How much do you save each month?

I have no idea how to create a poll, but this question would be better answered in a poll. But on average, how much do you save each month? My husband and I have been arguing for days over money. I’m more of a spender than he is. However, I do all the family shopping and such and manage all our finances, so to me, spending $200 a month on whatever I want isn’t a big deal, I have it so why not, we don’t really want for anything but he feels instead of saving $500 a month we should be saving like $1k a month for example. We are able to buy what we want and live how we want so it’s not like we are pressed for money, yes could saving be better I’m sure, but I always pay our savings and cut else where like getting a sitter for my sanity or us going to dinner.
What is a good average to save?

Re: How much do you save each month?

It changes monthly, but cash savings is $1200 a month. That isn’t including 401k, or our 4 kids college savings. I’m a SAHM so 401k is 15% of DHs income, and then we save $200 for each kids college savings so $800 in total.

Sometimes we save a bit more, but that is the bare minimum.

ETA: l believe minimum savings should be 20% of pay every month, and that includes 401k, IRAs etc., but personally l wouldn’t feel comfortable going below the 20% mark. Our minimum is 30%, but that’s also because I’m a SAHM and we are a family of 6, so 12% is liquid savings, and the rest goes to 401k/kids college plans. If we both worked and had a smaller family size, I’m not sure if I would be so strict.

Message edited 11/25/2017 4:23:39 PM.

How much do you save each month?

Month to month is not as much as it used to be, we took a few temporary expenses that are costing a small fortune right now. We both put 17% each to our 401k and when things are normal again it will be about $800- $1000 a month. But dh works in a position that offers a big VC pay out at year end, he nets about 50k and I get a smaller bonus every year and net about 5k. Almost all of that goes to savings.

How much do you save each month?

I think the "right" amount really depends on your individual situation. I think Suze Orman says 6 months of all expenses need to be in a an emergency fund. If you have that, you probably don't need to save as much as someone who doesn't. It's all relative to your personal financial situation and life goals.

Re: How much do you save each month?

I would max out 401k, if elegible Max IRA too. Then put away $200 a month per kid a month for college, and additional money for savings and I would hope they had a six month emergency fund too. Then a new car savings fund, vacation savings fund, etc. this is not retirement savings.

So yes, I agree with your husband.

How much do you save each month?

Right now we are not putting anything into savings-
We are paying nearly 2K a month for health Insurance—the cost of owning a small business in the US.
I am hoping this will change when I return to work next year after being home with my daughter for the past few years.

Personally, I say save as much as you comfortablely can but do not save so much that you are not enjoying life- life is short you need to balance what you save and what extra you spend to enjoy life—- paying a babysitter to maintain your sanity is money well spent.

Re: How much do you save each month?

We save nothing right now but my husband is at a startup and we have a lot in savings and our home is paid off. I feel comftable with 2-3 years expenses in liquid assets but that might be more than most people. However my father died when I was young and I have had to support myself forever. I think having no one to fall back on changes your view of things. I even look back on all the money I spent on household help when my kids were younger and regret it.

How much do you save each month?

Besides my 401K, nothing. I'm single and live paycheck to paycheck.

How much do you save each month?

Not enough. We're spenders. As a pp said, what's the point if you're not enjoying life?

DH and I both work full time and have long commutes. I'd rather pay someone to clean the house, mow the lawn, rake the leaves. I have no problem spending on takeout if I get home from work late. IMO, time is money and we have more money than we do time.

How much do you save each month?

Cash savings are around $1000 a month after all the bills are paid. That does NOT include other savings such as hubby's 401K, my 403b, and our daughter's 529 college fund which get automatically deducted from our paychecks. We'll increase the number significantly once DD is out of daycare. We pay around $1300/month for full time daycare. Ugh.

Re: How much do you save each month?

How much do you save each month?

Right now besides my 401K, DHs IRA and the 529s we have for our two DDs we don't really save much else. We do have a lot of debt we're trying to pay off ASAP and like the PP mentioned we work and have long commutes so we do go on vacation 2x a year plus eat out a lot but the vacations are well worth it. We're working on cutting out the eating out until our debt is paid and then we will work on getting our fully funded emergency fund. After we get to that point any extra cash will go to paying off our mortgage and saving for new cars, etc.

