does 'paycheck to paycheck' basically mean having no savings?

[BlahBlahYouToo]

to me it always meant if you miss a paycheck or two, you're screwed.
or in other words, your paycheck really only covers your living expenses and nothing more. you cannot afford some finer things in life.

but then it got me thinking, when are you considered not living paycheck to paycheck?
3 months expenses in savings? 6 months? 1 year?
aren't we all basically living paycheck to paycheck until we retire?

 

[jaqie]

I live on disability... $657 a month for everything. I would love not having to live check to check, especially with the wrong address confusion when I moved before I got direct deposit. I am still working my way out of the hole that dug, but the rental agency is being very understanding. At this moment I owe them some $500 including late fees, and with my income level that's a *LOT* of dough.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Paycheck to paycheck traditionally means that you have expenses waiting before the next paycheck arrives. So you're never really caught up.

In any event, your retirement and savings can be deducted from income and be put in accounts that are not accessible without tax penalty... I would say that would count as living paycheck to paycheck.

 

[radioouman]

Yes, I live paycheck to paycheck. Just my living expenses are covered, such as house payment, car payment, food and utilities. I had a garage door spring break, and it took me 6 weeks to come up with the $350 to have it fixed (and by fixed I mean I had two springs installed.)

Fun times... but that's the life of an engineer.

 

[PingSpike]

I try to hide most of my "extra" money from myself.

 

[markgm]

I keep a 1 month buffer. I'd say I'm living paycheck to paycheck until I can retire.

 

[kyzen]

I presently don't have a savings account, as I recently decided it was a better option to aggressively pay off $25k in debt with 9-24% interest rates than to gain 1-5% on a savings account. Eventually I'll get back to saving money.

For all intents and purposes though, right now I'm living (comfortably) paycheck to paycheck.

 

[Duddy]

We didn't live paycheck-to-paycheck until 3 months ago. All of a sudden people stopped buying cellphone service (I'm at AT&T) so are commision checks were literally $10. So I've just been making $7.00/hr since then.

We are broke as hell and it's getting worse by the week.

 

[Vehemence]

I could miss a few checks and still make it. A good chunk of each check is put on paying off credit debt.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: markgm
I keep a 1 month buffer. I'd say I'm living paycheck to paycheck until I can retire.

Are you confident that you can predict that you'll die within a month of retiring?

 

[Baked]

Never. I save more than I spend.

Originally posted by: radioouman
Fun times... but that's the life of an engineer.

No it's not, you suck at finance. I know plenty of engineers, shit there are close to a dozen of them in my family and they never go paycheck to paycheck. They are however, all cheap motherfuckers who are frugal as hell.

 

[bignateyk]

I did for the first year I started working because I bought all kinds of crap (ignoring money that I put into ROTH and other retirement savings). It's amazing how quickly random shit adds up. In the last few months though i've started actually building some savings. I figure if I can put $750 a month into a savings account on top of what I stick into retirement, I should be able to build up a decent savings pretty quickly.

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: Baked
Never. I save more than I spend.

Originally posted by: radioouman
Fun times... but that's the life of an engineer.

No it's not, you suck at finance. I know plenty of engineers, shit there are close to a dozen of them in my family and they never go paycheck to paycheck. They are however, all cheap motherfuckers who are frugal as hell.

Maybe he means train engineer. You don't have to lay into him so hard.

 

[markgm]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: markgm
I keep a 1 month buffer. I'd say I'm living paycheck to paycheck until I can retire.

Are you confident that you can predict that you'll die within a month of retiring?

I save about 25% of my income pre-tax so I'm thinking I can make it at least 2 months!

 

[pstylesss]

A good rule is 3 months in reserves... of course more is better.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Originally posted by: Duddy
We didn't live paycheck-to-paycheck until 3 months ago. All of a sudden people stopped buying cellphone service (I'm at AT&T) so are commision checks were literally $10. So I've just been making $7.00/hr since then.

We are broke as hell and it's getting worse by the week.

sorry to hear

 

[jaqie]

That's a good wage, I wouldn't mind earning that at 40 hours a week right now.

 

[zebano]

I didn't until a month ago when my car broke down. I rode the bus for three weeks while looking and just paid cash for a new to me car. I now have no savings.

 

[WisMan]

I live financial aid check to financial aid check.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: radioouman
Yes, I live paycheck to paycheck. Just my living expenses are covered, such as house payment, car payment, food and utilities. I had a garage door spring break, and it took me 6 weeks to come up with the $350 to have it fixed (and by fixed I mean I had two springs installed.)

Fun times... but that's the life of an engineer.

I don't see what you being an engineer has to do with the rest of your post.

 

[jlee]

I'm doing alright - no debt, and I could last a while without a check. Wouldn't want to...but I could if I had to.

 

[Deeko]

I did right out of college (and obviously during college). Now I've got my debts paid off, I've got a better paying job, so I'm starting to build up a good buffer. My income is a decent amount greater than my expenses at the moment too, so that buffer will continue to grow.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: Baked
Never. I save more than I spend.

Originally posted by: radioouman
Fun times... but that's the life of an engineer.

No it's not, you suck at finance. I know plenty of engineers, shit there are close to a dozen of them in my family and they never go paycheck to paycheck. They are however, all cheap motherfuckers who are frugal as hell.

Slow down there turbo. You have no idea what his life and expenses entail.

 

[AMCRambler]

I did live at home with mommy and daddy up until last year. Paid off all student loans in the first two years living at home so I was debt free and then started saving whatever I could after expenses for gas, rent (yes I paid rent and wasn't a complete free-loader) car payments and so on. After two years of doing that I built up a good chunk of savings but houses were still too much around here so last summer I moved out because I needed my space (read parents driving me nuts). By living at home I was able to stay out of debt, build up a good savings and advance in my job so that I'm earning a pretty darn good salary ( so for that I am very grateful to the parents). I'm now paying 900 a month in rent + utilities and various other expenses like food and consumables but I'm still putting a good 1500 a month in savings after all is said and done. Now that I have my own place, I go out less and spend less money on frivolous things like drinks at the bar, late night trips to the diner, etc and that helps too.

Now if you're 30 and still living at home, that's probably time to cut the apron strings and get out, paycheck to paycheck or not. I was 26 last summer when I moved out and was starting to feel like a pretty big dork still living at home when people asked, lol.

 

[anxi80]

i wont get into the specifics but lets put it this way... when i first started my job that paid monthly i had to remove athd from the categories list. it has since been restored, but as a person who enjoys saving money there is a half-second of hesitation before clicking. "do i really need to spend $20 on a remote farting machine??"