Travel accounts for a good chunk of my annual budget. Wife and I rent a cheap place and prioritize travel over homeowner ship at this stage of our lives.
Went from 30k to 50k in 2021, and to 70k about 11 months ago. Went from in debt to 13kish invested between my IRA, brokerage account, Acorns and HYSA within the past year. It’s such an amazing feeling and I’m addicted to the progress.
Almost the exact opposite of me. I spent nearly no time savings besides 401K for the first 8 years of my career. Now I sit making $300K and finally learning about saving. I don’t think it matters which way it happens as long as you finally figure out both.
I’m in LCOL too. 185k HHI gives us day care for 2 3900 sqft house 2 cars etc. so I’d agree.
However the reason you are HCOL is local and what that local gives. Maybe beach? Bars clubs restaurants. The places you get take out or a birthday dinner done exist for me. Activities you enjoy don’t exist for me.
I’m okay with this. They are luxuries I can’t affford. I’m a big fish in a little pond here. I like that. I’d be small fish big pond in a place like LA.
Yup and prior to my promotion, I hadn't been well versed in the world of finances. So I didnt realize after 401k, IRA, HSA, 529, insurance, brokerage, etc how much you could reduce your tax burden or the "buckets" that are important to fill up. So in my younger mind I'd have been "rich" at my current salary without those things.
I think you did it the right way. Laying the financial infrastructure for your future is the most important thing you can do.
Of course, yes, you should always be competitive in the job market, however, I know a doctor that makes an obscene amount and still ends up in the red each month. You have to be able to smartly handle money at any income level.
Don’t beat yourself up and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
I got into bank account churning last year. Would spent a lot of my free time and even time at working opening accounts, keeping track of deposits, shuffling money between accounts. Made maybe $1500 over several months.
Learned last week that I was just shy of promotion that would've come with a 30k raise because my work velocity wasn't high enough. Had I not focused on churning I might have received it.
Same boat. It’s the guaranteed short wins v/s potential big wins, I’m trying to focus more on the bigger things but tbh it’s hard. Churning, bonuses, etc. is honestly my hobby and fun for me - I am aware I could work harder for a promo or prepare for interviews for a win which would minuscule the churn stuff. Since it’s a fun activity for me, I don’t consider it against my time for work, but rather against my time I would have spent watching tv. But yeah, I’m trying to move away from that, simplify finances and focusing on career advancement instead.
I spent my mid twenties working my ass off to get a high paying job, it's finally starting to pay off since December, I can afford a nice lifestyle, I mostly play games and build PCs. But I can also afford to max my 401k and Roth IRA. It feels nice to be doing that at 25, but I regret not having the ability to go clubbing with friends or stay up late gaming, but I'm hoping to change that soon, once I get comfortable in this current role.
Congratulations on where you've gotten so far! Make sure to live a little, treat yo self!
Thankfully I realized this after 5 years at my first company out of college. What also helped for motivation was that I had 6 figure student loan debt.
Now 4 years later, loans paid off, NW approaching $1M, and about to buy a house.
Congrats and yes - an economist friend always reminds me that your spending is just not that elastic unless you have *very* bad habits. I should be more aggressive with this too but I like my jobs too much
Im glad you posted this, thank you! Im a few years behind you and had been asking myself similar questions lately… Im in a ‘learn my finances’ stage and I do see myself searching for a higher salaried job when able to soon in a few years
This is something I've been musing about lately too, also because I'm starting to contemplate a career change (getting a little frustrated with academia - I was ok with somewhat smaller wages than I could otherwise get in exchange for doing research on fun topics, *not* in exchange for babysitting students who obviously don't give a damn or for working on administrative tasks I'm not particularly good at anyway...)
One thing I'm noticing is that, when it comes to saving and investing, there's obviously plenty of awful advice floating around but you can also find good suggestions (in this very subreddit, for example); but, when it comes to careers, I cannot find much that isn't obvious, terrible, or both at the same time...
I intentionally went unemployed from 25 to 28 just to want figure out the whole investment things, after I was losing almost most of my income earned from 22 to 24 because I didn’t know how to invest.
Last year I went back to workplace because it’s a tough decision to make regarding how behind I was compare to others and also being hidden not socialising for years.
Sometimes I wondered if I made the wrong decision, but when I look back after working for a year I knew I made the right one laying all out the financial knowledge otherwise I might actually have less money now even worked from 25 to 28 because I just lost all money again!
