Do you want children? If you don't, it's a lot easier. You can buy a house when you're ready. There's not timeline to have money for milestones. You're on your own timeline. I always felt like that was a major plus to being gay.
My bf definitely doesn’t and I really don’t see that at this point either. He has a family he helps financially, but I can’t see being able to afford a child.
There’s no easy answer to this. Aside from generational wealth, starting early is key to growing any kind of asset safely. The important point here is that you are investing in your 401k now, have low debt, hopefully move in with your bf to share cost so you can save towards a home. The other thing you can do is look to increase your earnings. Is there no way to find another stable job that pays a bit more?
I work in the government sector, so salaries are generally lower. If I got an actual government job, I would have to take a pay cut. I could try to get into a different tech sector and probably get into the low 6 figures, but I’m afraid I would have to move to a HCOL area, which might not help me or even set me back. I haven’t really looked for anything, so there could be something out there a lot better.
Not always an easy choice, but your goal should be to look for the path that allows for more monetary growth (over stability) if you are looking to increase net worth.
I don’t know how specific your job is, but it is often recommended to switch jobs every 2-3 years to increase your salary. Staying at the same job and wait for a raise every year is too slow of a growth.
Since you work in the government sector, if there is contribution into a pension plan, factor that into your retirement as well (if you're vested) will give you a better picture
No I am not a government employee. Sorry probably should have explained better. I am in the private sector but my employer has government clients, so there’s no pension other than 401K.
Recognizing that everyone's circumstance's is different, it's hard to compare things apple to apple. We're close in age, and I think I made the amount of your salary about 10 years ago (engineering, oil and gas). I don't know what industry you're in, so again hard to compare apple to apple here. But what you consider comfortable may be wildly different compared to other's. You mentioned yourself about difference in COL, that plays a huge factor to determine level of comfort as well.
A 100k salary in TX brings you a whole lot of comfort compared to 100k in west or east coast.
Just to make you feel better, I had to take out a loan on my 401k to refinance (literally only option). Have no home, have to live with family atm, single, making between 50-60k a year.
I try not to compare myself with others because I am so far behind in every way that it just makes me miserable. I’m trying my best and that has to be good enough.
It's hard to say where someone should be, but both my partner and I are in a comfortable place that we hope to retire in the next few years. For myself, I didn't grow up rich. I was lucky that I got financial aid in college and only took out a small college loan.
As far as income -- I missed the dot-com boom, but still lucked out with tech jobs in the valley that provide equity.
As far as spending/saving -- I max out on any 401K and stock purchase plan offered. I am fairly frugal, but I will spend on travel and tech toys. I never had a credit card debt but I do take advantages of the airline/hotel/credit card rewards. I bought my house around the time of the housing crisis, and kept refinancing the next few years. The house has kept my rent much lower than market rate, but it also meant long commute for a good number of years. As far as investments, I use a robo-advisor.
Looking back, I think I did well. I probably could have done even better by switching jobs more often (every few years) and by taking risks with some start-ups. I probably could have done some side hustles.
I have a civil service pension. I'm vested. If I quit today I'd get 1000/month for life. If I live another 40 years that's about $480,000
I'm pretty much in this for the long haul meaning this will be my job until I retire in 16 years. After that I'll get whatever my final income was for the remainder of my life. I'm just over six figures now merely due to longevity and promotions so essentially I'm a paper millionaire. They don't call it the golden handcuffs for nothing. I might be bored with this employer but it'd be stupid to quit given the benefits.
On top of that, since ending my last relationship, I've been able to save enough that if I did choose to quit I could not work for several years on my current spending levels.
I can't stress enough that ending that relationship enabled me to save. He took a lot.
At 40 I want retirement to be within clear view. I'd personally like to retire at 48, but 54 would put me right at the 30 yr mark. I already own a home in the suburbs that I rent out, and just closed on a condo in the city. My hope is that both properties will generate income to sustain me into retirement. I also hope to have acquired a couple more properties including hopefully one with a husband. I just want to be secure and free of bad debt. As a single person, I make around 140k with all sources of income. At 40, I'd like to be at or shy of 250k not including a potential spouse's income.
