Are you satisfied with your financial picture?

[MECerica]

At what point do you feel satisfied with your finances? Is it ever enough? Did you ever come to the conclusion, maybe after paying off a big debt or buying a house, that you felt like - yeah, I'm in a good spot. I feel secure, happy with where I am moneywise? I'm wondering how to get there!

[autoxer]

Originally Posted by MECerica

At what point do you feel satisfied with your finances?

Whenever I compare my current situation to my past situation. Sure I could be doing better or worse, but I am making progress and that is satisfying. It doesn't have to be a big event to feel secure, all of the small financial decisions reinforce my financial picture.

Originally Posted by MECerica

Is it ever enough?

Nope. There is always a plan for growth.

[creditcardfree]

I remember feeling really good once we had 10K in our EF. But we still had debt and car payments. Now the only debt is the house and we contribute to our retirement to the tune of 15% of gross.

Am I satisfied? Yes, for now. But I'm planning for growth like autoxer. We'd like to pay off the house early, avoid car payments and contribute more to our retirement. Those will come in time.

[Lonewolf]

I think the most important thing is to have a plan. For the most part, I think everyone could always use a little more finances ($$$). I wish I had the financial background I have now when I was 25, but that's why they call it life. You live and you learn. So I like the financial path my family and I are on now. We have specific financial goals, and I think with budgeting and planning we will get to where we want to be.

I can't wait until we can say "wow, we own our house", but until then I enjoying knowing that our planning is taking a step closer each day.

Wolf

PS: I'm with Autoxer. always room for growth and to learn something new each day!

[LuxLiving]

I'm in much the same situation as creditcardfree - no debt other than house. I do have the money put back to replace our cars, nice e-fund, and putting back 15%+ towards retirement.

Enough? Not for us - as we have waited rather late to get started w/more serious savings goals and retirement is fast approaching. I see that we'll likely be okay, but am concentrating specifically to make retirement a more fulfilling experience than it's likely to be if we had to stop savings today.

It could be better. ...AND we're seriously working on it!

[Broken Arrow]

I am satisfied with the progress I am making. I am, of course, not satisfied with where I am financially, and would like to do much better. But that will take time, and the most important thing to me is that I am constantly making progress towards that better place.

[MonkeyMama]

I Felt really good when we downgraded our home by moving somewhere cheaper. We lowered our mortgage and significantly upgraded our home, and had $40k in the bank! (Well we were only 24/25).

Then we had kids...

LOL.

No, we have been moving backwards on our income these last few years while our day-to-day expenses skyrocket so I have been frustrated. But we are once again moving forward. I am not sure I will ever feel so great financially again. Though we could move out of state and try again - and we may...

The problem was when we felt secure we let things slide and have further to catch up. I think it is good in a way to never feel too secure, though never feeling secure enough probably sucks too. HAs to be some middle ground...

I Feel good having goals and moving forward. & I believe I will be feeling good in a few years though I think as I age I grow wise and see more what-ifs in my future. & I Want to plan for them ALL which is probably impossible. But our goals will get us much closer than we would otherwise. & I find comfort in that - just doing our best.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by MECerica

At what point do you feel satisfied with your finances? Is it ever enough?

I guess it depends what you mean by satisfied. I am happy with what we have accomplished financially so far, but we still have a long way to go before I can retire, so no, we don't have enough - not even close.

[Ima saver]

I am pretty satisfied with where we are at right now. Like most, I wish I had started sooner and saved more. What really helped us was the fact that I bought my first house at age 21 and had it paid off when I was 32. It has helped that we have not had an house payments for so many years. What has hurt it that we both made such low pay for so long. Even when I saved 10%, that was not very much money. We are playing catch up now that we are building spec homes. We take the profit from each one and save it up.

[maxim730]

I'm 25, and I have been working full time since graduation (graduated when i was 22). I still live at home and saved decent money. I'm still not satisfied with my finance for the simple fact that I always have to buy something monthly or i feel left out

But I do have a Roth IRA account, online savings account, and I contribute to my 401k.

