What percentage of income do you save/invest?

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AK59
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What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by AK59 »

I am curious to where everyone is with this.

With your monthly or yearly income how much do you save or invest each year?

After maxing out my retirement accounts I put the rest in my brokerage account which is coming out to about 40% of my income this year, up from 25% last year.

My emergency fund is strong, but I drop about another 5% of my monthly income in it to build some cash reserves for that "f you" money or fun purchase.
Marseille07
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by Marseille07 »

I don't really look at it this way.

The salary goes into my checking, which is part of my AA. I make sure I have 5% of AA in cash; everything else gets invested.
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spdoublebass
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by spdoublebass »

AK59 wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 11:46 pm I am curious to where everyone is with this.

With your monthly or yearly income how much do you save or invest each year?

After maxing out my retirement accounts I put the rest in my brokerage account which is coming out to about 40% of my income this year, up from 25% last year.

My emergency fund is strong, but I drop about another 5% of my monthly income in it to build some cash reserves for that "f you" money or fun purchase.
Percentages aren’t everything.
I’m much more impressed when someone saves 25% of $50K than $500k
I'm trying to think, but nothing happens
PecuniaryPeccary
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by PecuniaryPeccary »

My gross, pre-tax salary is $61,000.

Last year I saved 62% of it. The year before, around 58%.

I have to. I'm 50 years old, and only got my first real adult job at the age of 44 (after some 17 years of grad school). My retirement program from work is pitiful, and even worse, it replaces Social Security, so I won't get any of the latter. So I'll be forced to survive on what I can pack away in my 403(b) and 457(b). Even saving 62% of my salary, I can't remotely max both of them out.
Bh1984
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by Bh1984 »

spdoublebass wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 11:57 pm
AK59 wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 11:46 pm I am curious to where everyone is with this.

With your monthly or yearly income how much do you save or invest each year?

After maxing out my retirement accounts I put the rest in my brokerage account which is coming out to about 40% of my income this year, up from 25% last year.

My emergency fund is strong, but I drop about another 5% of my monthly income in it to build some cash reserves for that "f you" money or fun purchase.
Percentages aren’t everything.
I’m much more impressed when someone saves 25% of $50K than $500k
I'm not sure I totally agree with this logic. Percentages are a great metric especially as income moves. For instance I have saved over 50% of my income over my entire 20 year working period, including when I was a teenager. Point is I have always looked at money in percentages and it's allowed me to always remain in the boundaries.

AA is all percentage based so I'm very curious about your logic.
chris319
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by chris319 »

Every month I tally up my income and my expenses. The difference is what's available to invest.

If the difference is positive then the surplus goes to the brokerage. If negative, then I've got a problem and must figure out where I overspent.

It's as simple as that. If you're looking for a percentage, it's about 35%, but this figure has little meaning because it depends on my absolute income and expenses.
Financial decisions based on emotion often turn out to be bad decisions.
Jaymover
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by Jaymover »

PecuniaryPeccary wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 12:15 am My gross, pre-tax salary is $61,000.

Last year I saved 62% of it. The year before, around 58%.

I have to. I'm 50 years old, and only got my first real adult job at the age of 44 (after some 17 years of grad school). My retirement program from work is pitiful, and even worse, it replaces Social Security, so I won't get any of the latter. So I'll be forced to survive on what I can pack away in my 403(b) and 457(b). Even saving 62% of my salary, I can't remotely max both of them out.
Good to read that not everyone on BGH is wealthy. The trouble with low incomes that all the fixed costs of life add up to most of it, especially if you rent. I would live in a caravan in the back of someone's yard now if I could but that option is simply not available.

I save the equivalent to my rent each year which requires a fair bit of penny pinching
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22twain
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by 22twain »

Here's a six-page thread from a couple of months ago:

What is the average savings rates for bogleheads?

[added] Aha, now that I've re-read some of it, I remember that a lot of it was arguing about how to calculate the percentage, in true BH tradition. :twisted:

Here's my data point, calculated two different ways.
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Michael Patrick
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by Michael Patrick »

I've been saving around 11% - 12% of our combined gross pay.

