It comes down to if you rent.

If you have a fixed mortgage, shit gets easier fast. If you rent, any wage increases is often offset by rent increases.

Less people are able to save, because they never get out of those "tough first years" of a mortgage

Live below my means, invest the rest.

I don't dress or act like people in my pay range. My house is small and in a quiet neighborhood and cost less than my salary. Car is older but paid off and I know all the quirks and have the toolbox in the back to fix it. It is probably one of the top 5 most reliable cars in history. My work dress shoes are 10 years old and my around the house shoes were new in 2019.

I spend my money where I spend my time. So I have a nice phone, a very nice monitor and mechanical keyboard, and a good computer. And all with the right to repair philosophy. Same for my wife and kids. And also good running shoes, good exercise equipment.

The plan is to get to a point where I can just not work at all and maintain my lifestyle. Three percent rule and all that. And also help launch my kids.

Something about a 25 year roof and a Japanese shit box car in my fortress of solitude.

FWIW I grew up really really really poor like you wouldn't believe so I'm okay with this.

What’s your relationship or philosophy with money?

A life-changing shift to my approach has been to worry about absolute amounts rather than percentages. Saving $10 on a $20 item feels great but ultimately is the same thing as saving $10 on a $500 item (which feels like nothing).

I grew up lower middle class: never had to worry about not having a roof over my head, but there were times we were somewhat food insecure, and spending money on leisure/entertainment or anything unnecessary for survival was a foreign concept until I got to high school and some my parents' career moves paid off and put us in upper middle class. It took them a good 10+ years before they could relax a little bit and feel secure with their money, though, and that was as much driven by the fact that their kids were adults who had moved out.

So life has been about deciding which of my parents' frugal attitudes and approaches to money to keep and which to discard.

Things I decided not to adopt:

• I slowly learned to stop caring as much about wasted food. Food is just cheaper now compared to when I was growing up (even if the last 5 years has shown an uptick), and as a society we have more issues with obesity than hunger, so cleaning off a plate seems like it doesn't actually do that much good.
• My time is worth something to me. I will gladly pay the few dollars here and there for convenience.
• I'm glad I ignored my parents advice to buy a home as soon as I could and build equity or whatever. I rented and it worked out great for me, giving me the flexibility to make changes at different stages of my life.

Things I kept:

• Life is uncertain. Always be prepared with whatever you can accumulate for financial resilience: cash, other property, lines of credit, marketable job skills, literal insurance policies, etc. Don't underestimate the importance of personal relationships, whether it's "credit" from friends and family who can help you out of a bind, colleagues who can refer work to you, bosses who will fight for your career, etc.
• Develop your career. Education and credentials are important early on, and up-to-date skills and a good understanding of the landscape in your field (both in the type of job and the type of industry you work in), plus solid relationships with people, can help you know when switching jobs is right for you.

Things I had to learn on my own:

• Life is unfair. Many types of unfairness are systematic. So why not position yourself to where the unfairness works in your favor, if available?
• Higher income makes it easier to survive mistakes on the spending side. To flip around Ben Franklin's quote, a penny earned is a penny saved.
• Know yourself and your own laziness. Set up automatic functions wherever possible: automatic bill pay, automatic savings, automatic investments, etc. Steer away from any strategy that requires active management, and towards strategies that tend towards a set it and forget it philosophy.

I've also made a shitload of mistakes, some of them pretty costly, especially back in my 20's:

• Paid probably thousands in credit card interest in my early 20's chasing lifestyle bullshit.
• Paid thousands in unnecessary car loan interest in my mid 20's by getting suckered by a dealer.
• Paid hundreds, maybe thousands, in late fees and interest from forgetting deadlines to pay shit I actually already had the money on hand for.

I'm rich now, most of it from luck (especially timing), much of it from personal relationships (good family, good marriage, good friends), some of it from actual effort (good grades from a good law school), and some of it from conscious decisions to steer towards my strengths and away from my weaknesses (lazy but smart, prototypical "gifted" slacker with undiagnosed ADHD).