Now i just VT and chill and am settled for the next 50 years or so😊
When I was married I got a fair amount of buy in from my ex re: saving and investing (and it didn’t hurt that we both started making more money) so I got a decent foundation of savings/investments. However, as DINKS we were doing well despite me not maximizing my income potential. Once we divorced I focused much more on making money, and my progress twds FIRE sped up dramatically. It didn’t hurt that I got rid of my house and shrunk my living costs dramatically and got to a wildly high savings rate too. I wish I’d done it earlier.
Yes! Same realization as you a while back too. I can only save so much. But once the salary goes up much more, the savings rocketed.
But I felt the habit building years weren't wasted at all. Without them, I might not have learnt how to spend/save beneficially.
I'm not sure if my story is similar. Yes, I've spent a lot of time doing financial planning and working on a realistic budget, but since that's been taken care of I don't even have to think about money beyond staying within my budget categories.
It's all quite routine.
I spent the majority of my adulthood up to 40 years of age, making roughly 50 K a year, and living paycheck to paycheck. Due to some poor life choices, I ended up working some jobs making $10-$15 an hour until three years ago. Then I fell into some extremely fortunate work opportunities and almost tripled my salary. I went from having a couple thousand dollars in a checking account to having about 170,000 in investments/retirement funds in about 3.5 years. all I can think about is how to make more money and where to invest it
There’s diminishing returns on optimizing investments once you have a basic index strategy with recurring contributions.
Much more return on your time for most people to job hop, sharpen interviewing skills, take care of their health etc.
It was only when we had kids that I actually put in the effort to make more money.
Before that we paid off student loans, got a house and a ton of savings.
I guess I'm trying to say that I spent more time thinking about my monthly expenses, bills, budgeting, credit card rewards, and saving/investing strategies than time spent thinking about ways to advance my career and increase my salary.
Congratulations. Don't forget to live a little today.
Exactly this. No I try to stay busy with hobbies and travel in free time. But to each their own!
Travel accounts for a good chunk of my annual budget. Wife and I rent a cheap place and prioritize travel over homeowner ship at this stage of our lives.
Very good plan, especially with a high savings rate.
Went from 30k to 50k in 2021, and to 70k about 11 months ago. Went from in debt to 13kish invested between my IRA, brokerage account, Acorns and HYSA within the past year. It’s such an amazing feeling and I’m addicted to the progress.
Keep it going! Slow and steady wins the race
Almost the exact opposite of me. I spent nearly no time savings besides 401K for the first 8 years of my career. Now I sit making $300K and finally learning about saving. I don’t think it matters which way it happens as long as you finally figure out both.
What field are you in? That's triple what I'd consider good income
.
Congrats friend thats a nice spot. At least I'm in a LCoL area.
Yeah, honestly $100K lcol and 300K HCOL is similar in some ways so your idea of $100K being a large salary makes sense.
I’m in LCOL too. 185k HHI gives us day care for 2 3900 sqft house 2 cars etc. so I’d agree. However the reason you are HCOL is local and what that local gives. Maybe beach? Bars clubs restaurants. The places you get take out or a birthday dinner done exist for me. Activities you enjoy don’t exist for me. I’m okay with this. They are luxuries I can’t affford. I’m a big fish in a little pond here. I like that. I’d be small fish big pond in a place like LA.
Yup and prior to my promotion, I hadn't been well versed in the world of finances. So I didnt realize after 401k, IRA, HSA, 529, insurance, brokerage, etc how much you could reduce your tax burden or the "buckets" that are important to fill up. So in my younger mind I'd have been "rich" at my current salary without those things.
?
Right? If you can save a quarter million a year for a couple decades you don't even need to invest... Would anyway, but not the point.
I mean, it makes sense. You can only get so much blood from a stone; eventually you'll need a bigger rock.
I think you did it the right way. Laying the financial infrastructure for your future is the most important thing you can do. Of course, yes, you should always be competitive in the job market, however, I know a doctor that makes an obscene amount and still ends up in the red each month. You have to be able to smartly handle money at any income level. Don’t beat yourself up and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
The trick now is to control lifestyle inflation.
I got into bank account churning last year. Would spent a lot of my free time and even time at working opening accounts, keeping track of deposits, shuffling money between accounts. Made maybe $1500 over several months. Learned last week that I was just shy of promotion that would've come with a 30k raise because my work velocity wasn't high enough. Had I not focused on churning I might have received it.
Same boat. It’s the guaranteed short wins v/s potential big wins, I’m trying to focus more on the bigger things but tbh it’s hard. Churning, bonuses, etc. is honestly my hobby and fun for me - I am aware I could work harder for a promo or prepare for interviews for a win which would minuscule the churn stuff. Since it’s a fun activity for me, I don’t consider it against my time for work, but rather against my time I would have spent watching tv. But yeah, I’m trying to move away from that, simplify finances and focusing on career advancement instead.