For context, I am a lowly civil servant who has only recently started making reasonably good money as I moved up into the supervisory ranks. My wife works part-time for a non-profit agency. So there hasn't been a whole lot left over after expenses.

The contributions to our retirement savings are all on automatic and have happened like clockwork for decades. Slow and steady has worked out quite well for us.
59Gibson
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by 59Gibson »

Ranged from 15-70% depending on income.
UpperNwGuy
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by UpperNwGuy »

About 20% of gross.
CardioMD
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by CardioMD »

Bh1984 wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 1:12 am
spdoublebass wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 11:57 pm
AK59 wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 11:46 pm I am curious to where everyone is with this.

With your monthly or yearly income how much do you save or invest each year?

After maxing out my retirement accounts I put the rest in my brokerage account which is coming out to about 40% of my income this year, up from 25% last year.

My emergency fund is strong, but I drop about another 5% of my monthly income in it to build some cash reserves for that "f you" money or fun purchase.
Percentages aren’t everything.
I’m much more impressed when someone saves 25% of $50K than $500k
I'm not sure I totally agree with this logic. Percentages are a great metric especially as income moves. For instance I have saved over 50% of my income over my entire 20 year working period, including when I was a teenager. Point is I have always looked at money in percentages and it's allowed me to always remain in the boundaries.

AA is all percentage based so I'm very curious about your logic.
You’ve never been poor. I understand completely.
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smitcat
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by smitcat »

Bh1984 wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 1:12 am
spdoublebass wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 11:57 pm
AK59 wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 11:46 pm I am curious to where everyone is with this.

With your monthly or yearly income how much do you save or invest each year?

After maxing out my retirement accounts I put the rest in my brokerage account which is coming out to about 40% of my income this year, up from 25% last year.

My emergency fund is strong, but I drop about another 5% of my monthly income in it to build some cash reserves for that "f you" money or fun purchase.
Percentages aren’t everything.
I’m much more impressed when someone saves 25% of $50K than $500k
I'm not sure I totally agree with this logic. Percentages are a great metric especially as income moves. For instance I have saved over 50% of my income over my entire 20 year working period, including when I was a teenager. Point is I have always looked at money in percentages and it's allowed me to always remain in the boundaries.

AA is all percentage based so I'm very curious about your logic.
Percentages of gross income are not really meaningful when applied to varying income levels.
Percentages of desired expenses have some value as they are relative to attaining FI and or RE.
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SconnieBro
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by SconnieBro »

My wife and I save 52% of net pay or 30% of gross
stoptothink
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by stoptothink »

PecuniaryPeccary wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 12:15 am My gross, pre-tax salary is $61,000.

Last year I saved 62% of it. The year before, around 58%.

I have to. I'm 50 years old, and only got my first real adult job at the age of 44 (after some 17 years of grad school). My retirement program from work is pitiful, and even worse, it replaces Social Security, so I won't get any of the latter. So I'll be forced to survive on what I can pack away in my 403(b) and 457(b). Even saving 62% of my salary, I can't remotely max both of them out.
This is very impressive, in fact that is pretty much my exact situation (and similar numbers) before I met my wife 8yrs ago. Only difference is I was 31.

There's definitely been some lifestyle creep with a family of 4 now. We're looking at saving 55%-60% gross of our ~$240k HHI.
Ramjet
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by Ramjet »

We are at about 28% of gross income. I would be really happy if we could reach 35% at some point in the next 5 years but that will be difficult with a child on the way
Kaizen Soze
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by Kaizen Soze »

35% of gross, which equals about 80% of our annual expenses. Late 30's with 5.5yrs of expenses saved in retirement accounts. We've got some catching up to do.
bugleheadd
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by bugleheadd »

60% of gross
daheld
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by daheld »

I think total income is important in this discussion. Saving 25% of a $1 million income is much different than saving 25% on $100,000 income.