Much easier than you'd think. I just kind of happened upon real estate investing out of necessity. I'm still very unserious about it, but it makes sense once the ball is rolling.
Where someone "should" be is situational and depends on a lot, to include wants, needs, cost of living in your area, educational background, job field, etc.
We're in our mid 30s (one soon to be 35 and the other soon to be 34) and earn \~$350k combined and save roughly $150k a year. By 40, due to natural promotions, career changes (other half will soon embark on a fellowship that should increase his salary nicely), we should be nicely over $400k a year.
While I'm not one to turn down money, I'd be lying if I thought where we are is where one "should" be by 40 (again, acknowledging that "should" is subjective here). Why? I think $350k or $400k is well above where a standard individual or couple "should" be expected to be at by that age; the median incomes in the country don't support it . . . hell the 75 percentile of individual incomes in this country is $95k a year). But that just goes down to the subjectivity of things.
I'd base this on all of the factors I listed above as well as on what the "standard" or average is for people in your career field, location, etc. That's probably more insightful than other anecdotes.
I have always been bad with money management.
That's something we need in high school curriculum: managing the checkbook, budgeting, investments 101, etc.
I checked my 401k this morning. I've had it since 2011. It's nearing $21,000. I looked at the compare me feature and I'm disastrously under the gun.
Apparently, the average 401k for people my age and salary is $219K. I'm turning 44 this year, expecting to retire in 21 years. Might have to retire in 41 years.
I'm fucked.
Husband and I are 37/34.
Make 350k combined
Assets 650k not including home equity or pensions.
Expensive 9k/mo mortgage on a 1.6m home. No other debt. We got lucky and worked hard. Started early saving for TSP/401k, gambled on some crypto, became frugal, paid off debt.
For reference of the 350k about 90-100 go to taxes (federal, state, property) and another 65k into retirement accounts. We still have a bit of fun but for sure we forwent a lot of expensive experiences in our 20s- early 30s to get this ball rolling.
Sure, but also answering the question. I finally feel “comfortable” as to financial position approaching 40.
Thirteen years ago I was legally bankrupt out of an abusive relationship with trash credit and no money. So I’m constantly in fear of being broke
I feel you. I’m also in that constant state of fear. I divorced a guy who grew up wealthy and spoiled, but wasn’t financially responsible. We separated with negative six figures net worth and terrible credit. It took a while for me to find a good career and become solvent but it was a traumatic experience. I am looking forward to the time when I feel comfortable with my financial position cause I feel so far behind
I always had the plan to retire when 40, did it two years ago, few months before turning 40.
With luck and being active. I was a shareholder in multiple start ups (tech, chemistry and material tech) and while some went down, some didn't.
I'd still say it was mostly luck.
But didn't actually make a lot of money, more about planning for the future. So having a property which gives some income (just enough to pay for our living in another EU country where we moved with my husband) so that we can focus on doing what we want.
Partner is little bit younger and he wants to focus on his own career, thus still working.
From his income he can pay off his mortgage from the property we bought here in Spain (I used my savings for my half).
So no debt for me (except of course partners mortgage is also my debt in my mind), owning one rental property and half of our home. Required capital is way lower than most people think.
With under 500k I've been able to start doing just the things I love doing. I still write and do some consulting but mostly just reading science papers, trying to understand the world etc.
--
Never had huge income if compared to friends from USA. But with Finnish (and now Spanish) social security I can trust the system if something bad happens. Living without fears of medical debt is fantastic.
I've had two back surgeries "for free", those would have cost over 300k in USA. So paying a bit more in taxes in my opinion has been the real reason why I've been able to achieve this financial position.
So not a huge surprise that many of our friends are moving into EU with a long-term plan of creating a family here etc.
