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Ice9
3X Ban Lotto Champion



Registered: 03/20/14
Posts: 11,229
Loc: daterapeville,USA
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Savings
#28036360 - 11/06/22 11:14 AM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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Do you have a savings account? How much of your income, if any do you contribute? Any tips or tricks to improve rate of saving and when should you start doing something with your money instead of letting it sit.
I have for a long while been putting 10% of my take home in a savings account. This is money that I set aside for emergency. The thing is, the account would now cover >9 months of my living expenses. Should I continue to save this small amount each pay period, or should I look into investing it/paying down debt (have a car loan).
I missed the boat on buying a house at the beginning of the pandemic, and managed to get myself into a place where buying right now does not make a ton of sense. Should I invest my down payment savings as well?
-------------------- The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Brenard Shaw
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Forrester
aspiring sociopath


Registered: 02/05/13
Posts: 9,351
Loc: Northeast USA
Last seen: 24 days, 7 hours
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Re: Savings [Re: Ice9]
#28036589 - 11/06/22 02:05 PM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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I'm no finance expert but if you've got money sitting there making little to nothing and you're paying interest on a car loan, you're losing money.
My main policy is have no debt, pay no interest.
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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Ice9
3X Ban Lotto Champion



Registered: 03/20/14
Posts: 11,229
Loc: daterapeville,USA
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Yes. That being said, I would not want to be without a liquid (cash) emergency fund.
-------------------- The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Brenard Shaw
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Forrester
aspiring sociopath


Registered: 02/05/13
Posts: 9,351
Loc: Northeast USA
Last seen: 24 days, 7 hours
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Re: Savings [Re: Ice9]
#28036867 - 11/06/22 04:28 PM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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Absolutely. Mine is tiny (cash, less than 5k) but I'm quite self sufficient and could survive for months on it. Plus I got guns, ammo, silver, and other forms of liquid trade. I can flip a car and make a grand or two in a couple months if I have to.
You just gotta think about it, losing money is losing money. It's better to reduce expenses than pay interest just to have more worry funds. I ain't saying get rid of it all, but losing money is losing money. I won't even pay car insurance monthly because I lose almost $100 over paying all 6 months at once. I have credit cards, but haven't paid a dime of interest on them ever.
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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Ahab McBathsalts
OTD Windmill Administrator




Registered: 11/25/02
Posts: 35,107
Loc: Wind Turbine, AB
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I don't fully agree. I got about 17k sitting in an account, and it loses the value of inflation a year. So like 8% or whatever this year, but it's insurance. 17k is enough that if a furnance shits the bed, or I gotta buy a car, or a roof or whatever it's there. I don't touch it, it just sits there and does nothing. It's insurance to help me sleep good if something fairly big happens with the house.
17k is more than 6 months of mortgage, utilities, food, and other living expenses.
The rest I dump into a margin account and buy whatever I figure while I save up for something. I'm looking at getting a rolex next year. Stocks can move a bunch, but usually I only put it in big blue chip shit and if you lose 20% on Microsoft that's what it is. I think the risk is worth the reward for something like that at this stage in the cycle.
-------------------- "Nobody exists on purpose. Nobody belongs anywhere. Everybody's going to die."
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geokills
∙∙∙∙☼ º¿° ☼∙∙∙∙


Registered: 05/08/01
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Loc: city of angels
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Re: Savings [Re: Ice9]
#28037062 - 11/06/22 06:41 PM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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I like to keep 6-12 months worth of anticipated living expenses fully liquid, which can be tapped for emergencies if necessary. If you already have 9 months of expenses in a liquid account, I think you can start allocating your excess take home pay toward paying down debt and then investing. If you think you'll be buying a home, then of course, you'll want to keep saving up for that as well, or park the money in more conservative investments, such as I-Bonds and Certificate of Deposit interest bearing accounts. If you want to take on a little more risk while retaining liquidity, perhaps some dividend paying energy/oil companies.
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-------------------- ┼ ··∙ long live the shroomery ∙·· ┼ ...╬π╥ ╥π╬...
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Forrester
aspiring sociopath


Registered: 02/05/13
Posts: 9,351
Loc: Northeast USA
Last seen: 24 days, 7 hours
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Quote:
Ahab McBathsalts said: I don't fully agree. I got about 17k sitting in an account, and it loses the value of inflation a year. So like 8% or whatever this year, but it's insurance. 17k is enough that if a furnance shits the bed, or I gotta buy a car, or a roof or whatever it's there. I don't touch it, it just sits there and does nothing. It's insurance to help me sleep good if something fairly big happens with the house.
17k is more than 6 months of mortgage, utilities, food, and other living expenses.
The rest I dump into a margin account and buy whatever I figure while I save up for something. I'm looking at getting a rolex next year. Stocks can move a bunch, but usually I only put it in big blue chip shit and if you lose 20% on Microsoft that's what it is. I think the risk is worth the reward for something like that at this stage in the cycle.
It doesn't really sound like you disagree with me, you just have a little more cash than I do. Like I said, I still keep 4-6k of degrading value US dollar bills as well. Can't pay my Verizon bill with 9mm rounds ya know?
I'm just lucky enough not to have a mortgage and I choose to drive old cars that are paid for, so banks make no money off me.
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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gopher
Coffee Bean Extraordinaire



