Hey all,
Male, 23, in the East Coast of the U.S. I’ve recently started working my first full time job after college, I started in June of last year. My BBA is in supply chain management. Currently, I am making $75,000 per year pre tax. My take home after tax is generally around $4300/month. I am also part of a bonus plan, up to 10% per year. This means an additional (up to) $7500 per tax. Still, it is a very gutting amount of taxes if I’m being honest.
Rent is high unfortunately, and it is around $1550-1600 per month at the moment. I relocated for the job, to provide context. Despite this, I am still saving around $1000/month and putting it consistently into a “high yield” savings account. I am also willingly helping my parents out by paying around $400/month worth of bills for them.
My thoughts after these few months is that I would like those savings to grow more. My approach was to potentially “take” about $200-300 out of that $1000 savings bucket every month and have it go into a Roth IRA. I feel that with generally favorable market conditions, I could still end up at over a million dollars by the time I get to 65 or even earlier at 60. Naturally, I’m hoping my income rises past the Roth IRA income cutoff since it would still be a net positive.
Also, because of my savings regime, this means I’m more so living off around $3200/month of spendable income. I am trying to live below my means even more, so I will keep limit testing myself to see how much I can save.
I guess my question here is: how am I doing? I’m not looking for validation, just genuine feedback and insights. My parents are overwhelmingly positive about my situation, but I figured I’d ask the world too!
I feel that I have a fairly tight handle on my finances, and I feel like I could even go for a new car in the next couple years. Of course, I don’t feel too inclined due to the interest rates now. My current hand-me-down car is also in just fine condition, enough to not have high maintenance costs outside of routine maintenance, thankfully.
My ultimate goal is to buy a house and also obtain financial security, I intend to be wealthy, but not grotesquely. I just want to be comfortable, alongside my parents. I’ve seen my parents struggle a fair bit in the past, and I do not want them to go through this ever again. I realize that I shouldn’t purchase a house and then end up being broke afterwards. After all, does this not defeat the purpose?
Anyway, apologies for the long winded question. I just want to know if I could be doing anything better / how I am doing now. In the future, I also plan on getting my MBA to further bolster my resume and (potentially) unlock higher pay levels. Hopefully I can also have my current employer pay for a position of it. I recognize as well that I have enormous privilege for not having any student loan debt hanging over my head.
I feel like I may have left information out, but please feel free to ask if needed. Any insight or feedback would be appreciated!
original posted by CaptDrew to r/personalfinance on Wed, 28 Feb 2024 05:05:07 GMT.