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12 Financial Moves by the Age of 30
Yahoo has an article on 12 Financial Moves to make by the Age of 30.. most of us are around there already or approaching it soon.. how is MM doing?
1. You should already have an emergency fund. Experts generally recommend six months' worth of living expenses, but some say a year's worth is a better buffer to account for things like medical emergencies or unemployment.
2. You should be anticipating, preparing, and saving up for big expenditures. For example, you should factor in your wedding, a house, children, a pet, and other similar major expenses. By planning for these events, you'll be adjusting your lifestyle to afford your future expenses and avoid going into debt for these items. You may want to budget a realistic amount so you don't have to go into debt. Another thought is to forgo some of these expenses - really question if it's a necessity.
3. You should have mastered the art of automating. Sending a chunk of your cash automatically to your savings every month means you're paying yourself first.
4. You should know how to live within your means but enjoy life at the same time. You should be able to prioritize what's worth spending on and save in other areas so you can enjoy your guilty pleasures. Even if it's daily lattes, you should indulge yourself as long as you're aggressively cutting costs on other items. Remember, what other people skimp on may not be what you would want to give up.
5. You should be maxing out (or, at the very least, meeting your employer's match for) your 401k.
6. You should be investing in a Roth IRA.
7. You should have prepared a will.8. You should be paying off and prioritizing your high-interest debt.
9. During your 20s, you should be trying to raise your credit score.10. You should already have some practice with negotiation - with salary, with service providers, and more.
11. Fidelity recommends having a retirement fund that's equivalent to your annual salary by age 35. At age 30, you should be on track for that.12. You should already have read a couple of personal finance books. To start with, check out Your Money or Your Life ($12) and Total Money Makeover ($18).
Re: 12 Financial Moves by the Age of 30
Me 32, DH 31, 2 girls
1. We currently have 14 months of expenses saved and would like to be at 18 months by the end of the year.
2. We already own a home and have 2 girls. The only thing we would be saving for next would be newer cars when ours die, maybe gutting our upstairs bathroom (if we stay here), or possibly a larger home, although we're constantly on the fence about that.
3. We automatically put $500/paycheck from me and $250/paycheck from DH into our joint savings account ($1,500/month since DH only gets 20 paychecks/year).
4. I would say we live within our means- our cars are 11 and 8 years old. We bought our house for only 1x our current income (in 2007, it was about1.75x). Because of the girls, we haven't been on a vacation since our babymoon in 2009, but we're hoping to plan a fun Disney vacation/cruise with the girls in February 2017. We would also like to take them to Hawaii (went there on our honeymoon), London, Vancouver, and x-country in a RV for the summer when they're older. I do get a coffee every morning on the way to work- $1.63/day is my one indulgence! Our phone plan is also a little pricey, but we use them constantly, it's unlimited everything, and we don't have a land line- $146/month for 2 phones. Plus we're super cheap with cable- only $19.99/month for super basic (23 channels) and netflix.
5. I'm not maxing out, but currently at 9% with 1.5% match (max from employer). DH is at 4% for his 403B and will get a state pension. We'll modify once day care payments are done (2014 average is $1,650/month for 2 kids full-time).
6. We don't have a Roth IRA- maybe look into once day care is done.
7. A will is part of our 2014 goals.
8. The only debt we have is our mortgage- SL paid off in January 2013, cars have been paid off since 2009 and 2011, and we always pay off our credit cards in full each month unless we have a 0% offer, but those are always paid off before the deal expires.
9. Credit Score is great- check it every month on credit karma
10. Actually negotiated my salary when I got a job offer from a competitor in 2008- helped quite a bit. DH doesn't have much negotiating power- he's locked into a teachers' union contract, but he gets his summers off.
11. We are on track to have 1x our annual salaries by Age 35.
12. I've read The Automatic Millionare by David Bach, but I mostly look online and on MM of course!
I'm only 25, so some of these have been met and others haven't.
1. We had 6 months till we started TMM, then depleated that to $2k.
2. Already have a house. Next is kids, but with IF we don't know if/when that will be. We had the deductible and OOP expense saved up till our fertility treatment, and the rest will go toward debt. However, we can easily save up the money again by stopping our snowball after getting pregnant.
3. This is something we still do, but that gets put toward debt at the end of the month.
4. This we don't do too bad at.
5. We weren't doing this before TMM and now with TMM I contribute half to my Roth and H only does 1% to his 401k.
6. Doing this.
7. Don't have one yet, but plan to once everything is paid off.
8. Doing that now with TMM.
9. Ours are both in the 800's.
10. I do well with this. H on the other hand needs some help.
11. Already have this much in my Roth, but I started contributing at age 20. So it's built quickly.
12. Read and are doing TMM now.
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)
Clomid 50mg 9/13 = BFP! EDD 6/7/14 M/C 5w6d Found 11/4/13
1/14 PCOS / Gluten Free Diet to hopefully regulate my system.