Registered: 11/22/17
Posts: 12,990
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 12 hours, 32 minutes
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Canada has gic, I kept 4k in savings and put the rest in a gic, I got about 15k in and it makes me $700 a year at current interest rates
I think this is the equivalent of an american CD but I'm unsure
-------------------- For most of the normies out there, an operating system is just a bootloader for Google Chrome. Since Disney has obtained tremendous value from the public domain, knows how important the public domain is, and is firmly determined to never contribute anything to it. My pronouns are He and Him, and my adjectives are Fat and Jazzy
Edited by gopher (11/10/22 11:58 AM)
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Nymphaea
Money-less Wanderer



Registered: 04/16/09
Posts: 2,057
Loc: Mitten
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Re: Savings [Re: Ice9] 1
#28065983 - 11/23/22 12:18 PM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Ice9 said: Do you have a savings account? How much of your income, if any do you contribute? Any tips or tricks to improve rate of saving and when should you start doing something with your money instead of letting it sit.
I have for a long while been putting 10% of my take home in a savings account. This is money that I set aside for emergency. The thing is, the account would now cover >9 months of my living expenses. Should I continue to save this small amount each pay period, or should I look into investing it/paying down debt (have a car loan).
I missed the boat on buying a house at the beginning of the pandemic, and managed to get myself into a place where buying right now does not make a ton of sense. Should I invest my down payment savings as well?
Here's a few ideas you can do imo:
Keep some cash at home, instead of having it all in the account...maybe keep some of it in the form of rolled change (way heavier, less appealing to steal, ultimately more valuable material)
Buy a small amount of precious metals, consider it a long term savings account that will probably get you slightly better interest than your savings account
Buy things for next year, this year: a big bag of rice, maybe A few Christmas presents here and there (after this holiday season is over), if you buy candy for Halloween don't buy it in season...
...buy other things you go through when you can get a good price/bulk deal (maybe you go through detergents, soaps, paper towel, toothpastes, etc...you can lock in a price when you find a good deal or a bulk deal and have them on hand when you need them later: saving you TIME and money).
You can get 1-month treasury bonds from treasury direct...get about 4% interest out of that...probably better than a CD right now I imagine
Buy some things you want that will retain a little value maybe...
Give a little bit more to charity and/or help others around you a little bit more
Invest in your own health and wellness: whether that be giving yourself a little bit more time off, taking classes, learning, buying healthier foods and preparing healthier foods, etc
Buying and preparing healthier and healthier foods can be a good way to take your money and put it to work for you...the healthier you are the better off you'll be as well as those around you.
Find young people in your family that you trust (if there are any) and offer to buy them a car but keep it in your name until they pay you back.
Buy tools/machinery you know how to use and actually need.
Etc.
Of course these are just ideas but obviously maybe you would rather save for land or starting a business or big investments.
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Plant Trees
Edited by Nymphaea (11/23/22 12:23 PM)
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Mystikal
Arranger



Registered: 11/13/21
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For what it's worth I got my ass handed to me trying to dabble in the stock market with my savings. Have about a years rent saved ($15000) and tried some index funds in January. Lost about 10% in a few weeks before pulling the plug. It plunged lower so at least I pulled out when I did. Last I checked they were still down. Glad I didnt try Bitcoin. I'll just collect my interest for now.
-------------------- Not all those who wander are lost
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gopher
Coffee Bean Extraordinaire



Registered: 11/22/17
Posts: 12,990
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 12 hours, 32 minutes
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Yeah it was a bad time, but bar an appocolypse most people think it has to be back up
But I'm unsure, they are still at a high if youlook at years charts, maybe its a reset and everyone needs to be making less money and they dont recover
Anyways I'm going to invest my retirement savings into etf
-------------------- For most of the normies out there, an operating system is just a bootloader for Google Chrome. Since Disney has obtained tremendous value from the public domain, knows how important the public domain is, and is firmly determined to never contribute anything to it. My pronouns are He and Him, and my adjectives are Fat and Jazzy
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Ice9
3X Ban Lotto Champion



