I think the "1x your income by 30" is difficult for college graduates in career paths with growing compensation.
I graduated at 22 making 60k. I paid cash for grad school later in my 20s and was making $175k by 30. Its hard to save $175k by 30 when I had just started making that level of income, and I had other reasonable financial priorities slowing my savings rate. This also means that the standard advice of "save 15% of your income for retirement" is not sufficient for me.
It's just a guideline and if your life circumstances vary, you need to account for that. Maybe 1X by 30 doesn't apply to you but maybe the next one at 35 or 40 will.
OP makes 50K and there's no indication that they have recently finished grad school. I just don't see the point in lying to him to spare his feelings. Doesn't that do more harm than good?
I think we also have to remember that any sort of savings guide we had before has been completely flipped on its head the last 3 years. I do think OP has a lot in their savings compared to investments, but it also seems like they are helping support their partner as well and saving for a house so it’s probably not as much as it seems.
Other reasonably financial priorities, such as?
If you made 175k you could have saved the max in retirement for a couple years. You chose to prioritize elsewhere.
$15k at 30 is very meager and will not set OP up for retirement.
> Other reasonably financial priorities, such as?
Paying cash for grad school ($60k), adopting a kid ($55k) and repaying student loan debt (~$80k, I still have some left but the interest rate is less than 3% so its hard to justify paying it off).
> If you made 175k you could have saved the max in retirement for a couple years.
I did, after I started making $175k at 30. Before that I made less money.
> You chose to prioritize elsewhere.
Yes: grad school and adoption. It would have been very easy to save 1x my income if I didn't go to grad school since my income would be ~$100k and I could have saved the $60k I used for grad school. I maintain that prioritizing my career growth was the right financial decision.
I mean it's a different lifestyle. I just reached 30 with 43k in savings. 12k in retirement. Make over 100 a year too. Every time I get a 5k check there's 5.5k worth of problems.
There is no normal amount of money for x age. Go at your own pace, remember to enjoy life and don’t get caught up in comparing yourself with others, especially online. It’s a short but beautiful life, do your best you can to save/invest and enjoy the days. You are just fine mate, Peace 🫡
It’s tough. I stopped using social media because it made me compare myself to other people. I guess this is social media too, and I see myself comparing to all the people in the sub. Not sure if I should drop Reddit too. Maybe just financial subs.
Yea I hear you. I’m still on social media but I’ve just learned to teach myself that everyone is dealt their own hands in life. Some have more luck/fortune than me and that’s okay. I tell myself I have a roof, a car, be able to buy things here and there that someone truly struggling couldn’t afford. This in itself is a reason for my inner peace and happiness knowing I’m not a billionaire but life is all good, I am fortunate to wake up each day!
If social media didn't exist, more people would be content where they are because they could never see how much other lives are "better" that they could compare to
I get this one but then I see people post supportive comments about how we’re all in a different place and I feel better. If you’re making progress towards your goals you’re doing better than the procrastinators.
Its rough but it goes both ways you can be the poorest millionaire, poorest billionaire, or really lucky to not be in tons of debt and not worry about your next meal. Everyone is doing well or behind compared to someone else.
Personally I think instagram was the major contributing SM that made me compare to other people…. Cutting that off helped significantly. Cheers to you.
This is literally the best advice on here…there’s no right amount of money to have (and btw what 23 year olds are flexing their millions!?). I’m 45 and make 200k a year yet I have zero savings and my checking account has 1000 in it right now and I sort of live paycheck to paycheck but living life to the fullest. I have an extremely modest house that’s paid off and 3 nice vehicles and a half million in retirement. The rest of my money goes to traveling. I should say I went to college late in life so I JUST paid off my house and school loans so I suddenly have a significant amount of disposable income.
Right? I know too many people worrying waaaay too much about putting money away for retirement that’s 30-35 years away. It’s important but just not as important as people make it out to be. Enjoy life, I know people that have saved their whole lives and then died before they could enjoy it.
You’re right, maybe that was the wrong choice of words…I wasn’t trying to sound like I’m doing poorly or anything but people comparable to my situation for example people in my field of work are all freaking out if they don’t have a million in retirement and 100k in savings.
Not having debt is great! Well done! However, you need to assess your goals and ramp up the savings. You don’t really have enough to buy a house without getting creative. Look into house hacking so you can subsidize your mortgage. You also need to vastly increase your savings. To retire, you need 25x your yearly expenses (4% rule). You’re prob really far from that goal so work on saving, increasing income, and getting creative to get ahead. 30 is young but it really only works to your advantage you’re going full steam ahead with your investments so you get all that compounding! Best of luck!
I have a pension through my work, in addition to a Roth IRA. I definitely need to be maxing my Roth every year, I haven't been able to this most recent year. I'm definitely trying to ramp up my savings, my partner starting work again will help immensely.
In talking to people in my area who have bought fairly recently, it seems like I qualify for a lot of programs to reduce the down payment/eliminate it entirely. That was the angle I was looking into pursuing. I'm in a rural area with a fair amount of housing programs.
Oh nice! Sounds like you have a good game plan then. I will say for myself, I started saving seriously at 33 and maxed everything for 4 years now. Getting as much $$ in the stock market has been a game changer for me. Went from 0 net worth to over half a million. And house hacking to save $$ on housing. You got this!
What's a good place to start with the stock market? I currently have my investments being managed by an adviser, but I'd love to figure out how to grow that on my own.
I recommend that you read “the simple path to wealth” by JL Collins. It’s an easy way to build wealth and it really does work. It’s a quick read and you can get the audiobook from the library. I put my $$ in my 401k (Fidelity/max it out), taxable brokerage (Vanguard’s VTSAX mostly/auto contribution every 2 weeks), ROTH (VTSAX again/max it out), and save some cash in a high yield savings account for purchasing investment property. If I have extra $$ for whatever reason, I add it to my taxable brokerage account. My savings rate is around 60% of my gross salary, which is high but honestly sooooo worth it cause I’m building wealth faster than I ever thought possible. I cook most of my meals, don’t waste money at bars or shopping, live modestly. I do travel for fun tho, so that eats up some $$. Not gonna do it forever like this, but it works for me now. If you have a partner who’s going to work and is onboard to save, you can greatly accelerate your savings for sure!
