[jimmydean]

I'm broke, I've been broke, and I will remain broke. My ex-wife has been a big part of that because California courts like to "stick it to the man" and it seems I am "the man" in that statement. If I make more, she gets more, for at least 8 more years or so it seems.

I have a little savings, but on average, I would be sunk if I quit work tomorrow. My wife doesn't work and my bills are nearly what I make. I would like to change that as much as possible over the next few years, but my ex-wife was the single largest mistake I have made and will have to live with that.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Sheesh, we just went to Bermuda for 9 days. It's not like we sit at home and huddle around a pile of money, counting and re-counting it.

9 days? That's squat, Jack. Save for about a year and go to Europe for the summer.

Save for about 6 months and take the summer off to hike the Colorado Trail.

Save for a year and then take the winter off to ski.

That's how I chose to spend my 20's. I'm responsible *now* but I'm old.

 

[DRB]

9 days? That's squat, Jack. Save for about a year and go to Europe for the summer.

Save for about 6 months and take the summer off to hike the Colorado Trail.

Save for a year and then take the winter off to ski.

That's how I chose to spend my 20's. I'm responsible *now* but I'm old.

......and stink of hippy.

 

[binary visions]

Thanks, Dad

Kinda working on spending the next few years getting my degree, though.

 

[ChuMaiWang]

I was raised to always have at leaste 3 months worth of bills / mortgage in my account on top of my savings.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Thanks, Dad

Kinda working on spending the next few years getting my degree, though.

Whatever you do, don't listen to your dad. They usually try to push responsibility, thriftiness, blah blah blah. There's plenty of time for all that crap. And your 20's ain't it.

 

[spincrazy]

I voted for less than 2, although I could probably go longer. Problem is that as a freelancer I'm always owed a lot of money. If all were to come in today I'd have enough to live comfortably for most of a year. Of course, I'm essentially working two lucrative jobs at the moment.... (full time at an ad agency and full time with my own bizness. I plan to have 50k+ in savings by this time next year). btw, 34, DINK ((although she makes less than half of what my full-time job brings in))

 

[bluebug32]

Wow, so you did learn something from that 12 step program.

Yeah,man. By step 6 I was already taking notes

 

[bluebug32]

I voted for less than 2, although I could probably go longer. Problem is that as a freelancer I'm always owed a lot of money. If all were to come in today I'd have enough to live comfortably for most of a year. Of course, I'm essentially working two lucrative jobs at the moment.... (full time at an ad agency and full time with my own bizness. I plan to have 50k+ in savings by this time next year). btw, 34, DINK ((although she makes less than half of what my full-time job brings in))

I stopped freelancing because it didn't pay off much when I gave a third of it to the gov't

 

[SkaredShtles]

......and stink of hippy.

I once went 11 days without a shower on the CT. I'll bet I *did* stink like a hippy then.

 

[spincrazy]

I stopped freelancing because it didn't pay off much when I gave a third of it to the gov't

you need a better accountant or more write offs.

 

[bluebug32]

you need a better accountant or more write offs.

The problem is that I don't really own anything (no mortgage, no loans etc.) so i don't have enough for write-offs. Hopefully someday.

 

[Total Heckler]

I have a larger cushion than any of my friends that are my age (21).

 

[Qman]

I didn't save anything when I was 24 bcz I didn't have anything to save. Student loans looming, rent, food, etc.
It was pretty bleak though I had a summer job in Alaska that paid well, that was just summers so I was always rich in the fall. Saving money wasn't a luxury I could afford however.

As you say, everyone's situation is different.

This from my mortgage broker (ignore the subtle sales pitches):

1) Basic emergency fund -- $2,000-$4,000 in a savings account. Roof leaks, brakes go out, etc. You don’t have to use a credit card. If we do a refy, you will get your escrow balance back from the old lender 2-3 weeks after closing (usually $1,000-$3,000), plus you will “skip” one month’s mortgage payment, and this money can then go towards your emergency fund, if you don’t already have one.



2) No non-mortgage debt -- Mortgage debt is tax deductible and is based on an appreciating asset (your home). This is unlike a car loan, which is not tax deductible, and your car is a depreciating asset. As I said last month, with the appreciating value of your house, you should have NO non-mortgage debt. The big temptation for many of my clients (especially those with great credit scores) is to have a car loan “because the rate is so low – 1.7% or even 0%”. It makes more sense to roll this car debt into a tax deductible mortgage and invest the savings.



