What % of your income do you save?

[Koolmagicguy]

I save roughly $600-800 a month which is about 36-53% of my net income. Gross savings rate would be slightly lower.

Some months I do insanely well due to selling on eBay, gifts, tips, etc. One month last year I was able to save $3,918 which was 82% of that month's income. I was able to fund my EF another 5 months from 1 month's savings.

At the beginning of the month I estimate my projected income and expenses and see if I can do even better than I expect. Usually I can.

[Nutria]

For instance, I've been projecting our overall Income, Expenses, and Retirement/Savings for 2017, 2018, 2019 (if you know how stable your job/income gives you better approximate number. Commissions based will be very hard). It helps me to know how close we can start thinking about retirement.

Anyway, I plugged all the numbers from Jan to Dec. I also include the pay day date each month we expect to receive. This gives us the BIG PICTURE and projection of our spending habit, savings, or to know how long it will takes to save $30K for a new truck.

We do something similar: a spreadsheet with 22 columns, and (this month) 30 rows, one tab per month, extended out until August 2017.

It's got everything from bi-weekly "non-specific" savings, monthly accumulating deferred spending and my wife's estimated Christmas bonus to known future payments like auto insurance (1.05x last payment), quarterly Kiwanis dues and kids' tuitions to guessed payments like vacations, graduation photos, how much is budgeted for Christmas spending and each person's birthday.

Very useful.

(We have a different "check register" spreadsheet for monthly expenses. That already has July allocated, but there's no need to push it out farther.)

[AJ444]

0%, all excess funds outside of retirement are invested in a taxable account. Vacations and other expenses are cash flowed, meaning we keep 20k as a baseline in checking and each paycheck first keeps us at that 20k with excess invested.

[Nutria]

0%, all excess funds outside of retirement are invested in a taxable account. Vacations and other expenses are cash flowed, meaning we keep 20k as a baseline in checking and each paycheck first keeps us at that 20k with excess invested.

What if you need to cash flow something larger than your first paycheck?

Also, why isn't that $20K (or, at least $18K of it) in a mix of interest-bearing savings account (like CapitalOne360) and a rolling set of CDs (like Synchrony Bank)? $200 interest isn't much, but it's better than nothing, and transferring money is quick+painless.

(For example, there's only $600 in our checking account at BOM. The vast majority -- like you, about $20K -- is in one form or another of an interest bearing account.)

[clatoden99]

General thumb rule says, 25% of your revenue should go for savings. There is no age limit for savings. Based on your age, your investment types (Debt / Equity) would alter.

[AJ444]

What if you need to cash flow something larger than your first paycheck?

Also, why isn't that $20K (or, at least $18K of it) in a mix of interest-bearing savings account (like CapitalOne360) and a rolling set of CDs (like Synchrony Bank)? $200 interest isn't much, but it's better than nothing, and transferring money is quick+painless.

(For example, there's only $600 in our checking account at BOM. The vast majority -- like you, about $20K -- is in one form or another of an interest bearing account.)

I get a 4.6% return on the 20k from my high interest checking account at my credit union, they have that deal for balances up to 20k and it is worth the couple of hoops (12 debit transactions, 1k spent/month on CC) I have to jump through to get $920/year.

I maintain an excel file with anticipated expenses that project balances by transaction a year into the future, if an unexpected expense came up that moves the minimum balance below 20k we stop contributing to the taxable account until the checking min is 20k again, it hasn't happened since we started this system 3 years ago.

[bjl584]

25% give or take.

I used to put away more, but cut back when I bought a house.

[Nutria]

I get a 4.6% return on the 20k from my high interest checking account at my credit union

Holy moly!

they have that deal for balances up to 20k and it is worth the couple of hoops (12 debit transactions, 1k spent/month on CC) I have to jump through to get $920/year.

You're darned right it is!!!

What's the name of that CU?

[AJ444]

Holy moly!



You're darned right it is!!!

What's the name of that CU?

Consumers Credit Union in the the Chicago suburbs. It was actually 5% until this year.

[tripods68]

Exactly you were able to pull this deal off? $20K in a checking account isn't that big of an amount with the kind of return (4.6%) your getting, restricted by # of how many transactions per month. What's the incentive for the bank, or the qualifying requirements to get this type of deal. The CCU website interest/deposits appears similar to our CU in California, APY are tiered based on minimum balance maintain.

I worked for a MegaCorp Bank as a Banker, especially on CU level this program are nonexistent, unless you are blowing somebody in upper management (no pun intended)....just curious to know.

As a qualifier banker, we've had to negotiate with wealthy investors for their specific APY rates demand on CDs, but not on a checking account. We're talking about over 1 million >

[Nutria]

Consumers Credit Union in the the Chicago suburbs. It was actually 5% until this year.

Hmm.

According to this web page, the rate on Interest Checking is just 0.2%. That super-high rate might be hiding behind "Money Market Specials - Closed to new investors", though.

[AJ444]

I can't post the link but it is the consumers in Waukegan, Il, Google "myconsumers".

[AJ444]

Exactly you were able to pull this deal off? $20K in a checking account isn't that big of an amount with the kind of return (4.6%) your getting, restricted by # of how many transactions per month. What's the incentive for the bank, or the qualifying requirements to get this type of deal. The CCU website interest/deposits appears similar to our CU in California, APY are tiered based on minimum balance maintain.

I worked for a MegaCorp Bank as a Banker, especially on CU level this program are nonexistent, unless you are blowing somebody in upper management (no pun intended)....just curious to know.

As a qualifier banker, we've had to negotiate with wealthy investors for their specific APY rates demand on CDs, but not on a checking account. We're talking about over 1 million >

They don't restrict you to 12, you have to make at least 12 Debit transactions, afte that I use my 1.5% CC which is also with them. Anyone can sign up as I understand it. I don't have any other kind of account through them besides checking and CC, Vanguard is my brokerage.

[disneysteve]

What's the incentive for the bank

I've seen deals like this before. They are usually for a limited time, on a set dollar amount, with substantial strings attached (as in this case).

What's in it for the bank/CU? It's often for new customers only, or at least new money, so it brings in new business. And since they attach a bunch of requirements, they know that a certain percentage of customers who sign up will trip up and not fulfill all of the conditions to actually earn the high rate.

[phantom]

Our numbers have been all over the place this year, to the point of being almost entirely useless. But, I'll throw them up here anyway.

Jan : 89.5%
Feb : -119%
Mar : 38%
Apr : <0.1%
May : -47.6%
Jan-May 48%