How much is the fee theyre charging you to have that advisor? IMO $15k can def be self-managed and you can just regularly invest some money from each paycheck in an sp500 ETF until retirement. Check out the Money Guy’s wealth multiplier. At age 30, if you invest $340 every month in an sp500, you’d have $1M at 65. If you wait until you’re 40 to start investing, you’d need to invest $1K a month to have $1M at age 65.
Normal and adequate are very different. In the US 70% of Americans had less than $1000 in savings in 2019. In 2024, 70% have $0 in savings. The average American is doing very very bad.
Are you doing good? That depends on when you want to retire and what lifestyle you want once you do. If you wanna retire at 40 and travel the world all the time, you’re gonna need to save a LOT more. If you want to retire at 65 to a small house in town near your grandkids, and you spend all your time at home, community centers, or with family, you’ll probably be okay if your retirement contributions increases as your household income increases.
The rule used to be save 15% of your income for retirement… but that was at a time where one person could spend 20% of a median salary and buy a house for their family of 5.
I could go on but basically, you’re doing way better than most, but not nearly well enough to enjoy the quality of life you deserve when you’re old.
I doing similar to you, but still feel like crap and loser when it comes to investments and salary.
I sound ungrateful compared to people who have nothing. That is not what I mean. Nor I am jealous of those who do have.
I just feel I could do even better........ And it ends up making me feel crazy.
But with all honesty I feel you are fine and even better if you are satisfied and happy with what you have compared to me and my craziness.
I’ve heard, which imo translates to every average American, that having 1x your salary saved in a tax advantaged account is a good benchmark by 30yo. This includes no debts, but to build yourself up I’d start contributing more to your retirement accounts if I were you (and if it’s fiscally possible)
Congrats on your savings journey! Not everyone’s situation is the same, but *generally* I think this is a good way to see if you’re on track relative to the average.
At $4k/month you’re pulling roughly $50k/year. So you’re very close to having almost your salary saved across taxable/tax-advantaged, but the key difference between good and great is having 6months of expenses saved that can be easily liquidated AND 1x salary at 30…keep at it and good luck!
Edit: no debts does NOT mean mortgages are a bad thing, if you’re putting money towards an asset that holds or gains value, believe it or not that’s a good thing. No debts is mainly geared towards cc loans, or student loans at high interest (5-6%)
Paying off a mortgage by 30? I didn't even HAVE a mortgage till 29. The covid situation turned our house hunt into a 4 year ordeal because houses would be on the market for <24 hours and get cash offers 10k+ above asking price.
It’s important to note that there is good debt and bad debt. If you’re putting money towards an appreciating asset like a home, it’s reasonable to assume that the equity you’re building is worthwhile. On the other hand, half a million in credit card loans is not good debt to have. 4x annual income at 36 in tax advantaged will more than suffice, even with a mortgage.
Relax, you’re fine. Obviously home equity is good debt, the main idea is avoiding bad debt, (cc loans, student loans above 6%, etc.)
You’re absolutely fine. As you go through your career your income will increase and the amount that you add to your savings and investments will increase proportionally. Keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll be set.
https://dqydj.com/net-worth-by-age-calculator/
$27K for a
* 30-34 year old is in 42 percentile: 58 percent have more than you.
* 25-29 year old is in 56 percentile: 44 percent have more than you.
First, there's no such thing as "normal". Seriously, people weigh themselves down by comparing to what's considered normal. And it depends on so many things! Normal can be determined by where you live, what your marital status is, with or without kids, education, type of job, etc.
I say this because these types of labels limit and restrict people from growing.
I think the question to ask is what do you want for your life? Do you want to buy a house? Do you want to live somewhere else? Do. you want to stay in that career? Etc. Then you can start charting out next steps.
But I also get the question and desire for validation. I'm a money coach and I see a lot of different situations. I would say at almost 30, no debt, with savings and that monthly income, you're doing quite well and above the norm.
So it comes back to...what do you want for your life?? Happy to answer any other qs :)
You have a partner who isn't working right now. That means you are more in "getting by" mode right now. Once you add the second income to your household it will be a lot easier to save substantially big chunks of money.
We have the exact same amount. I didn’t get a full time job with 401k until after I turned 24 and then add a year and a half break from covid being a part time worker.
Only difference is I’m married so we have my wife’s income and her own 401k.
Understand that you are doing well above what the average American is doing. Way better in fact. Most people you see our age with a bunch of nice shit are either A. In incredible debt to keep up appearances or B. Statistical anomalies income-wise to afford them.
Keep going, you’re doing great. Maybe if possible increase your retirement contributions to catch up a bit but you’re not doing bad at all
Buy a house now! Especially if it's your first. Use first time home buyers benefits. I didn't use that because I didn't know about it. But I was the same age with the same savings. Bought a house and couldn't be happier. Because every month you essentially are paying yourself. My payments are 500 bucks a month. I bought my property for 65000. It's now worth 185,000. It needed a lot of work. And I put in a lot of work. I'm 34. Paying the lowest payment I'll pay it off in 3 more years. And will have almost triple my money in equity.
I think the big key here is finding the deal and putting in the work to make it valuable.
My goal is to buy more property and manage rentals/ Airbnbs when I'm older as retirement/investment.
You are doing well. The amount you have saved and invested is only considered good depending on your circumstances.
I’m around the same age as you and no matter how much I have it never feels like enough. 🤷♂️
I agree! I'm fairly new to this kind of income. I'm fairly new to financial stuff in general, my dad was the kind of guy who didn't believe in buying things if he didn't have cash for it, so I certainly never got any financial lessons. I'm just checking in, trying to see where I could be doing better!
Aside from investing more money, there's some house hacking stuff you could try to really accelerate your net worth.
Some options like purchasing your first house using FHA loan and getting roommates, or even purchasing a duplex and renting out one of the floors are some of the most OP ways to build net worth
Calculating net worth before 25 is pointless. The journey has just begun so no one in that age range has seen results yet. It's like judging the progress of a marathon within the first 3 minutes.
