1. Right now, barely any money. I was unemployed the last few months, and we just got married in July (and bought a new house then too). So luckily most of my time has been busy either honeymooning, fixing up the new place, or just spending time enjoying the new house. Luckily I just got a couple of sub positions so now that we will have a little extra money we will have a little more spending money. We don't give ourselves a percentage or dollar amount, because we don't spend much, but when we do want to buy something we just discuss it and then decide together.
2. Right now my husband and I are 25 and 24. Right now besides our savings acct (which is luckily just above where we started pre-wedding planning), the only retirement savings we have is through work. I have one with the state being a teacher, he has a 401k through his job. Once we pay down the student loan debt, we'll only have the mortgage to consider. I think that is when we will ramp up our retirement savings.
This is the answer to the 2nd part. You have to make it a priority any way that you have to. I had a tiny wedding as well, with a JP, outdoors. It cost me basically nothing. I worked full time through school and went to community college so I don't have to take out crazy student loans. We bought a house at a very reasonable price because it is cheaper than rent was. The difference between being able to save for retirement is basically just all about where your priorities are, not that it's a bad thing if someone does want a big wedding etc etc.
If his 401K is crappy, he might do better opening a Roth-IRA somewhere else and using that instead.
We're looking into retirement options for my brother. Since his work 401k doesn't offer any matching, we're planning to set him up a Roth-IRA elsewhere.
1. I spend whatever I need--some weeks more, some weeks less. I've had variable income over the past few years, but it's settling down at the moment, so I should probably decide on an amount and stick to it. 2. The cost of retirement is spiraling out of control, so the advice to save as much as you can as early as you can is because we have no idea how much it's going to cost to retire 10 years from now, let alone 40 years from now.
Your idea to wait until you get out of debt makes several assumptions, such as your income might be higher in your 20s than your 30s, that you won't have expenses later on that will replace the expenses you had in your 20s, that buying a house is a sound financial decision, etc.
It's tricky. I wish I knew what the right answer was.
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2. Right now my husband and I are 25 and 24. Right now besides our savings acct (which is luckily just above where we started pre-wedding planning), the only retirement savings we have is through work. I have one with the state being a teacher, he has a 401k through his job. Once we pay down the student loan debt, we'll only have the mortgage to consider. I think that is when we will ramp up our retirement savings.
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We're looking into retirement options for my brother. Since his work 401k doesn't offer any matching, we're planning to set him up a Roth-IRA elsewhere.
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2. The cost of retirement is spiraling out of control, so the advice to save as much as you can as early as you can is because we have no idea how much it's going to cost to retire 10 years from now, let alone 40 years from now.
Your idea to wait until you get out of debt makes several assumptions, such as your income might be higher in your 20s than your 30s, that you won't have expenses later on that will replace the expenses you had in your 20s, that buying a house is a sound financial decision, etc.
It's tricky. I wish I knew what the right answer was.
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You do have to consider tax incentives and employer matching, though, to figure out what account it's best to put stuff in.
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