$170k combined gross income. We save about 32% of gross income, about 45% of net/post-tax income.
dsmil
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by dsmil »

We've been investing only 6% for the past few years, as home renovations have taken over. With assistance from the various stimulus payments and refinancing our mortgage, we're about to pay off some debt and we'll save 25% of gross going forward, split between retirement and college savings.
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anon_investor
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by anon_investor »

Approximately 45-55% of gross, depending on the size of my annual bonus (100% of my bonus after taxes is invested).

Singe income household, we max out the following and any leftovers goes into "taxable"*:
-401k (+employer contributions)
-"mega backdoor" Roth 401k
-"family" HSA (+employer contributions)
-backdoor Roth IRA
-"spousal backdoor" Roth IRA

*"taxable" includes taxable brokerage account and I Bonds (via Treasury Direct)
Bullhead5829
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by Bullhead5829 »

I was in my 12th year of retirement in 2020. Saved 53 percent of $114k gross income.
pizzy
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by pizzy »

Bullhead5829 wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 8:29 am I was in my 12th year of retirement in 2020. Saved 53 percent of $114k gross income.
I'm in my 30's so I never really thought about this... but, is it normal for people to save during retirement? Is the $114k income "forced" (e.g. pension) and you just can't find a way to spend it all?
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homebuyer6426
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by homebuyer6426 »

$72,000 pre tax income
~$50,000 after everything required by my employment/the government takes its cut
~$20,000 goes to essentials - house, utilities, food, car, cell/internet
~$5,000-$10,000 goes to fun, travel, elective purchases
~$20,000-$25,000 goes into investments

So I'm investing 40-50% of my take-home income. Age 35.
45% Total Stock Market | 52% Consumer Staples | 3% Short Term Reserves
runner3081
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by runner3081 »

71% of gross income is saved. Of that, 100% is invested across HSA, ROTH, 401K, 457B, 529 and Post-tax brokerage.
Ron Ronnerson
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by Ron Ronnerson »

About half of my gross income of $120k. I count mortgage principal as savings. I’m a teacher in the Bay Area, my wife is a stay-at-home parent, and we have a seven-year-old.

Gross income and net income are about the same for us (don’t have any California income tax liability and don’t pay into social security but we do have $500/year of federal income tax liability and 1.45% of pay goes toward Medicare).
chris319
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by chris319 »

pizzy wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 8:36 am I'm in my 30's so I never really thought about this... but, is it normal for people to save during retirement? Is the $114k income "forced" (e.g. pension) and you just can't find a way to spend it all?
To your first question the answer is yes.

I took social security at age 66 and 2 months rather than waiting until age 70. This more than covers my monthly expenses. Any monthly surplus is invested. I'm gambling that my investments will return more than the 8% annual increase in soc sec income by delaying until age 70. The investment account serves as my emergency fund.

I also have to set aside some $$$ each month for property and income taxes. I decided on no withholding rather than giving the govt an interest-free loan.
Financial decisions based on emotion often turn out to be bad decisions.
iamblessed
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by iamblessed »

pizzy wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 8:36 am
Bullhead5829 wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 8:29 am I was in my 12th year of retirement in 2020. Saved 53 percent of $114k gross income.
I'm in my 30's so I never really thought about this... but, is it normal for people to save during retirement? Is the $114k income "forced" (e.g. pension) and you just can't find a way to spend it all?
Not the OP but people get used to spending a certain amount no matter what is coming in. If I won a lottery I would only still spend so much. Once I had bought the house and car I bet I would spend under 100k. Because that is the only life I know. You can get use to living frugal or use to living high but I think it is hard to switch camps.
chris319
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by chris319 »

Not the OP but people get used to spending a certain amount no matter what is coming in. If I won a lottery I would only still spend so much. Once I had bought the house and car I bet I would spend under 100k. Because that is the only life I know.
Everyone has non-discretionary expenses: groceries, electricity, Internet, rent/mortgage/property tax, insurance, etc. The rest you save/invest or spend on toys, travel, gifts to others/charity, evenings out and the like.
Financial decisions based on emotion often turn out to be bad decisions.
SubPar
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by SubPar »

$258K combined base HHI (excl. bonuses).
401(k) - $19.5K x2
BD R-IRA - $6K x2
HSA - $7.2K
Taxable/521/Cash - $30K-ish

Total ~$88K, 34% of gross.