Registered: 03/20/14
Posts: 11,229
Loc: daterapeville,USA
Last seen: 5 minutes, 49 seconds
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Rough. January was an exceptionally poor time to enter the market. I also think trying to time the market is a fools errand. If you do get back in at some point, think long term. I got a fair bit of my retirement fund in ETFs. One is down some 25% this year, but still up lots overall.
-------------------- The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Brenard Shaw
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Asante
Mage


Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 86,794
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Re: Savings [Re: Ice9] 1
#28067383 - 11/24/22 11:53 AM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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all we are saying is give gold as chance all we are saying is give gold as chance all we are saying is give gold as chance all we are saying is give gold as chance all we are saying is give gold as chance all we are saying is give gold as chance all we are saying is give gold as chance all we are saying is give gold as chance
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badchad
Mad Scientist

Registered: 03/02/05
Posts: 13,372
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Re: Savings [Re: Ice9]
#28067699 - 11/24/22 04:45 PM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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I thought you mentioned once or twice you were a chemist. If you have a white collar job, the first place you should look is your retirement and employer matching options. These are quite literally, free money.
-------------------- ...the whole experience is (and is as) a profound piece of knowledge. It is an indellible experience; it is forever known. I have known myself in a way I doubt I would have ever occurred except as it did. Smith, P. Bull. Menninger Clinic (1959) 23:20-27; p. 27. ...most subjects find the experience valuable, some find it frightening, and many say that is it uniquely lovely. Osmond, H. Annals, NY Acad Science (1957) 66:418-434; p.436
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Ice9
3X Ban Lotto Champion



Registered: 03/20/14
Posts: 11,229
Loc: daterapeville,USA
Last seen: 5 minutes, 49 seconds
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Quote:
badchad said: I thought you mentioned once or twice you were a chemist. If you have a white collar job, the first place you should look is your retirement and employer matching options. These are quite literally, free money.
I max out my match and my 401k contributions have been maxed for the past 2 years. I am starting to invest on my own slowly. Trying to determine how much in cash to keep on the bank and if there are safe investments for it. I did purchase a max I bond a few months back.
-------------------- The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Brenard Shaw
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CapSlinger


Registered: 05/17/11
Posts: 983
Loc: Colorado rocky mountain high
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Re: Savings [Re: Ice9]
#28067925 - 11/24/22 08:16 PM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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Fidelity has a deal now if you open an account and put $50 in then they will give you $150 in a month.
Sounds good to me. Then its low cost index funds. Considering the boglehead 3 fund approach.
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jerrymor
Stranger
Registered: 01/20/22
Posts: 45
Last seen: 1 year, 3 days
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I have an envelope with some cash for emergency purposes and also invest part of my income. No savings account. In the future I am planning to contact uplift customer service (this site has their detailed reviews) and ask them for couple of financial advices. Lately I started to think that I don't manage my finances very well and it is time to get some professional help.
Edited by jerrymor (12/21/22 08:55 AM)
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Ice9
3X Ban Lotto Champion



Registered: 03/20/14
Posts: 11,229
Loc: daterapeville,USA
Last seen: 5 minutes, 49 seconds
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I do keep a few thousand in emergency cash in a safe. Like if power were to go down for a month or some type disaster scenario.
-------------------- The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Brenard Shaw
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Brian Jones
Club 27



Registered: 12/18/12
Posts: 12,340
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Re: Savings [Re: Ice9]
#28086280 - 12/06/22 04:59 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Savings accounts a paying a few percent now.
-------------------- "The Rolling Stones will break up over Brian Jones' dead body" John Lennon I don't want no commies in my car. No Christians either. The worst thing about corruption is that it works so well,
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gopher
Coffee Bean Extraordinaire



Registered: 11/22/17
Posts: 12,990
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 12 hours, 32 minutes
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CD is better than savings account if I understand them correctly, the only reason to have it in a savings account is if you could need it at anytime
-------------------- For most of the normies out there, an operating system is just a bootloader for Google Chrome. Since Disney has obtained tremendous value from the public domain, knows how important the public domain is, and is firmly determined to never contribute anything to it. My pronouns are He and Him, and my adjectives are Fat and Jazzy
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Tripsurfer
Bring Back Asante!



Registered: 08/01/12
Posts: 7,129
Loc: West of Windward
Last seen: 3 months, 27 days
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Re: Savings [Re: gopher]
#28093380 - 12/11/22 01:29 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Pay off debts Keep a fixed amount (depending on your personal need, I keep €10K) of money in saving Buy gold (usual advice is about 1/3 of your assets) The rest can be invested in more high risk ventures
Don't borrow money for things that don't provide you with income
-------------------- Ach en wee ben ik de klos, met mijn boog schoot ik een albatros... A philosopher is a person who knows less and less about more and more, until he knows nothing about everything.

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