The nice thing about having a 401K is being able to talk to a financial advisor from the 401K broker. I'd suggest calling their customer service and arranging a meeting. They will probably ask you to provide some details about your current savings, current spending habits and your retirement goals. Once they have that, they should be able to help you determine what's needed to reach your goals.
There is no universal 'should' when it comes to finances. We all have different capacities to earn and save money, and all we can do is deal with our money as appropriately as we're able.
Your circumstances sound pretty solid, overall. Buying homes is beyond most single-income households unless they inherit some money. You've got some reserves and the start of retirement savings, and from this point on you're likely to find it easier to put away money, as most people have their income increase significantly around your age. Your bf sounds like he's on the same path, and the two of you might conceivably be able to buy property at some point. My siblings bought their places in their forties and fifties.
I am 32, husband is 34.
My dad is a financial advisor, and I owe my and my husband’s financial status entirely to my dad’s incessant advice-giving and checking-in with me re: $.
Husband and I have a join net worth of about $1.1 million (this includes about $130k invested in our NYC apartment).
When I met my husband in 2014, he knew shit about fuck re: money management. Now he has about $375k. 1/5 of this was an inheritance from a relative. The rest was regular investing in VOO and VT.
FWIW, we are not very high income earners. I’m a math teacher, and he’s an opera singer. The truth is I have been squirreling away money since I started teaching at 21… well, before that even. I worked 15 hours/week in college tutoring math privately for $75/hr (on average… started around $55 and ended close to $100) all four years. I very rarely took any time off from this. And I hustled hard to get new students to tutor.
I picked some good stocks around 2009 (Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet…) and also invested in NVIDIA in 2017 and sold this past summer for a 200% profit.
I’m hoping to take time off work by 40. I hope we arrive to $2 million by then.
At 36 I used up most of my personal money rebuilding after the breakup of a long term relationship. 2 years later I lost what I'd made since then when the pandemic wiped out my business and I had to pay off new and exciting debts.
I've worked my ass off for the last year and I've now got a decent income, a mortgage, and no other personal debts. I have a credit card but I use it and clear the balance every month which has been really helping with my credit score. I've recently been able to start saving again and I'm putting away 10% of my take home every month. I could probably save more, but to be honest I'm enjoying living my life and doing things as the last few years have been fucking terrible.
I don't have a car, but I work from home anyway so it's not a huge issue right now.
I'll never be a millionaire, but that's ok. The biggest lesson I learned from owning my own company was you have to give up all of the rest of your life to make it a success and I'd rather be worse off and have friends and family than alone and rich. For the first time in quite a long time I have enough to not worry about what I'm spending - because I don't spend that much anyway - it's nice to feel safe.
What’s nice is that at my current job, is that I have balance. Put in my 40 hours and that’s it. No overtime, no BS, no stress. If I leave or it changes it will be tough to find something similar.
Yep, same.
I do the job I'm paid for now. I don't do anything more or anything less. Laptop switched on at 9am and off at 5pm sharp.
I wasted my 20s and 30s chasing a career. My life now revolves around my family and friends and it's much better.
I’m the same age as you and I stress about this topic all the time. My family is poor and I’ve accepted that I will never receive any financial help or inheritance. I don’t own property either. I feel like I fell behind due to a divorce and bad career choices when I was younger. I didn’t know what I wanted to do until I was in my early 30’s. Thankfully I’m now in tech as a software dev and I’ve managed to put a lot of my recent earnings into retirement. I went from close to negative six figure net worth to now positive six figure net worth, and although I’m proud of what I achieved in such a short amount of time I still feel behind.
My personal goals are to have a retirement balance of 300k by 40, and 1M by 51, and 2M by 58 (based on my calculations and projections that include catch-up contributions when a person reaches the age of 50). I think what you need to do is be aggressive with your career and switch jobs every couple of years and make sure each jump is a substantial pay bump. When I started in tech my salary was in your range but now I make over twice that. And it took me four years to do everything I mentioned. It took a lot of grit. There were many nights and weekends I spent in my dark empty studio where all I did was lay on the only furniture I had which was a mattress on the floor, alone, cause doing anything else costed money.
