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I see several posts about money and the people on there have 10k, 50k even 100k, well I am a nanny(love my job) and FH is working in a restaurant and just started interning at his dream job in a recording studio. So, we do not really have anything in savings because it all goes towards the wedding. To make myself feel better who doesn't have thousands in savings, like me? :) and how much do you have that you feel is not a lot? We all have different means of living!
@Bao: Sounds like an awesome internship your FH has set up!
I'm with you. I'm only 23 and SO is 25, so we are just getting started. We each have about $3,000 in checking and $1,000 in joint savings. That's all we've got!
@brideatbeach: Thank you, its a great opportunity! It took 2 years to get to that point so hes excited. Whew, glad I'm not the only one we doesn't have a huge savings. I am 22 and FH is 26, so we are young too.
I have the same feelings.... we have no 20 k stash for a baby or an emergency! lol
Most of savings or spare money has gone to a debt free wedding. We have a savings pile, but its being saved for our property taxes due in April which is a good 4 grand.
we have equity in a home we bought in cash, but other than that, we are starting fresh after the wedding. No worries! We have like NO savings and just live within our means and do what we can. Should we have a baby or an emergency we have great families and are more than willing to re arrange priorities for proper savings etc.
my husband is 23 and i am 24. he works full time and a full time student double majoring in aerospace engineering and mechanical engineering minor in math im a culinary student, we thankfully had a debt free 5,000 wedding we paid for. we have a couple thousand in savings and in our checking but oh man did it break our hearts to see that 5,000 leave our savings:( but we are slowly buidling it back up!
I have almost 10k in my liquid savings right now and I do not feel like that is enough. My comfort level is 20-25k. I have other 'savings' in investments (that is not my IRA or 401k), but I consider that more as retirement fund also that I dont want to touch than useable savings. If we really got into a bind, I would definitely cash out on them though.
Wow, I'm starting to feel like crap when I realize I have nothing even in comparison with people who are broke... :/
I'd love to know what the people who have big stashes do for a living as well as if they have:
student loans
car paid in full/lease/or payments
and what their housing situation.
Maybe they ineherited money or have some awesome advice!!!
@brideatbeach: No its ok, FH and I literally have no savings. We pay our bills on time and in full but thats it. We have probably $30 in there right now. and I dont mean 30k. I was told if you have all your bills paid, you and your pets have food to eat and shelter your doing alright and be thankful your alive.
@Bao: Thanks. :) I have $9,000 in student loans, but as long as I continue to teach in-state, they will be forgiven within the next three years. So I basically consider us to be debt-free because I have a stable teaching job with which I plan on continuing even past the three-year mark.
@Eva Peron: I'm a high school teacher and my fiance is a University lecturer. We have no inheritance, and we both came into the relationship with about $20000 in student loans apiece. Luckily they are both interest-free gov't loans. We sat down when we were deciding to live together, and discussed:
1. Which debt we wanted to address first (credit card obviously, then student loans, then "family loans" - both of us had borrowed about $1000 from our parents to make rent at various times in our university careers)
2. How much we make in a 2-week period as a couple, and how much of that we could feasibly put directly into loan repayments. We went for a VERY high percentage of our income because we knew that we wanted to start saving for a down payment on a house the minute our loans were repayed, and the more the better
3. Where we could pick up extra cash - we both tutor students privately, i do textbook trade shows and he does extra marking. All the extra from our non-day jobs goes straight into "the fund" - either loan repayment or saving.
We've been on this rough plan for almost 2 1/2 years now, and we've payed off our credit cards, our student loans, we put $40000 down on a house and now have about $20000 saved up for our wedding. We dont' live like hermits, but we also don't spend money without consideration. The numbers we've accumulated look huge to me, in writing them down now, but for us it all came down to putting the money out of sight and out of mind so we weren't tempted to spend everything we were making. We both make a good salary but cost of living in Australia is incredibly high.
@ScarletBegonia: Haha I'm a teacher in the U.S. and you must make much better wages in Australia than you would here. I feel like all my money goes to basic survival, and SO and I are very frugal! Congratulations on handling your finances so well over the past few years; you must feel deservedly awesome about it. :)
Aside from about 6k in my CDs and IRA, I have nothing--my regular savings account is pretty bare these days. I keep telling myself that it'll come back, though! We manage to pay our bills on time and our only debt is student loans, so I think we're doing okay.
