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How much money do you have saved up?
- Thread starter br.avery
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Ehh...I've got about $2500 in the savings. $100 of my paycheck is automatically deposited into it, then I put whatever I have left into it after bills, except the holidays have made sure there's not much left. I don't know what's in my 401k. I probably don't want to know with the way the market has been
That is how I do it. I set my bank up to automatic transfer of a $100 from each paycheck into my savings account and then I put anything I have lefter over at the end of the month into savings as well. I work from the first paycheck of the month to First paycheck of the month. It has worked out pretty well for me. I want to say after I remove the 2k I owe in taxes I am sitting around $7k. My savings account being the smallest. every time it gets about 600-800 I transfer it to my money market account for the better interest rate. I try to keep my checking account at around $2000 so it has enough short term reserve for more expensive months.
I have to say $7k is not to bad considering a year ago I have graduated college and had about $100 to my name.
As for my 401k I do not have a clue but I do not consider it savings. It is retirement so it goes in another category.
treat saving like another bill. I know I will spend the money if I have it so I just treat it as another bill then keep my checking account artificially low (which to me is $2000) and then limit the savings account to much not larger then smallest transfer balance into the Money Market account. The money market account is where my savings sit and some how in my mind that is a "DO NOT TOUCH" area so makes it a lot easier to keep money in there once it is there.
It is amazing how fast a small amount of money set aside every week will build up. I set aside a 100 a week and that is 5200 a year. I talk with some friend who make it a goal to just put 20 away a week but it builds up fast.
The reason I keep building up savings is I do not want to ever struggle something coming up and have to really struggle with the question "How am I going to pay for this" It really help out when I had a $1000 worth of dental work this summer or when I wreck my car last month.
Damn...$2,000? I understand the point of keeping a minimum in checking, and I try to keep a minimum of $300 or so, but $2,000 seems like a lot when that money can be in your money market making interest. I would just use my credit card in the event of an emergency and transfer money from my savings to cover it once the bill came.
I've also found that for some reason, I have no problem spending excess money in checking, but I never go into my savings to spend it on crap, so keeping my checking balance low will prevent me from making any impulse purchases. Like if I've got $2,000 in savings and $500 in checking, I will say to myself "I only have $500 to my name, I need to watch my spending until next payday" but if I have that entire $2,500 in checking, I'll say "Holy crap! I have $2,500 to spend! Where's the nearest Apple Store????"
I've also found that for some reason, I have no problem spending excess money in checking, but I never go into my savings to spend it on crap, so keeping my checking balance low will prevent me from making any impulse purchases. Like if I've got $2,000 in savings and $500 in checking, I will say to myself "I only have $500 to my name, I need to watch my spending until next payday" but if I have that entire $2,500 in checking, I'll say "Holy crap! I have $2,500 to spend! Where's the nearest Apple Store????"
Adding up all my money and taking away what I owe for my education I have tens of thousands of dollars negative . But I wouldn't have it any other way .
. But I wouldn't have it any other way .
$2000 is a little more than 1 months cost of living for as well so I have 1 month expenses always sitting in checking. I know it seems like a lot but I chose a round easy number that I call Zero. The account goes up and down from there. Just first of the month it is leveled of to $2000 unless it already below that in which means I start the next month in the hole so to speak. So quite often in the course of a month the checking account breaks 3000 for a week or so at a time because bills have not hit yet. Everything is routed though my credit card so weekly expertise like gas and food are all stored there until the end of the month.
It seems but it is a comfort factor for me in scheduling bills or more so the lack of scheduling bills. I rather poor at trying to break them up by pay check (which is once a week) so they tend to get stacked one one week or the other.
Um... I think I've got about $5500 left in my savings accounts. Plus another $2000 or so spread around in vacation pay owed from my summer job and some Canada Savings Bonds I still hold. Only ~$200 left in my checking account though! :/
After Christmas will be interesting. Buying a new car, so I think I'm gonna be looking for a part time job come January (I'm in University).
After Christmas will be interesting. Buying a new car, so I think I'm gonna be looking for a part time job come January (I'm in University).
Go to your bank and ask them about one. Usually there's a minimum deposit. You have to leave your money in for a set amount of time, usually between 6 months to two years. Then it just sits there and accrues interest.
I have close to 50k.. saving is so easy *if* you stop trying to outdo your friends/family/the guy on tv with the fancy car and the hot chick.
