So how much do you save out of each paycheck?

[m2kewl]

99.9% of it

 

[MrYogi]

$0.

 

[AlienCraft]

5% retirement , 5% Tax fund, 10% Operations funds
Balance to personal account

 

[StageLeft]

Hmm about 5%. Ideally I'd like to be saving 10% along with mrsskoorb but considering she's only been working now 3 months, we've had to pay for our entire greencard process out of pocket, and are hoping to buy a house very soon 5% is pretty good for me

Do the math. If you want to retire with, say $2 million, figure the overall market gain and your inevitable (in most cases) greater earning power as you age and you'll be able to figure a ballpark of what you should be investing.

Can't be bothered to do that? Drop in at least 10%.

 

[zCypher]

If I keep the job I just started (not sure, cause I just skipped out on a day :Q), then I will put away a certain amount, just so I can have some money saved in case of emergency... but once I get a REAL job (that doesn't pay worth sh!t) then I'll put away a decent portion, and still live comfortably. At least I don't have to support myself right now, so getting out of debt, getting a car, saving up some money, etc.. shouldnt' be too difficult once I'm comfy at my job.

 

[BeeVo]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Hmm about 5%. Ideally I'd like to be saving 10% along with mrsskoorb but considering she's only been working now 3 months, we've had to pay for our entire greencard process out of pocket, and are hoping to buy a house very soon 5% is pretty good for me

Do the math. If you want to retire with, say $2 million, figure the overall market gain and your inevitable (in most cases) greater earning power as you age and you'll be able to figure a ballpark of what you should be investing.

Can't be bothered to do that? Drop in at least 10%.

How much does it cost to get a green card?

 

[datalink7]

Nothing.

Ever cent goes towards Top Ramen at the moment.

 

[jarfykk]

My paychecks vary alot. My part-time jobs pays me about the same every two weeks. And my consulting is 6-7 checks a month from $100 to $1000ish (rarely that much, occasionaly more).

Anywho, I save $35 from every consulting check, no matter what size. And 10% of my part-time job. Any extra $$ (birthday, extra pizza money, etc.) is for free-spending sine everything else is budgeted.

Good luck.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: BeeVo

How much does it cost to get a green card?

The actual greencard itself requires a filing fee of around $300 including fingerprints. So for two people that's $600. But to be allowed to file for it somebody needs to have a job setup, so that's another $150. But to leave the country in the meantime and be able to work while waiting for it takes another $300 each (per year, and processing is about 2 years). But then you also need to have INS medicals for $150 each and then given mrsskoorb's profession she needed a $400 credentials evaluation. And then throw on another $2100 in lawyer's fees (hopefully we're done with them!) and it tallies out to about $4085 give or take AKA a bloody nice TV!

If you're interested it can actually cost a lot more. Some people need to go through extra steps and have a less clear cut application so the norm for a greencard is about $5-10k including all the various fees and what not. Oh yeah that's employment based. If you go through family sponsorship or marry a US citizen it's both quicker and substantially cheaper.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Hmm about 5%. Ideally I'd like to be saving 10% along with mrsskoorb but considering she's only been working now 3 months, we've had to pay for our entire greencard process out of pocket, and are hoping to buy a house very soon 5% is pretty good for me

Do the math. If you want to retire with, say $2 million, figure the overall market gain and your inevitable (in most cases) greater earning power as you age and you'll be able to figure a ballpark of what you should be investing.

Can't be bothered to do that? Drop in at least 10%.

We know how that is. When Susan emmigrated to the U.S. there were a lot of tests/reports plus paying the U.S. Embassy in Sydney a few hundred USD.

Fortunately this August - November she can apply to become a Perm Resident removing the Conditional from her status.

Then next Nov '04 when she's physically lived in the US for 3 years she is eligible for dual citizenship!

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Hmm about 5%. Ideally I'd like to be saving 10% along with mrsskoorb but considering she's only been working now 3 months, we've had to pay for our entire greencard process out of pocket, and are hoping to buy a house very soon 5% is pretty good for me

Do the math. If you want to retire with, say $2 million, figure the overall market gain and your inevitable (in most cases) greater earning power as you age and you'll be able to figure a ballpark of what you should be investing.

Can't be bothered to do that? Drop in at least 10%.

We know how that is. When Susan emmigrated to the U.S. there were a lot of tests/reports plus paying the U.S. Embassy in Sydney a few hundred USD.

Fortunately this August - November she can apply to become a Perm Resident removing the Conditional from her status.

Then next Nov '04 when she's physically lived in the US for 3 years she is eligible for dual citizenship!

I was under the impression that at least for ourselves we needed to have greencards and have lived here for 5 years. But it's 3 for her...? I wonder if it's at all possible for me to be a triple citizen with uk and canada I want to see how many citizenships I can collect.

Actually I firmly believe that UK, Can, US are the best countries in the world, so it only makes sense that I have citizenships in all. I think the chances of having to pick which one to fight for if they all go to war against each other is pretty minimal

 

[RossMAN]

I dunno but she did some research and I think 3 years is very soon (5 sounds more realistic). I guess we'll find out when Nov '04 rolls around.

She doesn't want to become a US citizen if she loses her Aussie retirement earnings which makes sense. If that's the case she'll just remain a US Perm Resident.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
I dunno but she did some research and I think 3 years is very soon (5 sounds more realistic). I guess we'll find out when Nov '04 rolls around.

She doesn't want to become a US citizen if she loses her Aussie retirement earnings which makes sense. If that's the case she'll just remain a US Perm Resident.

Yeah greencard holder is pretty good. If we stayed here forever it would make sense for us to want to be come citizens but really greencard holder is pretty good and totally permanent as well even if you can't vote, get the ocassional job, and are not a citizen of the country you live in