I think it's mostly eating out and video games. I'm really trying to spend less on games. They've become disappointing to me and I just keep buying and trying games to just not care for them.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Retirement-Era |OT| How to Invest For Retirement
- Thread starter TheTrinity
- Start date
- OT
I think it's mostly eating out and video games. I'm really trying to spend less on games. They've become disappointing to me and I just keep buying and trying games to just not care for them.
give ynab a try. If you follow their budgeting method for a while it really makes you think differently about money.
Yup
Pricing | YNAB
On average, new YNABers save $600 their first two months, and more than $6,000 their first year. Imagine how much you could save!
www.youneedabudget.com
You could also use Excel to track your spending categories for free if you are diligent. My husband does this.
Yup
Pricing | YNAB
On average, new YNABers save $600 their first two months, and more than $6,000 their first year. Imagine how much you could save!
You could also use Excel to track your spending categories for free if you are diligent. My husband does this.
yeah I may, I do everything on my credit card and I feel like it's always adding up. Never ends.
If you buy everything on your credit card, it's super easy to do yourself for free. There should be an option to export your monthly transactions to an Excel or csv file. Tag each transaction with categories like "groceries," "entertainment," etc and you can easily add everything up every month.
Yes, but it's not just a tool. It's also a method. They have a 30 day trial and all their courses/method discussions are free. I'd say they are worth it even if you go the excel route.
mhmm I'll check it out. Really feel like every month is so different that it's so hard to budget.
That's why adopting a different mind set can be so important.
Budgeting for us is zero micro. We just created a very rough budget, decided what percentage of our income we could and wanted to save, them set an automatic monthly transfer to savings in that amount. As long as we have enough transferring each month without having checking issues we are good.
I hate the idea of worrying about every purchase.
But if you are hourly and hours are inconsistent it's super annoying to create a good budget.
I hate the idea of worrying about every purchase.
But if you are hourly and hours are inconsistent it's super annoying to create a good budget.
not hourly, I just feel like living paycheck to paycheck sometimes. Life is stressful and sometimes we get food at the diner too much because we just are just too exhausted to cook dinner. I swear I think most of my expenses come from that.
I feel you. I think a year ago I spent over $1k on various videogames I haven't even touched and don't plan on touching anytime soon. What a waste! And now the new and improved iterations have come out? I need to skip Pokemon for a few generations until I actually have gaming time again lol.
My husband likes to eat out more than make his own food, so I make sure to budget that in. He gets about $50/week to spend on fast food for lunch. We do go over budget from time to time, but knowing there is a LINE makes it easier to pull back toward the line instead of spending wildly.
If you go out to the diner a lot, just budget it in and buy less groceries. Figure out if you throw away a lot of food from the fridge because it goes bad and be okay with having an empty fridge except for milk for breakfast cereal or whatever. When budgeting, you should be realistic about your own lifestyle patterns so you're not wasting on things you aren't even using.
I, for example, need to stop buying so many fresh/perishable groceries. I am on a diet so my brain/habits need to update to not buying and cooking things in bulk that I will never get to eating before they go bad.
I just use Excel because I am too simple to use fancy software.
My budget kind of looks like this (this was from 2018, so no more OSAP/student loan now! yay!):
And I break down groceries by week on a different page and looks kind of like this simplified example:
Since everything is mostly on one or two credit cards, I just go through my transactions at the beginning of the new week to review the previous week and add them to a column according to whether it came from the grocery store/household/"needed" purchase or a fast food/restaurant/ebgames etc. purchase.
I think keeping it simple into two buckets like this makes it less overwhelming, but you can always break it down to a meal budget vs date budget vs home leisure budget etc.
My husband likes to eat out more than make his own food, so I make sure to budget that in. He gets about $50/week to spend on fast food for lunch. We do go over budget from time to time, but knowing there is a LINE makes it easier to pull back toward the line instead of spending wildly.
If you go out to the diner a lot, just budget it in and buy less groceries. Figure out if you throw away a lot of food from the fridge because it goes bad and be okay with having an empty fridge except for milk for breakfast cereal or whatever. When budgeting, you should be realistic about your own lifestyle patterns so you're not wasting on things you aren't even using.
I, for example, need to stop buying so many fresh/perishable groceries. I am on a diet so my brain/habits need to update to not buying and cooking things in bulk that I will never get to eating before they go bad.