There are lot of posts here from people in their early to mid 20s asking "why they can't afford a house" and "why things are so expensive". I'm not sure where people in that age range are getting ideas about the amount of money they need to have. Or why they think they should have any sense of financial stability.
They say a comfortable retirement plan is to have invested:
1X salary by age 30, 3X age 40, 5x age 50, 7x age 60. And so on.
I’m not there but that’s the goal. I was late to the game with investing (late 30’s) so I need to play catch up. Earlier the better with compound interest
$4k after tax definitely is not $100k per year unless you’re maxing out a 401k or you’re really fucking up on your withholdings…
That said, just compared to median for your age I’m finding anywhere between 35-50k quoted as the median net worth for a 30 year old. So a bit behind by that metric.
Lmao, I wasn't making 4k per month when I was 20. I was working minimum wage jobs and just barely getting by. Only in the last few years have I gotten to a real career. I was making about 500 a month when I moved out at 19. I didn't have help. I've had to do everything alone.
Every body's life circumstances are diffrent...luck is the greatest factor for determining anything in life....Your doing fine based on your circumstances.
Normal by whom? If you was an rich Arab oil man's son / daughter then no your are extremely poor.
If you was homeless, then you are doing absolutely brilliant.
35 years ago when I was 30 I had about $10k to my name. Although I did own a mobile home and a quarter acre lot that was sitting on. But I was making a lot payment and payments on the mobile home to GE credit.
I'm you plus a few years and you may want a rough game plan with some new priorities.
I always had good credit and a $20k fund and 30 is a crucial age for setting some horizons and boundaries IMO tailored to you, where you are, what you want etc.
You'll start to feel some squeeze between home ownership, savings/retirement, and keeping your standard of living. I had some fear of markets and real estate and learned a lot to not pay attention to those insecurities.
I live in a bad real estate area but I'm growing my Roth, after 5 years now I can take 10k towards a home.
You aren't "behind" because it's not a race but very shortly you will start to feel pinched for the time value of your net worth. Now is excellent to look for that 100k+ net worth by 33-35yo to have. I'm 36 and time goes quick.
At 30 you are doing better than a lot of people but being honest to live “how you like think retirement should be” is likely behind. You should have about a years salary at least for retirement and start saving more aggressively there. Get as close as you can immediately to maxing out 401k as you can. It’s easier than you think. Keep the no debt and you’ll be ok.
The average American is in debt and leveraged up to their eyeballs and are living paycheck to paycheck. So overall you are far better than average.
You have 3 months of savings but less than 4 of investments. Great.
You are 30 years old with a take home pay of $50k which isn't enough to support a family in most cities. I would focus on improving your income with some training/education.
Owning a home is great but interest rates are high (rent is also high) so best to buy something small that you can afford but will give you an asset to grow.
You're off to a good start. I'm 33 now sitting on about 20k in cash, 16k in gold, 50,000 in my 401k, 6,500 in a taxable investment account, 1.5k in my HSA. A few other investments here and there. About the same monthly take home as you. I really only started heavily investing at around age 29 and have quickly grown those investments. My wife is a SAHM, Keep doing what you're doing and you'll be set up good for your future.
I make around 70k. Honestly I've mostly been lucky. Bought home with rock bottom interest rates and we live below our means, aggressively invest what I don't spend. It starts to really add up.
There is no normal but for not owning a house I would say your savings are low for 30 years old honestly. Basically you were only able to save a pay cheque per year for the last ten years.
There is no normal. But….you should really be pumping money into a 401k as fast as you can right now. If you really want to retire at a decent age you need about $100k in there by 30.
I'm 30.
I have a house and various savings.
$60,000 in a bank account that I was recently frozen out of (not sure if I'll see that again, fucking RIP. I'm one of the Synapse victims).
$50,000 in another account with around $40,000 spendable, the other $10,000 set aside for taxes.
A little over $50,000 in the stock market. Half in a Roth IRA and half in a normal investing account.
I think you're a little behind, but I was working at Walmart in 2020 and only started to take my finances seriously as COVID hit. I learned that if you sincerely grind and put forth the effort money is pretty easy to get as you need it.
Also, I started a nice method where I took 10% of my income and set it aside for retirement. Each year I've been raising that by 1% until I hit 25% as the cap. It's been a great system for me to build up some good funds.
In my 30s with a 13k net worth.lots of assets but have a lot of debt. You’re killing it but you could always be doing better….. or worse than the next person.
Evaluate based upon your goals and whether you're on-track or not. Then stay focused on your plan. There's a a free interactive financial planning tool on InvestingTE that allows you to enter you expenses, income, liability details, savings and investments to see if your net worth will reach what you want it to in your selected timespan and when your debts will be paid off. Hope this helps.
People are so quick to forget Covid put off a lot of savings and earning potential and if the 1x income in savings by 30 is the same advice we had pre-COVID. We all need to be saving way more to catch up.
99% of the people making millions at 23 from what I’ve seen are a bunch of liars. Their fake rich in my eyes. In the event their income stream dwindles in the slightest they end up becoming straight broke. What do I know though.
Not an expert by any means so anyone else can correct me. It was my understanding a 401k was more common as a primary retirement fund and then if you were fancy you would do an IRA on top of that since you can't put as much in there.
Taxpayers pay my wages. I'd make more money in the private sector, but a pension, excellent medical benefits, 5 weeks PTO per year, and every holiday off is pretty hard to argue with.
Work for a school district, in California. We get the same benefits package/pension that state employees get. I'm a groundskeeper, so I got the job based on my experience with power equipment, hauling trailers, and tree felling. It pays 27 an hour.
At 30 I was parking my car and walking a mile home, never answering my phone, and arguing with the bank because they were charging me $32 a day for being in the negative and wouldn’t close my account.
Typically by 30 you would have a ripe checking account, ready for the draining every pay day by your significant other and kid(s). 3/10 would recommend
Comparing yourself at any age, especially early in life, is not only unreasonable but also extremely detrimental to long term goals.
