As a landlord to 7 units...the typical middle class american has between 2000-4000 in savings. Most of my tenants and applicants have 45k-75k salaries and cant save $250 per month. Truly amazing!


Some tidbits

Most money I've in an account was by a couple w/ one kid, 18k income and 25k income. they had approximately 20k in the bank.

Most impressive I've seen was a guy making over 120k ... single ... no kids ... no pets ... old truck ... lost his job and defaulted on rent within two months. I'm assuming a drug problem or gambling.


In my house I've saved as much as 10k per month with wife working and probably average around 6k (401k, cash, not including equity.)

Bayside Tiger Ag said:

---

What would a bankruptcy lawyer two or three years out of A&M school of law be making?

---

Completely depends on what firm.

To me the term "tightwad" depends on how much money you're making. My husband & I (both working) were putting away ~$1400/ month across various different accounts. Now that his student loan is paid off and the car is paid off we are putting away ~$2400/per month. Combined we make almost $200k though. So I would say that as our salaries go up, so would our savings. If we had tried to save that much when we were making a combined $100k then yeah, I would've considered that a tightwad situation and totally unworkable.

We've been very careful in the last few years to ensure that our standard of living doesn't increase just because our salary does.

Once we have no kids in daycare that'll be $2k back in our pocket. Sheesh.

Tatem said:

---

are you a COO of a water company?

---

ha ha no. We are both in the tech industry.

We save enough to never have to finance a vehicle again. Straight cash. I'd suggest AT LEAST $1000. More you make the more you should save.

Last time is checked our monthly spreadsheet (my husband spreadsheets our life) I think we save ~$1500-2000/mo. We've had some major expenses lately, so hopefully that number will continue to go up.

SoTheySay said:

---

We have three kids in daycare so jack sheet seems like the appropriate answer.

---

Here

I just look at my accounts on 12-31 every year. If there is too much money in them, my New Years Resolution is to have more effing fun that year!!

At a certain point, the question isn't so much about how much you're saving. It becomes about how much net worth you are creating for yourself. It's how you can optimize your cash savings vs paying down debt vs investments.

Threefiddy???

Jill said:

---

To me the term "tightwad" depends on how much money you're making. My husband & I (both working) were putting away ~$1400/ month across various different accounts. Now that his student loan is paid off and the car is paid off we are putting away ~$2400/per month. Combined we make almost $200k though. So I would say that as our salaries go up, so would our savings. If we had tried to save that much when we were making a combined $100k then yeah, I would've considered that a tightwad situation and totally unworkable.

We've been very careful in the last few years to ensure that our standard of living doesn't increase just because our salary does.

Once we have no kids in daycare that'll be $2k back in our pocket. Sheesh.

---

nm.. totally didn't read your last sentence hah.

Does nobody use Mint around here?

$1k-$2k a month for me.

GunRangeGal said:

---

We've had some major expenses lately, so hopefully that number will continue to go up.

---

Those new tits should pay off in no time.

I signed up for mint after so many people talking about it, but I quickly deleted my account. It was constantly asking me to update credentials to different accounts, drove me nuts.

USAA allows me to add outside accounts/debts, so I find it much easier just to keep it all in my bank. It has some basic budgeting and exporting tools as well.