It took a while to get here, though, and I was financially insecure well into my 30's. Sorta figured shit out then, and then married someone who complements me pretty well on these things, and covers my blind spots.

For the extra brave ones: how much savings do you have, and what are you planning to do with them?

I have some savings, and it's an emergency fund. It's representing 1-2 months of typical spending, that could be stretched to 3-4 months if I needed to stop the frivolous spending. But I have credit beyond that, and less liquid assets I'd be able to tap into if I were facing a longer term issue.

But I'm not saving for any particular thing other than retirement. If things accumulate and grow, great. I'll make a judgment call on when to retire based on how I feel and how much I have and what I want to do. I anticipate my wife and I will probably want to retire in our early 60's, based on our anticipated career trajectories and the ages of our children.

I have $15.

Not just that I can spend. Not "until sometime in the future." Just $15.

I have a decent amount of money in a 401K that I can't touch, and some stocks I bought during a time when I fell into a bunch of money, but an unexpected $1000 would not be possible. I'm a 42 year old married man with 5 kids and a full time job at a small college.

I should be doing better than this.

Im doing pretty well. Living in Germany, educated parents. Did okay in school, never studied much though. Went to university, got my Masters in Mathematics (needed to study a lot for that, but its my passion anyway). Started working at an IT company in the same city.

3 years later, I have around 50k in savings now. We live in a small apartment, are in the middle of buying a house.

Capitalism is really fckd up, especially in the US. I try not to take advantage of it too much, up my monthly donations with every raise, vote left-ish, dont support big corporations.

I think the biggest factor for success is luck for being born under the right circumstances. Thats like 99%, the rest is having some self control.

Since I left college and started out into the "adult world", I've always spent less than I made, the rest going to savings or investments toward retirement. I accomplish this by "paying myself first". If I have already saved the money as my first priority, I can't spend it on things like rent or groceries. So my financial choices are forced to be more conservative by design.

Example: I forget what the max limit to IRAs were at the time (say $5k/yr) but for my first job I set up auto contributions each month and mentally took a $5k/yr salary "cut" for that job. Every time I got a raise, I made sure that at least a portion of that raise went to increasing my savings rate and attempted to avoid lifestyle creep.

Thanks to my savings, I've been able to handle some emergencies in cash vs having to utilize debt to cover the expenses. It really is a snowball. I started out small, now my savings is significant compared to my income.

I attribute a lot of my "pay yourself first" approach to reading The Automatic Millionaire, Expanded and Updated: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich early on.

I'm digging myself out of a $13k credit card debt hole. I burned through my savings when a job that I had ended on my unexpectedly, and because it was contract work I wouldn't qualify for benefits. They kept me around as a sub, promising me a full time position if I just stuck around long enough and I was foolish enough to believe them.

I'm self employed now and making do with the best I can, but I'm planning on ending my dream as a musician/ teacher and moving home. I don't know who would want my skills, but I know they are specialized and strong. I just gotta see what kind of work would value them.

I've got $0.85 in savings, because I put my rent and car payment money in my savings account each month until I need to pay those bills. I did at one point have $1000 saved up as a rainy day fun, but then it rained for a whole year (financially speaking). Now I don't even have credit cards to fall back on, as those have been maxed out and gone to collections. I'm looking for a job in an industry I left because it was driving me to alcoholism (software), but that job market sucks a little more than the service industry, so I'm not optimistic.

Oh yeah and I'd be homeless if I didn't have family who were willing and able to loan me rent money.

I have always strived to keep between 1-2 month’s worth of expenses in savings at all times. That small buffer has allowed me to ride out almost everything without going into debt, then when I am in debt I pay it off as quick as possible.

The worst thing you can do is get on a payment plan, as that normalizes having debt and you end up paying thousands in interest. All interest is, is you giving your money to someone else. I like to keep my money, so if I have to live off of ramen and hot dogs for a couple months, so be it.

