Scholarship table
brandx, curious to hear more about your decision. How old are you? How did you know when your nest egg was big enough?OP, I have a regular office job (I work in IT). We have a pretty liberal computer usage policy. It basically goes like this: if you get your work done, do what you like (with some exceptions obviously, certain things are off limits, such as many of Keefe's picture posts), but Scoop, Facebook, CNN, Yahoo Finance, etc. are all sites I will peruse 1-2 times a day with no fear of what my boss will say. He does the same thing. Just get your work done, and life is good. Personal and work life overlap all the time. I can take personal calls at work, or run errands at lunch, knowing that I may very well get a work call at 9 pm if something goes wrong. I can work from home occasionally, but I might also have to stay late a couple nights a week. I will browse the internet at the office, but also do some work from home on the occasionally weekend. It evens out. The key is flexibility. If you are flexible, your boss will be flexible back with you (at least in my case).
I worked IT as well. And it sounds like we worked in a similar environment.My dad was terrible with money, but he taught me one thing from the time I got an allowance as a kid. He always told me to put away 25% of the money I got and it is something I always continued to do. So by early 50's, the nest egg was there. And my wife always made good money (and still works part-time), so even putting a couple kids through college left us in pretty good shape. I realize most people don't put away that kind of money, but just check with your financial advisor and he'll run the numbers for you. You're probably in better shape than you think.
Wow, I'm very concerned for Benny. Being able to mimic Myron Medcalf's writing so closely implies an oncoming case of dementia.
Did you start saving right out of college? Or pay off loans first? Orr...
Do both. I respect Dave Ramsey and agree with a lot of his stuff, but the idea that you should put off saving for retirement until you are debt free seems insane to me. My student loans have a 5% interest rate and I would have left a ton of money on the table (work 401k match and an average of about 10% annual returns in the stock market since I have started working) if I followed his advice.Pay your debts and save at the same time.
Good Advice. My wife and I have no debt. At present we live off our pensions and social security and have more than enough money to pay our bills and living expenses. Next year we will start taking distributions on our 401ks and do not have to worry that we will out live our money. It's just so sad that we reward borrowing and punish saving in this country.
I agree with almost everything you said brandx. The only thing I will point out is you should never use your debit card as a debit card with a PIN entry. I am part of a PCI Compliance team and it is 100% recommended by experts in the card security industry that you use credit cards when not paying in cash and just pay off the balances of those credit cards every month. Given the sophistication and creativity of hackers it is becoming easier for them to get account information. Since your debit card provides direct access to your bank account it is essentially giving hackers an open door to your account when they get your data.
You pick the percentages but you should do both. The money saved earliest is the money that works the hardest. That $5K you save at 28 is worth more because of all the years it works for you than that $25K you save when you are 60 and will be spending at age 65.Also, always pay additional principal each month on your debts, even if $50/month.And finally, work your tail off the first 3 years out of college -- no cars, trips or other luxuries. You will be amazed how much debt you can pay and how much you can sock away.
Regarding vacations, you don't have to go to Jamaica or visit The Mouse every year. We did have the occasional big trip, but we also have done a lot of camping. I have acquaintances who went on lots of elaborate, expensive vacations who are now complaining that they can't afford to send their kids to the college of their choice. But yeah, they have some great snapshots.
This is very much personal preference. Some of those trips are incredible memories. I went to London when I was in my mid-20s and could barely afford it, but I wouldn't trade it for another $1500 in savings or an iPad. Life is short, I don't want to get to a point where I wish I could have seen things but didn't cause I was socking away money. Especially when young with earning potential ahead.
Two of the biggest money wasters: Cars and vacations.jsglow and I buy modest, reliable vehicles a couple of years old and drive them until they die. Right now I am driving a 10-year-old Mazda 3 with 125,000 miles on it. We did splurge about nine years back and bought a 2-year-old Miata that had 11,000 miles on it as a "summer car". We found the original price sticker in the glove box and discovered we paid exactly $11,000 less. In other words, the depreciation on the car was $1/mile for the first owner. We have since put on over 100,000 miles more on it (less that 15 cents/mile). Never had to do anything much more than regular maintenance to either car.Regarding vacations, you don't have to go to Jamaica or visit The Mouse every year. We did have the occasional big trip, but we also have done a lot of camping. I have acquaintances who went on lots of elaborate, expensive vacations who are now complaining that they can't afford to send their kids to the college of their choice. But yeah, they have some great snapshots.
Yes, this.Loads of research out there shows that spending money on experiences - vacations, concerts, sporting events, etc. - makes us happier than spending money on material goods. It also builds closer bonds among those who share the experiences together.http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/10/buy-experiences/381132/http://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2013/08/05/want-to-buy-happiness-purchase-an-experience/http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/10/happiness.possessions/To the original question, my job alternates between periods of being extremely busy and periods of waiting for the next thing crisis to appear so I can be extremely busy again. So, a lot of hurry up and wait. I spend a lot, probably too much, of the wait time here.