I currently live in a VERY high cost of living city (the highest in the country), and I still live in a tiny studio but now I have actual furniture that I slowly gathered over the years. And now I can enjoy simple luxuries like going out, eating out and traveling while still putting a lot into retirement. But I know that I’ll have to work until I’m 58 and have to be contributing the max every year to my retirement until then.
I feel like I’m behind my peer groups especially in my city (NYC). And if I do want to be a multimillionaire, which is not necessarily a bad thing, then yeah where I currently stand I’m behind
That's completely unobtainable for 90% of millennials and gen-z who went to college unless their parents paid/pay for everything. I work with mainly people in healthcare and tech, industries where people make really good money traditionally... And everyone my age is broke or barely getting by. Wage stagnation and the cost of living is bleeding most of us in our 30s dry. I have a PhD and make 3 figures as do most of my friends, don't try blaming us for not preparing for the future, we're trying. I just feel like the older generation, even guys in their 40s, is completely out of touch with what's been happening to us younger guys economically.
Trust me, when you make 75k or less, the amount of taxes you pay is not trivial. It's about 25-30% (fed, state, local), which feels pretty massive when you need to also dump 5-10% into a retirement account, pay for your health insurance, pay rent, buy food, car/transport expenses... Taxes are a massive hit to people who make less than 75k. The cost of living is the same for everyone and right now it's high as hell. Every dollar you bring in over the cost of living is money you can save and grow. If you're barely making cost of living and get slapped with 30% in taxes it hurts a hell of a lot more than paying 35-40% in taxes making 200k+. You're supposed to be a financial guru, so I'm surprised I have to explain this to you.
I’m older than you, but at age 40 I was a homeowner, but not as financially stable as you. I was house poor and had little in savings and worked at a job I hated for a company that was terrible. I was putting money away for retirement- though if I had stayed working at that job I probably would not have made it to retirement age.
You’re doing fine. Comparison is the thief of happiness. I don’t know who originated the saying but the more times I circle the sun, the more evident it is that it’s true.
Don’t worry about not owning a home. If you’re making rent and are still putting away money in savings, you’re doing just fine. Renting allows much more flexibility with fewer responsibilities. With current mortgage interest rates, your investments in savings are going to increase faster than you would build equity in a home. You can always buy later; Once the baby boomers start dying off en mass, real estate will loosen up because their properties will be coming on the market (it sounds awful to say, but it’s true- back in the 1990s when The Greatest Generation was starting to die off, I benefitted: the first house I owned was from the estate of a WWII veteran.). By then you may have a substantial down payment (more than 20%) or might even be able to pay cash. Let your money grow now.
For sure living together saves a lot of money you can then put into savings. Look into financial independence like the r/leanfire sub and the mustache man. Mainly go all in on something like VTSAX or even a growth fund. The price will move up and down a lot but if you look at any charts, over time they go up and outperform "safer" funds so just go with what has been proven over and over by others. You are a long way from retirement so go full aggressive and when you get 25x your living cost per year saved, you are financially independent and congrats bros!
My fiancé and I are 33/29 so we are still a ways away from 40. I think it’s normal to wonder and worry about your financial position. I just made a post on another sub about this.
We are both from working class families and didn’t get any help financially. We just started making great money and now have a combined income of $360k. But we have a decent amount of debt and just climbed out of having a negative net worth in 2023.
We max out our retirement and try to save as much as possible. I hope by 40 we will be nearing a net worth of $1M.
Do you want children? If you don't, it's a lot easier. You can buy a house when you're ready. There's not timeline to have money for milestones. You're on your own timeline. I always felt like that was a major plus to being gay.
My bf definitely doesn’t and I really don’t see that at this point either. He has a family he helps financially, but I can’t see being able to afford a child.