3) I want all of my clients to work towards having one year of their combined salary or net income in non-retirement investments (i.e. mutual funds). -- The reason I want non-retirement investments is that I assume that my clients already have a 401K or SEP IRA at work, which they are contributing to. That is important because it is pre-tax money and is often matched by their employer. The problem I see with many of my clients is that their 401K or SEP IRA is the extent of their investments. What I want my clients to do, in addition to their 401K or SEP IRA, is to take the same amount they are currently paying on bad debt (i.e. car payments, etc.) and put that money into three good long-term mutual funds which, hopefully, will go up 8-10% in the long-term. If they save $450 a month, in 10 years that could be worth about $120,000!! All by making the exact same payment that they were previously making on their bad debt!



4) The final priority is to pay down your mortgage balance -- But you should not even think about this until the other three priorities are met, and then it becomes a function of your over-all diversification and the relative interest rate on your mortgage vs. your investment return.

 

[blue]

Qman, tell me how to race, make 800$ a month, and be in college full time.

*waits for pile of cash to accumulate*

Edit: Wow, I just did the math and I should bank about $300 a month.

So why am I $500 in debt to my girlfriend?

 

[Changleen]

At 24 I was still busy getting INTO debt, not saving $$.

 

[Changleen]

DRB seems rather friendly with this Jenny chick.. 'Financial advisor' - Is that what they're calling it these days?

 

[Qman]

Qman, tell me how to race, make 800$ a month, and be in college full time.

*waits for pile of cash to accumulate*

Edit: Wow, I just did the math and I should bank about $300 a month.

So why am I $500 in debt to my girlfriend?

No problem....though, this depends on your academic ability...and your race schedule.
Dump television, dump ridemonkey and any other distraction. Focus.
Make sure you're able to claim yourself as an independent for tax purposes then apply for financial aid.
If it's still the same, you need to take at least 12 credits in school to keep from having to pay back loans. 12 credits is usually about 3 classes. Make sure you balance easy and hard classes. Take one quarter off a year if you need to (say, your busiest one as far as racing goes). I think this also meets the loan rules.
You just have to manage a C average to keep your financial aid status. As long as you're young, a modest amount of student loan debt isn't the end of the world. To put it into perspective, a friend I went to school with just pushed "reset" and decided to become a dentist. He had to redo his entire undergrad and then dental school. 7 years total of schooling above and beyond the 9 it took him for his first undergrad. He's 39. When he's done with dental school, he'll owe ~$250K in loans. But he might be making that much per year within 5 years. It's all relative.
I had another friend in college that was training for the Olympics and managed. Sure it took him the better part of a decade and a half to get a mechanical engineering degree but he went to 3 Olympics in a row for whitewater kayaking and you can't put a price on that experience.

As for being in debt to your girlfriend, I don't know what to tell you. $500 isn't a lot of money these days so maybe you're just not cutting it as a boyfriend or spending it on sh|t she thinks is worthless.
My girlfriend in college was always buying my groceries and paying my utilities when I was short....er....I mean her dad was paying...and never asked for any of the $$ back.

**Edit** Keep in mind that bs from my mortgage broker is meant for people that own at least one house and probably have a car, and have something they call a 'career'. As a student, you generally don't have or need any of that and an education is more important than managing short term debt so I'd say none of that applies to you. Throw it on the back burner for when you're doing something you enjoy that pays you enough to have the freedom you want though.

 

[skinny mike]

ive got $10 to my name right now. i need to start saving money instead of blowing it all on bike parts. working at a shop doesnt help much either.

 

[bluebug32]

DRB seems rather friendly with this Jenny chick.. 'Financial advisor' - Is that what they're calling it these days?

 

[Toshi]

At 24 I was still busy getting INTO debt, not saving $$.

but i have health insurance and disability insurance (as in if i get disabled then my student loans go *poof*)

 

[geargrrl]

my house will be paid off in two years, and the house is worth 2.25X more than we paid for it.

gg

 

[Kornphlake]

I'm a couple years older than 24 but not by much, I've got 2 kids and one of about a dozen stay at home wives in the county. We bank nothing for more than 1 week at a time. To be honest I only spend money the first 15 days of the month the last two paychecks are spent on rent... That's San Diego for you, now if my parents gave us free daycare (they can't, they live over 3 hours away) and my wife worked, we could bank 100% of her paycheck which would only be around 30% of our total income if that but still it would be something.

I've got some money in mutal funds from an inheritance that I've been holding on to hoping that some day I can find a job somewhere else and use that money for a down payment. Unfortunately I know that unless I can move within the next 6 months to 1 year it's more than likely going to go toward something like unexpected medical bills or both of our crappy cars are going to blow a head gasket and we'll have to buy something else.

