my budget >.>

[Banimal]

Last year I got rid of my debt (CCs, Car loan, Student Loans) I have never had a mortgage though. I didn't realize how much I am currently spending until I wrote it down.

What I have:
401k: 45k
Cash Money in 2.2% Credit union savings account: 51k

Income (take home per month):
Job 1: 4650
yearly I'll get a bonus that's around 4k-6k take home
Job 2: 1000


Rent + Utils 1300 <-- one package deal
car Issurance 140
car Gas 240
Food 600 >.>
cell phone 60 (family plan with siblings)
fun/gifts/misc 500
girl friend 400
total 3240

All I do with my extra money is put it into my savings account. Am I doing ok in terms of savings for my age?

You guys might wonder about that food bill...I eat about 4000-5000 calories a day, all my hobbies include intense sweating, it also includes the detergent necessary to clean my clothes, and other grocery items. Because of my second job I eat out about 2-3 times a week (by eat out I mean pizza and Chipotle burritos, no sit down restaurants). I tried packing my food for the day but I ended up packing a cooler. How much do people spend on food here per person?

Misc includes traveling to see my 4 siblings and parents, gifts for my nephews. Fun includes my 9 dollar netflix bill, $30 gym membership, and a video game here and there ($50). Some months i won't travel far for family but then next month I'll go across the country and see my sister and take my nephew shopping.

[maat55]

How old are you?

[Banimal]

Hmm I thought I forgot something. I'm 30 years old.

[mrpaseo]

Last year I got rid of my debt (CCs, Car loan, Student Loans) I have never had a mortgage though. I didn't realize how much I am currently spending until I wrote it down.

What I have:
401k: 45k
Cash Money in 2.2% Credit union savings account: 51k

Income (take home per month):
Job 1: 4650
yearly I'll get a bonus that's around 4k-6k take home
Job 2: 1000


Rent + Utils 1300 <-- one package deal
car Issurance 140
car Gas 240
Food 600 >.>
cell phone 60 (family plan with siblings)
fun/gifts/misc 500
girl friend 400
total 3240

All I do with my extra money is put it into my savings account. Am I doing ok in terms of savings for my age?

You guys might wonder about that food bill...I eat about 4000-5000 calories a day, all my hobbies include intense sweating, it also includes the detergent necessary to clean my clothes, and other grocery items. Because of my second job I eat out about 2-3 times a week (by eat out I mean pizza and Chipotle burritos, no sit down restaurants). I tried packing my food for the day but I ended up packing a cooler. How much do people spend on food here per person?

Misc includes traveling to see my 4 siblings and parents, gifts for my nephews. Fun includes my 9 dollar netflix bill, $30 gym membership, and a video game here and there ($50). Some months i won't travel far for family but then next month I'll go across the country and see my sister and take my nephew shopping.

I gotta ask... What's this all about? -----> "girl friend 400"

Also, I didn't really catch your question.

[scubatim84]

Last year I got rid of my debt (CCs, Car loan, Student Loans) I have never had a mortgage though. I didn't realize how much I am currently spending until I wrote it down.

What I have:
401k: 45k
Cash Money in 2.2% Credit union savings account: 51k

Income (take home per month):
Job 1: 4650
yearly I'll get a bonus that's around 4k-6k take home
Job 2: 1000


Rent + Utils 1300 <-- one package deal
car Issurance 140
car Gas 240
Food 600 >.>
cell phone 60 (family plan with siblings)
fun/gifts/misc 500
girl friend 400
total 3240

All I do with my extra money is put it into my savings account. Am I doing ok in terms of savings for my age?

You guys might wonder about that food bill...I eat about 4000-5000 calories a day, all my hobbies include intense sweating, it also includes the detergent necessary to clean my clothes, and other grocery items. Because of my second job I eat out about 2-3 times a week (by eat out I mean pizza and Chipotle burritos, no sit down restaurants). I tried packing my food for the day but I ended up packing a cooler. How much do people spend on food here per person?

Misc includes traveling to see my 4 siblings and parents, gifts for my nephews. Fun includes my 9 dollar netflix bill, $30 gym membership, and a video game here and there ($50). Some months i won't travel far for family but then next month I'll go across the country and see my sister and take my nephew shopping.

I wouldn't be dumping all of that extra money into your savings account. Keep a 6-month emergency fund (for you 3240*6=19,440), and beyond that, with these interest rates not a penny more. I would put all of your extra money into an investment account with low-cost index funds. If you do an after-tax account, I would strongly weight it toward a low-cost stock index fund since most of the return will NOT be on dividends (which you will get taxed on).

Other than that, your budget looks great to me...income is far more than expenses and nothing too extravagant. I don't know if I'd be happy about spending $400 a month on my girlfriend, but eh I know how it goes with dates. Be very careful with putting too much money in savings accounts right now...your money is not even close to keeping up with inflation with interest raes at 1% or less even at credit unions.

I gotta ask... What's this all about? -----> "girl friend 400"

Also, I didn't really catch your question.

Well, usually the guy pays at dinner, movies, etc. If you can find a girl who pays for everything, god bless you!

[jpg7n16]

Also, I didn't really catch your question.

Am I doing ok in terms of savings for my age?
...
How much do people spend on food here per person?

As far as the 1st one, you have a good amount built up, but in a very inefficient savings account. Sure it's paying a great rate compared to other savings accounts, but 2% will never get you where you need to go.

