there's a joke about your math here, but I'm going to be an adult and not make it.
What % of your takehome pay are you spending on living expenses?
- Thread starter deadeyededric
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there's a joke about your math here, but I'm going to be an adult and not make it.
ok, I'll bite. First of all 85*2 =170 ~ 200, so it's 2x (or 2.4x if we''re mathing)
second, a condo going from $85k to $200k in 25 years is only 1.7% per year. There is zero to complain about in your situation lol. Other homes? sure, but 1.7% is nothing.
and no - Median wages in Iowa haven't increased 2.4X since 2000. But they've gone up 1.9X ... so not THAT badly mismatched.
Id argue there is a war against the single and childless.
I worked on houses in Waukee that were 650k. After not even 10 years many of those houses are pushing a million.
I mean a place built in 2000 and selling for 90K at the time and selling for 200ish in 2025/2026 is kinda a bargain my man
I hate talking about financial success because I don't want to discourage the young, who are mostly doing better than they realize. I have a 26-year-old who, unlike many his age (myself included at that time), wants to learn from the fiscally responsible people around him. My advice to him is simple: max out 401k, stay 100% in S&P 500 for the next couple decades, and think very carefully about long-term commitments (marriage, kids, major loans).
I am four years away from early retirement myself. I also continue to save aggressively, but the real driver of my portfolio is the compounding growth over the last 30 years. Now, for better or worse, our investment swings are often greater than our total yearly paychecks combined. We are debt-free at this time and on track to pay off our new home before we retire. We don’t have any kids so we’ve always spent money on travel and luxury cars, which I pay cash for. We’ve been able to live off the rest of our income worry-free by prioritizing our career growth and retirement savings above all else.
I am four years away from early retirement myself. I also continue to save aggressively, but the real driver of my portfolio is the compounding growth over the last 30 years. Now, for better or worse, our investment swings are often greater than our total yearly paychecks combined. We are debt-free at this time and on track to pay off our new home before we retire. We don’t have any kids so we’ve always spent money on travel and luxury cars, which I pay cash for. We’ve been able to live off the rest of our income worry-free by prioritizing our career growth and retirement savings above all else.
lol - DINKs are basically burning 100's to make s'mores.
INKs only burn "singles"
... lol, (self-high fives), I just fell into making that joke.
I’d say max the 401k match for sure (probably what you meant but good to clarify) and also utilize an HSA as well if it’s offered especially at their age
The advice is solid but so much of financial planning requires looking at a persons specific situation and goals but in general your advice isn’t bad, but I wouldn’t just do 100% S&P 500. But that’s just me
no, but seriously. there's no war on single people, comeon. single people can literally job chase ANYWHERE. if you're single and struggling, you're the problem.
edit: I'm redefining single as "also no dependent parents or crazy **** tying you somewhere"
edit: I'm redefining single as "also no dependent parents or crazy **** tying you somewhere"
Looking more deeply, it's more like $75k new and $220K when I bought it. For, like, 1400 sqft. But again, the whole point of this is the infinite expansion of assets. This can't work forever. The share of people being left behind by this issue grows daily. How long are we gonna keep this up?
You can job chase ANYWHERE so long as you're willing to sacrifice all of your family and friends to do so, sure. You act like moving across the country isn't a complete and total restart of life.
1) you don't have a family, that's the single part. if you're in your 20's I can PROMISE you any good parent wants you to be a successful human vs wanting you next door. Move back when you have grandkids lol.
2) you can make friends anywhere - didn't most of your friends move after college anyway?
maybe I'm a terrible person, but grow some balls and go make some coin.
I mean, I guess so? If life boils down to a set of purely-transactional events with nothing else mattering, then sure.
Plus there's literally no help for people who are single without kids. Everything's on you.
Yeah but that’s a choice, I’m kinda with him that if you are complaining about finding a job but refuse to look farther then your local or greater area that’s a you problem (again like the poster said that if you don’t have dependents etc)
You move away and get the job that pays that gets you more resume building and if you want to move back later then go for it. We live in a very connected world where it’s not only easier then ever to keep in touch but you also continue to build your network and make yourself more valuable.
As an elder millennial, one of the biggest things I did for my future financial health wasn’t all that calculated. In 2009 (end of the housing crisis) I was moving to Denver. After being in 5 different apartments in 6 different years I was absolutely burnt out on renting and landlords in general. We decided to buy a home to escape that, and Denver was incredibly affordable at that time. We bought a 10 year old starter home for 230ish. Flash forward 4 years the Denver market was going crazy and we sold in the mid 300’s. That starter house would get just south of 600 now. The sale of that home set us up for the next one, which in turn set us up for the next one after that. We ended up making our meager amount of money in 09 work for us quite a bit over the years, all because we were sick of renting.
I feel sorry for the younger generations not being able to afford property at a young age. That is one of the easiest ways to build wealth, and it has been taken away from them. No wonder the middle class is disappearing.
I feel sorry for the younger generations not being able to afford property at a young age. That is one of the easiest ways to build wealth, and it has been taken away from them. No wonder the middle class is disappearing.
At the same time you don’t have anyone else that’s relying on you so you can live the way you want without forcing others to do so.
As long as it’s by choice no issue with it, no perfect solution that works for everyone. Again living the DINK life but it’s still one less stressor to not have kids
I said single. You're duel income. Just do the math on the median income. If you think a single person is advantaged in this economy you're just not trying.