Chemical Pregnancy 03/14
Surprise BFP 6/14, Beta #1: 126 Beta #2: 340 Stick baby, stick! EDD 2/17/15
Riley Elaine born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0 6/15
Chemical Pregnancy 9/15
Chemical Pregnancy 6/16
BFP 9/16 EDD 6/3/17
Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
www.5yearstonever.blogspot.com
I think that's a pretty cool article. Thanks for sharing. For us:
1. We have an emergency fund. With our current spending it would last us like 9 months, in actuality though we would be cutting our spending if we ever needed to use the emergency fund so it should last 12+ months.
2. Paid cash for a small wedding, and DH had been saving for a down payment. Now we have been able to pay off the house, and are currently saving for DS college, retirement and a possible new house/house improvements if we stay here.
3. Some of our bills are set up to be paid automatically, but other than that we don't save automatically because the $ tends to be different every month. We do have retirement coming out of our checking account for our IRA every month, and DS college fund will be automatically coming out too soon.
4. We try to follow the envelope system, so we pay cash which keeps us within our means. We tend to prioritize travel whether it is just up north to visit family or the Caribbean vacation we are currently planning for next winter sometime.
5. Actually don't know about this one. I know DH is contributing the max every year to his 401k, and his company matches 6% which is amazing, but not sure if that is 15% or not for us.
6. Last year we didn't qualify, but since I've become a SAHM we will for sure this year as we are now living without my income.
7. You should have prepared a will.Yeah, epic fail on this one. We have several people who know who we want to be guardian for our kid if anything does ever happen, but we really really need to get this one done.8. Debt free including the house- just finished this in June or so of last year!
9. Honestly, don't f-ing care about my credit score. We pay on time the one credit card we have. We should probably be getting rid of it and going to a debit card but we like the rewards we get from Discover. Probably won't ever care about my credit score again, this is one thing I disagree with the article about.10. Eh, not much I was ever able to do negotiating salary (teacher) but I am pretty good about negotiating other stuff. Got several thousand off my van when we bought it by playing 2 dealers against each other, and know how effective it can be to call up the cable provider and ask for a discount or I'm going to switch. I don't feel guilty about this either, they get enough of my money every month, and it isn't an inconvenience to me to switch so either give me the introductory rate again, or I will switch. Its up to them if they want to keep my business.
11. I believe we are on track for this. I have a pension, plus a 403B that is currently worth 4/5ths of my salary and I'm 29. Pretty sure DH has more than his salary in his accounts and he's 38 so he should. Honestly not too sure what DH has though, so this is a great reminder that I need to pay more attention.12. Love total money makeover and Dave Ramsey in general. Started reading Smart Couples Finish Rich and never finished. Now interested in Young Broke and Fabulous after hearing about it on here today.
1. Right now we don't have very much. Since I live at home, and we live off of DH's paycheck, we are putting all my money into our CCs. As soon as April hits, we will be able to have 3+ months expenses in a fairly short amount of time. If anything were to happen, we would just use my paychecks.
2. . We were just married last year, have one child and another on the way, currently pay $150/month in rent while we pay off debt and save for the DP. As long as we continue to do what we are doing, we should have a good DP by the middle of next year to buy by the end of 2015. We will be saving $300 a month starting in April for a vacation in December.
3. We do this to our Christmas Club, my daughter's regular savings, and my paychecks. Money automatically gets taken out for our 401K plans.
4. I am able to live off of $5 every week. I only go out on Friday mornings to get myself and my daughter Dunkin Donuts. DH, DD and I do go out Friday nights to have some fast food, but that is a budgeted expense and this allows us to not spend more gas to drive home and eat only to leave again to go grocery shopping. We make it a family event. DH has $30, but will sometimes go over that. I'm really trying to get him to stop that. It's a slow process, but I know we will be able to get over this hurdle.
5. DH matches his employers match at 6%. I am at 3% right now (my employer matches 4% with a 1% bonus). This will also change come April. I will be opening up Roth IRAs for the both of us in the beginning of 2015. Daycare for 2 will also play a big factor of how much we will invest every month.
6. See #5.
7. As soon as we buy our home, we will set up a will. I just rather wait until we have both kids and a home to set one up. End of 2015 is the goal.8. The highest interest debt I own will start the payment process on Feb 14. Estimated payoff will be April. Once that bill is done, I do have 4 SLs that I can slowly payoff. Their interest rates are not that bad, and the payments are not too high.
