Comments on: Saving 50 Percent of Our Income

By: CF

CF — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 00:13:39 +0000

That’s great that you’re renting out parts of your house! We have a condo that we rent out but it is not cashflow positive. However, even after topping up the strata fee and paying the rent in the apt we live in, we still pay less than if we lived IN our condo. Weird how these things wok out!

Best of luck to you.

By: Evan

Evan — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:42:21 +0000

I know this isn’t the point of the post – You say “partner” what protections do you guys have set up in case you break up?

By: J. Money

J. Money — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 13:24:20 +0000

Hell yeah no car payments! Been driving my 93′ caddy around town for years now without any loan on it – feels great! Of course, things keep breaking down here and there (like our AC!) and it takes some extra maintaining, but MAN does it feel good saving hundreds of dollars every month I keep running it into the ground. Plus, I feel like a pimp! ;)

By: Kris @ Balancing Money and Life

Kris @ Balancing Money and Life — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 22:55:10 +0000

These are some pretty impressive numbers – congrats on being able to achieve them! I know we’re advertising for a roommate for the first time in 15+ years – at 40 I find it a little weird, but the extra income out weighs the weird.

As for driving older cars with no payments, that’s alway good sense. One of the worst money mistakes I made was selling my paid for Toyota Tercel for a gas guzzling brand new Pontiac with a huge loan. Pffft! Bad idea.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 20:12:12 +0000

Thanks again, Paula! Your post is allowing me to spend more time with the mini one before starting back up again ;) Looking forward to hanging out with ya at FINCON for round two!

By: Amanda L Grossman

Amanda L Grossman — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 18:07:29 +0000

Congrats!!

As you know, we have a goal of living on 50% of our take-home pay and saving the rest in permanent savings accounts. This was our goal last year as well, and we managed a 38% savings rate. I calculated the other day, and we need to bring up the rear in the latter part of this year; I think we are at 34% saving rate right now.

By: Ornella @ Moneylicious

Ornella @ Moneylicious — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 16:14:29 +0000

Paula,

Great post, girl! You offered valuable insights on the benefit of living in a triplex and buying used cars. Awesome :-) Talk to you later!

By: DebtsnTaxes

DebtsnTaxes — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 03:52:14 +0000

@Paula, I guess I should have written it differently, but the house isn’t close to being paid off. We still owe $109k out of the original $129k loan, I have a plan to pay the rest of it off in 5-7 years. Not close yet on the actual payoff.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 02:13:10 +0000

My DH and I were able to save about 50% of our take home income (after retirement and taxes) for about three years. Then we bought a house, and said house has been a money pit, and we’ve had various other expenses pop up. So over the past six months or so, our monthly savings have slowed, but we haven’t had to use our efund . I think our expenses will stabilize somewhat. While we likely won’t quite get back to 50% anytime soon, when our retirement contributions are taken into account, it could be close. We do not make huge incomes, but we do still have a large cash cushion, were able to buy a car with cash and put 20% down on a home, plus buy some furnishings.

By: Debt Free Teen

Debt Free Teen — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 00:10:16 +0000

I’m really jealous! It’s amazing that you are doing that!! It gives me something to think about when I get out of school (debt free) and start working full time. You are a great role model.
Chase