$300K+ combined total HHI (incl. target bonuses)
401(k) - $19.5K x2
BD R-IRA - $6K x2
HSA - $7.2K
Taxable/521/Cash - $55K-ish+

Total ~$113K, 38% of gross.

We've been lucky the past couple years in that actual bonus payouts have been in excess of targets. I budget based on zero bonus dollars. Had a kid in March and started daycare in June, which took a hefty bite out of the post-tax savings. Our annual spend is right at $100K, over half of which is composed of mortgage (15yr. am) and daycare. High income tax state.
stoptothink
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by stoptothink »

chris319 wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 9:08 am
pizzy wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 8:36 am I'm in my 30's so I never really thought about this... but, is it normal for people to save during retirement? Is the $114k income "forced" (e.g. pension) and you just can't find a way to spend it all?
To your first question the answer is yes.

I took social security at age 66 and 2 months rather than waiting until age 70. This more than covers my monthly expenses. Any monthly surplus is invested. I'm gambling that my investments will return more than the 8% annual increase in soc sec income by delaying until age 70. The investment account serves as my emergency fund.

I also have to set aside some $$$ each month for property and income taxes. I decided on no withholding rather than giving the govt an interest-free loan.
It may be normal here, but it certainly isn't normal within the general population. Remember, the median NW for an individual 65-74 is ~$266k.
EddyB
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by EddyB »

spdoublebass wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 11:57 pm
AK59 wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 11:46 pm I am curious to where everyone is with this.

With your monthly or yearly income how much do you save or invest each year?

After maxing out my retirement accounts I put the rest in my brokerage account which is coming out to about 40% of my income this year, up from 25% last year.

My emergency fund is strong, but I drop about another 5% of my monthly income in it to build some cash reserves for that "f you" money or fun purchase.
Percentages aren’t everything.
I’m much more impressed when someone saves 25% of $50K than $500k
I understand the sentiment, but many are responding in terms of gross pay, so I also give some credit (in assessing how impressed I am!) for the fact that the higher earner is likely spending a much lower percentage of after-tax income. That takes discipline, at least.
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birdog
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by birdog »

When I was working I got up to saving 65% of my take-home pay. This article shocked me as to how important savings rate actually can be.

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01 ... etirement/
Well, I have a surprise for you. It turns out that when it boils right down to it, your time to reach retirement depends on only one factor:

Your savings rate, as a percentage of your take-home pay
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spdoublebass
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by spdoublebass »

EddyB wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 10:10 am
spdoublebass wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 11:57 pm
AK59 wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 11:46 pm I am curious to where everyone is with this.

With your monthly or yearly income how much do you save or invest each year?

After maxing out my retirement accounts I put the rest in my brokerage account which is coming out to about 40% of my income this year, up from 25% last year.

My emergency fund is strong, but I drop about another 5% of my monthly income in it to build some cash reserves for that "f you" money or fun purchase.
Percentages aren’t everything.
I’m much more impressed when someone saves 25% of $50K than $500k
I understand the sentiment, but many are responding in terms of gross pay, so I also give some credit (in assessing how impressed I am!) for the fact that the higher earner is likely spending a much lower percentage of after-tax income. That takes discipline, at least.
The same would apply to the person spending 25% of their gross pay of $50K. That takes more discipline.
I'm trying to think, but nothing happens
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spdoublebass
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by spdoublebass »

Bh1984 wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 1:12 am
spdoublebass wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 11:57 pm
AK59 wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 11:46 pm I am curious to where everyone is with this.

With your monthly or yearly income how much do you save or invest each year?

After maxing out my retirement accounts I put the rest in my brokerage account which is coming out to about 40% of my income this year, up from 25% last year.