 

[Kornphlake]

I feel compelled to add that I get 100% of my federal income taxes back and about 95% of my state income taxes, in fact last year I ended up getting about $300 back from the federal government in addition to what I paid without itemizing my deductions. I don't understand how people think that spending more money for the writeoff is better than spending less, at least in my situation I'm already getting the maximum refund possible, spending more money on a mortgage just means I have less money in my pocket. I'd have be single without dependants for it to be financially beneficial to own a home or earn a lot more than 60k. Although in Texas I could own a nice 4 br home for less than half what I'm paying in rent.

 

[blue]

No problem....though, this depends on your academic ability...and your race schedule.
Dump television, dump ridemonkey and any other distraction. Focus.
Make sure you're able to claim yourself as an independent for tax purposes then apply for financial aid.
If it's still the same, you need to take at least 12 credits in school to keep from having to pay back loans. 12 credits is usually about 3 classes. Make sure you balance easy and hard classes. Take one quarter off a year if you need to (say, your busiest one as far as racing goes). I think this also meets the loan rules.
You just have to manage a C average to keep your financial aid status. As long as you're young, a modest amount of student loan debt isn't the end of the world. To put it into perspective, a friend I went to school with just pushed "reset" and decided to become a dentist. He had to redo his entire undergrad and then dental school. 7 years total of schooling above and beyond the 9 it took him for his first undergrad. He's 39. When he's done with dental school, he'll owe ~$250K in loans. But he might be making that much per year within 5 years. It's all relative.
I had another friend in college that was training for the Olympics and managed. Sure it took him the better part of a decade and a half to get a mechanical engineering degree but he went to 3 Olympics in a row for whitewater kayaking and you can't put a price on that experience.

As for being in debt to your girlfriend, I don't know what to tell you. $500 isn't a lot of money these days so maybe you're just not cutting it as a boyfriend or spending it on sh|t she thinks is worthless.
My girlfriend in college was always buying my groceries and paying my utilities when I was short....er....I mean her dad was paying...and never asked for any of the $$ back.

I have no problem in the academic arena, it's that I just don't seem to have the funds to live, ride, and go to school, as well as lack time when school is in session to make an attempt at training for anything. I'd really like to seriously get back into racing, be it DH or XC, but it's so damned expensive and time consuming...

Independent status and financial aid is ridiculously stupid. It has nearly nothing to do with what the taxes say. Last time I applied, to be considered independent from your parents, you had to be at least 23, in the military, or married...I think. My parents aren't poor, so I get the shaft (meaning I get $2600 a year in Federal loans) when the fin. aid comes around. My girlfriend got "lucky"...her deadbeat of a father is poor, hence, she's now loaded. She's a tightwad, and wants a road bike. So she wants her money back. Understandable...she supported me for a month when I didn't have a job, and she's underwritted many a bike-related purchase.

I've had a tough time convincing my parents to co-sign on any private student loands, even though the terms are the same as a Federal Stafford loan (but they don't have to sign for one of those). My tuition isn't obscene ($5k a year, parents pay half), but when you make nearly nothing it gets tough, especially considering I will be working far less come fall. I could really use an extra couple grand on top of the Stafford loan so I wouldn't be so stressed about money crap all the time, or if I'll be able to fix my bike/car when it breaks.

I have yet to resort to living on Nattie Light and ramen, but I fear this fall will test me.

 

[DHS]

wheres the, i'm poor option?

 

[fluff]

If you can bank more without major sacrifice, then I'd say do it. I wish I'd invested more when I was younger.

 

[DaveW]

Savings??

lol mortgage takes all my damm money! :mumble:

 

[fluff]

After 13 years of marriage (that would be as of today thank you very much) the worst fights we have ever had were about money. Jenny pretty much ended that.

Happy anniversary, keep up the good work.

 

[Anders]

yep im currently banking about 50% per check. once im on my own, i never want to live per check

 

[Qman]

I have no problem in the academic arena, it's that I just don't seem to have the funds to live, ride, and go to school, as well as lack time when school is in session to make an attempt at training for anything. I'd really like to seriously get back into racing, be it DH or XC, but it's so damned expensive and time consuming...

Independent status and financial aid is ridiculously stupid. It has nearly nothing to do with what the taxes say. Last time I applied, to be considered independent from your parents, you had to be at least 23, in the military, or married...I think. My parents aren't poor, so I get the shaft (meaning I get $2600 a year in Federal loans) when the fin. aid comes around. My girlfriend got "lucky"...her deadbeat of a father is poor, hence, she's now loaded. She's a tightwad, and wants a road bike. So she wants her money back. Understandable...she supported me for a month when I didn't have a job, and she's underwritted many a bike-related purchase.