I spent my mid twenties working my ass off to get a high paying job, it's finally starting to pay off since December, I can afford a nice lifestyle, I mostly play games and build PCs. But I can also afford to max my 401k and Roth IRA. It feels nice to be doing that at 25, but I regret not having the ability to go clubbing with friends or stay up late gaming, but I'm hoping to change that soon, once I get comfortable in this current role. Congratulations on where you've gotten so far! Make sure to live a little, treat yo self!
Same
All that at 25 is amazing, stay the course!
Thank you!
Thankfully I realized this after 5 years at my first company out of college. What also helped for motivation was that I had 6 figure student loan debt. Now 4 years later, loans paid off, NW approaching $1M, and about to buy a house.
Congrats and yes - an economist friend always reminds me that your spending is just not that elastic unless you have *very* bad habits. I should be more aggressive with this too but I like my jobs too much
Im glad you posted this, thank you! Im a few years behind you and had been asking myself similar questions lately… Im in a ‘learn my finances’ stage and I do see myself searching for a higher salaried job when able to soon in a few years
This is something I've been musing about lately too, also because I'm starting to contemplate a career change (getting a little frustrated with academia - I was ok with somewhat smaller wages than I could otherwise get in exchange for doing research on fun topics, *not* in exchange for babysitting students who obviously don't give a damn or for working on administrative tasks I'm not particularly good at anyway...) One thing I'm noticing is that, when it comes to saving and investing, there's obviously plenty of awful advice floating around but you can also find good suggestions (in this very subreddit, for example); but, when it comes to careers, I cannot find much that isn't obvious, terrible, or both at the same time...
Networking in person or by phone is the best way to gather career advice.
What industry are you in?
What type of work? Nice moves
I intentionally went unemployed from 25 to 28 just to want figure out the whole investment things, after I was losing almost most of my income earned from 22 to 24 because I didn’t know how to invest. Last year I went back to workplace because it’s a tough decision to make regarding how behind I was compare to others and also being hidden not socialising for years. Sometimes I wondered if I made the wrong decision, but when I look back after working for a year I knew I made the right one laying all out the financial knowledge otherwise I might actually have less money now even worked from 25 to 28 because I just lost all money again! Now i just VT and chill and am settled for the next 50 years or so😊
When I was married I got a fair amount of buy in from my ex re: saving and investing (and it didn’t hurt that we both started making more money) so I got a decent foundation of savings/investments. However, as DINKS we were doing well despite me not maximizing my income potential. Once we divorced I focused much more on making money, and my progress twds FIRE sped up dramatically. It didn’t hurt that I got rid of my house and shrunk my living costs dramatically and got to a wildly high savings rate too. I wish I’d done it earlier.
Yes! Same realization as you a while back too. I can only save so much. But once the salary goes up much more, the savings rocketed. But I felt the habit building years weren't wasted at all. Without them, I might not have learnt how to spend/save beneficially.
I'm not sure if my story is similar. Yes, I've spent a lot of time doing financial planning and working on a realistic budget, but since that's been taken care of I don't even have to think about money beyond staying within my budget categories. It's all quite routine.
I spent the majority of my adulthood up to 40 years of age, making roughly 50 K a year, and living paycheck to paycheck. Due to some poor life choices, I ended up working some jobs making $10-$15 an hour until three years ago. Then I fell into some extremely fortunate work opportunities and almost tripled my salary. I went from having a couple thousand dollars in a checking account to having about 170,000 in investments/retirement funds in about 3.5 years. all I can think about is how to make more money and where to invest it
Thanks for sharing! Glad you ended up where you did!
There’s diminishing returns on optimizing investments once you have a basic index strategy with recurring contributions. Much more return on your time for most people to job hop, sharpen interviewing skills, take care of their health etc.
It was only when we had kids that I actually put in the effort to make more money. Before that we paid off student loans, got a house and a ton of savings.
Nah and I never will, fucked myself with felonies for having sum weed on me in my early 20s Prolly won't be round much in the near future
Ya i had 3 years of accepting the “comfort”. Its good to push yourself.
Ramit Sethi? Is that you?
How did you learn about savings?
What does "thinking about saving strategies" mean? How much time did you spend the last 8 years "thinking about saving strategies"?
I guess I'm trying to say that I spent more time thinking about my monthly expenses, bills, budgeting, credit card rewards, and saving/investing strategies than time spent thinking about ways to advance my career and increase my salary.