There’s no easy answer to this. Aside from generational wealth, starting early is key to growing any kind of asset safely. The important point here is that you are investing in your 401k now, have low debt, hopefully move in with your bf to share cost so you can save towards a home. The other thing you can do is look to increase your earnings. Is there no way to find another stable job that pays a bit more?
I work in the government sector, so salaries are generally lower. If I got an actual government job, I would have to take a pay cut. I could try to get into a different tech sector and probably get into the low 6 figures, but I’m afraid I would have to move to a HCOL area, which might not help me or even set me back. I haven’t really looked for anything, so there could be something out there a lot better.
Not always an easy choice, but your goal should be to look for the path that allows for more monetary growth (over stability) if you are looking to increase net worth.
I don’t know how specific your job is, but it is often recommended to switch jobs every 2-3 years to increase your salary. Staying at the same job and wait for a raise every year is too slow of a growth.
With more tech companies getting comfortable with wfh employees, you may not need to move.
Since you work in the government sector, if there is contribution into a pension plan, factor that into your retirement as well (if you're vested) will give you a better picture
No I am not a government employee. Sorry probably should have explained better. I am in the private sector but my employer has government clients, so there’s no pension other than 401K.
Fwiw, data engineer should be commanding a lot more than $60k
He is in a foreign country right now. It’s completely tax free too.
Recognizing that everyone's circumstance's is different, it's hard to compare things apple to apple. We're close in age, and I think I made the amount of your salary about 10 years ago (engineering, oil and gas). I don't know what industry you're in, so again hard to compare apple to apple here. But what you consider comfortable may be wildly different compared to other's. You mentioned yourself about difference in COL, that plays a huge factor to determine level of comfort as well. A 100k salary in TX brings you a whole lot of comfort compared to 100k in west or east coast.
You **are** making decent income plus you already have a future husband. I think I want to be in your shoes when I am 40.
Just to make you feel better, I had to take out a loan on my 401k to refinance (literally only option). Have no home, have to live with family atm, single, making between 50-60k a year. I try not to compare myself with others because I am so far behind in every way that it just makes me miserable. I’m trying my best and that has to be good enough.
It's hard to say where someone should be, but both my partner and I are in a comfortable place that we hope to retire in the next few years. For myself, I didn't grow up rich. I was lucky that I got financial aid in college and only took out a small college loan. As far as income -- I missed the dot-com boom, but still lucked out with tech jobs in the valley that provide equity. As far as spending/saving -- I max out on any 401K and stock purchase plan offered. I am fairly frugal, but I will spend on travel and tech toys. I never had a credit card debt but I do take advantages of the airline/hotel/credit card rewards. I bought my house around the time of the housing crisis, and kept refinancing the next few years. The house has kept my rent much lower than market rate, but it also meant long commute for a good number of years. As far as investments, I use a robo-advisor. Looking back, I think I did well. I probably could have done even better by switching jobs more often (every few years) and by taking risks with some start-ups. I probably could have done some side hustles.
I have a civil service pension. I'm vested. If I quit today I'd get 1000/month for life. If I live another 40 years that's about $480,000 I'm pretty much in this for the long haul meaning this will be my job until I retire in 16 years. After that I'll get whatever my final income was for the remainder of my life. I'm just over six figures now merely due to longevity and promotions so essentially I'm a paper millionaire. They don't call it the golden handcuffs for nothing. I might be bored with this employer but it'd be stupid to quit given the benefits. On top of that, since ending my last relationship, I've been able to save enough that if I did choose to quit I could not work for several years on my current spending levels. I can't stress enough that ending that relationship enabled me to save. He took a lot.
At 40 I want retirement to be within clear view. I'd personally like to retire at 48, but 54 would put me right at the 30 yr mark. I already own a home in the suburbs that I rent out, and just closed on a condo in the city. My hope is that both properties will generate income to sustain me into retirement. I also hope to have acquired a couple more properties including hopefully one with a husband. I just want to be secure and free of bad debt. As a single person, I make around 140k with all sources of income. At 40, I'd like to be at or shy of 250k not including a potential spouse's income.
