I'm 34, and tired of working.

[OverVolt]

I agree that HumblePie is out to lunch on his claim. Average American men working slightly more than women doesn't equate to "Americans on average work more hours per week than anywhere else in the world."

Gender Disparity in Third World Technological, Social, and Economic Development



Working time

Charts from the American Time Use Survey

IMHO, one of the main contribution to boredom/depress with job is due to the fact that American have too much free time.

You must not work full time then, or something. Maybe a union gig with 6 weeks of vacay a year?

 

[shadow9d9]

I love how people are comparing the US to third world countries... Compare us to other first world countries people...

 

[Hacp]

This is why you should save when you're young. If you save 50k a year from the age of 23, by the time you're 35, you'll only have 5 more years until you can retire and live off interest.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

This is why you should save when you're young. If you save 50k a year from the age of 23, by the time you're 35, you'll only have 5 more years until you can retire and live off interest.

lol

 

[Engineer]

This is why you should save when you're young. If you save 50k a year from the age of 23, by the time you're 35, you'll only have 5 more years until you can retire and live off interest.

and if a frog had wings, he wouldn't bump his ass.

 

[T9D]

This is why you should save when you're young. If you save 50k a year from the age of 23, by the time you're 35, you'll only have 5 more years until you can retire and live off interest.

If you start saving 80k a year at age 6 beginning with your lucrative lemonade stand, by age 35 you should have millions with your lemonade factory, then retire

 

[rh71]

This is why you should save when you're young. If you save 50k a year from the age of 23, by the time you're 35, you'll only have 5 more years until you can retire and live off interest.

Net income of 70k a year gross (after medical, etc.) is barely 50k. And someone at 23 is supposed to make that much and save it all with no expenses or debt from school? Where's he living for 10+ years? Mom's basement?

 

[Hacp]

Net income of 70k a year gross (after medical, etc.) is barely 50k. And someone at 23 is supposed to make that much and save it all with no expenses or debt from school? Where's he living for 10+ years? Mom's basement?

Yes, it is entirely plausible. Engineers average 63k to start. If you max out your 401k, you'll come out north of 50k after factoring in taxes for the first year. I calculate 52k-53k. Room with a bunch of people and live on a college budge for the first year and you'll be able to save 45k.

You should see around a 7% raise every year till it tops out at around 100k, which means you'll be able to hit the 50k mark the rest of the way. As for college loans, well if you went to a cheap state school and worked your way up, you shouldn't really have any loans. Simple.

 

[sze5003]

Yes, it is entirely plausible. Engineers average 63k to start. If you max out your 401k, you'll come out north of 50k after factoring in taxes for the first year. I calculate 52k-53k. Room with a bunch of people and live on a college budge for the first year and you'll be able to save 45k.

You should see around a 7% raise every year till it tops out at around 100k, which means you'll be able to hit the 50k mark the rest of the way. As for college loans, well if you went to a cheap state school and worked your way up, you shouldn't really have any loans. Simple.

7% raise must be great all we get where I work is 2% every year which is crap. Not including yearly and summer bonuses either. I have nearly a bit over 40k on my 401k and I've only been working here 2.5 years.

 

[Engineer]

Yes, it is entirely plausible. Engineers average 63k to start. If you max out your 401k, you'll come out north of 50k after factoring in taxes for the first year. I calculate 52k-53k. Room with a bunch of people and live on a college budge for the first year and you'll be able to save 45k.

You should see around a 7% raise every year till it tops out at around 100k, which means you'll be able to hit the 50k mark the rest of the way. As for college loans, well if you went to a cheap state school and worked your way up, you shouldn't really have any loans. Simple.

401k limits are $17,500 so you will come in well short of the 50k you mention. Also, the 7.65% SS/Medicare will take nearly $5,000 off so now you're at 40k before state/federal/local taxes. I don't think there is a chance in hell unless you're living with mommy/daddy (or have a spouse that pays for everything) during those 10 years.

7% raise year over year for 10 years? :hmm:

 

[Hacp]

401k limits are $17,500 so you will come in well short of the 50k you mention. Also, the 7.65% SS/Medicare will take nearly $5,000 off so now you're at 40k before state/federal/local taxes. I don't think there is a chance in hell unless you're living with mommy/daddy

401k+savings is 52500.

 

[bignateyk]

This is why you should save when you're young. If you save 50k a year from the age of 23, by the time you're 35, you'll only have 5 more years until you can retire and live off interest.

Yeah, but then you've wasted the best 15-20 years of your life (physically/mentally) slaving away. My wife and I save about $40K/year (between 401K's, Roths, and Mutual Funds), but that's with two white collar salaries and no kids, so we can still go on nice vacations and do pretty much whatever we want.

 

[Engineer]

New Hampshire does not have a general sales tax or an income tax on an individual's reported W-2 wages. That's certainly makes it convenient but that is generally not the case for "MOST" of the US. Also, local income taxes can play a part.

Regardless, you'll have nothing left over for living expenses.

Edit: According to another side, NH has a 5% rate so that would be over $2,250 on the left over taxable income.

 

[Vdubchaos]

When the times are rough, just think how much worse it can be.

