Do you have a Nest Egg or do you spend money as quick as you make it?

[mickeyboat]

We contribute 15% of my income to my 401(k) and have money sent to the credit union every paycheck for the kids college fund. We are remodeling our house, mostly out of pocket right now, so we aren't doing much more saving. But once we are through with the house, we will save more.

We have just gotten to a position in our lives where we can save more and pay our bills at the same time. It takes a lot of strain out of our relationship, and for that I am grateful.

Denae

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Originally posted by NMAmy
We live well within our means and can still afford vacations, new furniture, etc. Everything is paid for in cash--if we can't pay cash, we don't need it.

ITA. I have a few thousand in debt accumulated during my divorce (my ex cleaned out my savings and racked up some debt in my name) which I am slowly but surely picking away at (in large chunks at a time).

But I don't use credit cards. If I can't pay for it up front, I don't need it.

The only time I will use a credit card now is for transaction I am concerned about security one. For instance, airline tickets. But I won't buy them with a credit card unless I know I can pay them off the day after I buy them.

My upcoming Dec. Disney trip is paid for and was paid for entirely in cash (well check, but you know what I mean).

 

[FonFon]

DH is by nature, a spender. I am, by nature, a saver. So you can imagine the "discussions" that go on about money in our house! (We're actually both becoming bad influences on each other!)

Since we've moved, we haven't had nearly the extra income to save, so our spending needs to go down a little bit (it hasn't yet, but it will!), but we both agreed that we would at least contribute SOMETHING to savings every month, even if it's only $5.

I have friends who I consistently try to get to save. Just save something. One just had her car break down while traveling with her DH to see family. Between the motel, Greyhound, rental car, and THEN fixing the car expenses, they didn't have enough money to pull it off, no credit cards for emergencies, etc.

I feel much safer knowing that if something happened to either DH or I tomorrow, worrying about money wouldn't be the first thing we think of. I also agree that if we can't pay cash, we don't get to have it.

 

[Trish Bessette]

I have a 401K plan for my retirement and I have two college education accounts set up for my two daughters to help them out. I'm sure I should be saving more, but we live buying and doing what ever we want which I really like

 

[Kimberle]

Oh, we do "enjoy" ourselves. But we also have a pretty good nest egg too.

We only finance our home, and an occasional car. Everything else is paid for at the time of purchase, including our Kitchen remodel. Credit cards are well used, but paid in full every month.

 

[missypie]

I max out on my 401K a work.
In addition, we invest a set amount every month.
We also send a set amount to each kids' college savings plan.
We each have IRAs.
Yes it still seems like we aren't saving enough.

 

[Snowysmom]

Like a previous poster, I want to be a saver but DH is more of a spender tham me. We do have an emergency account and some retirement savings so that makes me feel good. Also, we have a son in college so quite a bit of money is going there. We did save some for college but since I was a SAHM for 12 years, we didn't save enough for all 4 years. I work part time now and all of that goes to college plus a bit of the college savings account each month. To me it was worth it to be there for my kids. Younger DS goes to college in 3 years and then I hope to be working full time so any extra funds will be going into savings!

 

[catsrule]

yes to the nest egg

 

[newholiday]

nest egg due to "retiring" from a newspaper job I had from 1982-1993

 

[MiraDawl]

In our home, "this is THE year!" I don't know how many others have had discussions on how "this year" will be the year to pay off bills, save money, buy a home, etc.

This is our third "this it THE year!" in a row, but this year I finally got it right! I've paid off all my bills and begun saving. However, my SO isn't the best at sticking with budgets. I think men tend to spend money w/o fully thinking thru each purchase. He's agreed to let me whip him into shape, and has liked my methods so far.

Hopefully in a few months, he'll be a lot less in debt, and even more importantly, able to manage his money more wisely.

Yet, I don't eat Ramen just to save, or skip a night at the movies because I *could* rent one. I just take a minute to consider the effects of my spending. Will I be able to do this and get that if I spend $$ on this? You know "Buy the Gap shirt, but no manicure next week!"

Its nice to see how other's handle their funds, even though we're all different.

~Mira

 

[snoopy]

I have exactly $32 to last until payday this Friday.












JUST KIDDING!