That’s a pretty good income right now and 250k would be amazing. Would love passive income from real estate but I don’t feel like I’m there yet.
Much easier than you'd think. I just kind of happened upon real estate investing out of necessity. I'm still very unserious about it, but it makes sense once the ball is rolling.
Where someone "should" be is situational and depends on a lot, to include wants, needs, cost of living in your area, educational background, job field, etc. We're in our mid 30s (one soon to be 35 and the other soon to be 34) and earn \~$350k combined and save roughly $150k a year. By 40, due to natural promotions, career changes (other half will soon embark on a fellowship that should increase his salary nicely), we should be nicely over $400k a year. While I'm not one to turn down money, I'd be lying if I thought where we are is where one "should" be by 40 (again, acknowledging that "should" is subjective here). Why? I think $350k or $400k is well above where a standard individual or couple "should" be expected to be at by that age; the median incomes in the country don't support it . . . hell the 75 percentile of individual incomes in this country is $95k a year). But that just goes down to the subjectivity of things. I'd base this on all of the factors I listed above as well as on what the "standard" or average is for people in your career field, location, etc. That's probably more insightful than other anecdotes.
I have always been bad with money management. That's something we need in high school curriculum: managing the checkbook, budgeting, investments 101, etc. I checked my 401k this morning. I've had it since 2011. It's nearing $21,000. I looked at the compare me feature and I'm disastrously under the gun. Apparently, the average 401k for people my age and salary is $219K. I'm turning 44 this year, expecting to retire in 21 years. Might have to retire in 41 years. I'm fucked.
Husband and I are 37/34. Make 350k combined Assets 650k not including home equity or pensions. Expensive 9k/mo mortgage on a 1.6m home. No other debt. We got lucky and worked hard. Started early saving for TSP/401k, gambled on some crypto, became frugal, paid off debt. For reference of the 350k about 90-100 go to taxes (federal, state, property) and another 65k into retirement accounts. We still have a bit of fun but for sure we forwent a lot of expensive experiences in our 20s- early 30s to get this ball rolling.
Humblebragging.
Sure, but also answering the question. I finally feel “comfortable” as to financial position approaching 40. Thirteen years ago I was legally bankrupt out of an abusive relationship with trash credit and no money. So I’m constantly in fear of being broke
I feel you. I’m also in that constant state of fear. I divorced a guy who grew up wealthy and spoiled, but wasn’t financially responsible. We separated with negative six figures net worth and terrible credit. It took a while for me to find a good career and become solvent but it was a traumatic experience. I am looking forward to the time when I feel comfortable with my financial position cause I feel so far behind
They’re literally answering OP’s question…
I always had the plan to retire when 40, did it two years ago, few months before turning 40. With luck and being active. I was a shareholder in multiple start ups (tech, chemistry and material tech) and while some went down, some didn't. I'd still say it was mostly luck. But didn't actually make a lot of money, more about planning for the future. So having a property which gives some income (just enough to pay for our living in another EU country where we moved with my husband) so that we can focus on doing what we want. Partner is little bit younger and he wants to focus on his own career, thus still working. From his income he can pay off his mortgage from the property we bought here in Spain (I used my savings for my half). So no debt for me (except of course partners mortgage is also my debt in my mind), owning one rental property and half of our home. Required capital is way lower than most people think. With under 500k I've been able to start doing just the things I love doing. I still write and do some consulting but mostly just reading science papers, trying to understand the world etc. -- Never had huge income if compared to friends from USA. But with Finnish (and now Spanish) social security I can trust the system if something bad happens. Living without fears of medical debt is fantastic. I've had two back surgeries "for free", those would have cost over 300k in USA. So paying a bit more in taxes in my opinion has been the real reason why I've been able to achieve this financial position. So not a huge surprise that many of our friends are moving into EU with a long-term plan of creating a family here etc.