@brideatbeach: yeah in raw #s, teachers make a huge salary here (its one of the primary reasons my fiance and I have stayed in Australia - i make about twice what I would make in Canada (where I'm from originally)). Not mad at that, I love my fortnightly paycheques! But, I also paid about twice in rent what i paid in Canada for an equivalent place, and our 2 bedroom apt in Sydney cost twice as much as my sisters 3 bedroom detached house in Toronto. So, I think it kind of all comes out in the wash. Granted, the aussie dollar is really strong right now so thats helping too.
Nope sorry no inheritance here. I'm a nurse and make about 40k/yr and DH is in sales and makes about 65k/yr. We own our home and actually make almost double the mortgage payment monthly to have it paid off in the next 5 years; which we just built in 2009. My student loans are paid in full, hubs paid cash for cars and college and we paid cash for my new car so no payments there. And yes we have about 15 mths living expenses in savings nor including our 401k and IRAS. How did we get there? Being frugal and wise. DH was investing his money with his dad since high school and we live within our means. We had a small wedding bc a house and savings was more important to us. We have a finacial planner and a budget that we stick by. I wish people be a little less judgemental of those who have savings by saying well their parents must have gave them a loan or an they got an inheritance. Everything we have is through hard work and being conservative with our money.
I have about 16k in cash savings (although I'd be more comfortable with 20-25k). I'm a CPA but by NO means am I getting paid a wonderful wage. I'm only 26 and only a staff accountant. No student loans, no car loan, no credit card debt. I do have a mortgage though and no I didn't get a wonderful inheritance all the finances are all me. Parents did help some through college although I certainly paid my fair share. I guess my best advice is to pay cash for as much as possible. Since I'm an accountant stick to a budget and put as much in savings as I possible can. Just start somewhere even if its just a little bit.
Sorry forgot to add that's just me. SO isn't quite as well off. When married we will have to pay his student loans and car loan. Although that's all he has no credit card debt on his end either. But it's my personal goal to have his car fully paid for when we get married.
@MissGreen: Thanks for sharing!
I apologize if you thought the post was judgmental! I did say I was looking for advice., I'm actually just curious as to how you make it happen. We have a paid off house, cars, etc but Its still difficult to actually save big money. We are now Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman addicts and looking into all kinds of options as to investments, planning etc.
Just most or savings and frugality goes towards high property taxes and student loans.
@ScarletBegonia: Love your aggressive payoffs ! Thanks for the advice!
We have NO money in our savings account, and we have maybe $700 in chequing. And we have a $30K wedding to pay for in a year. We will see what happens. Will maybe have to ask daddy for money which I DONT want to do.
i enjoyed my 20's and had zero savings and a huge credit card debt to show for it - my husband on the other hand, old greek family where everyone saves/owns property so in the past few years ive paid off my credit card (before we married) and started saving and now i can breathe easier knowing that if i lose my job or get sick then i (we) will be ok financially.
i do admit to saying/joking that im going to retire the old fashion way, i married it and im inheriting but hubby says i have to work until i have a equal pension plan to him, which means im going to die at my desk while working im sure :)
I knew you weren't when I reread it, I think for me it comes from some judgemental family who think the DH parents gifted us. In the beginning it was rough bc we sacrificed alot to get my loans paid off: no dinners, fast food, movies etc. We lived like we had nothing. We still kinda live like that now. I'm not a spender so I don't shop much, we don't travel much bc we don't care too and we keep our bills low. I find ways to cut costs with our heat and electricity, coupon etc. 25% of my check automatically goes into savings every 2 weeks and so does DH. Any refunds or escrow refunds, gifts are put in there. Unexpected money as well. I'm not someone who looks at a tax refund as free money and what to buy with it, it either goes in savings or towards the mortgage principle. When we first started we did Dave Ramsey too and this has laid an excellent foundation for us.
@Eva Peron: I dont mean this to be rude at all, but how did you manage to save and pay off a house and cars, but have trouble saving a lot now?? I wiped out most my savings for the down payment and plan on buying my car in cash also, but if I didnt have a mortgage payment, I'd have over 2k more a month in savings and wouldnt have to think twice about anything we wanted to buy.
MY savings account has about $25 in it. Little A's college account has about 5k.
Thankfully Mr. A has a good chunk in savings plus his IRA, 401k and his incredibly smart investments.
I would be interested to hear everyone's approximate ages, too, because that definitely plays into how much you have.