I plan on saving for a year and then hopefully buying a house.. We'll see!

[JanH]

Not until we get out of debt. We are making slow progress......

[TBH]

I swing back and forth.

Sometimes I look at all my account balances, my expected income for the year, my expected expenses for the year, and I think I'm sitting pretty.

Then I overspend on stupid things (like take-out) or there's an unexpected expense, or my income dips a little because it tends to be irregular, and I feel panicked and broke.

The trick is not to buy into either emotional extreme. I have to just remind myself that I'm doing well and making progress, slow and steady wins the race, etc.

[PrincessPerky]

Satisfied is a relative term, I am satisfied with my daughters reading abilities but I do not plan on leaving them alone..gentle nudges and encouragement are in order.

I am satisfied with how well my youngest uses a potty, but I do not plan on letting him use the occasional diaper forever.

In the same way I am satisfied with our finances, yet I still plan on improving in many areas.

[PauletteGoddard]

Is it ever enough? Did you ever come to the conclusion, maybe after paying off a big debt or buying a house, that you felt like - yeah, I'm in a good spot. I feel secure, happy with where I am moneywise? I'm wondering how to get there!

I read in an article last Saturday that a majority of private-banking clients (high net worth) would not feel secure unless their income was doubled. This makes me think that one can outspend beyond one's means no matter how ample those means are.

Regardless of income and ability to save, I will feel I am in a good spot when I can:

• tame the envy I feel of my friends and peers,
• see that my personal balance sheet's Assets and Liabilities have a 10:1 ratio
• pay our bills on one person's income, and
• pay off my house
• pay for a well-running, properly maintained four-wheeled vehicle without having to borrow
• continue to make home improvements with cash savings

I am not wondering so much how to get there myself, but rather WHEN, chronologically.

I have a warm place to sleep and food at hand every time I get hungry.


I am thrilled with my financial picture.

[nanamom]

I am satisfied only becasue it is improving every month. I am not content but I am satisfied.

[Ima saver]

I feel happy that my net worth usually increases every month. That is why I love the $20 challenge. It makes you think about saving money all the time.

[Scanner]

Well, I give thanks for this:

1. My mutual fund for my IRA (Janus Overseas) returned 47% last year. It has the number 1 ranking for International for 10 years. A little dumb-luck I picked it but I do beleive you invest in people and I was impressed with original manager, Helen Young Hayes, 10 years ago. I stuck with them and my original assessment that international was the place to be turned out correct.

2. I started saving when I was 28; I am now 38 and although there were years I didn't add anything, I do think starting early was good.

3. I give thanks my wife talked me into buying a house 10 years ago. We have ridden the home equity climb in the last 3 years (but yes, I think it's correcting a bit).

4. I give thanks my wife's grandfather had a bit of an inheritance to give her to get us started on the house.

5. I am happy that we are statistically ahead of people our age as far as net worth.

6. My career has really blossomed. As they say, "No man is worth a damn until he's 40 years old". . .very true. I am 38 and finally feeling worth a damn.

7. We have good health insurance though my wife's work - PPO - $10 for PCP's and $20 for specialists. Prescriptions are at 50%.

What I worry about:

1. I think what the one poster said about being a one-income family, at least only dependent on one income should be a goal.

2. Even though we are ahead of our peers, I worry about our country and the way the Reag-o-nomic Conservatives have managed things fiscally for our children and country. I live in NJ and the taxes here are outrageous.

3. I am satisfied on retirement, but feeling behind on college. I only have about $7K stacked away for the 9 year old and $5K for the 4 year old. I want them to pay something but I want to have tuition and car insurance covered (they can pay room and board).

4. We still feel stressed about money even though we bring in upper 5 figures per year as a family. We do have to wonder if "mo' money" will always be the answer. A downward mobile lifestyle seems depressing but perhaps we, as a family, can agree to a "freeze" on the lifestyle.

All in all, I am happy.