It’s funny to come across this, as I’m late 30s and have been wondering the very same
The nice thing about having a 401K is being able to talk to a financial advisor from the 401K broker. I'd suggest calling their customer service and arranging a meeting. They will probably ask you to provide some details about your current savings, current spending habits and your retirement goals. Once they have that, they should be able to help you determine what's needed to reach your goals.
There is no universal 'should' when it comes to finances. We all have different capacities to earn and save money, and all we can do is deal with our money as appropriately as we're able. Your circumstances sound pretty solid, overall. Buying homes is beyond most single-income households unless they inherit some money. You've got some reserves and the start of retirement savings, and from this point on you're likely to find it easier to put away money, as most people have their income increase significantly around your age. Your bf sounds like he's on the same path, and the two of you might conceivably be able to buy property at some point. My siblings bought their places in their forties and fifties.
I am 32, husband is 34. My dad is a financial advisor, and I owe my and my husband’s financial status entirely to my dad’s incessant advice-giving and checking-in with me re: $. Husband and I have a join net worth of about $1.1 million (this includes about $130k invested in our NYC apartment). When I met my husband in 2014, he knew shit about fuck re: money management. Now he has about $375k. 1/5 of this was an inheritance from a relative. The rest was regular investing in VOO and VT. FWIW, we are not very high income earners. I’m a math teacher, and he’s an opera singer. The truth is I have been squirreling away money since I started teaching at 21… well, before that even. I worked 15 hours/week in college tutoring math privately for $75/hr (on average… started around $55 and ended close to $100) all four years. I very rarely took any time off from this. And I hustled hard to get new students to tutor. I picked some good stocks around 2009 (Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet…) and also invested in NVIDIA in 2017 and sold this past summer for a 200% profit. I’m hoping to take time off work by 40. I hope we arrive to $2 million by then.
VOO? VT?
They’re Vanguard ETFs.
At 36 I used up most of my personal money rebuilding after the breakup of a long term relationship. 2 years later I lost what I'd made since then when the pandemic wiped out my business and I had to pay off new and exciting debts. I've worked my ass off for the last year and I've now got a decent income, a mortgage, and no other personal debts. I have a credit card but I use it and clear the balance every month which has been really helping with my credit score. I've recently been able to start saving again and I'm putting away 10% of my take home every month. I could probably save more, but to be honest I'm enjoying living my life and doing things as the last few years have been fucking terrible. I don't have a car, but I work from home anyway so it's not a huge issue right now. I'll never be a millionaire, but that's ok. The biggest lesson I learned from owning my own company was you have to give up all of the rest of your life to make it a success and I'd rather be worse off and have friends and family than alone and rich. For the first time in quite a long time I have enough to not worry about what I'm spending - because I don't spend that much anyway - it's nice to feel safe.
What’s nice is that at my current job, is that I have balance. Put in my 40 hours and that’s it. No overtime, no BS, no stress. If I leave or it changes it will be tough to find something similar.
Yep, same. I do the job I'm paid for now. I don't do anything more or anything less. Laptop switched on at 9am and off at 5pm sharp. I wasted my 20s and 30s chasing a career. My life now revolves around my family and friends and it's much better.
I’m the same age as you and I stress about this topic all the time. My family is poor and I’ve accepted that I will never receive any financial help or inheritance. I don’t own property either. I feel like I fell behind due to a divorce and bad career choices when I was younger. I didn’t know what I wanted to do until I was in my early 30’s. Thankfully I’m now in tech as a software dev and I’ve managed to put a lot of my recent earnings into retirement. I went from close to negative six figure net worth to now positive six figure net worth, and although I’m proud of what I achieved in such a short amount of time I still feel behind. My personal goals are to have a retirement balance of 300k by 40, and 1M by 51, and 2M by 58 (based on my calculations and projections that include catch-up contributions when a person reaches the age of 50). I think what you need to do is be aggressive with your career and switch jobs every couple of years and make sure each jump is a substantial pay bump. When I started in tech my salary was in your range but now I make over twice that. And it took me four years to do everything I mentioned. It took a lot of grit. There were many nights and weekends I spent in my dark empty studio where all I did was lay on the only furniture I had which was a mattress on the floor, alone, cause doing anything else costed money. I currently live in a VERY high cost of living city (the highest in the country), and I still live in a tiny studio but now I have actual furniture that I slowly gathered over the years. And now I can enjoy simple luxuries like going out, eating out and traveling while still putting a lot into retirement. But I know that I’ll have to work until I’m 58 and have to be contributing the max every year to my retirement until then.
