Are you good with money?

[AGBF]

I retired early at age 54 and am too young to tap my 401Ks/IRAs. Hubby is too young to collect social security so we have
been living off of our after-tax investments and a small pension that my hubby gets.

Hi, cflutist! I have had no idea where you have been in recent years. I haven't seen you in Hangout recently. Did you start posting in any other forums before this? I do not usually read Rocky Talky if you have been there! At any rate, are you back for a while?

Hugs,
Deb/AGBF

 

[cflutist]

I retired early at age 54 and am too young to tap my 401Ks/IRAs. Hubby is too young to collect social security so we have
been living off of our after-tax investments and a small pension that my hubby gets.

Hi, cflutist! I have had no idea where you have been in recent years. I haven't seen you in Hangout recently. Did you start posting in any other forums before this? I do not usually read Rocky Talky if you have been there! At any rate, are you back for a while?

Hugs,
Deb/AGBF

Hope to be back for awhile.
I posted a Tiffany Fancy Yellow diamond ring and also a trio of micropave bands in SMTB.
Also posted my 18K Rolex on a Luxury Watch thread

Thanks.

 

[isaku5]

Hi cflutist Great to see you posting again.

It would be wonderful if you'd give us an update

 

[royalstarrynight]

Seldom use credit cards. You become divorced from actual money. Using cash makes you aware of spending habits.
Annette

I don't think the act of using credit cards is part of being "bad" with money.

I'm fairly conscious of what I spend every month/week by actively checking my credit card balance which keeps me in check of where I am. However, I can see why hiding credit cards would be helpful for those just coming out of debt or having little self control.

Being able to hook up your credit cards to mint.com or other excel sheets can also help you understand which categories your money is going to more easily. Each to their own.

I think the key is to pay off your credit card every month on time. No excuses! Paying interest is just a waste of money in my eyes.

Another interesting thought is that my parents NEVER made a budget. We just automatically lived below our means. There was an assumptions that we would always live off one person's income and everything else was bonus to be squirreled away in investments/ put into the mortgage. My parents didn't own very much jewelry or drive luxury cars until very late into their lives but were still very happy.

I think there are many ways of being "good with money". The fundamental is living below your means/ having minimal to no outstanding debt while saving for long term goals.

I would say I'm fairly conservative when it comes to money.
-Savings- I put 10% of my income in a Roth 401k (including company matching) about 7% in a roth IRA. This is done automatically so I don't feel the pain

- I pay off my credit cards on time. In the 7 years I've used credit cards, I've only paid once late one day because I needed to pay before 7pm and I realized that at 9pm. Putting a calender notification of when all your bills are due really helps.

- I mentally add up all costs after paying all bills and see whether I am on track or ok including travel

- This may be anal of me but I keep at least X months of living expenses in a stable cash account at all times. I protect that account like a hawk because you never know what life will throw at you.The rest, I'll toss into ETFs and mutual funds for investment. I use a self balancing account that only charges 0.25% every year.

- I refuse to have any debt except on credit cards, which I don't pay interest. I was very lucky to have parents that paid for college. The only debt I would be ok with having is a mortgage but I'd intend to paying that off as aggressively as possible. When you do the math, every extra payment you make early shaves a month off your payment time! I think my parents managed to pay off their mortgage within 10 years with this mentality.

- Expenditures- Asides from needs like gas, housing, car maintenance I have guidelines in spending that I keep for routine, repetitive expenditures . (IE 15pp every weekend for eating out, and other routine activities). I try to make games with myself to make myself earn fun money like going to the gym ($5bucks an hour, etc). The other thing I spend a lot of money on is ongoing education. However, I look at education as an investment.

This is definitely a great option to save. However, do you or anyone else who follows this strategy, ever wonder if you are not enjoying your money enough, and saving too much for a future that might never come? Or a future that will come and you will be too old to enjoy the trips, the experiences, etc.?

Can anyone chime in and give and answer if there is there a certain percent of one's salary that should go purely to entertainment and frivolous purchases in the here and now?

I think this percentage changes with age, income and expectations. I would like to think that this is calculated after all bills are paid. Unfortunately, there's no hard fast black and white line and I've been struggling with this as well. The way I'm handling this is thinking about what future expenses I think I will incur that are important to me ( buying a house, wedding, kids education, retirement, etc) and how long I'm ok with taking to get there. I think the hardest part of this equation are taxes and inflation.

 

[AGBF]

Also posted my 18K Rolex on a Luxury Watch thread

Where does one find a luxury watch thread?

Deb

 

[cflutist]

Also posted my 18K Rolex on a Luxury Watch thread

Where does one find a luxury watch thread?

Deb

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/show-me-your-luxury-watches.196653/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/show-me-your-luxury-watches.196653/[/URL]

 

[cflutist]

I don't think the act of using credit cards is part of being "bad" with money.

I agree. We use Rewards credit cards with a cashback feature and just pay off the entire balance every month.
Last year we got $950 back ... hey I'll take it, it is free money. We charge everything that we can on those cards.

Many of my friends use cards with Airline Miles. As long as you are responsible with your spending, it is not problem.