9. I'm consistently on Credit Karma. I check it once a week to see if I am on track. I really screwed up in the past and have been making up for it since then. I have just about 15 points to go to reach 700 which is so exciting to me. DH is the same way.10. I was able to knock off a few thousand dollars off my car and will be doing it again when we purchase DH's car in March. My salary didn't need negotiating since I made a lot more than my previous job (I was also interning at the time). Same thing happened to DH. He is making a lot more than any other job he has held.
11. Dh just started in September, but he is already on track to reach his 1.5%. I have been saving since I was 21. I am on a good track, but I will be uping my % in April and will be on track by the end of 2014.12. I am following (not closely) the methods of TMM. I like the ideas behind saving/budgeting, and using those ideas into how my current situation is like.
DH and I are both 26 and in graduate school.
1. Our E-fund is at about 5 months now, and we expect to have it at 6 months by April.
2. We set aside $150/mo for car maintenance, semi-annual insurance payments, and repairs. It has been enough so far that we've never had to dip into our E-fund. We also save in advance for traveling to see my parents in Mexico about once a year. We're planning to start saving for other major expenses (a house, baby/pregnancy expenses, new cars, and hopefully a nice vacation before we start TTC) after our E-fund is funded to 6 months.
3. Our cash savings, SL payments, and retirement savings are all automatically transferred.
4. We're still working out as a couple how much money it takes to "enjoy life." DH has to constantly stop himself from spending, while I am generally happy without many things and have to stop myself from bugging him about literally everything he spends.
5. Our employer doesn't offer 401Ks to graduate assistants.
6. I have a Roth that I contributed about $3500 to in 2013. We're on track to max it out this year. He doesn't have one yet but will once we're ready to contribute more than the limit for one person.
7. No wills yet. We probably won't do this until we have kids.8. Our only debt is DH's student loans, mostly interest-free for now ($10k subsidized until 12/2017), and the rest ($3k) is at 1.75%. We're on track to have this all paid off in under 4 years.
9. Our credit scores are both in pretty good shape, at least according to Credit Karma, but we're continuing to use our cards regularly.10. Salary negotiation happens next winter, before we graduate. We already do a fair amount with our service providers. And I suppose we do it a lot with our "side jobs." We both tutor and I babysit/nanny, so we've both worked out pay in those situations. In fact, getting my current nanny job, I was fortunate enough to have two families who wanted me, so I got a pretty good hourly rate out of that.
11. We have about $8k saved now. We currently make about $50k but hope to see that more than double after graduation. We're putting away about 12% post-tax now and hope to bump that up into the 15-20% range once we graduate.12. I've read a couple of Suze Orman books and keep them on my bookshelf for reference. Lately I've been trying to convince DH to read Smart Couples Finish Rich with me.
"You know you're in love when you don't want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." - Dr. SeussH is 24 and I am 22. No children yet.
1. We have 6 months of E fund and will have 10 months saved by April 1st.
2.We will be looking into how much insurance will charge us for baby next month. We will be saving that on top of an additional $7,500. Once we get pregnant we will be bargain shopping for any things we need coming out of that $7,500. Luckily we will be getting a lot of hand me downs!
3. We always pay ourselves first so I would say we have it mastered.
4. We live well within our means. We are able to save over 60% of our income each month after all bills, fun money etc.
5. We have not started this yet. UGH. Once we finish our 10 months of savings (April) we will be putting away 5% to get the match from H's employer.
6. Not until July. We will start putting away $250 a month for a Roth IRA. It is only $3,000 a year but it is a serious start.
7. No will yet but we will when we get pregnant or start actually accumulating enough money that wouldn't be needed for H's debt.8. You should be paying off and prioritizing your high-interest debt.Half way done with this! We will start snowballing again in April and we should be done by the following March!
9. My credit score is in good shape but we really need to work on H. All he has is student loan debt.10. H works in a Development office. He works to get large gifts of money from Alumni. He can negotiate. Haha. We also both have to negotiate raises each July. We are getting good at this.
11. If we stick to our plan we will be A okay.12. Finance books are my favorite and I have gotten H to read one now!
Love: March 2010 Marriage: July 2013 Debt Free: October 2014 TTC: May 2015
1. We have a year.
2. Paid cash for our wedding with help from our family. Still house hunting but we have 20% down, plus closing, furnishings and etc. We will need to get a new car come April, we plan to pay cash for it. Kids will come when they come.