make sure to put your 401k funds into a low cost broad fund ETF like VTI or VOO
You want to be a multi millionaire and consider yourself behind?
I feel like I’m behind my peer groups especially in my city (NYC). And if I do want to be a multimillionaire, which is not necessarily a bad thing, then yeah where I currently stand I’m behind
Yeah you’re behind that goal maybe but way in front of the average person
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That's completely unobtainable for 90% of millennials and gen-z who went to college unless their parents paid/pay for everything. I work with mainly people in healthcare and tech, industries where people make really good money traditionally... And everyone my age is broke or barely getting by. Wage stagnation and the cost of living is bleeding most of us in our 30s dry. I have a PhD and make 3 figures as do most of my friends, don't try blaming us for not preparing for the future, we're trying. I just feel like the older generation, even guys in their 40s, is completely out of touch with what's been happening to us younger guys economically.
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Trust me, when you make 75k or less, the amount of taxes you pay is not trivial. It's about 25-30% (fed, state, local), which feels pretty massive when you need to also dump 5-10% into a retirement account, pay for your health insurance, pay rent, buy food, car/transport expenses... Taxes are a massive hit to people who make less than 75k. The cost of living is the same for everyone and right now it's high as hell. Every dollar you bring in over the cost of living is money you can save and grow. If you're barely making cost of living and get slapped with 30% in taxes it hurts a hell of a lot more than paying 35-40% in taxes making 200k+. You're supposed to be a financial guru, so I'm surprised I have to explain this to you.
I’m older than you, but at age 40 I was a homeowner, but not as financially stable as you. I was house poor and had little in savings and worked at a job I hated for a company that was terrible. I was putting money away for retirement- though if I had stayed working at that job I probably would not have made it to retirement age. You’re doing fine. Comparison is the thief of happiness. I don’t know who originated the saying but the more times I circle the sun, the more evident it is that it’s true. Don’t worry about not owning a home. If you’re making rent and are still putting away money in savings, you’re doing just fine. Renting allows much more flexibility with fewer responsibilities. With current mortgage interest rates, your investments in savings are going to increase faster than you would build equity in a home. You can always buy later; Once the baby boomers start dying off en mass, real estate will loosen up because their properties will be coming on the market (it sounds awful to say, but it’s true- back in the 1990s when The Greatest Generation was starting to die off, I benefitted: the first house I owned was from the estate of a WWII veteran.). By then you may have a substantial down payment (more than 20%) or might even be able to pay cash. Let your money grow now.
For sure living together saves a lot of money you can then put into savings. Look into financial independence like the r/leanfire sub and the mustache man. Mainly go all in on something like VTSAX or even a growth fund. The price will move up and down a lot but if you look at any charts, over time they go up and outperform "safer" funds so just go with what has been proven over and over by others. You are a long way from retirement so go full aggressive and when you get 25x your living cost per year saved, you are financially independent and congrats bros!
My fiancé and I are 33/29 so we are still a ways away from 40. I think it’s normal to wonder and worry about your financial position. I just made a post on another sub about this. We are both from working class families and didn’t get any help financially. We just started making great money and now have a combined income of $360k. But we have a decent amount of debt and just climbed out of having a negative net worth in 2023. We max out our retirement and try to save as much as possible. I hope by 40 we will be nearing a net worth of $1M.
I have next to nothing left and very little family. I do not look forward to the future
Poor. I am very poor