Anyone here been able to save 70% Of Their Income?

[GoodSteward]

I often wonder if we get too aggressive with saving that we begin to lose our quality of life. Short term extreme goals I feel are fine, but I think becoming extreme in saving long term can have a negative impact on you mentally. You can feel trapped by your budget and inability to ever spend anything you're working so hard to earn. Money is a major part of our lives, but it shouldn't be our main focus. The often misquoted bible verse says the LOVE of money is the root of all evil. An unhealthy appetite for money can come in many forms, including hoarding.

I'm not trying to say anybody is wrong for saving or even saving a lot. I was just thinking about it while reading this thread. To each their own.

[Singuy]

I often wonder if we get too aggressive with saving that we begin to lose our quality of life. Short term extreme goals I feel are fine, but I think becoming extreme in saving long term can have a negative impact on you mentally. You can feel trapped by your budget and inability to ever spend anything you're working so hard to earn. Money is a major part of our lives, but it shouldn't be our main focus. The often misquoted bible verse says the LOVE of money is the root of all evil. An unhealthy appetite for money can come in many forms, including hoarding.

I'm not trying to say anybody is wrong for saving or even saving a lot. I was just thinking about it while reading this thread. To each their own.

It really depends on where financially you come from. Sometimes you tell yourself "I can't ever see myself going back to xxxxx"...this can include driving a used beater, not getting your nails done regularly, not able to live in a smaller house, or eating at chain restaurants. When you were a college student, not doing any of these things were fine. For those who choose not to upgrade still felt fine despite making a lot more money.

My parents, even though saving 80% of their money and living like what most would considered "poor" was way more happier than someone in the middle class trying to keep up with the joneses. Why? Because my parents lived 30+ years of their lives being food insecure, dealing with social unrest, and had no indoor plumbing in OLD China(before capitalism). The fact that they had indoor plumbing and PLENTY of food in the grocery store was MORE than enough for them. Spending 10k/year in 1990s was like living the millionaire life for them considering they made 1000 dollars/year in China.

[james.hendrickson]

I often wonder if we get too aggressive with saving that we begin to lose our quality of life. Short term extreme goals I feel are fine, but I think becoming extreme in saving long term can have a negative impact on you mentally. You can feel trapped by your budget and inability to ever spend anything you're working so hard to earn. Money is a major part of our lives, but it shouldn't be our main focus. The often misquoted bible verse says the LOVE of money is the root of all evil. An unhealthy appetite for money can come in many forms, including hoarding.

I'm not trying to say anybody is wrong for saving or even saving a lot. I was just thinking about it while reading this thread. To each their own.

Actually...thats a really good point.

[GoodSteward]

Because my parents lived 30+ years of their lives being food insecure, dealing with social unrest, and had no indoor plumbing in OLD China(before capitalism). The fact that they had indoor plumbing and PLENTY of food in the grocery store was MORE than enough for them.

It really is perspective, and I applaud them for seeing past materialism even when they were doing better.

I have a cousin who makes, well, I don't know. He works in CGI, and specializes in the specific area he works. There are few people in most CGI companies that handle what he can do. I assume he is making 150k+ a year, and He is in his late 20s. He still drives an old vehicle and could care less about being on top of tech. Several years back he was happy to pick up the oldest iphone at the time that ATT still offered (a 3G then I think) because he was free and still did everything he wanted. He doesn't even want to buy furniture with his money, he just saves it. I asked my aunt this past summer why he is that way, as in what made him that way?

He comes from a well-off middle class. My uncle taught Spanish in college and used to take several trips a year to Costa Rica to lead groups of people. My cousin started going with him. It's form these trips he started putting together videos and special effects that got him into CGI. One year he fell for a girl down there. He was so caught up with her that he actually was sick when he had to leave. They allowed him to stay the summer and he had to live with the poor family there. Some days they didn't have anything but a little fruit to eat. He had to sleep in a hammock and lived in very poor conditions. No indoor plumbing, etc. He did that for months. My aunt assumes it's because of this that he now realizes just how little someone really needs to be happy, and he is fine with just that.

[StormRichards]

Interesting topic. I have spreadsheets to track expenses but have never calculated percentages. It's not convenient at the moment to read the article. Just curious how to go about the calculation? Post taxes?

I would like to revisit this one at year end when I have our YTD pay statements.

[tripods68]

We saved 70% of a $60k income. We just chose not to live up to our income post-college. The driving motivation for us was extreme high cost of housing. But doing this enabled us to get into a home in less than a year.

60K a year is a modest income. Way to go, living frugally with high saving rate.

[feh]

Have any of you managed to do this? If so - thats AWESOME, how did you do it?

Not this year, but we've done that in the past. The formula is straight forward - fairly high household income and somewhat low expenses.

[Jluke]

Not this year, but we've done that in the past. The formula is straight forward - fairly high household income and somewhat low expenses.

are we talking gross or net income or AGI?

I imagine 401k and IRA savings count and we're not strictly talking post-tax savings.

[Nutria]

What's the line between savings, and deferred spending?

If it's just retirement, then we're just saving 14%. If you add in what we're socking away for appliance repair/replacement, auto repair/replacement, home repair, general unexpected "stuff", medical deductibles, birthday/Christmas Club & future vacations, then it's boosted up to 36%.

[QuarterMillionMan]

My income is $75,000 (I'm 50 yrs old).

For 2016, I maxed out these;

457 plan $24,000

Roth IRA $6500

Total saved for 2016: $30,500

So I saved close to 50%. I thought that was hard to do, 70% seems insurmountable but doable. I would have to make a lot more sacrifices.

[Nutria]

My income is $75,000 (I'm 50 yrs old).

For 2016, I maxed out these;

457 plan $24,000

Roth IRA $6500

Total saved for 2016: $30,500

So I saved close to 50%. I thought that was hard to do, 70% seems insurmountable but doable. I would have to make a lot more sacrifices.

Spouse?

[QuarterMillionMan]

Single guy, no children. Never married actually so no alimony nor no child support payments thank you Jesus (lol).

[Nutria]

Single guy, no children. Never married actually so no alimony nor no child support payments thank you Jesus (lol).

With all that money, you need a wife and kids!

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Like feh we have as well done 70%. This year we "earned " $100k and saved $60k of it so 60%. We also rolled $60k in a Roth so our AGI will end up around $160k on our tax forms so our savings doesn't look impressive. We save $30k signing bonus, 401k max, Roth IRAs and college funds. But we've done well other years as well.