I just use Excel because I am too simple to use fancy software.
My budget kind of looks like this (this was from 2018, so no more OSAP/student loan now! yay!):
And I break down groceries by week on a different page and looks kind of like this simplified example:
Since everything is mostly on one or two credit cards, I just go through my transactions at the beginning of the new week to review the previous week and add them to a column according to whether it came from the grocery store/household/"needed" purchase or a fast food/restaurant/ebgames etc. purchase.
I think keeping it simple into two buckets like this makes it less overwhelming, but you can always break it down to a meal budget vs date budget vs home leisure budget etc.
Last edited:
I feel you. I think a year ago I spend over $1k on various videogames I haven't even touched and don't plan on touching anytime soon. What a waste! And now the new and improved iterations have come out?? I need to skip Pokemon for a few of generations until I actually have gaming time again lol.
My husband likes to eat out more than make his own food, so I make sure to budget that in. He gets about $50/week to spend on fast food for lunches. We do go over budget form time to time, but knowing there is a LINE makes it easier to pull back toward the line instead of spending wildly.
If you go out to the diner a lot, just budget it in and buy less groceries. Figure out if you throw away a lot of food from the fridge because it goes bad and be okay with having an empty fridge except for milk for breakfast cereal or whatever. When budgeting, you should be realistic about your own lifestyle patterns so you're not wasting on things you aren't even using.
I for example need to stop buying so many fresh/perishable groceries. I am on a diet now so my brain/habits need to update to not buying and cooking things bulk that I will never get to eating before they go bad!
I just use excel because I am too simple to use fancy software.
My budget kind of looks like this (this was from 2018, so no more OSAP/student loan now! yay!):
And I break down groceries by week on a different page and looks kind of like this simplified example:
Since everything is mostly one one or two credit cards, I just go through my transactions at the beginning of new week to review previous week and just add them to a column according to whether it came from the grocery store/what a household good purchase or a fast food/restaurant/ebgames etc.
I think keeping it simple into two buckets like this makes it less overwhelming, but you can always break it down to a meal budget vs date budget vs home leisure budget etc.
Ooooh, nice.
I recently passed the 5 year mark since I started saving for retirement, and took a look back at my situation 1/2/3/4 year(s) ago to see the evolution. I'd completely forgotten the markets had slumped last December... I was posting a loss in theory for Christmas last year. Can't imagine being a day trader and stressing out about this stuff all the time.
(All my Betterment accounts, not just retirement investments, so it includes withdrawals from my tax savings account—I'm self employed so I make large lump sum tax payments throughout the year—plus my cash savings that I just moved to Betterment a couple of months ago—the last spike on the right).
I'm using Betterment for all my non-emergency savings, including saving up for a down payment. I planned to save for 5 years, currently 1.5 years in with a 10.8% simple return so far. I have auto-adjust on, it's currently at 34% stocks and 66% bonds, you could put more in bonds if you're closer to your cashout date. It's more risky and less liquid than cash savings, but it's not playing the lottery either.
Pre-tax, I save ~22% of my income for retirement (max a Roth and the rest in a Betterment "build wealth" account) and ~14% for a down payment. We don't really save much of my wife's salary (she pays the rent, daycare, my life insurance, and our public transportation, so that takes care of most of her income). We don't pool our income since we earn in different currencies. It's hard to estimate how much we're saving total, due to currency fluctuations, and her income itself fluctuating, but assuming she makes roughly ~50% of what I do, then about ~15% and ~9% saved from our total income, pre-tax?
(All my Betterment accounts, not just retirement investments, so it includes withdrawals from my tax savings account—I'm self employed so I make large lump sum tax payments throughout the year—plus my cash savings that I just moved to Betterment a couple of months ago—the last spike on the right).
I'm using Betterment for all my non-emergency savings, including saving up for a down payment. I planned to save for 5 years, currently 1.5 years in with a 10.8% simple return so far. I have auto-adjust on, it's currently at 34% stocks and 66% bonds, you could put more in bonds if you're closer to your cashout date. It's more risky and less liquid than cash savings, but it's not playing the lottery either.
Pre-tax, I save ~22% of my income for retirement (max a Roth and the rest in a Betterment "build wealth" account) and ~14% for a down payment. We don't really save much of my wife's salary (she pays the rent, daycare, my life insurance, and our public transportation, so that takes care of most of her income). We don't pool our income since we earn in different currencies. It's hard to estimate how much we're saving total, due to currency fluctuations, and her income itself fluctuating, but assuming she makes roughly ~50% of what I do, then about ~15% and ~9% saved from our total income, pre-tax?