3. I move the money myself. H's paychecks are never the same. He's a freelancer.
4. We love to travel, eat out and I love to shop. But if we don't have it, we don't spend it. A lot of our travel is with hotel points and FF miles.
5. Employers do not offer this.
6. Yes, and we have other investments.
7. Yes.
8. Debt Free!
9. We have great credit. The trouble is I don't really like the credit reporting agencies agendas, but that's only because in my office we deal with their mistakes everyday. I also don't believe they should be allowed to profit off of you. However, it's a necessary evil in our society so I keep an eye on it. They say when we get a mortgage it will go up... I say whatever. I pay cash for most things and never carry a balance on our credit cards.
10. Service providers yes, but in my H's work you tread lightly when negotiating pay. There is always someone willing to work cheaper just to be in the industry.
11. Already there before 35! Yay!
12. I've browsed them, some of it's good, some of it doesn't apply to us and some of it is pure crap. Most of my advice (financial and life) has come from our FA, but he's family and very successful at what he does. For the past couple decades his firm has been in the top 5 of Barron's Best List.
This is very interesting, I'm glad we are on track on most of these! It's just H and I
31 yrs old. 1.We have an e-fund, but it's only a few months of expenses but we are working on it. H decided to go back to school so that drained some of it.
2. We are saving up a house DP
3. We don't automate and probably never will "paying ourselves". It justs easier to pay the bills first then take what's left and diivy it up. We usually always have something to save each paycheck but it varies.
4. I'd say we are pretty frugal. Once we buy a house, I feel like we will be able to enjoy life a little more.
5. H's company doesn't match so he contributes 7%, we increase it every year. I exceed my companies match and contribute 7% as well. We definitely don't max out yet!
6. We don't have extra money to contribute/open up another retirement account yet, we don't even max out our 401K's. Working on it....
7. We do have wills made up
8. We have no debt except for the mortgage
9. our credit scores are in the 800's
10. Ahhh, I hate doing this but I try
11. I should have 1 X's my salary by age 35, H has some catching up to do
12. I've ready many finance books.
1. We have one but it is really small-like 1K. This is our project for the year.
2. We always plan ahead for big expenses; even if we end up financing them, we have a plan in place to make payments
3. Yes
4. Yes-we prioritize life experiences over material things
5. Not maxing out, but I do exceed my company match. H has a LOT of catching up to do, which will be our next big project.
6. Yes
7. We don't have wills made up. We don't have kids so haven't made it a priority. I still want to get it done though.
8. We don't have any high interest debt and we don't have any credit card debt.
9. Mine is excellent (800s) and H's is good (700s)
10. Can't say I'm good at this, but yes we have experience.
11. I'm 31 and have the equivalent of half my annual salary. I increase my contribution each year so I think I will catch up in a few years. H is really behind on his retirement.
12. I am addicted to money and finance blogs.
1. We currently have about 3 months saved. My goal is to work on increasing it soon.
2. We just got married this fall and aren't planning on having kids for several years. Our cars are both 11 years old and are starting to fall apart so we're working on saving for a down payment for when its needed.
3. We both just started new jobs and our hours/pay cheques aren't consistent enough to allow us to automate transfers. I go in a transfer money as I can but I'm having trouble figuring out when the best time is to grab cash from our bank account.
4. We both have things that we splurge on, I like to get tea 2-3 times a week and H will buy junk food 1-2 times a week. But otherwise we're trying to save every penny we can.
5. Neither employer helps with retirement savings
6. Currently we're focused on paying off SLs. We know that means we'll have to hit the retirement planning hard once we get there.
7. This is a goal for 2014.8. All of my SLs are at the same interest rate. We're avoiding CC debit like the plague.
9. Can't say I've checked on either of our credit scores recently. With the amount of SLs I carry no one is going to loan me anything.10. I'm trying to work on this. H is better than I am.
11. No retirement savings yet as we're focusing on paying down SL. Once that happens we'll switch our monthly payments to retirement savings.12. My goal is to read one this year.
1. I disagree with this for our situation. We are in a pretty stable field. For us, a better benchmark is being able to meet the deductibles on our various insurance policies. So that's done.
2. Done - been doing this for years.
3. I don't pay myself first. Mostly because I am almost always under budget, and I would rather do one transfer to savings each month than two.
4. Doing that.
5. Doing that.
6. Doing that.
7. We don't have wills because we don't have assets yet. They aren't necessary for us at this point. But we will do them before having children.8. We are prioritizing retirement - but we have no high interest debt. We will snowball H's student loans eventually.
9. Both our credit scores are approaching 800.10. Maybe? Guess I could work on that...
11. We're more than halfway there right now. That shouldn't be an issue.12. I read other things.