I've had a tough time convincing my parents to co-sign on any private student loands, even though the terms are the same as a Federal Stafford loan (but they don't have to sign for one of those). My tuition isn't obscene ($5k a year, parents pay half), but when you make nearly nothing it gets tough, especially considering I will be working far less come fall. I could really use an extra couple grand on top of the Stafford loan so I wouldn't be so stressed about money crap all the time, or if I'll be able to fix my bike/car when it breaks.

I have yet to resort to living on Nattie Light and ramen, but I fear this fall will test me.

I've heard they closed the loopholes on the independent status thing and so it's harder to get aid these days. If you can't hide the fact that your folks are paying half then financial aid will never work in your favor.
You're also looking at much higher tuition that I was. I graduated owing only ~$9k in loans.

It sounds like you have very generous parents. Mine were generous but gave me nothing for school. I know that after watching my friend train for the Olympics and go to school, it is possible. It takes an extreme amount of dedication and discipline but it is possible. We never saw him unless he was studying for a final or we got up early enough to go train with him. Homeboy was up at 4 or 5 every day so he could train and still make an 8:00 class.
He never hung out in the evenings and was always in bed while we were out being idiots. One thing to keep in mind was that this was before there was the internet. All of his contact with his trainer was by phone and snail mail. The only thing we used computers for was school work and games.
It's a great tool but I can see it'd also be a huge distraction if you're trying to go to school.
If your parents won't cosign a loan for you, see if they'll loan you the money themselves.
Also, consolidate. Live as close to the places you need to be for everything to minimize your commute. Maybe your ride to work or school is part of your training. I was spoiled at wwu. Excellent trails just minutes from the door, now there's Whistler the shore and Squamish a couple hours away, Mt. Baker is an hour away and you can see it from campus. The city and the harbor are just down the hill from campus so most jobs are fairly close and just about every off campus place to live requires a ride up the hill to school. Unfortunately people have figured out how great it is so it has some of the fastest growing housing prices in the country.

 

[BurlyShirley]

A quick way to get independent status is to join the military.

 

[SkaredShtles]

I have no problem in the academic arena, it's that I just don't seem to have the funds to live, ride, and go to school<snip a whole bunch of whining>

I have yet to resort to living on Nattie Light and ramen, but I fear this fall will test me.

Suck it up, Princess!

 

[blue]

Live as close to the places you need to be for everything to minimize your commute. Maybe your ride to work or school is part of your training.

I ride to school/work, or ride the train (free for students)...everything's too close to drive. I'm not at a dearth for trails...

I'm currently sitting at work doing nothing.

SS, wanna loan me $5k? I'd stop whining...

 

[SkaredShtles]

<snip>

SS, wanna loan me $5k? I'd stop whining...

No. I made it through Uni by scraping by and getting it done in 4 years. Although that "big" scholarship I got my senior year was nice.

I used the extra money to buy my first mt bike.

 

[BurlyShirley]

Im still working my way into debt w/ student loans. I work full time, go to school full time AND get money via the GI Bill and still have trouble making it at times.

 

[Jeronimo]

How about I post my bank account information and my SSN while I'm at it?

I have $1 in my pocket.

 

[Qman]

I ride to school/work, or ride the train (free for students)...everything's too close to drive. I'm not at a dearth for trails...

I'm currently sitting at work doing nothing.

SS, wanna loan me $5k? I'd stop whining...

??
mmmkay so I'm confused...you are in school, you are working and you are or aren't racing? Sounds like you're making it work so what's the problem?

 

[BAH]

Okay, so Jenn and I have been discussing finances and she doesn't believe that she's banking enough. I contest this and say that she's banking more than the average person, and her cushion is far higher than the average 24-year-old.

I know we probably won't get a really good cross section of the population here, but I thought I'd post up an anonymous poll to see how much people bank out of their take home pay. Also, I'd like to see some posts on how much you'd consider a good cushion to be. Dollar amounts are irrelevant since we all have different standards of living, but how long could you live if you lost your source of income? If you're a lot older than 24 or have a family now, what were you banking and living on when you were at this stage in your life?

If you don't fit into the above categories (that is, you bank significantly more than half your income, or could live for a lot more than 8 months on your savings), post up.

edit: Oh, and just to be clear, I'm talking about easy to access, savings funds. Not emergency, I-have-to-cash-in-my-401k-cause-I'm-broke funds. Just funds you have readily available if you lost your job and needed to support yourself for a while.

If she is concerned about it at that age, I would say she is way ahead of the curve already, congrats.

Money issues are a big one for young couples, and if you can totally eradicate that, quality of life is MUCH better.

I've got so many friends whose philosophy stil is - if I make it I can spend it or even worse, if I have available credit, I can buy it.

Make an effort to get ahead of your finances early and life will treat you very well. It sounds like you guys already know that though :trophy_br :trophy_br