I am one broken leg away from being homeless and losing everything, and it's been like that my entire working life. I've never been able to make enough to actually save. Currently I have -100 in the bank and some debt I'm trying to pay off on top of that. My rent is literally half my income.

All my jobs have been paycheck-to-paycheck until about 3 years ago. My last job allowed me to save up $24k, but then I lost my job. Now I'm down to $7k and getting worried.

I fall between the government won't give me SSI because I'm not disabled enough in there fucking eyes. And being disabled and can't work.

So financially I'm fucked and nothing I can do about it.

Even if I had said It would only be iirc around 800 a month.

It's part of Amerikkka hidden eugenic programs. (Not verified but living with a disability it sure fuckin feels like it)

I can lose my job for a year and be ok. I'd probably cut back on some expenses, but it would probably be ok.

The last year has been rough on my savings. The retirement savings are untouched but the general savings have been emptied by a combination of travelling for family weddings and a downturn at work. I'm not worried but I do need to make a change.

I'm doing well but i wish i could afford my hobbies.

I made a few bad moves in my 20s because I had no basis of understanding when it came to money (parents are bad with money too and never taught me anything useful), have spent my 30s desperately treading water trying to get ahead, but it seems impossible with rent going through the roof, food going crazy, plus now I have medical debt on top of my school debt... my really big mistake was wanting to help people by becoming a social worker.

What pisses me off the most is that if you're a plumber you get to walk in and demand whatever price you feel like, but if you're someone who helps society, society gets to cram it up your ass and tell you to smile about it. Same goes for anyone who works for society: teachers, cops, firefighters, EMTs, social workers, librarians, nurses, etc... I don't get why we don't all just join together and let society fucking die until they agree to pay us what we're really worth.

Edit: to clarify, I'm not saying plumbers aren't helping society. I'm saying when inflation goes up, plumber's prices go up to match... If you're being paid by tax money, you don't get to do that. Nothing against plumbers, it was just an example.

Everyone is getting fucked in our capitalist nightmare, but if you work for Walmart, WALMART investors are fucking you over... If you work for any of those jobs I listed above, SOCIETY is fucking you over (yes, I get that at the end of the day it's still those Walmart investors fucking us over because the same 1% own everything and stop society from paying us what we're worth by refusing to pay their fair share of taxes)

I read that half of Americans couldn’t cover an unexpected $1,000 expense.

Without borrowing or selling property, yeah. Not a lot of people have that much liquid cash laying around.

But I wouldn't assume that this would be some kind of economic devastation. Our whole system revolves around easy credit.

If the unexpected expense is something that can be paid for on a credit card, that 20% interest isn't exactly ideal but for many people it can be a simple task of buying now and paying it off over 2 or 3 months. For them, $1000 isn't a lifestyle changing expense.

For others, $1000 might be devastating. It might be the difference between making rent or not, and ultimately lead to eviction and maybe even homelessness.

So liquidity is a different question from financial health or resilience, even if they're somewhat correlated. There are other metrics out there more directly measuring financial stability or vulnerability.

It sounds crazy to you because you have apparently had success handed to you through no work or special virtue of your own. Maybe get out of your comfy bubble a bit

I’m doing well at the moment. The problem is that no matter how well I do, eventually something destroys my savings and eventually there’s a layoff at my company.

Even if I’m doing well at the moment, I’m still a couple paychecks from not doing well, and am no where near on track to eventually be able to retire

I have five digits of savings for the first time since my kids were born, but I also have college expenses for them, and at least that much in deferred house maintenance

I credit Apple, of all things. I always chose credit cards to minimize interest and fees, so this is the first time I’ve had one with significant cash back. Now I pay essentially everything with Apple credit card, pay off at the end of the month, get a surprising amount of cash back, directly into the high yield savings account. While of course my job is the reason I’m doing well, I credit this for turning things around to actually let me put money aside, to boost my savings

I dislike money. I worked hard to have enough that it’s not on my mind. I don’t need to think about the cost of eating out or buying food, or pursuing hobbies. But I also don’t really spend much. I don’t make big purchases very often and when I do I still over-analyze them.