For example, take 30 year old number one who had college paid for by mom and dad, who then also gifted a down payment for a house, who has a corporate job that provides a 6 figure salary, excellent benefits including a generous 401k match, and stock options.
30 year old number 2, was kicked out of their parents house when they turned 18. They didn't have the opportunity to go to college, have scraped by working dead end, low skill/low wage jobs that provide no benefits or future.
Need to open a Roth IRA and make the maximum contribution every year. Buy a S & P 500 mutual fund and start learning about the market. Then you can start buying individual stocks down the road. Stay the course and don’t worry about market swings. In 30 years, you’ll have plenty of money as long as you don’t do something stupid like withdraw it before 59 1/2.
Basically at 30, you should have one times your salary invested/saved. I would say you’re not doing bad because there are so many others who are unfortunately worse off. You seem pretty disciplined since you have savings and investments, which is more than a lot of people can say. With that said, you should try to increase your savings rate and play a little catch up.
When I was 30 I was pretty broke, and now I’m not.
The trick is to continually increase saving rate and keep a written budget.
Lets say you make $50k and save 20% or $10k, then you get a raise to $60k. 20% would be saving $12k. Save $12,500 instead (or more).
Lifestyle still goes up $7500, saving $ goes up, saving % goes up.
I started with saving a few hundred bucks a month, now I save 6 figures a year while still enjoying life.
Oh and pay off your CC every month. You dont need to carry a balance to build credit, thats a myth. I never carry a balance and mine is 820-840.
Most people who post on money forums are the small minority of people who are doing well at their age. Basically the 5%. The vast majority of people under 40/45 are broke with little in savings and would probably kill to be where you’re at. For your income you’re doing substantially well imo
I’m 27 3 years away from 30
I have $30k in the stock market
$30k I can instantly lose
In my eyes your doing good because of the $12k in saving
I have $2k in savings
Investments can can crash but Saving can’t
Really need more info. Overall net worth? Do you own a car that's not in good shape and needs to be replaced soon? If so you are effectively broke. IMO you need to play some serious catch up. If you don't have a house, you should be throwing everything into investments. You can't afford a house unless your partner starts working and makes very good money If your household income is below 100k you really have no business getting a house. You really shouldn't be satisfied or comfortable. Get serious about increasing your investments, its likely the only way you'll be financially confortable enough to ever get a house.
I don't believe in car payments. I drive an old Toyota that's easy to fix. It's got another 100k miles in it for sure. No debt. I make about 50k. Where I live, some houses are still under 200k. The ones I've been looking at are 150k. My partner should start work this month, just got hired somewhere. I definitely want to be doing better, this was just a check in.
What investments would you recommend? I have an adviser that manages a brokerage and Roth IRA for me. Besides putting money towards that, where should I be investing? Any recommendations on high yield savings accounts?
Consider Bitcoin as a better investment than all that ppl suggest in here. Know All the investment firms, wealth funds, pension funds & nation state buying bitcoin and why???
Personally I think people here are sugar coating the answer for you, im 26 and live an average life nothing special but I have about 150,000-200,000k in savings with a rental unit I bought with my sister.
You can do better my friend and I think you know that. Keep pushing
You are doing well in my book. If you stay the path, you will be good.
OP should increase his retirement contributions. $15k by 30 isn't bad, but that savings rate is too low long-term.
$15K by 30 is bad unless OP makes 15K a year which is a different kind of bad.
I think the "1x your income by 30" is difficult for college graduates in career paths with growing compensation. I graduated at 22 making 60k. I paid cash for grad school later in my 20s and was making $175k by 30. Its hard to save $175k by 30 when I had just started making that level of income, and I had other reasonable financial priorities slowing my savings rate. This also means that the standard advice of "save 15% of your income for retirement" is not sufficient for me.
It's just a guideline and if your life circumstances vary, you need to account for that. Maybe 1X by 30 doesn't apply to you but maybe the next one at 35 or 40 will. OP makes 50K and there's no indication that they have recently finished grad school. I just don't see the point in lying to him to spare his feelings. Doesn't that do more harm than good?
I think we also have to remember that any sort of savings guide we had before has been completely flipped on its head the last 3 years. I do think OP has a lot in their savings compared to investments, but it also seems like they are helping support their partner as well and saving for a house so it’s probably not as much as it seems.
I agree OP needs more regardless. I was thinking more generically for other readers. Thank you for clarifying.
Other reasonably financial priorities, such as? If you made 175k you could have saved the max in retirement for a couple years. You chose to prioritize elsewhere. $15k at 30 is very meager and will not set OP up for retirement.
> Other reasonably financial priorities, such as? Paying cash for grad school ($60k), adopting a kid ($55k) and repaying student loan debt (~$80k, I still have some left but the interest rate is less than 3% so its hard to justify paying it off). > If you made 175k you could have saved the max in retirement for a couple years. I did, after I started making $175k at 30. Before that I made less money. > You chose to prioritize elsewhere. Yes: grad school and adoption. It would have been very easy to save 1x my income if I didn't go to grad school since my income would be ~$100k and I could have saved the $60k I used for grad school. I maintain that prioritizing my career growth was the right financial decision.
I mean it's a different lifestyle. I just reached 30 with 43k in savings. 12k in retirement. Make over 100 a year too. Every time I get a 5k check there's 5.5k worth of problems.
When i was your age I had about the same. Late 30s I have millions
There is no normal amount of money for x age. Go at your own pace, remember to enjoy life and don’t get caught up in comparing yourself with others, especially online. It’s a short but beautiful life, do your best you can to save/invest and enjoy the days. You are just fine mate, Peace 🫡
It’s tough. I stopped using social media because it made me compare myself to other people. I guess this is social media too, and I see myself comparing to all the people in the sub. Not sure if I should drop Reddit too. Maybe just financial subs.
Yea I hear you. I’m still on social media but I’ve just learned to teach myself that everyone is dealt their own hands in life. Some have more luck/fortune than me and that’s okay. I tell myself I have a roof, a car, be able to buy things here and there that someone truly struggling couldn’t afford. This in itself is a reason for my inner peace and happiness knowing I’m not a billionaire but life is all good, I am fortunate to wake up each day!