Actually, I'm not really kidding, I do have $32 left over from my alloted amount I gave myself at the beginning of the week, but if I need more I can go to the bank and get it. I try not to do that though.

We're both big spenders, but we have always maintained the maximum in our 401(k). And we always keep six months mortgage in the bank, never go below that. After that, its a free for all. I definately believe that you can't take it with you!

 

[Missy1961]

I have my 401(k) at work. Been paying into that since 1990, so I have a nice little nest egg there.

My paycheck is directly deposited into my checking account. As soon as I see the money in there, I transfer at least $10 into my savings account. I also add the cents from each paycheck with that amount--you know if they paycheck is for $xxxx.49 I add the .49. It's unreal how quickly that adds up!

The savings account isn't as big as I used to have it--I got into some bad spending habits a few years ago--but it's growing. And I pay bills in full every month.

 

[katerkat]

We're both 24 (DH and I) and have started IRAs for long, long term savings. We save a good bit every month - my entire salary is savings, plus we usually have a good bit of DH's leftover. The savings is all divided into little categories, like vacation and house and slush funds, so I know we can afford to take a vacation or whatever when there's enough money in the account.

 

[LindaG4458]

DH was the fiscally responsible one when we were married. He had money deposited into savings accounts, bought bonds, contributed to retirement to the maximum allowed, and yet we still had enough to spend and enjoy ourselves. He trained me well. We lived more modestly than we might have but, as a result, we retired when he was 55 and I was 51. Our only debt is a small mortgage on our condo in NH, but only because we didn't want to deplete the savings. We use credit cards as a convenience but pay in full every month. No car payments. As DH says, the repeat expenses will kill you.

I grew up in a family that lived from paycheck to paycheck, mainly because of bad spending choices, and determined not to repeat it.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Originally posted by Missy1961
I have my 401(k) at work. Been paying into that since 1990, so I have a nice little nest egg there.

My paycheck is directly deposited into my checking account. As soon as I see the money in there, I transfer at least $10 into my savings account. I also add the cents from each paycheck with that amount--you know if they paycheck is for $xxxx.49 I add the .49. It's unreal how quickly that adds up!

The savings account isn't as big as I used to have it--I got into some bad spending habits a few years ago--but it's growing. And I pay bills in full every month.

Change adds up soooo fast. We toss all our loose change into an oversized plastic cup and at the end of each month we take it to the coin machine and we usually end up with anywhere from $25-$45 a month.

 

[missypie]

What you really need to think about is whether you are likely to collect any kind of pension benefits. I know that lots of folks, including retired military, have tidy little pensions. My parents were spenders instead of savers (mostly because with the pittance my dad made, they needed every cent to live on) BUT, when dad retired, his pension was 70% of his last salary.

My pension, on the other hand, will be a big fat ZERO. The only money I will have on retirement is what I have put away (I fund 100% of my 401K); in addition, we make too much for our kids to ever qualify for need based financial aid for college. Thus, it is of utmost importance for us to save a lot.

If you have a pension coming to you from an entity (e.g. the US Govn't) that will always be around (as opposed to a company that could fold), then saving large amounts of money is not so important.

 

[Kay7979]

Missypie,

I don't think many companies have pensions per se anymore, just defined contribution plans such as 401Ks. If you don't save enough and you run out of money with a 401K, it's pretty much tough luck since the company is not going to give you any more money. Of course for now, at least, there is social security, but who knows if that will still be around when some of us get to that age.

 

[missypie]

I agree. We had an actual pension plan for our staff, then due to the wild market conditions of the 90s, it became "underfunded" and we partners are still paying off the millions it took to fix it...so then we switched to a 401k, but we do some degree of matching for staff. I think military and government workers have actual pensions...what about teachers? Do teachers have pensions any more?

 

[Kay7979]

I think teachers still typically get pensions, but I am not positive. Maybe one of the Disboard people who is a teacher will answer that.

 

[PatriciaH]

We both have Roth IRA's, a pretty good size money market fund and some stock investments. I would like to have more saved but my paycheck goes to savings/trips and DH's paycheck goes to everything else. He does try to add to savings as well. I am not making a lot at my job and we are hoping to move to Florida soon so we can get a house (I think this will be a good investment.) I think I set us back a bit by staying at my current job but the boss got cancer and I felt pressured to cover for her