30 years old

[MrNick]

I guess I was living too fast in my twenties and never thought about saving money until this year. I can't believe I'm 30 years old and only have about 10k cash. Has anyone else been in this situation and worked their way back to financial freedom? I feel so stupid for not saving in my twenties.

[MarkInCA]

This totally depends. If you have 10k and no debts, you're not actually in bad shape... on the other hand if you have 10k cash but have 100k in student loans and 50k in credit cards, you're not looking too good.

[autoxer]

We have made financial mistakes in the past, but don't spend too much time beating yourself up over it. Focus your energy on making good choices going forward.

[snafu]

e you

Welcome to SA Mr. Nick. You've taken a major step forward by recognizing the need to set financial goals and make a plan to get there. Have you heard of Mint.com? It's important to understand where the money goes and that is a good place to start. How can we help?

[Retired To Win]

I guess I was living too fast in my twenties and never thought about saving money until this year. I can't believe I'm 30 years old and only have about 10k cash. Has anyone else been in this situation and worked their way back to financial freedom? I feel so stupid for not saving in my twenties.

Hah! I wish I had had $10K to my name when I was 30 years old. You are actually way ahead of where I was back then.

And, yes, I did work my way out of it. Actually, I did not START working my way out of it until I was 44 years old. From that point, I got to FI by the time I was 53. (I did not KNOW it, because my expenses were unnecessarily high, but that's a different story. )

[edg126]

Yea by most standards you might be in ok shape to realize that if you have no debts and that is your net worth. I was in a similar situation. I'm only 32 now but my net worth went from 0 at 29 to 160k now. Most of that from my house, and 401k. Every couple of months I notched up my saving rate and cut back (a lot!) in spending.

[feh]

I guess I was living too fast in my twenties and never thought about saving money until this year. I can't believe I'm 30 years old and only have about 10k cash. Has anyone else been in this situation and worked their way back to financial freedom? I feel so stupid for not saving in my twenties.

Look on the bright side - better to have this realization when you're 30, as opposed to 40, 50 or never.

If you're looking for personal finance help, click on the link in my signature. If you're looking for investing help: http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogle...g_start-up_kit

[ua_guy]

I wouldn't judge anyone by their savings account balance. You are part of your own much greater financial picture, and at 30 years old, the picture is more dependent on what you do going forward than what you've done leading up to this point.

Feel free to share other details with us. Income, assets, retirement savings, debts. Show us where you're at and maybe we can give you pointers. Don't be ashamed if you are in debt or don't have assets or don't even have a retirement account. A lot of people who joined here never did, either.

[bjl584]

I've made my share of financial mistakes over the years. But, you just need to stay the course.

I'd start by looking into opening up a 401K with your employer if possible. Also, look into opening a Roth IRA.

Good news is that you are young and have many decades until retirement.

[97guns]

Yea by most standards you might be in ok shape to realize that if you have no debts and that is your net worth. I was in a similar situation. I'm only 32 now but my net worth went from 0 at 29 to 160k now. Most of that from my house, and 401k. Every couple of months I notched up my saving rate and cut back (a lot!) in spending.

i did not start saving and investing seriously until i was 27 and got my first corporate job, before that i had a small business and was working odd jobs under the table. its amazing how fast savings can grow when you buckle down