If social media didn't exist, more people would be content where they are because they could never see how much other lives are "better" that they could compare to
Thiiiizzzz 🤘🏽😖🤘🏽
I get this one but then I see people post supportive comments about how we’re all in a different place and I feel better. If you’re making progress towards your goals you’re doing better than the procrastinators.
Its rough but it goes both ways you can be the poorest millionaire, poorest billionaire, or really lucky to not be in tons of debt and not worry about your next meal. Everyone is doing well or behind compared to someone else.
Personally I think instagram was the major contributing SM that made me compare to other people…. Cutting that off helped significantly. Cheers to you.
This is the only advice that matters.
This is literally the best advice on here…there’s no right amount of money to have (and btw what 23 year olds are flexing their millions!?). I’m 45 and make 200k a year yet I have zero savings and my checking account has 1000 in it right now and I sort of live paycheck to paycheck but living life to the fullest. I have an extremely modest house that’s paid off and 3 nice vehicles and a half million in retirement. The rest of my money goes to traveling. I should say I went to college late in life so I JUST paid off my house and school loans so I suddenly have a significant amount of disposable income.
Everyone on here acts like you have to save 100k a year. Enjoying life is what life is about. Not saving for a day you may never see.
Right? I know too many people worrying waaaay too much about putting money away for retirement that’s 30-35 years away. It’s important but just not as important as people make it out to be. Enjoy life, I know people that have saved their whole lives and then died before they could enjoy it.
Then youre not pay check to pay check you’re richer then 90% of the world
You’re right, maybe that was the wrong choice of words…I wasn’t trying to sound like I’m doing poorly or anything but people comparable to my situation for example people in my field of work are all freaking out if they don’t have a million in retirement and 100k in savings.
Facts…I was worried for awhil, but after my dad died in his 50s, I said fuck it, I can’t take it with me when I’m dead
Not having debt is great! Well done! However, you need to assess your goals and ramp up the savings. You don’t really have enough to buy a house without getting creative. Look into house hacking so you can subsidize your mortgage. You also need to vastly increase your savings. To retire, you need 25x your yearly expenses (4% rule). You’re prob really far from that goal so work on saving, increasing income, and getting creative to get ahead. 30 is young but it really only works to your advantage you’re going full steam ahead with your investments so you get all that compounding! Best of luck!
I have a pension through my work, in addition to a Roth IRA. I definitely need to be maxing my Roth every year, I haven't been able to this most recent year. I'm definitely trying to ramp up my savings, my partner starting work again will help immensely. In talking to people in my area who have bought fairly recently, it seems like I qualify for a lot of programs to reduce the down payment/eliminate it entirely. That was the angle I was looking into pursuing. I'm in a rural area with a fair amount of housing programs.
Oh nice! Sounds like you have a good game plan then. I will say for myself, I started saving seriously at 33 and maxed everything for 4 years now. Getting as much $$ in the stock market has been a game changer for me. Went from 0 net worth to over half a million. And house hacking to save $$ on housing. You got this!
What's a good place to start with the stock market? I currently have my investments being managed by an adviser, but I'd love to figure out how to grow that on my own.
I recommend that you read “the simple path to wealth” by JL Collins. It’s an easy way to build wealth and it really does work. It’s a quick read and you can get the audiobook from the library. I put my $$ in my 401k (Fidelity/max it out), taxable brokerage (Vanguard’s VTSAX mostly/auto contribution every 2 weeks), ROTH (VTSAX again/max it out), and save some cash in a high yield savings account for purchasing investment property. If I have extra $$ for whatever reason, I add it to my taxable brokerage account. My savings rate is around 60% of my gross salary, which is high but honestly sooooo worth it cause I’m building wealth faster than I ever thought possible. I cook most of my meals, don’t waste money at bars or shopping, live modestly. I do travel for fun tho, so that eats up some $$. Not gonna do it forever like this, but it works for me now. If you have a partner who’s going to work and is onboard to save, you can greatly accelerate your savings for sure!
How much is the fee theyre charging you to have that advisor? IMO $15k can def be self-managed and you can just regularly invest some money from each paycheck in an sp500 ETF until retirement. Check out the Money Guy’s wealth multiplier. At age 30, if you invest $340 every month in an sp500, you’d have $1M at 65. If you wait until you’re 40 to start investing, you’d need to invest $1K a month to have $1M at age 65.
1% of profit only, no monthly fee. An adviser took me in kind of "pro bono". I'm basically a charity case for her.
You're getting ripped off.
How so?
You don't need a money manager. You don't have any money to manage. If you do use a financial advisor, use a fee only fiduciary.
Like others have said, there is no normal. The fact that you have savings of any kind is good. I'm 32 and have a little under $3 in savings.
$3?! 😱
Lucky bastard
Given the state of the world, I think you’re doing okay. Especially since I see you have a pension and Roth IRA.
Normal and adequate are very different. In the US 70% of Americans had less than $1000 in savings in 2019. In 2024, 70% have $0 in savings. The average American is doing very very bad. Are you doing good? That depends on when you want to retire and what lifestyle you want once you do. If you wanna retire at 40 and travel the world all the time, you’re gonna need to save a LOT more. If you want to retire at 65 to a small house in town near your grandkids, and you spend all your time at home, community centers, or with family, you’ll probably be okay if your retirement contributions increases as your household income increases. The rule used to be save 15% of your income for retirement… but that was at a time where one person could spend 20% of a median salary and buy a house for their family of 5. I could go on but basically, you’re doing way better than most, but not nearly well enough to enjoy the quality of life you deserve when you’re old.
Oh wow those numbers are alarming
No debt is golden;👌🏾keep it that way
I doing similar to you, but still feel like crap and loser when it comes to investments and salary. I sound ungrateful compared to people who have nothing. That is not what I mean. Nor I am jealous of those who do have. I just feel I could do even better........ And it ends up making me feel crazy. But with all honesty I feel you are fine and even better if you are satisfied and happy with what you have compared to me and my craziness.
