So many spend like the job will last forever. I think that more frequent layoffs, PIP, offshoring of jobs to India, etc, have made it clear that's not the case. I know a few folks who are now panicking because their savings are nowhere close to where they need to be in case they lose their jobs. Don't let this happen to you. Start saving and investing. It is liberating to have a pile of fu-k you money. I’ve know people who had their pile of duck you money and when they were given unfair ranking feedback literally said fu-k you and walked out of the office.
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Correct . I save money every day by not buying a Ferrari
@OP Can you follow them out the door?
@bw you re increasing your chance to be ki-led in a plane crash or contract marlaria or some other bugs
It is so refreshing to have enough savings that I never have to work another day.
EM bombards me with BS and I just smile, waiting for the day when I am told that I am NSI. For now I just put up with cr-p and fly to India every 4 weeks to get miles and maintain my Premier 1K status, and to train my replacement.
To each their own opinion.
Wealth building is also paying off college debt, buying a house, saving for retirement and planning for children’s education. Just saying that that is where some people’s money go early in their careers….esp if you got no family help on the education piece.
It’s great if you can also build a cash reserve where you can walk out of your job when you get a bit of bad news. But you can also live modestly, put your money in other things, and still only have a 20-50k emergency reserve for a decade or more. ….that’s not a ‘duck you’ reserve imo.
Im saying this for the early career folks who feel like an anomaly because they look left and look right and they see a bunch of dual-career ExxonMobil couples who have no education debt and are banking $100k into savings each year. I’m happy for them. But it’s not everyone.
@b7 I’m sure you’ll get downvoted but you are 100% correct.
B6
Late 30s? That shows that your standard of living is still too high. As much as we complain about salary, we are still top 10% (or higher) earners in greater Houston when adjusting relative to age.
Cut the international vacations, luxury cars, 3500sqft homes, and other things to “live in the real world”.
I laugh at all the people here who have family income above $200k and say it’s too expensive to raise 2 kids. So many people do this on less than $100k or have even more kids yet don’t ask anyone to feel sorry for them.
Good advice, but count yourself lucky if you have two wage earners. If you are single income with a family (or even double-income with kids in daycare), building a large nest egg is hard early on….esp if you are doing all the other investing you are supposed to do like 401k, 529, college loans, house, etc. Cash doesn’t really free up until mid to late 30s.
It’s humbling to realize you are an upper middle earner, and still just squeaking out a balanced cash flow.
FU saved money can liberate you from these corporate overlords. I can't describe the degree of satisfaction I had when I resigned from a toxic work environment knowing I had over 5 years of FU money saved.