I'd like to get Retirement Era's thoughts on something:
Is it better to be putting money into my Roth IRA or be applying that money to my student loan debts? Or does it depend on different circumstances and variables. This is the first year that I've even had an IRA and I'll be maxing it out this year. But I have been thinking that instead of placing money into my IRA next year that I could start paying down the student loans faster instead. I'm contributing the company match to me 401k right now. The only thing that makes me hesitant is that I think I am behind where a lot of people my age (30 next year) would be retirement wise because I got into my career field a little later.
Is it better to be putting money into my Roth IRA or be applying that money to my student loan debts? Or does it depend on different circumstances and variables. This is the first year that I've even had an IRA and I'll be maxing it out this year. But I have been thinking that instead of placing money into my IRA next year that I could start paying down the student loans faster instead. I'm contributing the company match to me 401k right now. The only thing that makes me hesitant is that I think I am behind where a lot of people my age (30 next year) would be retirement wise because I got into my career field a little later.
I have 7 loans remaining that range from 3.15 to 6.55. These are the specific rates on them: 6.55, 5.75, 4.41, 4.41, 3.61, 3.61, 3.15
Ok, those aren't too crazy. I'd probably put into retirement first. If you want to be conservative, pay off the two with the highest interest.
IRA contributions ready here! That said, are limits going up or staying the same?
And are there mechanisms to "borrowing" out of an IRA for a house downpayment? I know I can sell some investments in a regular investment Vanguard account, but curious about IRA. We're thinking in case we can't sell before we buy and have to float two mortgages for a month of overlap. I'd rather not hoard a bunch of money into savings for years just in case and lose out on gains. We're not looking to buy strongly, but more of a just in case we see an awesome house come on the market in our area situation over the next few years.
And are there mechanisms to "borrowing" out of an IRA for a house downpayment? I know I can sell some investments in a regular investment Vanguard account, but curious about IRA. We're thinking in case we can't sell before we buy and have to float two mortgages for a month of overlap. I'd rather not hoard a bunch of money into savings for years just in case and lose out on gains. We're not looking to buy strongly, but more of a just in case we see an awesome house come on the market in our area situation over the next few years.
Did you create this or find the template for it? If the latter I'd love to try it out.I feel you. I think a year ago I spent over $1k on various videogames I haven't even touched and don't plan on touching anytime soon. What a waste! And now the new and improved iterations have come out? I need to skip Pokemon for a few generations until I actually have gaming time again lol.
My husband likes to eat out more than make his own food, so I make sure to budget that in. He gets about $50/week to spend on fast food for lunch. We do go over budget from time to time, but knowing there is a LINE makes it easier to pull back toward the line instead of spending wildly.
If you go out to the diner a lot, just budget it in and buy less groceries. Figure out if you throw away a lot of food from the fridge because it goes bad and be okay with having an empty fridge except for milk for breakfast cereal or whatever. When budgeting, you should be realistic about your own lifestyle patterns so you're not wasting on things you aren't even using.
I, for example, need to stop buying so many fresh/perishable groceries. I am on a diet so my brain/habits need to update to not buying and cooking things in bulk that I will never get to eating before they go bad.
I just use Excel because I am too simple to use fancy software.
My budget kind of looks like this (this was from 2018, so no more OSAP/student loan now! yay!):
And I break down groceries by week on a different page and looks kind of like this simplified example:
Since everything is mostly on one or two credit cards, I just go through my transactions at the beginning of the new week to review the previous week and add them to a column according to whether it came from the grocery store/household/"needed" purchase or a fast food/restaurant/ebgames etc. purchase.
I think keeping it simple into two buckets like this makes it less overwhelming, but you can always break it down to a meal budget vs date budget vs home leisure budget etc.
Only if you're a first time homebuyer, so it sounds like a nope for you.
If I wanted to do a backdoor Roth IRA this coming year, do I just set up a regular tIRA? Will Vanguard ask me if I want to make it non-deductible? Is it true that there's no contribution limit if it's a non-deductible IRA?
What are the potential tax pitfalls if I want to do both a backdoor IRA and a mega backdoor IRA in the same year? Can I do the Roth conversion simultaneously or separately (since they are separate accounts)?