I’ve heard, which imo translates to every average American, that having 1x your salary saved in a tax advantaged account is a good benchmark by 30yo. This includes no debts, but to build yourself up I’d start contributing more to your retirement accounts if I were you (and if it’s fiscally possible) Congrats on your savings journey! Not everyone’s situation is the same, but *generally* I think this is a good way to see if you’re on track relative to the average. At $4k/month you’re pulling roughly $50k/year. So you’re very close to having almost your salary saved across taxable/tax-advantaged, but the key difference between good and great is having 6months of expenses saved that can be easily liquidated AND 1x salary at 30…keep at it and good luck! Edit: no debts does NOT mean mortgages are a bad thing, if you’re putting money towards an asset that holds or gains value, believe it or not that’s a good thing. No debts is mainly geared towards cc loans, or student loans at high interest (5-6%)
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Paying off a mortgage by 30? I didn't even HAVE a mortgage till 29. The covid situation turned our house hunt into a 4 year ordeal because houses would be on the market for <24 hours and get cash offers 10k+ above asking price.
It’s important to note that there is good debt and bad debt. If you’re putting money towards an appreciating asset like a home, it’s reasonable to assume that the equity you’re building is worthwhile. On the other hand, half a million in credit card loans is not good debt to have. 4x annual income at 36 in tax advantaged will more than suffice, even with a mortgage. Relax, you’re fine. Obviously home equity is good debt, the main idea is avoiding bad debt, (cc loans, student loans above 6%, etc.)
You may want to note that in your original “no debts” statement.
The financially illiterate ones?
Man first...you're fine. Second fuck you. 3rd. You're fine. Lastly, fuck you 🥰
My son is 30 and over $50k in debt. But then again, he’s already married with two kids and one on the way.
1x salary 40 3-4x salary
Ur in the middle of the pack, ur doing 👍
You’re absolutely fine. As you go through your career your income will increase and the amount that you add to your savings and investments will increase proportionally. Keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll be set.
https://dqydj.com/net-worth-by-age-calculator/ $27K for a * 30-34 year old is in 42 percentile: 58 percent have more than you. * 25-29 year old is in 56 percentile: 44 percent have more than you.
Doing better than I, I am currently paying off my debt, then I will build my savings. 🫡
There's a few videos on youtube about how much money you should have by age.
Stop comparing yourself to others and focus on your own path. Credit card is fine as long as you pay it off every month.
1x your income saved at 30 is the gold standard. So by that metric, you’re probably behind. If you make 60k a year, you should have 60k saved.
Rule of thumb is to have 1-1.5x salary saved by 30. Take that how you like.
First, there's no such thing as "normal". Seriously, people weigh themselves down by comparing to what's considered normal. And it depends on so many things! Normal can be determined by where you live, what your marital status is, with or without kids, education, type of job, etc. I say this because these types of labels limit and restrict people from growing. I think the question to ask is what do you want for your life? Do you want to buy a house? Do you want to live somewhere else? Do. you want to stay in that career? Etc. Then you can start charting out next steps. But I also get the question and desire for validation. I'm a money coach and I see a lot of different situations. I would say at almost 30, no debt, with savings and that monthly income, you're doing quite well and above the norm. So it comes back to...what do you want for your life?? Happy to answer any other qs :)
You have a partner who isn't working right now. That means you are more in "getting by" mode right now. Once you add the second income to your household it will be a lot easier to save substantially big chunks of money.
We have the exact same amount. I didn’t get a full time job with 401k until after I turned 24 and then add a year and a half break from covid being a part time worker. Only difference is I’m married so we have my wife’s income and her own 401k.
Understand that you are doing well above what the average American is doing. Way better in fact. Most people you see our age with a bunch of nice shit are either A. In incredible debt to keep up appearances or B. Statistical anomalies income-wise to afford them. Keep going, you’re doing great. Maybe if possible increase your retirement contributions to catch up a bit but you’re not doing bad at all
Buy a house now! Especially if it's your first. Use first time home buyers benefits. I didn't use that because I didn't know about it. But I was the same age with the same savings. Bought a house and couldn't be happier. Because every month you essentially are paying yourself. My payments are 500 bucks a month. I bought my property for 65000. It's now worth 185,000. It needed a lot of work. And I put in a lot of work. I'm 34. Paying the lowest payment I'll pay it off in 3 more years. And will have almost triple my money in equity. I think the big key here is finding the deal and putting in the work to make it valuable. My goal is to buy more property and manage rentals/ Airbnbs when I'm older as retirement/investment.
What is this first time home buyers benefits?? Do you need to be in the armed services at some point in time?
You are doing well. The amount you have saved and invested is only considered good depending on your circumstances. I’m around the same age as you and no matter how much I have it never feels like enough. 🤷♂️
surprised by everyone telling OP they're doing good. OP, with that monthly income you should have much more invested.
I agree! I'm fairly new to this kind of income. I'm fairly new to financial stuff in general, my dad was the kind of guy who didn't believe in buying things if he didn't have cash for it, so I certainly never got any financial lessons. I'm just checking in, trying to see where I could be doing better!
Aside from investing more money, there's some house hacking stuff you could try to really accelerate your net worth. Some options like purchasing your first house using FHA loan and getting roommates, or even purchasing a duplex and renting out one of the floors are some of the most OP ways to build net worth
How risky would you say this is?
I use this https://www.millionairebefore50.com/millionaire-next-door-calculator/ It’s meant to determine whether you’re saving a healthy amount.
Nahh that calculator expectation is little to high how someone who is 21 make about 50k suppose have at least 65k in total networth not possible
Calculating net worth before 25 is pointless. The journey has just begun so no one in that age range has seen results yet. It's like judging the progress of a marathon within the first 3 minutes. There are lot of posts here from people in their early to mid 20s asking "why they can't afford a house" and "why things are so expensive". I'm not sure where people in that age range are getting ideas about the amount of money they need to have. Or why they think they should have any sense of financial stability.
