Married single income families....

[Mxylplyx]

Question for all the married guys out there with a stay at home wife, and maybe a kid to boot. How much income, as a percent, do you guys manage to save every month for liquid savings and retirement?

I'm currently working 2 jobs, almost 70hrs a week, so at the current moment I have a really high savings rate, about 40% I guess, but I'm going back to a single income in December, and have started looking at how the money will work. If I budget, assuming no major expenses come up over the course of the month, I should have about 20% of my net left over that will be available for savings, retirement, vacations, etc. This is on top of profit sharing at my work that will contribute about 8% of my income to a retirement account. Does this seem high, low, or what? Given that I'm used to the income from two jobs, it just seems sort of low to me, especially since I'm debt free except for the house, meaning I'm saving 20% under pretty ideal circumstances.

What do you guys think. How do you compare?

 

[paulxcook]

You're way ahead of me, keep doing what you're doing.

 

[nwfsnake]

Similar to you. 10% into the 401K, 10% in other savings methods.

 

[Mxylplyx]

Originally posted by: nwfsnake
Similar to you. 10% into the 401K, 10% in other savings methods.

Do family vacations and other large expenses come out of the "other savings methods", or do you budget for those?

 

[FoBoT]

401(k) -> 6% , the amount my employer matches

you are doing better than 97% of peoples on one income

don't burn out on the two jobs and miss out too much on your family life

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx

Originally posted by: nwfsnake
Similar to you. 10% into the 401K, 10% in other savings methods.

Do family vacations and other large expenses come out of the "other savings methods", or do you budget for those?

large expenses get taken care of two times a year, july when we get an annual bonus and march when we get our tax return (yes, i know i should lower my withholding to reduce my refund)

i am not a good saver, oh well, at least i am a good earner

 

[Mxylplyx]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
401(k) -> 6% , the amount my employer matches

you are doing better than 97% of peoples on one income

don't burn out on the two jobs and miss out too much on your family life

I have just about reached the burn out point. My contract on the second job ends in December, and if they offer, I'll probably only renew if I can cut my hours back. It will be a hard pill to swallow giving up that income though.

 

[Mxylplyx]

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx

Originally posted by: nwfsnake
Similar to you. 10% into the 401K, 10% in other savings methods.

Do family vacations and other large expenses come out of the "other savings methods", or do you budget for those?

large expenses get taken care of two times a year, july when we get an annual bonus and march when we get our tax return (yes, i know i should lower my withholding to reduce my refund)

i am not a good saver, oh well, at least i am a good earner

I squeeze every drop out of my paycheck via withholdings. I receive or owe very little come tax time. To each his own though.

 

[BoomerD]

What is this "save" of which you speak? You DO realize that if you don't spend that cash you get it will go stale and become worthless...

 

[zanejohnson]

we dont save anything.....

im 22 with a stay at home wife and a 10 month old little girl...


we live paycheck to paycheck and it sucks badly.


i have like $70 in my name to last me until friday... no debt though, my car is payed off, we rent from my 'rents...

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
What is this "save" of which you speak? You DO realize that if you don't spend that cash you get it will go stale and become worthless...

hahaha

Married, 3 kids, single income, 40hrs OT per paycheck. We can save nothing as our debt to income ratio sucks since my wife had to stop working.

 

[Electric Amish]

I'm finally starting to save a little. My wife has been disabled for the past 10 years. She is pulling a small disability check.

I put 6% in the 401k and my employer matches that.

I have also started direct depositing $100 per check into a savings account.

 

[Mxylplyx]

Originally posted by: zanejohnson
we dont save anything.....

im 22 with a stay at home wife and a 10 month old little girl...


we live paycheck to paycheck and it sucks badly.


i have like $70 in my name to last me until friday... no debt though, my car is payed off, we rent from my 'rents...

We've all been there at one point. Thankfully we didnt have a kid in the picture when we were dirt poor. The zero debt is a good thing though. Once your income proves, you have no hole to dig yourself out of. If you are a professional, you should see big income increases in the next several years if your willing to change jobs a few times. My primary income more than doubled in the 5 years since I was 22.

ps. Did you ever get your legal problems squared away??

 

[kranky]

20% is great. If you can maintain that until your retirement you will be sitting pretty. You are probably saving more than 95% of people.

Invest wisely.

 

[PingSpike]

I have a plan to build 6-9 months emergency living expenses, and pay off our car loan before we have kids and my wife stops working or cuts her hours down to very little when we have kids. I'm hoping to still have enough left over to pay extra on the mortgage and put a little away for savings. It'll be tight, but I may get some raises before then so it may not be that big of a deal. I don't really want our kids raised in a daycare...

Do you guys budget for home repairs? I've heard 1% of home value per year for that.

 

[Mxylplyx]

Originally posted by: PingSpike
I have a plan to build 6-9 months emergency living expenses, and pay off our car loan before we have kids and my wife stops working or cuts her hours down to very little when we have kids. I'm hoping to still have enough left over to pay extra on the mortgage and put a little away for savings. It'll be tight, but I may get some raises before then so it may not be that big of a deal. I don't really want our kids raised in a daycare...

