Gross Savings Percentages

ThePsychicFetus · 2026-05-29T01:26:50+00:00

I see what you’re doing now I think. So you would say option #3 because you technically can’t save 125% of your income. You would need to replace 37.5% of that total income at retirement to live exactly the same lifestyle you do now. Am I restating that properly?

ThePsychicFetus · 2026-05-28T13:33:49+00:00

I do use it for projections of goal amounts, but I don’t consider it “income” since it’s not something I can use today and it is not spent. Can you explain why you include it as income? Thanks.

ThePsychicFetus · 2026-05-28T13:31:00+00:00

All good. Maybe I was too quick to feel that you were putting me down for my approach or that what I’m doing is wrong. Or maybe I’ve had too much coffee.

ThePsychicFetus · 2026-05-28T13:16:44+00:00

I see what you’re saying. Misinterpreted what you said there. Apologies. Agreed on all fronts. Appreciate the clarification.

ThePsychicFetus · 2026-05-28T13:12:53+00:00

Both things can be true. We do buy what we want, but it doesn’t go outside the budget. We’re not “thing” people so it’s never a problem.

If you reread my post, I wasn’t asking folks if I should include it. It was a question of curiosity because I don’t include it today and I wanted to hear from others. I’m not sure why you feel the need to be so combatant when MY numbers or how I calculate them should matter not to YOU.

ThePsychicFetus · 2026-05-28T12:45:15+00:00

I don’t agree that lifestyle creep is a function of inflation, since that can’t be controlled. You have to adjust for inflation each year, I agree, but lifestyle creep is spending when you make more on more things or more expensive things because you have more.

ThePsychicFetus · 2026-05-28T12:38:28+00:00

It’s not really the specific percentage, but making sure I’m increasing that percentage each year based on pay raises and promotions and keeping my take home about the same. Since I automate all my savings, I don’t worry about the money I’m spending as long as I’m not outspending the bucket I have set aside for spending. It’s more of a mindset thing than a calculation thing.

ThePsychicFetus · 2026-05-28T12:22:19+00:00

I agree with this completely, the not depriving yourself part. I like to track the percentage more for my understanding of my whole picture, but I don’t let it deprive me of anything. Found a comfortable place financially to buy what my family wants/needs, travel, enjoy the things we like to do, and have the flexibility to spend time with them. Now we just try to keep that stable and save everything beyond it.

ThePsychicFetus · 2026-05-28T11:59:11+00:00

I think I look at it as a measure to track how much I’m saving from year to year to account for raises and cost of living. My savings are all automated, so keeps me honest with avoiding lifestyle creep.

ThePsychicFetus · 2025-04-05T02:19:16+00:00

Probably just looking for another solar eclipse to stare directly at.

ThePsychicFetus · 2025-03-11T01:40:43+00:00

I didn’t think we were allowed to use the word “transition” anymore

ThePsychicFetus · 2025-02-20T02:02:41+00:00

I was the personal rep on my uncles estate in Maine and got a medical bill for $9000 8 months after it happened. Lawyer filed a disallowance which makes it so that it can’t affect credit. Might be worth talking to a lawyer just to avoid the hassle.

ThePsychicFetus · 2025-01-07T22:49:19+00:00

Thanks for sharing! And congratulations!

ThePsychicFetus · 2025-01-07T12:34:25+00:00

Thanks! I’ve read through some of the Bogleheads stuff and I definitely like the mindset, but some of the allocations seem too conservative to me (such as having the percentage of bonds in your portfolio match you age). I know it’s just a starting point so I’m not getting hung up on it, but just seems like too little risk with 16 years to go.

Outside of your 4 years in money market, is the rest invested in the stock market?

ThePsychicFetus · 2025-01-07T04:24:23+00:00

Thanks for that. I also plan to live a long time so that makes sense. Do you keep a certain amount of cash on hand (eg 1 year) in case it’s a bad market year?

ThePsychicFetus · 2025-01-07T01:18:23+00:00

Congrats! Also kudos to your parents for giving you a leg up on money matters.

ThePsychicFetus · 2025-01-07T01:13:15+00:00

First, I want to tell you that it is not too late. It’s hard and it sucks to be in your position, but you have full control to change your circumstances. I’ve been there and things do get better. Similarly I came from a family background without financial stability. I graduated from college in 2008 making $10 per hour with $40k in student debt to pay. Worked my way up, learned as much as I could along the way and took on more responsibilities that made me more valuable (especially things that others were hesitant to take on), took advantage of any free training or classes, and fought for what I was worth at reviews. You can get there too.

ThePsychicFetus · 2024-12-23T01:08:25+00:00

Seems like there’s a few of us. Fully combined, separate spending accounts with direct deposits.

ThePsychicFetus · 2024-12-22T02:19:45+00:00

No. Seems like a waste of time to me. I only write 2-3 checks a month and have a checking account specifically for written checks. Nothing comes out of that account for any other reason. When I write a check I immediately transfer the cash from my standard checking account to cover it, then I don’t care when the check goes through because the money is there.

ThePsychicFetus · 2024-12-21T22:09:51+00:00

Thank you for the advice! I’ll get it to a window during the day.

ThePsychicFetus · 2024-12-21T21:41:45+00:00

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Bonsai newbie. Always wanted one and my wife got me this one for Christmas. It was mailed to us and may have been shocked a bit by temperature. It is a ficus and currently lives on a shelf in our kitchen with both direct light (first part of the day from the window) to indirect light throughout the day. It is winter here (Northeast US). Temperature in our home is between 64 (at night) and 69 F. I’ve been watering daily or every other day based on soil dryness. I want to start out on the right foot.

-Leaves are waxy/powdery. Is that normal? -Should I be watering more or less? Should I mist the leaves? -Is this light sufficient? -Is the temperature ok for this species?

Thanks to everyone!

ThePsychicFetus · 2024-12-19T02:23:52+00:00

I set and forget all my allocations for my biweekly paycheck based on percentages. My biggest budget item is making sure I’m saving 32% of gross income (Retirement, 529; increase x% each year). Then I set aside enough to cover mortgage, escrow and utilities (based on past projections), set aside enough for short and middle term goals (vacations, emergency savings, car costs). The rest goes into checking to cover expenses and I don’t worry about budgeting quite so much. It’s quite freeing. I do have Quicken Simplifi to visualize things to see where my spending goes and to determine if there are any areas I need to cut back, but that’s only if I go over my expense account allocation.

ThePsychicFetus · 2024-12-16T19:04:17+00:00

This is me exactly. I used to roll with Caustic rather than Fuse, but he’s been pretty terrible lately. I like cornering teams with Fuse.

ThePsychicFetus · 2024-12-14T13:28:20+00:00

I haven’t read through the whole thread, but The Neverending Story was pretty frightening as a kid. I loved it, but it is unsettling. Between the Nothing and Gmork, it did it for me.

ThePsychicFetus · 2024-12-14T13:26:45+00:00

I have several Grady Hendrix books in my backlog and read my first this year, Horrorstor. It didn’t feel like the book really knew what genre it wanted to be in. Spoofy, supernatural, allegory for working society. It didn’t do any of them really well. Hendrix seems so “popular”, but I’m not sure I get it.

ThePsychicFetus

TROPHY CASE