My emergency fund is strong, but I drop about another 5% of my monthly income in it to build some cash reserves for that "f you" money or fun purchase.
Percentages aren’t everything.
I’m much more impressed when someone saves 25% of $50K than $500k
I'm not sure I totally agree with this logic. Percentages are a great metric especially as income moves. For instance I have saved over 50% of my income over my entire 20 year working period, including when I was a teenager. Point is I have always looked at money in percentages and it's allowed me to always remain in the boundaries.

AA is all percentage based so I'm very curious about your logic.
My logic is that even if you save 50%, I'm much more impressed when that persons gross pay is lower rather than higher. That's all.
I'm trying to think, but nothing happens
bigfry
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by bigfry »

chris319 wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 1:59 am Every month I tally up my income and my expenses. The difference is what's available to invest.

If the difference is positive then the surplus goes to the brokerage. If negative, then I've got a problem and must figure out where I overspent.

It's as simple as that. If you're looking for a percentage, it's about 35%, but this figure has little meaning because it depends on my absolute income and expenses.
This is exactly how I do it too. I use an app to track income and expenses and invest the difference at the end of the month. Usually this difference is around 25%. Ideally I'd like to bump that up to about 33% or around 1/3d but I live in an expensive area.
RXfiles
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by RXfiles »

320k gross

62k pre tax my 403b 457b her 401k. Her HSA
12k roth ira
52k taxable 2k every 2 weeks auto invest in VT.
20k I bonds.
10k in 529

So around 50% of gross is automatically invested.

Then when we build up excess cash we invest that too. Some years pushing 75%.

Our hard expenses are around 1500 a month. We live in super low cost of living area. 3bed 2.5 bath in a good neighborhood was only 150k a couple years ago.
SubPar
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by SubPar »

RXfiles wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 10:54 am 320k gross

62k pre tax my 403b 457b her 401k. Her HSA
12k roth ira
52k taxable 2k every 2 weeks auto invest in VT.
20k I bonds.
10k in 529

So around 50% of gross is automatically invested.

Then when we build up excess cash we invest that too. Some years pushing 75%.

Our hard expenses are around 1500 a month. We live in super low cost of living area. 3bed 2.5 bath in a good neighborhood was only 150k a couple years ago.
Where in the US can you earn $300K+ and live on $18K/year? :shock:

RX...does that allude to medicine?
RXfiles
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by RXfiles »

SubPar wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 11:00 am
RXfiles wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 10:54 am 320k gross

62k pre tax my 403b 457b her 401k. Her HSA
12k roth ira
52k taxable 2k every 2 weeks auto invest in VT.
20k I bonds.
10k in 529

So around 50% of gross is automatically invested.

Then when we build up excess cash we invest that too. Some years pushing 75%.

Our hard expenses are around 1500 a month. We live in super low cost of living area. 3bed 2.5 bath in a good neighborhood was only 150k a couple years ago.
Where in the US can you earn $300K+ and live on $18K/year? :shock:

RX...does that allude to medicine?
Yes. I'm a pharmacist. Wife is CRNA. We work in a rural low income area. Basically everyone is low income except the healthcare workers. There use to be industry but it's all gone now. If you Google lowest COLAs in the US it's on that list. I'll give you the much without doxxing myself
Last edited by RXfiles on Fri Sep 17, 2021 11:20 am, edited 3 times in total.
delamer
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by delamer »

Savings for retirement only?

I calculated that we saved about 9% of our gross income — including 401(k) matches in numerator & denominator — over a 35-year period, in tax-deferred accounts. Plus another roughly 2% of gross went into employer-mandated pension accounts.

So 11% of gross total over the 35 years.

Taking into account just our Social Security benefits and a SWR rate of 4% (inflation adjusted), that would give us a retirement income of about 43% of our maximum gross income while we were working. Netting out payroll taxes and the 11% savings, we’d have retirement income equal to about 52% of pre-income-tax pay.

