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what state in the US has the best police force?
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That Friday feeling...
Knicks & Giants won today, what a great Sunday
Does anyone here work for Silicon Valley Bank? They recently acquired Boston Private. I’m a candidate for a job at Boston Private. Wondering if SVB is planning layoffs in the near term at BP? Also, does anyone know the anticipated benefits to be rolled out from SVB as the parent company? Specifically interested in health insurance providers. Thanks in advance for any information! Silicon Valley Bank
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The mathematical way to fix this is to just set a budget. However budget runs up against real life sometimes and choosing to go out with friends is probably more beneficial to your wellbeing than saving $50. So there is a balance to strike. What sorts of things do you spend money on? Is it hobbies? Booze? Buying never ending stream of bs on Amazon?
I attempt to prevent this by updating my direct deposit with each raise so that the majority of each raise goes into investments (mine is split between Roth 401k, Roth IRA, HSA which is invested and not used for current medical expenses, and after tax brokerage account). Basically prevents me from being able to spend it. I admit that reverse already occurring lifestyle creep is difficult psychologically, but it is possible.
This is the strategy we used and the one I recommend as well. Each and every bonus I split a portion to spend and I portion to save. I had the benefit of a deferred compensation program that made it easy to set and forget. I retired 7 years ago at 52 using the strategy. It works.
Life style creep isn’t all bad though. As long as you’re doing what you need to do to set yourself up for later in life then you’re fine. What’s the point of the extra grind and work if you can’t enjoy the day to day more? It’s a fine balance between living too large now so you aren’t planning for your future. But equally; you could live very frugally, do all of the planning in the world for retirement/later in life and then get hit by a bus next week. Live your life so you’re happy and reward yourself with what you want, but make sure you’re putting away/investing enough for the long term so that can grow as well.
What everyone seems reluctant to admit is how drastically the world has changed since the Great Recession. It would be interesting, if a study could be done to compare the cost of living now against previous decades or specific eras.
Saw a comparison recently what in 1960 the median US income was $10k and home was $20k. In 2023 the numbers were $89k income and i think $450k for a home
My lifestyle is usually 2-3 raises behind me, my 401k, custodial accounts, employee stock purchases, etc get a raise before I do.
Hi. The little I can say is that I would have advised about setting a spending budget but then you might find it difficult to maintain that discipline when you've managed to build a healthy savings. Especially when you look at the pile of cash and then come across an offering for a product that catches your fancy.
One way I managed to discipline myself to limit my expenses, was to determine my monthly spends, and set a figure that must leave my accounts each month towards a limited-withdrawals account (high interest rate), where I planned to build the savings against a target project (mortgage deposits, high value income-yielding assets, etc).
I wouldn't know what investments do well in your location and while not intending to impose any advice on you, I've personally favoured real estate in areas with high potential for value growth.
TLDR; Set a spend limit with some allowance to cater for leisure expenses, and save the rest towards executing investments for your retirement nest egg. Not necessarily save for the purpose of having savings.
Loss of vision and humility.
Of course, as you age, we need more things just to
keep the same station in our lives.
No matter what, you should always live within your means and figure out how much you are spending and on what. Often people find it is smaller things, like Starbucks, that is draining their finances. That said you should take at least 10% of what you make and save and invest it every month. Do not get into debt with credit cards, do not buy cars that are beyond your means and pay off all debt except your mortgage as quickly as possible.
With each pay increase I increase my savings and investments. I will give myself an extra 100.00 a month, which is what I call my Mad Money.
Of course I can relate. It's human nature for our expenses to move with the direction of our income. I look at it from the other side. Things that were unaffordable now are. My advice for maintaining a sense of discipline, is shifting more of your income towards your 401K plan (it's money that you don't see on your paycheck, and you don't easily have access to it). I was making (still is) quite a bit of money but only brought home (net income) such a paltry amount that I was living paycheck to paycheck. Meanwhile, my retirement account is impressive for someone my age.
Something that has helped me save more is to immediately set up increased withholding for 401k or savings/brokerage whenever I get a raise or promotion. Never let yourself touch or spend that money (not all of it, but a good portion of the raise) and it will be much easier.
For me I don't adjust my life style, I maintain whatever life style I had previously. This way I am able to increase my savings and investments. Try it
When you get a raise or bonus, put HALF of it into savings, 401K, IRA etc FIRST! This will enable you to save and also enjoy the benefits of a higher salary too. I don’t know your age but if you continue to increase your expenses every time your income increases, you might find later on in life that your retirement savings isn’t as good as it could’ve been so you may end up leaving the workforce later than you had anticipated.
Another good thing to do is set your 401K to auto increase a small percentage each year. That way it will increase on its own with no assistance from you so you don’t have to be as disciplined.
I’m about 10 years away from retirement. I followed these rules SOMETIMES but I sure wish I would’ve followed them all the time. If I had, I might’ve been able to retire in 5 years instead of 10. :/. It seems like it’s forever until you retire but it really creeps up on you. Pay yourself FIRST! Your future self will thank you! :)
Simple living
I simply had a reality check with myself as this is exactly what happened to me. I analysed everything and really asked myself "do I need this" and unless it was an absolute yes, I cut it out. A great example is music. It is certainly an absolute yes but do I need that Apple Music or Spotify subscription? The answer is no. So I went back to the old school way of loading my music onto my phone. Way around this? My next phone I made certain to get more storage space as the extra 100 bucks or so over the 4 years I tend to keep a phone was far more cost effective than the 10 bucks per month over 4 years I was paying. Now take this and multiple it out by the tons of things I suddenly found myself paying for and I found 500-1000 per month to save additionally (eating out, entertainment, weekend trips everywhere, dinner parties etc etc). Mad how it just added up and I decided to scale back massively.
Simple example but this is what I did for everything. I cut back on my expenses massively and suddenly found myself still enjoying life but not spending as much.
Isn't the point of earning more to spend more? Did you have good financial discipline when you earned less?
Read Your Money or Your Life! Really puts things into perspective. But yes I definitely have things that used to be nice to have and now feel like a "need" lol.
Pay yourself first. Every pay day have a certain dollar amount get withdrawn into a taxable brokerage account. Can’t spend money you never had. Helps create a healthy artificial scarcity.
I found it funny because I’m the question comes from a finance director.
I’m pretty sure if the company they worked for was being super successful and everyone wanted to use private jets instead of business class flights there would have been a simple explanation as to why they should not increase expenses just because the company got more money :)
Anyhow, like others said: a budget is the way, everything extra goes to savings.
Yeah, can totally relate. I used to think twice before I buy anything, now thinking is much shorter. However, I do make sure all the priorities are met (401k, 529), staying debt free and savings are growing. I generally just splurge using the income from my investment portfolio now.
I think as you age this will get easier. You’ll want for less “stuff”. But I agree with the others… set up a direct deposit account into your savings until this comes naturally to you. Protect yourself from your yourself.