we are stuck with bankrupt Gov entitlement programs and too many piglets scrambling for too few teats.

No one else is going to care for you. Save first and save often!

 

[Hnthrdr]

Joined the military right out of high school. After my tour I worked a few odd jobs. Realized I could not live a good life. I chose a career that was rewarding, offered 25 years and out at 75% oh my highest paid year. Met my wife and knew she had potential, she did not disappoint.
Retired at 49, put my 3 kids through college, been enjoying every day.

Just spent 23 days in Idaho chasing bulls DIY style. Wife drove out w me, spent 9 days and flew home.

My career choice was not for everyone.

You have to be happy and not afraid of the unknown.

We live on 298 acers, built a new home 18 years ago. Both have Diesel trucks for play. And Honda accords of daily drivers.

Will be debt free in 14 months.

Life is short and we don’t get to do this again.

What career did you choose?

 

[BadEarth]

Within your overall budget, Set up an allowance for you and your wife. Each its own account only you have access to and allot a certain amount each pay period. It’s a good way to not point fingers at each other over things you buy for yourself.

 

[Fullfan]

What career did you choose?

I spent 25 years as a State Trooper.

 

[tony]

Sorry can’t help ya. Never had to budget anything in my life. If we want something we just buy it. Even when our 3 kids were growing up. Retired at 49 and living my dream.

Good luck w the decisions you have to make. Kids always come first.

I’m similar, though I still work. No budget, buy what I want.

Never married, one child. Just always never spent more than I made.
Bought the $100,000 house that was livable and learned how to do things to it instead of the the $300,000 fancy house to wow people.
Have had 2 brand new vehicles in my 55 years. Paid them off and keep anything I own 10 years at least.
Cut out credit cards, or limit the use.
Hard to tell people what they should do to save money, as most don’t listen or you never get the full story.
I work with a young nurse, is broke middle of the first week after Friday pay day.

All I can say is to you young guys is live by line 1, except don’t have kids

OP download “mint“ for your phone, iPad whatever you have. It’s free, pretty cool charts, graphs of where your money goes after you load up your accounts and bills.

I use it to look at my bank accounts, investments, etc.
You can build budgets with it.

 

[SloppyJ]

Our budget started when we had our first. We were 28yrs old. Daycare at 1200/mo really sucks. We made it through that just fine and got him into kindergarten and now we have another little 2mo old boy. Definitely blessed in that regard although I have to remind myself sometimes.

She's a teacher and I'm an engineer. I make the majority of the income but it doesn't matter. We have fallen off our budget a bit since daycare ended but we are back on board since we just started daycare again.... for 5 more years.

The app/website YNAB is what I prefer to use. It links to you bank account and you assign any spent money to specific line items. Budget in for savings, property taxes, etc.. it's a really great tool and once you set it up it really works.

 

[fngTony]

I’m similar, though I still work. No budget, buy what I want.

Never married, one child. Just always never spent more than I made.
Bought the $100,000 house that was livable and learned how to do things to it instead of the the $300,000 fancy house to wow people.
Have had 2 brand new vehicles in my 55 years. Paid them off and keep anything I own 10 years at least.
Cut out credit cards, or limit the use.
Hard to tell people what they should do to save money, as most don’t listen or you never get the full story.
I work with a young nurse, is broke middle of the first week after Friday pay day.

All I can say is to you young guys is live by line 1, except don’t have kids

OP download “mint“ for your phone, iPad whatever you have. It’s free, pretty cool charts, graphs of where your money goes after you load up your accounts and bills.

I use it to look at my bank accounts, investments, etc.
You can build budgets with it.

Has home values outpaced income your area since buying your house?

 

[Hnthrdr]

I spent 25 years as a State Trooper.

Nice, sounds like you did it right, currently 5 years deep as a fireman post military… definitely not banking on a pension but it’s a good pension and I enjoy my career even with weird hours