I only have $1k in savings, with $80k in college debt. We have a $5k wedding budget and by pushing our wedding back one year was the best decision we ever made. We have a budget and spending system based on Dave Ramsey's plan. We are having 50ppl attend our wedding and we are confident we will not go over $5k (everyone is also coming from out-of-state). For example, I have seen a lot of dress' I would have loved to be able to wear on my day, but I am sticking to my budget. Yes, some ppl will say, 'you only get to wear it once and you can go outside of your budget', but I have learned you do not have to. As someone who grew up with nothing and now makes a comfortable living, I still stick to a budget because I know it's healthier to spend w/in your means. I could spend mucho $$ on a dress and etc., but with a little imagination and time, you can have a financially stress free wedding.
I only have $1k in savings, with $80k in college debt. We have a $5k wedding budget and by pushing our wedding back one year was the best decision we ever made. We have a budget and spending system based on Dave Ramsey's plan. We are having 50ppl attend our wedding and we are confident we will not go over $5k (everyone is also coming from out-of-state). For example, I have seen a lot of dress' I would have loved to be able to wear on my day, but I am sticking to my budget. Yes, some ppl will say, 'you only get to wear it once and you can go outside of your budget', but I have learned you do not have to. As someone who grew up with nothing and now makes a comfortable living, I still stick to a budget because I know it's healthier to spend w/in your means. I could spend mucho $$ on a dress and etc., but with a little imagination and time, you can have a financially stress free wedding.
I have 15k in student loans. I have paid off the 20k in Credit Card debt I had from raising little A on my own. There were def weeks that groceries and daycare went on the card.
@brideatbeach: i think it also depends on family. my husband owned his first home outright by the time he was 20yrs but that was with the help of his parents and he can retire now because of other investments. only last week my inlaws closed off a greek investment and gave each son $20K (im spending ours on some house repairs) and my mom has been just as generous to my siblings. if it wasnt for family (greek & italian) im sure we would be in a very different financial situation
Unfortunately we don't. At the beginning of the summer we had about $4000 together. But, since I'm a teacher, I haven't seen a paycheck for over a month and won't for another month :( Goodbye savings!
We are also trying to sell our condo and have had to fix a few things up, further eating away at it.
We have only about $1000 in RRSP's so far; we need to make it more of a priority for sure. Don't think that will happen until after the wedding though. We really want to go all out on the vacation part of it as much as we can!
ETA: I still have $6000 left in student loans, with another $10,000 or so to be added starting next year as I'm going to grad school. Yikes!!!
Sigh. That was a depressing post.
I'm with @brideatbeach. I have less than $1000 in saving right now, due to making a few wedding payments last week, and about $60 in checking. We were hoping to have a debt free wedding, but being that we owe about $5000, that isn't going to happen. FI is an IT specialist who makes roughly $40000 a year and supports me and my son. We barely make ends meet most months due to the cost of living where we live. We don't have car payments (but do have costly repair bills due to older cars), but are paying rent on a house, medical bills from my son's birth (which was 19 months ago, and on my current payment plan will continue for the next 11 years), and what is left of my student debt (~$3000). I am envious of people who think that their $16000 savings is SMALL. If that's not good enough for you, you can always hand it over! :)
ETA: I am 23 and FI is turning 30 this month. And little E is almost 2 
@MademoiselleL: hold the phone, you don't get paid over the summer as a teacher???
I'm in my early 30's. I'm a lawyer. Not high powered like you see on TV but I get paid okay. Actually, nope. Not even okay. I know someone who gets paid about 200k a year. No joke! I am NOWHERE near that. However, I've been working for years and years. I only paid down my school loans. I have no car, I hardly use credit cards and I don't shop as much as I used to. I have a nice cushion in savings. No 401k though and my IRA is pretty meagre. I am a bit okay with that fact that if something happens to me, DH and I will be okay for a bit. Oh, I forgot to add, we just had a wedding last month that was A LOT more than I thought we were going to spend. But we went into it promising not to go into debt and we didn't. It did bring down the savings significantly though :(
End of story, I'm in my early 30's, live in NYC, earn good money, have good savings. When I was 23, I ate cereal for dinner and lots of potatoes. I was THAT broke :(
It's not rude, I know it sounds whack! Trust me, our situation is multifaceted and involves several countries. I mentioned inheritance because that is/was an aspect of our life. Both my, and my FI's father passed away some time ago, and at a certain age, Argentina allowed him to collect money that was due to him for various reason. His mother had us buy a house as an investment with the money, which we rented out during college and still do. I bought my own car out of highschool from beign a frugal saver, but have since sold it and now we use one car.
