Who puts money into their savings (when we have jobs)

[Mahonri]

Rule of thumb.

10% for the Lord

10% for retirement (But I'll never retire)

 

[gkeesling]

The very first check we write is at least 10% to the church. We save from 8%-10% in 401K's and savings. If you aren't tithing you should. Your heart will change and you will be blessed as a result of it. We are making 30% less money than we did 5 years ago, but have much more disposable income and have everything we want. What we found is that we don't want as much as we once did. Contentment finds its way in to your life.
I'll get off my soapbox now. than you for the post.

 

[Rosalind]

I have direct deposit set up at work so they automatically deposit a certain amount (~ 10%) into savings. It'll never be enough to retire, and still isn't enough for emergency medical bills (despite the best insurance money can buy

), but it's enough to cover home repairs and winter heating bills and such. Plus, we have certain accounts dedicated to certain bills, and always make sure that there's a $500-1000 buffer in between anticipated bills vs. account balance. That tends to build up when we do something frugal and the bills actually come in less than anticipated costs (yes, it happens--amazingly!).

WRT retirement, which I shall never do, unless you count part-time teaching and consulting as "retirement," I have that rarest of rare things, a pension. Yep, they still exist, as paltry as this one is, it's calculated to pay out something like $400k from age 67 - death. Which, by the time I am ready to collect on it, will likely buy me a single loaf of bread.

 

[Buster]

I am on seasonal layoff. When I'm working all my regular wages go into checking and anything above that goes into savings via direct deposit. So any federal pay and overtime goes directly into savings. Also, I got a large raise last year (several dollars per hour) and we don't live on that income, we still live on the lower amount and all the raise money goes into savings. Plus, what I make in unemployment is about what I was making before my raise so it's a wash in the winter when I'm laid off.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Between 10-15% of our total income goes to some sort of savings. It just paid off since dh accepted a new job, but the old one wanted him out 8 weeks before the new one started. Once we pay back the savings account and make sure all the bills are up to date, the differencein income will be skimmed off the top, without seeing it, into a special account.

 

[hoosier]

We saved money above our retirement fund (not that we will ever have enough to retire

and put it in an emergency fund. It is a good thing as hubby was downsized a couple of weeks ago, and since most employers around here are doing the same, it may be a long time before he finds another job.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

We do. It's a priority for us. Neither Hubby nor I came from money, just typical families doing what they could. Yes, they owned homes and such, but there was no savings to speak of plus debt from things they purchased. We put ourselves through private colleges, which was especially hard for me since my father died my second week of college which meant that I was also helping to support my family home. When we got out of school, there were student loans to be repaid, plus hubby went on to complete a PhD, which meant more expenses. Along the way, we paid cash for as much of it as possible.

Other than our house, we have no other debt. We have multiple savings accounts -
- The kids college funds (in our names for which we pay the taxes in case they opt not to go to college and the funds will revert to us for retirement). We expect them to pay for part of their education, just as we did.
- A home account for any repairs the house may need.
- A car account. Rather than paying a car payment, we save what we can toward our next car. We have only bought new once, usually buying used.
- Two money market funds - where we rotate the kids college funds for higher interest earnings.
- Two other general savings accounts.

Plus, we pay into retirement accounts every month as well and are paying down our mortgage.

Like momsfolly, we treat our savings accounts like bills. If we need to pull from them, we try to double down our efforts until it is repaid.

When we started this, it meant just a few dollars here and there. But, in time this gets easier to do, especially if you've also paid off any debt. Credit card debt is one of the worst traps you can get into because you have to pay out all that interest on something you've probably long since digested.

It took us YEARS to get here, but we live quite modestly to do so. Our newest car is almost 9 years old. The older car is 18 years old and still running strong. Should tragedy ever strike, we now have a cushion to help us through.

 

[beak]

Quote:
The majority of the Republicans rubber stamped that one too. Bush and Paulson presented it as a dire emergency and the economy would collapse if they didn't pass it. The bold faced lie part is very accurate. Bush and Paulson did it for their rich friends. Just one last effort at raping the country. Hopefully the balance will go somewhere useful.

 

[sundance]

Did you say MONEY? What is that? sorry couldn't resist. Living on SSA only, its 10% to the church and house payment, utilities, and gas, I try to put away 10 to 20 a month but can't always do it. but I cannot think of 1 thing i would like to have that I don't.(other than a trip to Israel) marrie

 

[erthymom2]

don't give up hope of having a savings even when money is tight. I taught my sons to think this way:
what you spend on soda, McDonalds and bowling is gone,gone,gone and you'll never see it again. If you just put it into the savings jar or the bank, you'll have it for later.