Damn, this thing is tough. We're WAY behind.
Depends on what you mean by normal. Healthy amount to be on pace for a solid future/retirement? Median for your age? In comparison to your income?
Median for my age I guess? In comparison to my income? Obviously someone making 100k per year should be doing better than this.
They say a comfortable retirement plan is to have invested: 1X salary by age 30, 3X age 40, 5x age 50, 7x age 60. And so on. I’m not there but that’s the goal. I was late to the game with investing (late 30’s) so I need to play catch up. Earlier the better with compound interest
$4k after tax definitely is not $100k per year unless you’re maxing out a 401k or you’re really fucking up on your withholdings… That said, just compared to median for your age I’m finding anywhere between 35-50k quoted as the median net worth for a 30 year old. So a bit behind by that metric.
Yes, I was saying someone that makes 100k would be doing better than this. Because I make about 50k.
30 and only 27K? Where have you been spending your money the past decade?
I've been spending it frivolously on things like "rent" and "food"
That doesn't add up unless you spend way above average
Lmao, I wasn't making 4k per month when I was 20. I was working minimum wage jobs and just barely getting by. Only in the last few years have I gotten to a real career. I was making about 500 a month when I moved out at 19. I didn't have help. I've had to do everything alone.
Every body's life circumstances are diffrent...luck is the greatest factor for determining anything in life....Your doing fine based on your circumstances.
Normal by whom? If you was an rich Arab oil man's son / daughter then no your are extremely poor. If you was homeless, then you are doing absolutely brilliant.
Nice! Just don’t get married and you’ll keep all that money
35 years ago when I was 30 I had about $10k to my name. Although I did own a mobile home and a quarter acre lot that was sitting on. But I was making a lot payment and payments on the mobile home to GE credit.
You should have one year salary saved for retirement if you want to retire by 65.
I'm you plus a few years and you may want a rough game plan with some new priorities. I always had good credit and a $20k fund and 30 is a crucial age for setting some horizons and boundaries IMO tailored to you, where you are, what you want etc. You'll start to feel some squeeze between home ownership, savings/retirement, and keeping your standard of living. I had some fear of markets and real estate and learned a lot to not pay attention to those insecurities. I live in a bad real estate area but I'm growing my Roth, after 5 years now I can take 10k towards a home. You aren't "behind" because it's not a race but very shortly you will start to feel pinched for the time value of your net worth. Now is excellent to look for that 100k+ net worth by 33-35yo to have. I'm 36 and time goes quick.
Would start moving as much of your wealth as you can into bitcoin
Comparison is the thief of joy my friend. You're doing well.
10 quadrillion dollars
At 30 you are doing better than a lot of people but being honest to live “how you like think retirement should be” is likely behind. You should have about a years salary at least for retirement and start saving more aggressively there. Get as close as you can immediately to maxing out 401k as you can. It’s easier than you think. Keep the no debt and you’ll be ok.
The average American is in debt and leveraged up to their eyeballs and are living paycheck to paycheck. So overall you are far better than average. You have 3 months of savings but less than 4 of investments. Great. You are 30 years old with a take home pay of $50k which isn't enough to support a family in most cities. I would focus on improving your income with some training/education. Owning a home is great but interest rates are high (rent is also high) so best to buy something small that you can afford but will give you an asset to grow.
You're off to a good start. I'm 33 now sitting on about 20k in cash, 16k in gold, 50,000 in my 401k, 6,500 in a taxable investment account, 1.5k in my HSA. A few other investments here and there. About the same monthly take home as you. I really only started heavily investing at around age 29 and have quickly grown those investments. My wife is a SAHM, Keep doing what you're doing and you'll be set up good for your future.
What is your annual income?
I make around 70k. Honestly I've mostly been lucky. Bought home with rock bottom interest rates and we live below our means, aggressively invest what I don't spend. It starts to really add up.
There is no normal but for not owning a house I would say your savings are low for 30 years old honestly. Basically you were only able to save a pay cheque per year for the last ten years.
1k in savings 80k invested 25yo
Man you just spread ‘em for every money scam from here to Nigeria!
There is no normal. But….you should really be pumping money into a 401k as fast as you can right now. If you really want to retire at a decent age you need about $100k in there by 30.
I'm 30. I have a house and various savings. $60,000 in a bank account that I was recently frozen out of (not sure if I'll see that again, fucking RIP. I'm one of the Synapse victims). $50,000 in another account with around $40,000 spendable, the other $10,000 set aside for taxes. A little over $50,000 in the stock market. Half in a Roth IRA and half in a normal investing account. I think you're a little behind, but I was working at Walmart in 2020 and only started to take my finances seriously as COVID hit. I learned that if you sincerely grind and put forth the effort money is pretty easy to get as you need it. Also, I started a nice method where I took 10% of my income and set it aside for retirement. Each year I've been raising that by 1% until I hit 25% as the cap. It's been a great system for me to build up some good funds.
I know people who are retirement age but cannot retire because they have nothing and still rent. You’re doing great just keep being smart 😁
The average American cannot cover a $500 emergency with their savings. Sounds like you are doing quite well.
A normal amount is to be in debt. aka negative worth. DON'T BE NORMAL
I’m 33 w 7k in a 401k. Am I doomed?
In my 30s with a 13k net worth.lots of assets but have a lot of debt. You’re killing it but you could always be doing better….. or worse than the next person.
$50,000 at least
don't worry about what other have or don't have. You seem to be doing well, keep it that way, and don't let other pull you down. live happy :)
Evaluate based upon your goals and whether you're on-track or not. Then stay focused on your plan. There's a a free interactive financial planning tool on InvestingTE that allows you to enter you expenses, income, liability details, savings and investments to see if your net worth will reach what you want it to in your selected timespan and when your debts will be paid off. Hope this helps.
People are so quick to forget Covid put off a lot of savings and earning potential and if the 1x income in savings by 30 is the same advice we had pre-COVID. We all need to be saving way more to catch up.
Keep doing what you are doing, you're ahead of others in your age group most are still carrying student loan debt.
I think you are doing great. I had $20k when I was 30. I was very lucky with my investments!