What are the potential tax pitfalls if I want to do both a backdoor IRA and a mega backdoor IRA in the same year? Can I do the Roth conversion simultaneously or separately (since they are separate accounts)?
I made it myself! Though maybe I should have gotten one from elsewhere... lol
I have a habit of doing things in a roundabout way myself when it could be done easier.
You can try out what I kind of use here (I made this Google Drive folder public in case you're wondering about the link):
I made a 2020 version with the corrected dates on the "Grocery Budget 2020" tab, so download a copy of that one to fiddle with!
Randomly stumbled on this thread and learned a lot. Question: I'm currently paying into a pension plan as part of my work but don't think the amount I can pay can be increased, so I was looking at a Roth IRA to supplement it. Does anyone have any thoughts on the Vanguard Target Retirement 2050 mutual fund? It looks to be a sort of all in one fund that fits my timeframe. Seems to be a 90/10 split between a variety of stocks and bonds that automatically shifts stocks over to bonds as you near the target date. Stocks seem to be an allocation of a bit more domestic compared to international stocks through Vanguard's domestic and international index funds. I'd rather not have to micromanage different funds, and the $1,000 minimum investment is attractive. Basically, if I'm already paying what I can toward my pension and I have enough emergency savings for several months, would this be something I could put excess money into each month for a good long term (20+ year) return on investment without any hassle?
I am not American, but I think the general consensus will be: yes, those Vanguard targeted funds are appropriate for you and great for anyone who doesn't want to deal with micromanaging and rebalancing funds or learning how stock/ETF trading works.
If those were available in Canada for individual investors, I would have invested there! Low fees, respected company, greatly recommended by most passive investors. Since those specific funds aren't available in Canada, I'm just using a robo-advisor and paying higher fees :( .
Thanks. I just ran a search through this thread and saw some similar sentiments. This stuff looks like it can get crazy complicated if you want it to be, but thankfully funds like this seem relatively easy to manage and don't penalize you all that much much for being hands off.
I was looking at my dad's pension statement recently and saw that it was something like 70% in fix income and the return for the year was under 3%. You can ask for what the pension invests in and how well funded it is. The 2050 is a great fund but that doesn't you have to stay married to it. You can also own 2070 or 2080 along with 2050 if the opportunity comes along when you are closer to retirement.
Vanguard dropping fees again on certain funds. It is kind of crazy how many different ETFs and mutual funds there are.
Only one that is relevant to me is VXUS but I'll take the one point drop.
Only one that is relevant to me is VXUS but I'll take the one point drop.
So you'd personally focus on the top 4 loans? I figure the rate of return on investments is too unpredictable to know if it's better to pay off loans faster or invest as normal.
I definitely was interested in what Linkura mentioned to me about the top two loans cause cause they are above 5 and also have the 1st and 3rd highest balances. I've been redoing my budget and trying to cut costs so I might be able to close those faster while maintaining regular deposits into my IRA
I'd probably pay off the ones over 4 myself. But I didn't want to be too conservative in my answer.
OP
OP
Yeah the thing worth thinking about is that the loan percentages can be considered a guaranteed return so it's an "easy" decision to pay them off. Now it could be pointed out that 2019's investment return was outrageously high and far outstrips 4% but who knows what it will be in the future.
-looks nervously at his Prime+2.5 investment loan-
hahahayeahrightnoitstotallyalwaysgoingtobelikethishahahahahahaa
Any tips on how to allocate my 2020 Roth IRA contribution? I currently have around $33k in there spread across VTIAX, VTIVX, and VTSAX:
VTIAX (Internation stock) - $6k
VTIVX (Target retirement 2045) - $9.4k
VTSAX (Total stock market) - $18k
How would you recommend spreading the contribution across those funds? My 401k, for comparison, is 100% in Vanguard Target Retirement 2050.
VTIAX (Internation stock) - $6k
VTIVX (Target retirement 2045) - $9.4k
VTSAX (Total stock market) - $18k
How would you recommend spreading the contribution across those funds? My 401k, for comparison, is 100% in Vanguard Target Retirement 2050.
At the end of the day it is a very personal decision, there is no one correct way of doing it. That allocation looks ok to me.
Last edited:
Agreed. I have a lot of vtsax and will likely be dumping more into that.
Sounds good. Definitely good enough to not loose any sleep over and that is important. 😊