But we are fortunate to both have pensions, so we haven’t touched the tax-deferred in real life.
One thing that humbles me deeply is to see that human genius has its limits while human stupidity does not. - Alexandre Dumas, fils
zag00
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by zag00 »

~28% without match on ~130K HHI
i find it to be a good balance especially with 2 kids under 2. Likely could squeeze a little more out but we have excess cash outside of EF in HYSA for short/mid term purchases.
JD2775
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by JD2775 »

$120k gross

Savings:
$33k 401K + HSA (includes $10k employer match)
$7k ESPP
$6k Roth
$18-20k - Taxable

So basic calculation off gross would leave me with a savings rate of 50-55%
KlangFool
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by KlangFool »

AK59 wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 11:46 pm I am curious to where everyone is with this.

With your monthly or yearly income how much do you save or invest each year?

After maxing out my retirement accounts I put the rest in my brokerage account which is coming out to about 40% of my income this year, up from 25% last year.

My emergency fund is strong, but I drop about another 5% of my monthly income in it to build some cash reserves for that "f you" money or fun purchase.
AK59,

I am curious as to how many percents of your current annual expense do you save every year?

<<After maxing out my retirement accounts I put the rest in my brokerage account which is coming out to about 40% of my income this year, up from 25% last year. >>

The problem with saving rate based on income is which income do you refer to?

A) Gross income?

B) After-tax income?

C) Any other definition of income as anyone like.

KlangFool
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KlangFool
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by KlangFool »

CardioMD wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 6:13 am
You’ve never been poor. I understand completely.
CardioMD,

In summary, you have not come across community/culture with an average gross saving rate of 30+% or more. In that culture, everyone saves a lot of money regardless of income level. And, that group of people had spread all over the world.

KlangFool
30% VWENX | 16% VFWAX/VTIAX | 14.5% VTSAX | 19.5% VBTLX | 10% VSIAX/VTMSX/VSMAX | 10% VSIGX| 30% Wellington 50% 3-funds 20% Mini-Larry
SubPar
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by SubPar »

RXfiles wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 11:17 am
SubPar wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 11:00 am
RXfiles wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 10:54 am 320k gross

62k pre tax my 403b 457b her 401k. Her HSA
12k roth ira
52k taxable 2k every 2 weeks auto invest in VT.
20k I bonds.
10k in 529

So around 50% of gross is automatically invested.

Then when we build up excess cash we invest that too. Some years pushing 75%.

Our hard expenses are around 1500 a month. We live in super low cost of living area. 3bed 2.5 bath in a good neighborhood was only 150k a couple years ago.
Where in the US can you earn $300K+ and live on $18K/year? :shock:

RX...does that allude to medicine?
Yes. I'm a pharmacist. Wife is CRNA. We work in a rural low income area. Basically everyone is low income except the healthcare workers. There use to be industry but it's all gone now. If you Google lowest COLAs in the US it's on that list. I'll give you the much without doxxing myself
Yes, I didn't mean for that to come off as my asking for your address or anything, lol. Was just curious generally -- that's a helluva spread between income and COL.
RJC
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by RJC »

We max out our employee plans, do the Backdoor Roth every year, and put the rest in taxable. We also keep about 12 months of expenses in an emergency fund.

It ends up being about 45% of our income but may fluctuate year-to-year. Keep things simple.
subrshan
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Joined: Tue Sep 07, 2021 12:22 pm

Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by subrshan »

40% (taxable + 401K) of annual gross income
mnsportsgeek
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Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2015 12:39 pm

Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by mnsportsgeek »

When I started my career, I set a baseline of 20% gross. Now I max retirement accounts (401K + Roth + HSA) which is a little more than 20% gross but I don't keep track specifically. Any extra throughout the year goes in the brokerage account and some in a 529. If I had to guess it's probably right around 30% gross.
Nicolas
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Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by Nicolas »

50% when I was still working.
mirror
Posts: 182
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:24 pm

Re: What percentage of income do you save/invest?

Post by mirror »

We save "enough" as defined by our goals and risk tolerance.

Regardless of salary the math doesn't change:
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01 ... etirement/

To make this actionable, review the table in the link above and decide where you want/need to be based on your goals. Adjust as necessary.
Last edited by mirror on Fri Sep 17, 2021 11:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
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