Just think about people during great depression, Irish/Chinese and the condition these people worked in/what they got paid......than to make me feel even better, I think back to my country of origin and fact that you can be the smartest man on the planet and still never have a remote chance to even have a decent life.

Yeah, I have it made/easy.

 

[Mai72]

This is why I started dumpster diving for my dinner! If its free it is for me!

Now I can concentrate on my savings!

 

[IndyColtsFan]

You should see around a 7% raise every year till it tops out at around 100k, which means you'll be able to hit the 50k mark the rest of the way. As for college loans, well if you went to a cheap state school and worked your way up, you shouldn't really have any loans. Simple.

You won't see a 7% raise every year.

And no thanks on living on like 7K a year and having to have multiple roommates and live like I'm a poor college student.

 

[Engineer]

You won't see a 7% raise every year.

And no thanks on living on like 7K a year and having to have multiple roommates and live like I'm a poor college student.

His calculations above didn't even have 7k left over. At $50,000 savings, he would have $2,500 left over and that's not counting hidden taxes/fees that life throws at you.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

His calculations above didn't even have 7k left over. At $50,000 savings, he would have $2,500 left over and that's not counting hidden taxes/fees that life throws at you.

Ugh, where did I get the $7K figure from? My eyes must be failing me.

EDIT: Must have seen the 7% "raise" figure and that got stuck in my brain.

 

[Capt Caveman]

This is why you should save when you're young. If you save 50k a year from the age of 23, by the time you're 35, you'll only have 5 more years until you can retire and live off interest.

Please tell us you're still in HS.

 

[Engineer]

Ugh, where did I get the $7K figure from? My eyes must be failing me.

EDIT: Must have seen the 7% "raise" figure and that got stuck in my brain.

Doesn't matter. There is NO way to do what he says unless living with someone paying 100% of the living expenses. With Hacp, that might be possible as he is known to steal his roommates food items and eat them (although he replaced them with cheaper substitutes) and has been also known to ask about how to get on food stamps (not sure about welfare).

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Doesn't matter. There is NO way to do what he says unless living with someone paying 100% of the living expenses.

Right, that $2500 left over has to pay for auto insurance, gas for the car, food, any co-pays when he goes to the doctor, his share of rent, utilities, etc. and probably lots more. In other words, he's full of crap.

(AH, I reread his post. He said $52K income and save $45K. That's where I pulled the $7K from, so I'm NOT going insane).

 

[AViking]

I saved about $36K my first year out of college and continued from there. Had hundreds of thousands when I was very young still. Didn't get bogged down in the housing bubble or other get rich schemes but intelligently invested my money. That worked out really for a handful of people until THE ENTIRE ECONOMY WENT DOWN THE TOILET. I have no illusions about how well I did but I am incredibly aware that almost nobody today can save $50K a year in the beginning of their career. If you want to do that you need to really watch your budget and have a 6 figure income. Not going to work for most people or in most parts of the country (if any) in which case you might as well just teach English in Saudi Arabia for 10 years. I think you pocket about $50K tax free doing that.

Regardless I have to agree that if you want to save money you have to control your spending. I had incredible pressure on me to buy a home, new cars, etc and I never did. Those that did have virtually no savings, a house that hasn't appreciated, and very little money saved in their house due to the way amortization works while I have a little mountain of gold that I cleverly protect against invading hobbits.

 

[Hacp]

New Hampshire does not have a general sales tax or an income tax on an individual's reported W-2 wages. That's certainly makes it convenient but that is generally not the case for "MOST" of the US. Also, local income taxes can play a part.

Regardless, you'll have nothing left over for living expenses.

Edit: According to another side, NH has a 5% rate so that would be over $2,250 on the left over taxable income.

-There is a 5% dividend tax, but none for salary.
-Remember, this is your first year's salary. So its ok if you miss the mark by a small amount. Just make up for it the next year, or the year after that
-Finally, 7k is plenty to live off of if you live as a college student. Remember in college when 7k meant something? Just have that attitude for the first few years.

 

[AViking]

Also, I'm not convinced that investing in your 401K is necessarily the best thing if you want to retire young. I stopped so that I had liquid cash available to me now and didn't have to wait until I turned 65. I think it really depends on how long you plan to work and that's up to you to run the numbers. So in my account I think I only have about $60,000 in a 401K (converted now) and the rest is in an investment account where I can live off the interest.

Of course it's boring not working so I started working again. That's something worth considering as well. It's weird not working when everyone you know is. If you're truly going to retire young I'd suggest going somewhere like Bali so you can hang out with lots of other people who retired early.

 

[Capt Caveman]

-There is a 5% dividend tax, but none for salary.
-Remember, this is your first year's salary. So its ok if you miss the mark by a small amount. Just make up for it the next year, or the year after that
-Finally, 7k is plenty to live off of if you live as a college student. Remember in college when 7k meant something? Just have that attitude for the first few years.

Stop trolling like you always do.

Auto insurance for an under 25 driver will eat a good chunk of that $7k alone. And even if you rent a place with other, you can make-up that you only pay $500/month in rent/utilities. Right there, you're over $7k and you haven't even included food, clothing, auto payments, gas, having a life, etc...