A friend of mine used to make $200,000 a month (real estate) selling mansions in CA.. she went nuts buying a $500k+ condo - upgraded it @ cost of $75k - got a nice car - spent on diamonds blah blah.. now she's in debt, sold off most of her crap for much less than what she paid for.. and works at a sandwich shop
I fail to understand how people make so much money but don't have the discipline to save even .. say.. 5% or 10% of it. Is it *that* hard?
A friend of mine used to make $200,000 a month (real estate) selling mansions in CA.. she went nuts buying a $500k+ condo - upgraded it @ cost of $75k - got a nice car - spent on diamonds blah blah.. now she's in debt, sold off most of her crap for much less than what she paid for.. and works at a sandwich shop
I fail to understand how people make so much money but don't have the discipline to save even .. say.. 5% or 10% of it. Is it *that* hard?
Money market rates suck right now - and you want to make sure your deposit is guaranteed. I have most of my savings in rewards checkings accounts (you use the atm card 10 times a month, online statements only.. and make one deposit every month to qualify) I have a nice 5.14% interest rate (sucks compared to a year ago but it's still higher than the rest of the stuff out there)
Lol.. yeah. Oh, and I have never invested - I just don't trust leaving money in someone else's hands - I'll settle for a boring interest rate instead. The only investment I am eyeing is gold (once it goes down again.. hopefully)
I'm interested in investing, but not in stocks. Just an account that I can deposit a large amount into each month and will earn alot over time. What kind of savings should I go into? A CD? Money Market? and which bank offers the highest interest rate for a MMA?
The average rates on CDs currently is somewhere around 2.7% - money markets are around the same but tend to be going lower. Honestly, go for rewards checkings - your money is insured by FDIC.
Charter bank - 6%
community bank of pleasant hill - 6.10%
southern missouri bank - 6%
just a few examples. There's no point in investing in a CD and earning less than 3% when you can earn twice that with these banks.
Just ask your bank if you have one. They usesally have a minuim opening deposit and minimum deposits. My bank for example it requires $2000 to open the account and if the account balance drops below 2000 then the interest rate matches those of savings. Most banks will put fees if it drops below that amount. Currently it is getting 1.5% interested. Saving is like 0.25 right now.
That is a CD not a money market account
Credit unions general are a place to look for best interst rates across the board. My current money market account is 1.5% if you are over the balance of $2000. This is a lot better than bank money markets which 3 months ago I was seeing less than 1% (.5% or less) on most and it gone down since then and the minimum balance was higher along with higher fees.
If you have the spare money right now stocks are a great place to put it. You just have to get over the fact that for the first few months it will shrink but historically you will gain 9% a year or so over the long haul. One thing we know about this bad economic time is it will turn around and get better.
I keep the same amount in my checking. I have pretty much all my bills on auto-pay so I like to keep a buffer of money in there because I forget when the bills will come. I pay all the bills in my household and my roommate pays me back too. Our rent is $900 so if I didn't keep a buffer in there and say it took a couple days for his check to go through, I could be in danger of overdrawing the account if I only kept enough in there to pay bills.
I also have a portion of my paycheck automatically deposited in my savings account so I have gotten used to not seeing that money. I have about $16k in my saving and about $3000 in my checking, but only because it is the holiday season and I need to pay off the credit card that all the presents went on. I haven't looked at my 401k in a while, but I know it has gone down quite a bit. But I have plenty of working years left to built it back up so I'm not really that worried.
I was surprised when a friend asked me one time "Why do you save?" when I don't have any loans to pay off. I was like "because I want to have money in the bank and have financial security and prepare for the future". She seemed kinda baffled that all my money wasn't already accounted for in monthly bills and spending on "stuff".
my savings is in the 6 figures but a big chunk of it will go towards a down payment on a house in march. thats going to hurt as i've been saving since i started working at the age of 14 and im now 26 . but i'll be a house owner so its for a good cause. oh and i'm an investment banker, so my savings is a combination from saving money and making a few nice investments a few years back.
. but i'll be a house owner so its for a good cause. oh and i'm an investment banker, so my savings is a combination from saving money and making a few nice investments a few years back.
At the moment; very little. It's all tied up in my game. I'll be signed to a publisher in the next couple of months so all I have to do is sit tight, then the savings begin. I still live at home and my folks don't charge me rent or anything, infact they even bought me a new laptop so I could work anywhere And they paid off my student loan. But they're nice like that.
And they paid off my student loan. But they're nice like that.
I have about -$20,000 in student loans, and around $6,000 saved after this (last) year of tuition. Really hoping to hit a good job in my field right after I get the MA. My fingers are so crossed they'll have probably fallen off by the time that happens.