Do you guys budget for home repairs? I've heard 1% of home value per year for that.

I'm currently working on the emergency fund now. I'm hoping to have 15-20K saved by December, at which point all my extra money will go straight into investments, which is something I havent done yet. I've just recently reached the point in my life, after the 2nd job, where I'm savings as opposed to paying off debt. 1% of home value per year is pretty extreme. You could probably buy a full warranty on your house every year for that much. I budget $300/mo for miscellaneous expenses that might come up. Anything more than that will have to come out of savings.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

6% in 401K. Other than that, we don't really save.....we just try to keep a very healthy buffer in the checking account.

We do put a lot of sweat equity into our house. Doing fixes and improvements. So there's definitely some money being earned there.

But, realistically, as a single income family all you really can do is try to do better than breaking even by keeping your expenses low. Once your spouse starts work again, you'll have the luxury of an income that can go 100% to investments and savings and refill that rapidly. In the meantime, enjoy the reason for your decision, which is your kids.

 

[tw1164]

My wife is a stay at home w/ a 8mth old.

6.25% goes into my pension at work, and we try to set aside 10% of my paycheck into savings.

 

[Danman]

5% in 401k, I try to transfer 15% every paycheck to savings. Until my wife gets a decent job, that's really it.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx

Originally posted by: PingSpike
I have a plan to build 6-9 months emergency living expenses, and pay off our car loan before we have kids and my wife stops working or cuts her hours down to very little when we have kids. I'm hoping to still have enough left over to pay extra on the mortgage and put a little away for savings. It'll be tight, but I may get some raises before then so it may not be that big of a deal. I don't really want our kids raised in a daycare...

Do you guys budget for home repairs? I've heard 1% of home value per year for that.

I'm currently working on the emergency fund now. I'm hoping to have 15-20K saved by December, at which point all my extra money will go straight into investments, which is something I havent done yet. I've just recently reached the point in my life, after the 2nd job, where I'm savings as opposed to paying off debt. 1% of home value per year is pretty extreme. You could probably buy a full warranty on your house every year for that much. I budget $300/mo for miscellaneous expenses that might come up. Anything more than that will have to come out of savings.

I didn't really think the 1% made a lot of sense. Especially since if you live in california it suddenly it costs 4 times as much to maintain the same house? But that figure operated under the assumption that money that wasn't spent was saved for when big ticket items shit the bed...like your furnance or roof.

We had a nice emergency fund/slash house savings...its now vanishing into down payment land, so I have to start over! Its kind of scary since my fixed costs are about to increase...but we should be in good shape.

 

[blackdogdeek]

my wife stays at home and handles all the finances. i do know that i max out my 401k. i have no idea how much we put in the savings account. we have a 529 plan for the girl's college fund and we have a credit card that puts some percentage in that account. we have to start one of those for the baby.

 

[Mxylplyx]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
my wife stays at home and handles all the finances. i do know that i max out my 401k. i have no idea how much we put in the savings account. we have a 529 plan for the girl's college fund and we have a credit card that puts some percentage in that account. we have to start one of those for the baby.

I've tried to get my wife to handle finances, but she seems to have no interest. Living in ignorance of the finances would be bliss, so long as I knew it was in good shape.

 

[PingSpike]

See, my tentative longer term plan is to pay the house off early. Then with the mortgage gone and my fixed costs down I will increase my retirement savings to maximum and pay for the kids college.

I know that paying extra on a mortgage is a sticking point for many. Some say its better to go hog wild on retirement savings early or go with other investments since they have a better return. But I want the lifestyle flexibility that no mortgage obligation would afford me....and I have no plan to retire early, perhaps just move into a less stressful position later in life and then work until I'm dead.

 

[jupiter57]

For over 28 years now, my wife has religiously put away 50% of everything I make, saying it was for our old age. (I won't live long enough to see a dime of it, though)
Now granted, I am not typical, I worked Union Construction for 20 years, tons of overtime (typically 12 hours on Sat. & Sun., 3 weekends a month, after putting in the regular 40 hrs.).
Now, I am in Management, making considerably more than Union scale, and she's still putting 50% up, and the "cookie jar" always has plenty of spending money in it.

 

[Mxylplyx]

Originally posted by: jupiter57
For over 28 years now, my wife has religiously put away 50% of everything I make, saying it was for our old age. (I won't live long enough to see a dime of it, though)
Now granted, I am not typical, I worked Union Construction for 20 years, tons of overtime (typically 12 hours on Sat. & Sun., 3 weekends a month, after putting in the regular 40 hrs.).
Now, I am in Management, making considerably more than Union scale, and she's still putting 50% up, and the "cookie jar" always has plenty of spending money in it.

If she's been doing that for 28 years and investing it half wisely, you shouldnt even need to work anymore. I'd quit after doing that much overtime for 28 years. Not to snoop or suggest anything, but you can actually locate this money, cant you?