Between my parents and us there won't be any financial concerns if a true problem arises. However I've already begun thinking about college savings, budget changes for a new car, asset allocation for better long-term growth, etc. Not to mention the day-to-day expenses.
I automate everything as well and currently save about 15% net gross and 19% net income. However the thought of reducing that due to a baby eats me up inside and I don't know why. No clue. My guess is the baby will help with my anxieties.
OK, last thought (I think), then I'm done being "offer unsolicited advice guy"...increasingly today, once you get financially secure, the thing we often run short on is time. I'd love to do this or that, but I don't have time. Obligations of work/family/etc. take our calendar and fill it. In that light, take your net income and equate a dollar amount with a time amount...pretty simple Net income/hours worked=hourly rate. Then take a look at that 19% and decide if you're willing to spend X amount of time per week to go to that savings. Think of the time you spend on other things you enjoy doing, would you re-adjust your priorities to get more of that time?
I think a lot of times, we get hung up on dollars and cents and balance sheets, but in the end, for most of us...money is time. It's what we get in return for going somewhere and doing something instead of doing something entertaining or 'fun'...I enjoy my work, so I'm not going there, but when you break it down, we give someone or something our time, we get money.
If you're like a lot of college degreed people, that 19% probably represents around 10 hours. Now granted, if you're like most of us, you can't decide you don't want to save as much, so you're going to cut back by 6 hours of work and take a pay cut equivalent, but you could decide that you'll take that remaining 4 hours and put it toward some extra quality time with your wife. Especially coming up...hiring a sitter and going out for a date night...or for us, buying time with my wife's family (they all live out of state, so it's vacation time and plane tickets for 2/3 of them). Granted, neither of these might be valid scenarios for you, but it's an exercise...maybe that extra 4 hours means you are planning on retiring early...that's a long payoff gamble, though.