I would fund a Roth ASAP. And I would up your 401k contribution percentage too.

As far as the 2nd one, it varies depending on who you ask. I'd say most people are $150-300/person.

[sblatner]

I didn't see your age but now see you are 30. Let me review your post again.

[mrpaseo]

jpg7n16

I saw this question, "Am I doing ok in terms of savings for my age?" but figured he/she was just looking for an ego stroke after stating that he had 51k in a savings account and 45k in a 401k.

I missed this one though, "How much do people spend on food here per person?".


Truthfully, I was blinded by the $400 going towards the GF, I had never seen anyone earmark money in a budget for a GF.

Sorry about that.
ray

[Banimal]

I should clarify why I need to know if I'm doing ok for my age or how to deal with my budget.

I was reading other posts that said that I need to have 1x my salary by the time i'm 30 for retirement or 1.5x by the time I'm 35.

If I were to buy a home with a 20% down payment then I would exhaust all my savings, where I live is expensive and I wouldn't get anything worth buying under 250k. (north jersey sucks!!)

Is your house value counted into the 1.5x retirement fund value?

I'm keeping track for the GF because I did not in the past, and didn't take into account all the expensive crap people like doing in NYC. Courting someone was expensive -_-, I would say yes to everywhere she wanted to go. It's better now as I know what I can say sure to or suggest "museum, biking in central park and shake shack weekend", those god damn musicals got me.

Thanks for all the advice so far.

[jpg7n16]

I was reading other posts that said that I need to have 1x my salary by the time i'm 30 for retirement or 1.5x by the time I'm 35.

As an estimate, pretty much. It's a rough guideline to see if you're on good pace towards retirement. At 30, somewhere .75-1x and at 35 around 1.5x. If you're close then good, if not you need to start thinking about your retirement.

It's not a hard and fast rule

If I were to buy a home with a 20% down payment then I would exhaust all my savings, where I live is expensive and I wouldn't get anything worth buying under 250k. (north jersey sucks!!)

Is your house value counted into the 1.5x retirement fund value?

No. Your house is not an investable asset. You should include your retirement portfolio, and investment portfolio. (401k, IRAs, trading accounts, 403b, etc.)

It's based on where you should be if you have an overall balanced portfolio, save 10-15%/year and expect reasonable 7-8% returns.

Your home is not part of your retirement portfolio, investment portfolio, and is not part of a balanced portfolio - and therefore should not be counted.

[scubatim84]

Your home is not part of your retirement portfolio, investment portfolio, and is not part of a balanced portfolio - and therefore should not be counted.

An additional note worth adding here is that your home is your biggest asset once its paid off. Until that day, it is your greatest liability. You should certainly consider your house in any net worth calculations, but so should the mortgage be included, and for this reason it won't appreciably change your net worth until you start to pay down the principal.

[bjl584]

An additional note worth adding here is that your home is your biggest asset once its paid off. Until that day, it is your greatest liability. You should certainly consider your house in any net worth calculations, but so should the mortgage be included, and for this reason it won't appreciably change your net worth until you start to pay down the principal.

I lean toward the argument that your home should not be counted in your net worth calculation. You need to live somewhere. If you sell, it is unlikely that you will get the appraised value for it. Buyers will always try to take at least 10% off the asking price. A house is only an asset if you decide to sell, assuming you can sell it, assuming you can sell it for the price that you want. Until then, it's a place to live. And, a home should not be someone's largest asset. If it is, then they are probably way behind on retirement savings.

[scubatim84]

I lean toward the argument that your home should not be counted in your net worth calculation. You need to live somewhere. If you sell, it is unlikely that you will get the appraised value for it. Buyers will always try to take at least 10% off the asking price. A house is only an asset if you decide to sell, assuming you can sell it, assuming you can sell it for the price that you want. Until then, it's a place to live. And, a home should not be someone's largest asset. If it is, then they are probably way behind on retirement savings.

I consider it your biggest asset in the sense that your retirement portfolio isn't going to put a roof over your head. Dollar wise, yes, if it's your biggest asset then you're in trouble. Still, to say it's not an asset at all is like saying that it has no value. That's essentially what you're doing when you say a house has no book value (value without being sold) and is not an asset. Yes, buyers will always try to get the house as cheap as possible, and sellers will always try to sell the house for as much as possible, but the fact that people buy and sell homes all the time indicates that houses have value even if they are not being bought or sold right now.

If you look at the strict dictionary definition of asset, which is also the accounting definition as far as I'm aware, the definition is a single item of ownership having exchange value. Clearly, this is the case with a house...people don't give them away. As far as net worth calculation goes, well net worth is assets minus liabilities. I fail to see how a house shouldn't be considered in such a calculation...there's no logic behind excluding it entirely.

[witchkizzle]

As far as net worth calculation goes, well net worth is assets minus liabilities. I fail to see how a house shouldn't be considered in such a calculation...there's no logic behind excluding it entirely.

When I prepare personal financial statements for our clients their home value is always included less their mortgage, if they have one.

That is for banking purposes though, and they are very wealthy to begin with.

[jpg7n16]

When I prepare personal financial statements for our clients their home value is always included less their mortgage, if they have one.

That is for banking purposes though, and they are very wealthy to begin with.

Well yeah, you're calculating net worth, not retirement readiness. The house (asset) and any related mortgage (liability) is part of net worth.

You should not count your home value as part of your investment portfolio.