Re: How much do you save each month?

Nothing except 401K. It's hard enough juggling the timing of paying bills with paydays. I wish I could max out my 401K but right now I'm contributing very little to it because we need the money liquid. We actually make good money but between the million dollars per month in health insurance costs, the mortgage, the car payments, and the other bills, there is just nothing left. I honestly don't know how people are doing it.

How much do you save each month?

i contribute to my TDA 10%, Dh contribute's to his retirement, and then $150/month for DD's 529 plan. After that and all our other bills, we don't save much at all.

Re: How much do you save each month?

Besides the ones dh has through his job we really don't save per month. I'm a sahm as of now too so it's a little harder to save. But we do save a portion of our taxes every year and his vacation check. So I guess it works out to be about $200-300 a month.

How much do you save each month?

My DH is a BIG saver. We max out our 401K, 403B, ROTHs, and 529s each year. We also have a 6 month emergency fund. We then have an additional savings for house maintenance, new cars, vacations, etc. I am honestly not sure the exact amount we save each month in cash.

Re: How much do you save each month?

It varies so much month to month. There's no real set amount. Depending whether we take a trip or have another big expense that month we might not save at all. Other months when we just have the normal bills we'd be able to save a lot more. Daycare & house/car eat up a lot of $$$. When I was on maternity leave my bank account was dropping fast, but now that I'm back at work I should be able to replenish it. Ideally I'd like for us combined to save 2K or so per month but I have no idea if we come anywhere close to that.

Re: How much do you save each month?

It varies depending on what is going on that month. Some months it's $1K, some months it's $400.

We have a large amount of liquid in savings, enough to get us through at least a year and a half; after my cancer diagnosis four years ago, we truly understand why this is so important. Life and your abilities can change in an instant.

We also both put a lot into 401k and IRA. I'd like to buy stock as well, but at the moment that's not something I can focus on at all.

In general we aren't big spenders, and that helps in terms of socking away money. We don't have kids so the expenses of daycare or saving for college don't apply.

Re: How much do you save each month?

I don't even know. What I do know is we spend at least 10k a month which scares me until I'm at the register buying stuff or online at 4 am

How much do you save each month?

We max out one 401k, put a bit into mine, and do stock options through dh's job.

After that, we save between 1-3k a month. It just depends. We also use the money to do home projects and stuff, and we're saving for a mass renovation. We do have more than 6 months of liquid assets though, and even at 31 we have a substantial amount in our 401k.

We have no debt, but I don't make much, and I find it so hard to save with 2 kids in daycare full time.

How much do you save each month?

I always find these threads interesting. Although I feel like the responses in the thread are all very similar. There are threads where everyone maxes out there 401ks, 529s, IRAs and put away the cash equivalent of a Mercedes every year. Or the other threads where people are living paycheck to paycheck, not saving for college or retirement.
I'm not sure whether each particular thread only attracts 1 type of saver, I just do find it interesting.

I don't save enough monthly. We vary all over the place. I have an automatic $750 coming out of my checking to my savings every month, but there are plenty of times we've transferred some or all back. However, we do max out my 401k and contribute to my wife's. I also have an ESPP where I've been contributing 15% of my salary, which is too much and the reason we've had to transfer some money out of savings.

I don't think we have 6 months savings, maybe 3-4? I haven't really added up the different pockets of money.

Re: How much do you save each month?

Message edited 11/27/2017 6:22:14 PM.

Re: How much do you save each month?

Message edited 11/27/2017 7:08:07 PM.

How much do you save each month?

My husband constantly complains that we should be saving, but doesn't do anything about it. When he got a raise, I suggested that he should increase his contribution to his 403b substantially before we "felt" the raise, but he didn't want to. Now we aren't saving anything extra for retirement, and we have been spending the extra money so it's not going into liquid savings either. After Christmas, we need to get back to a strict budget and start saving. I want to open a high yield savings account that is separate from our regular bank account so it's harder to spend, and so we're less aware of what we have in there, i.e., we won't think about it as spendable money. Then I'll also be able to start the 401k at my job, so I'll put a substantial amount of my check into it.

I think for retirement my husband is putting too much reliance on his state pension and not thinking about saving extra. He says he probably won't live that long anyway, which means he'll probably out live us all.