Money question

My friend and I were talking and we are wondering if you think a savings account with $35,000 in it is a good amount? But no retirement plans at the moment...

Re: Money question

If it's a 20 year old single, yea .... if it's a 35 year old, married,kids, and 1/2 way to retirement, no way


eta: even without the married and kids .... no, you need money for the future and $35k is not going to go very far.

Message edited 5/18/2010 3:04:39 PM.

Re: Money question

It depends on a zillion different factors. How old? Income? Homeowner? Kids?

But I'd say $35K with no retirements plans is definitely not ok past the age of 25. I started saving for my retirement as soon as I got my first job. This is VERY important.

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Good for what?

But I agree with the above posters about saving for retirment. They should start ASAP.

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Good amount for saving for future... nest egg etc. Doubt that will be the locked amount to live off of, I am sure it will be added to and retirements will open. It's a younger couple late 20's no kids

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i consider it lucky to be able to have that in savings, i am sure will have that again once a lot of things are completed with house but basically whatever we got goes back into the house with just enough in savings to get by for a few months. I would do something for retirement though at least i have something, dh has nothing unfort.

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With my dh being out of fulltime work for so long, I think that amount is good.

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I was watching Suze Orman a few weeks ago and she kept going on and on about needing an 8-month emergency account. You set aside 8 months' worth of money to pay bills - rent/mortgage, utilities, food, loans, and so on. That way if you or your partner becomes sick / laid off and can't work, you can live for 8 months and not lose your house, have your utilities shut off, eat, etc. until you're back on your feet.

So this is how I'm looking at things lately: 8 months of "emergency money" for us is about $32000. That, we won't touch. After that $32,000, we can set aside a "nest egg" for retirement, save for vacations, home improvement and so on. But that $32,000, it's like it's not even there. It's untouchable unless we have an emergency.

So $35,000 - that's like only having $3000 for repairs, vacations, and the like, and that's not enough for me.

Message edited 5/18/2010 3:52:41 PM.

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I think $35K for a young single person is a good savings account...BUT this all depends on if that person is in any debt as well.

As far as retirement, it is a good idea to start this ASAP, I did right our of High School and have contributed to it ever since. Who knows what Social Sec will be like once we get older, cost of living, etc..

So $35K is a good cushion to start your life, but to bank on that being all you got for the future is 100% not enough.

Most people in this economy are lucky to have anything in the bank.

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I think it's a great amount to have in savings. But you should be thinking about retirement. If it were me I might take some of that 35k and open a roth IRA if my employer didn't have a 401k

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for general savings I think it's good

to live on for retirement- your in trouble

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It depends.

Certaintly 35k is a good amount of savings but depending on age and when they plan to retire unless they are getting a pension, have a 401k etc. it will not get you far in retirement.

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No... honestly thats not OK. I have had a 401K since I was 19 & I have a pension from my job that I was vested in after 5 years. DH has the same. We have way more then that saved & are debt free. We still feel we are not ready to buy a home. I am 24 & DH is 27.

Does this couple own a home? If they do then the value of their home is part of their wealth. If they don't then this is pretty bad.

Message edited 5/18/2010 6:55:18 PM.

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really depends on their cost of living And level of debt. if they don't have many expenses, than it's a good amount of $. many people don't even have that much saved, or if they do, have debt (car loan, student loan, credit card, mortgage) up the wazzoooo!

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Thanks for all the answers.
I think it's a good amount saved. They own a home and have no kids. Their debt is (from what they say ??) about 4k ... and plan to do a retirement in two years or so....
I think to each their own. Everyone saves differently, plans differently, whatever.
Thanks for the responses though, it's always good getting different views.

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Good for an emergency fund.

Very poor for retirement.

And you said they will start retirement "in two years".

Why not start now? They both work and no kids? Time to start saving!

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If it's difficult for you to save money, that is sad and I can understand it being tough if somebody is only working part time.
But that doesn't mean she is giving poor advice or she is out of touch with reality.
I know I have talked to some people who claim they are having trouble saving for retirement, saving to move out, or saving for whatever.
I find frequently (not directed at OP or anybody in particular), these same people typically have high car loans (or even worse leases). Spend an insane amount of money on things for themselves. Go out to eat all the time. Etc Etc Etc.
If somebody in the household is only working part time, how about picking up some extra part time work with another company? The extra money made from the second job would be pure profit, banked right in the emergency fund. You would be surprised how quickly an emergency fund can grow by working some extra hours.
These are things she would definitely say if somebody told her she was out of touch with reality.


That is just as assumption though. We have no car loans and do not spend an insaen amount of money on things for ourselves. We have a home and two children.
I am not sure if you are aware of hard it is to find a first job let alone a second one. My dh has been looking for a fulltime job for months now and nothing. He has been helping out an old boss but he doesn't get much hours.
Yes, she would say these things to people but I still do not think she has a clue.

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Re: Money question

Posted by ave1024

Posted by hazeleyes33

That is just as assumption though. We have no car loans and do not spend an insaen amount of money on things for ourselves. We have a home and two children.
I am not sure if you are aware of hard it is to find a first job let alone a second one. My dh has been looking for a fulltime job for months now and nothing. He has been helping out an old boss but he doesn't get much hours.
Yes, she would say these things to people but I still do not think she has a clue.

True. I don't know every single person's financial history. I am just saying that I have spoken to a lot of people (just in the course of conversation) and I have seen a lot of what I have posted.

Like I said not everybody falls under that category and from what you are saying you definitely don't fall in it either (especially with two kids). Some people really do have it tough.

I will say this though... even on this site I've seen it. I'll read a post from poster XXXXX saying she has no money, can't afford the repairs they need to the house or whatever.

Then a week later I see the same poster on Fashion forum saying she is so exicted because she just bought the latest Coach bag.

I am sure I am not the only person that has seen this. Just saying.