If I had a lot more money I could retire, but I still have half my life to live. I hope to retire in 16 years. I have a job that pays well, with good job security, and minimal stress. I get 38 hours of leave time per month and I live in California.

I have cash savings earning enough per month in interest to pay my cell phone and home internet bills entirely. But I don’t really have any other discretionary monthly subscriptions. My savings will probably be used on a new kitchen and bathroom eventually.

Not saying the exact number, but well enough that I could go and buy an X5 right now. I'd rather spend any excess money on charities over materialistic status symbols though, and I've donated a lot of money to research charities in particular.

There are a lot of very poor people in the US compared to other developed countries. There are also a lot more extremely rich people. The inequality is palpable, and it shows in the stats. The US government also doesn't step in with coverage when it comes to healthcare, unemployment and other emergencies to the same degree as governments in other western countries.

Ever read Miller's Death of a Salesman? well it's almost like that, but without any insurance.

My wife and I are comfortable. Both of our parents have worked in banking and taught us budgeting beyond what school taught us.

Keeping a steady well paying job is key. Sadly, there are so many people who no fault of their own can't get well paying jobs or live in areas where well paying jobs are rare.

I can't cover an unexpected 1k. Thats my entire bank account. Every month my paycheck is eaten by bills and obligations and every other month my rent raises while my salary stays the same. I have 1 dollar in my savings, but a 401k with 5k in it. I also have kids and a wife that stays at home to watch them. May not be the best financially but I can't actually afford daycare to begin with.

Went from living paycheck to paycheck to having a full $1k in my account right now after dumping my ex and moving out. I always thought that having two incomes combined would be better than just my own, but never realized how massive a drain my ex was compared to just taking care of myself.

That being said, I'm able to live cheaply because I use public transit, cook all my own meals, and I don't eat that much. I think for most adults in the U.S., especially those who need a car for transit, the honest truth is that their wages just barely cover all their necessary living expenses.

I've certainly been worse of, but not I'm not.. Great. ButI have a roof over my head and me and the cat are fed. I can enjoy a video game here and there. However, I don't have $1,000. Not for lack of trying, but things happen (moved, sick cat, broken car, the usual). I personally like to have at least one month of rent, but that doesn't always happen.

Sometimes it just works out that everything I need takes everything I have.

It's not remotely crazy, and I have lived there. I had times where I foraged for berries and plants for food, and was lucky enough to know how and where to do so. That was a long time ago, before wages stagnated and inflation went bananas. I'm surprised more people aren't starving to death today, just looking at the numbers.

I do well enough to comfortably support my wife and me. I have a retirement plan, put a small amount into saving, and don't buy things on credit (besides to pay them off immediately for rewards points). I have paid off my car and it should last me a good long while. I do have student loans outstanding but I pay those down and my work provides a stipend each month that effectively doubles my payment on that. I have some small investment accounts to play the stock market, but not life-changing money. We have plenty of money leftover after the mortgage to live just as comfortably as I would like.

This all being said, I am an outlier in the current economy. Most are paid too little for too much work and I would happily pay more for most products if I thought the money was going to the employees, but I know they are given the smallest amount possible.

I've always saved very aggressively, even when I didn't have any money. When I first moved out, I ate nothing but rice, lentils, eggs, and lard for several months to save a slush fund. Even today, I make ~15-20k USD below median income for my city, and I've managed to save just shy of 10k in the past year and a half.

Obviously the ongoing coat of living crisis is a big deal that needs to be addressed, but we also need to acknowledge that saving your money is unpleasant, and a significant number of people aren't willing to do what's necessary in order to build financial security.

My friends (I don't get out much, I only have a couple) all have significantly better income/expense ratios than I do, and have exactly nothing saved. Honestly I don't think that would change if you gave them all an extra $20k/year, because they will find a way to rationalize something into being a necessity.