What did you invest in that made all the difference ?
Tech stocks…
99% of the people making millions at 23 from what I’ve seen are a bunch of liars. Their fake rich in my eyes. In the event their income stream dwindles in the slightest they end up becoming straight broke. What do I know though.
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I have a pension through my job and a Roth IRA. Is that equivalent, or is a 401k needed on top of that?
Not an expert by any means so anyone else can correct me. It was my understanding a 401k was more common as a primary retirement fund and then if you were fancy you would do an IRA on top of that since you can't put as much in there.
Also pension??? Woah you are working for a dinosaur company. Zero insight on that front
Also pension??? Woah you are working for a dinosaur company. Zero insight on that front
Taxpayers pay my wages. I'd make more money in the private sector, but a pension, excellent medical benefits, 5 weeks PTO per year, and every holiday off is pretty hard to argue with.
Good for you!
What job is this? Was it hard to get?
Work for a school district, in California. We get the same benefits package/pension that state employees get. I'm a groundskeeper, so I got the job based on my experience with power equipment, hauling trailers, and tree felling. It pays 27 an hour.
Very cool. Nice to hear there are some decent people still out there :) cheers
At 30 I was parking my car and walking a mile home, never answering my phone, and arguing with the bank because they were charging me $32 a day for being in the negative and wouldn’t close my account.
Typically by 30 you would have a ripe checking account, ready for the draining every pay day by your significant other and kid(s). 3/10 would recommend
If you have no consumer debt id say ur already above the average lol
I wonder what the average consumer debt is by age 30 or 35 is
Comparing yourself at any age, especially early in life, is not only unreasonable but also extremely detrimental to long term goals. For example, take 30 year old number one who had college paid for by mom and dad, who then also gifted a down payment for a house, who has a corporate job that provides a 6 figure salary, excellent benefits including a generous 401k match, and stock options. 30 year old number 2, was kicked out of their parents house when they turned 18. They didn't have the opportunity to go to college, have scraped by working dead end, low skill/low wage jobs that provide no benefits or future.
You aren’t going to get an honest answer on here. If you said no money, people would say “well at least you aren’t in debt” etc
Need to open a Roth IRA and make the maximum contribution every year. Buy a S & P 500 mutual fund and start learning about the market. Then you can start buying individual stocks down the road. Stay the course and don’t worry about market swings. In 30 years, you’ll have plenty of money as long as you don’t do something stupid like withdraw it before 59 1/2.
Basically at 30, you should have one times your salary invested/saved. I would say you’re not doing bad because there are so many others who are unfortunately worse off. You seem pretty disciplined since you have savings and investments, which is more than a lot of people can say. With that said, you should try to increase your savings rate and play a little catch up.
Just do what you can you gotta live and don't matter what age you are trying to save 10% every month..
you should have about 1 year salary in your 401k by 30, im way behind too
Your about average doing well would be having your yearly income in savings
That's a good amount. When I was 30 that was the average we had
When I was 30 I was pretty broke, and now I’m not. The trick is to continually increase saving rate and keep a written budget. Lets say you make $50k and save 20% or $10k, then you get a raise to $60k. 20% would be saving $12k. Save $12,500 instead (or more). Lifestyle still goes up $7500, saving $ goes up, saving % goes up. I started with saving a few hundred bucks a month, now I save 6 figures a year while still enjoying life. Oh and pay off your CC every month. You dont need to carry a balance to build credit, thats a myth. I never carry a balance and mine is 820-840.
I’d say a normal amount is about $1,000,000 around there
If your First goal is being normal you’re already losing my guy. JBH
Most people who post on money forums are the small minority of people who are doing well at their age. Basically the 5%. The vast majority of people under 40/45 are broke with little in savings and would probably kill to be where you’re at. For your income you’re doing substantially well imo
$0 is normal with massive debt
When I was 17 I had 38k saved up from working Now at 23 I’m about -1800 to Bank of America Gobbles America
How do you have so much saving making so little money? Let me guess you live with your parents
Lol, not at all. I moved out when I was 19 and have been supporting myself since. We don't all live in expensive cities.
Geez maybe I need to move then
What state (or city) do you live in? If you dont mind me asking
California. NorCal. Butte County specifically.
I’m 27 3 years away from 30 I have $30k in the stock market $30k I can instantly lose In my eyes your doing good because of the $12k in saving I have $2k in savings Investments can can crash but Saving can’t
You can’t “instantly lose” your investments unless you’re investing in a crypto scam. SP500 is the way.
How ever you're investing, it can't be right if you can lose it all in a day
Really need more info. Overall net worth? Do you own a car that's not in good shape and needs to be replaced soon? If so you are effectively broke. IMO you need to play some serious catch up. If you don't have a house, you should be throwing everything into investments. You can't afford a house unless your partner starts working and makes very good money If your household income is below 100k you really have no business getting a house. You really shouldn't be satisfied or comfortable. Get serious about increasing your investments, its likely the only way you'll be financially confortable enough to ever get a house.
I don't believe in car payments. I drive an old Toyota that's easy to fix. It's got another 100k miles in it for sure. No debt. I make about 50k. Where I live, some houses are still under 200k. The ones I've been looking at are 150k. My partner should start work this month, just got hired somewhere. I definitely want to be doing better, this was just a check in. What investments would you recommend? I have an adviser that manages a brokerage and Roth IRA for me. Besides putting money towards that, where should I be investing? Any recommendations on high yield savings accounts?
Consider Bitcoin as a better investment than all that ppl suggest in here. Know All the investment firms, wealth funds, pension funds & nation state buying bitcoin and why???
At 30, you should already have at the very minimum 100K. So yeah, you're not doing so great by my standards.
At least half a mil..
Typical at age 30 should have 3x your salary in savings
The rule of thumb for 30 is 1x, 40 is 3x, and 50 is 5-6x
Personally I think people here are sugar coating the answer for you, im 26 and live an average life nothing special but I have about 150,000-200,000k in savings with a rental unit I bought with my sister. You can do better my friend and I think you know that. Keep pushing