demoncore1031
Well-Known Member
95% of my take home pay goes to bills. Leaves very little for food, groceries, entertainment, etc.
What % of your takehome pay are you spending on living expenses?
- Thread starter deadeyededric
- Start date
Yep gotta buy the wants, it’s about thriving not just surviving. As long as you aren’t screwing up your future or current finances buy what you want that makes you happy or brings you some joy
I think his point to try to stay out of debt if you can. Having a safety net, not a hoard of cash as that’s not usually possible for the average person, is smart.
Debt can be suffocating and hamper your quality of life more than budgeting and saving some, when possible, would.
Mortgage/Taxes/Homeowners is about 26 percent of our take home. Food and gas eats up another 20. Utilities eat up another 5. Cars are about 10 but I’ve got two payments left on mine.
Then there’s everything else which adds up to a lot and we don’t really do a lot. When you have three kids you just find yourself constantly buying **** they need.
My wife went back to work part time now that the kids are all at least in preschool which helped a lot. Those number were different when it was just me. I also get paid biweekly so that really isn’t the true number every month. We just get an extra paycheck a couple months a year.
Then there’s everything else which adds up to a lot and we don’t really do a lot. When you have three kids you just find yourself constantly buying **** they need.
My wife went back to work part time now that the kids are all at least in preschool which helped a lot. Those number were different when it was just me. I also get paid biweekly so that really isn’t the true number every month. We just get an extra paycheck a couple months a year.
With just those pieces I'm at ~21% of my take home cash. I spend more than that on other things that are frivolous but I also put 10% to my ESPP and max my 401k.
Well true take home pay (before savings) I am about 20%, after savings I am spending over 50%. No wife, no kids, no house. Just rent and student loans. Starting a side hustle too so spending a bit of the nest egg on a hope and a dream.
But I could go a year or two without a job and not change a thing. Though I probably wouldn't go on as many vacations or go out to eat as much so even longer and my full time job would be finding another job.
But I could go a year or two without a job and not change a thing. Though I probably wouldn't go on as many vacations or go out to eat as much so even longer and my full time job would be finding another job.
My gross to net ratio is pretty low.
401k, HSA, daycare, life insurance, etc. All come out of the check. State and Feds get their cut.
So as a percentage of net it's pretty high. As a percentage of gross it's a prettier picture
401k, HSA, daycare, life insurance, etc. All come out of the check. State and Feds get their cut.
So as a percentage of net it's pretty high. As a percentage of gross it's a prettier picture
Our 5 year old is almost done with daycare and I feel like it's going to be a freaking windfall of cash come August. Then in November our other kiddos rate will drop $80 a week I think. Cannot. Wait.
Daycare is EXPENSIVE.
It IS a windfall
We're done in August too. It's a substantial amount that will stay in the pocket.
I don't want to run the numbers on 10 years of daycare for the boys. I could cry
I grew up in a situation with low financial security until I was about 12. That impressed an unhealthy level of worry about financial security onto me later in life. I've got better in the last few years about realizing that money is a tool, not an end unto itself.
I'm fortunate to have a good paying, stable job while my wife stays home with our kids. I've always followed the rule to never have a mortgage+escrow payment that is more than 25% of my take-home pay. That's the rule we followed when we bought our current house in 2020.
Looks like mortgage+escrow+utilities is about 22% of our take home pay right now. Between 401k, Roth, HSA, and a HYSE, we're hitting around a 23% savings rate.
That being said, in this age, things still feel "tight" at times. Last year we had a massive tree come down in our yard and a water heater go out within 2 months of each other. That got our savings down to a point where I was stressed for the first time in a long time. But, that's the point of an emergency fund. We didn't use any debt to cover those big expenses.
We could be better about getting money to a 529 or not indulging in "extras" like eating out, ice cream for the kids, etc. But we're also saving for tomorrow while trying to enjoy today.
It's a balance. And success looks different for each person. I certainly wouldn't turn down more money, but I also have to remind myself we've put ourselves in a pretty strong position with 25 years to go before retirement.
I'm fortunate to have a good paying, stable job while my wife stays home with our kids. I've always followed the rule to never have a mortgage+escrow payment that is more than 25% of my take-home pay. That's the rule we followed when we bought our current house in 2020.
Looks like mortgage+escrow+utilities is about 22% of our take home pay right now. Between 401k, Roth, HSA, and a HYSE, we're hitting around a 23% savings rate.
That being said, in this age, things still feel "tight" at times. Last year we had a massive tree come down in our yard and a water heater go out within 2 months of each other. That got our savings down to a point where I was stressed for the first time in a long time. But, that's the point of an emergency fund. We didn't use any debt to cover those big expenses.
We could be better about getting money to a 529 or not indulging in "extras" like eating out, ice cream for the kids, etc. But we're also saving for tomorrow while trying to enjoy today.
It's a balance. And success looks different for each person. I certainly wouldn't turn down more money, but I also have to remind myself we've put ourselves in a pretty strong position with 25 years to go before retirement.
No he would not. I use a credit card almost daily. I also have a car payment. I also don't spend any money on his ELPs or Churchill Mortgage or Zander Insurance and I don't buy his books.
The Money Guys would be proud though! With the exception of my car payment that I didn't quite follow their 20/8/3 plan.
My family has been looking at bigger houses as we have a small one for five of us. Im blown away by housing prices, literally every single house we had interest in we were like it needs to be 30-50k less. To move right now would put us closer to 40% of my monthly check to a mortage/insurance.
Ok, you didn’t include other loan payments. Groceries is a living expense. Unless you somehow don’t eat, they are a living expense.
I consider non living expenses to be of the optional kind. You can drive an old car (I do) but know that you will have repairs. If you live in a city you can get by with public transportation to get to work and around, so that would be living expenses. If you need it to survive and perform your work, I co sided that living expenses.
Why I thought you had 5k left over at the end of the month.
No idea because I dont know what my wifes take home pay is and we have seperate checking accounts and credit cards.
We're at 25% of take home going to mortgage, property taxes, homeowners and auto insurance, utilities, Internet service, cell service, and streaming services. We don't have any car payments or student loan payments. Our mortgage is our only debt but it's at 2% so we're in no hurry to pay it off. We max 401ks, Roth IRAs, and HSAs then put extra savings into money market accounts for short term savings and brokerage accounts for money we won't need access to for at least a year.
I agree but if you do it right you can have a lot of fun and then die on the credit card companies/banks dime
Spending 50% of Net earnings on housing doesn't seem all that problematic to me. Assuming NET earnings includes retirement savings and health insurance.