My FI was also a semi-pro soccer player strait out of high school which was salaried so he bought his car with cash and put other parts towards upgrades on the house until he retired to due to injury.
Now we are just preparing for a modest wedding ( paid with our savings) and use the rest of our income goes towards property taxes,insurances ( property, health, car) bills etc. FI is in his last year of college ( delayed due to soccer). We also still rent out the house, but thats a fixed income which is soley for bills.
Once we are completely on our own and In our house (not collecting rent), I just don't see a big amount of savings being available. Luckily we are taking the time to learn and budget now, so we can make it happen ( savings, emergency, etc). We have a lot to learn since we have been helped a lot along the way and have not worked in jobs or lived pay check to pay check.
Hope that mumble jumble helps lol!
Oh and we are 23 and 24 ( will be 24 and 25 on month after wedding) . I have 20 K in college loans (which are being chipped away at) and he has none:)
Soooo I have less than a 1000 in my checking and no savings account to speak of at the moment. I recently split the cost of a new car with my parents so most of my money went to that expense. Luckily, I have no student loans and my parents are paying for the wedding...very old fashioned, I know. Plus, we are moving to St. Louis in 6 weeks and thats going to cost about 2000 (currently living in Burlington, VT) By the way, I am 23 and he is 25. In this economy, be glad you have anything in savings!
I'm a year from 40 and very embrassed by my lack of savings. I don't even have balls enough share the amount, its really pathetic how my financial situaiton right now. Last year I did exhaust some savings because I was unemployed - used it to keep on top of some bills and used some to help with some funeral expenses for my mom.
However, the years leading up to that is what got me in this mess. I have always known better and should've been more aggressive with saving. My primary mistake is that I relied on CCs to much and gave into my implusive spending habits. My main soft spot is travel. If I wanted to go on trip, it got booked, never mind if I had to struggle the months after to make ends meet. (I have great memories though LOL). I have school loans (20K) and three credit cards to payoff. Thank God my FH is excellent with money, that man can make $20 last a week. We're struggling for now but with his help and increased employment prospects I hope to turn this around in the coming years.
Oh, girl, please! We have only about $4K in savings, I have a ton of student loan debt (around 20K), credit cards to pay off, two car loans, and for all these reasons we are living in my parent's in-law apartment!
I'm only 23, he's 26. We're just starting out and working on it!
@ScarletBegonia: Nope!! I wish!
Our salary is ten months. We can choose to spread it out over the entire year, but I can't afford to do it. It would make my paycheques during the year too small. I just try and save for my mortgage on my own.
That's why it kinda bothers me when people say we get so many holidays. Yes, true, I'm not working, but it's not like I'm getting paid either! A lot of people don't know that :)
My savings is around $0- which is totally my fault- I could really eat in more often, as it would help my waist and my wallet. My SO has no debt, but no savings, he just started a 401k and is still in college- so I'm not too worried about it. The good news is: I've been working at my job for just three years making an admin salary- and I have $12,000 in my 401k- so it really doesn't take much time to make some progress. I haven't saved any for liquid savings, which isn't very responsible of me- but I'm paying down my student loans, current Grad school tuition and a wedding... so I don't feel too bad as I think all debts ($35,000 in all) will be paid off in a few years. If a terrible emergency befalls me, I have SO to lean on. We are both 27 and late bloomers as college grads.
I work at a financial firm so a few tips from my advisor:
Student loan debt isn't the worst thing as long as you pay your high rates down first.
College savings accounts for your kids are great, but not before you have a nest egg because your kids can always borrow for college or get a scholarship. There is no loan for retirement. Parents, remember to pay yourself first, even though it's counter-intuitive.
Advice from my finacial advisor that I don't always agree with but it does ring true for my current situation and for all those that loss their @ss in the housing market: renting is power. Owning a home is a lifestyle, not (usually) an investment. Bottom line: don't sweat it if you're still renting.
I am 31 and DH is 28. Mind you though I didn't graduate college till 26 and started out alot less salary wise than I am now.
lol, a lot of you think low thousands is not a lot of savings, to me thats A LOT. We literally have under $100, thats embarassing. We plan on saving any money we get from the wedding though so that should help. We will be going into the wedding debt free, my dad gave us a $4,500 budget and with that we got venue, DJ, dress, photographer and caterer. FH and I have to pay limo, and small odds and ends. So our goal for after the wedding is to SAVE SAVE SAVE. We already live frugal but do enjoy going to a movie or dinner once in a while.
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