Anyone under 30, and not buy nicer things as your salary increases?

[Siva]

Originally posted by: SmoochyTX
I've been spending all of my money on paid "friendships" lately.

can't get a "friend" for free?

 

[SmoochyTX]

Originally posted by: Siva

Originally posted by: SmoochyTX
I've been spending all of my money on paid "friendships" lately.

can't get a "friend" for free?

 

[maziwanka]

your trend is true until you start having real responsibilities and have to take life more seriously (ppl depend on you)

 

[Gunslinger08]

I've plateaued in my spending. Already have pretty much everything I want (nice car, TV, game consoles, PC, laptop, etc.). I don't really care about clothing... I wear the same stuff I've worn for 10 years. Most of my "wasted" money goes to food (lunches during the week and meals on the weekend with the girlfriend), video games, and monthly services (cable, internet, cell phone, GameFly, etc.). I think I'm probably atypical because regardless of how much I make, I'll still wear $30 jeans, eat at $10 places, and get $8 haircuts.

 

[FoBoT]

:laugh:
not when you have a family, they get the money, you keep your holey socks and wear them as long as possible
i drive a 18 year old car to work

 

[TXHokie]

Originally posted by: maziwanka
your trend is true until you start having real responsibilities and have to take life more seriously (ppl depend on you)

Yup, it gets worse next stage when you just get married and get double the income and no kids and go on a spending major spree. Then decide to have kids and one stay home and the household salary just got cut in half then you'll really have to budget and become responsible because your one salary is now depended upon to take care of the whole growing family and then you start saving up and start worrying about the future and kids college cost and retirement and such and then you spend nothing beside the basic necessity and pack leftover lunches to work. Something like that.

 

[senseamp]

I am like that. I am 27, make low 6 figures and drive a Mazda3, shop at Kohl's sales, still have a 15 year old Sharp television and buy furniture off Craigslist. I had a pretty austere childhood, so I am low maintenance. Also, I have huge investment savings for my age, and I plan to buy a house either outright or big down payment once this market bottoms out.
Being low maintenance and having huge savings also is very liberating. I am not dependent on my job for my lifestyle. I can live off the fat for years. So I am not afraid of losing my job, which means I can take more risks professionally, which pay off and make me even more successful at what I do. If you need to keep working to keep your things, you are a slave to them.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: loki8481

Originally posted by: gamepad
This is what I plan on doing.

/crosses fingers

what's with bumping all these old posts tonight?

Why are threads not being archived anymore? I thought you couldn't reply to any post older than 3 months.

 

[jandrews]

Originally posted by: NanoStuff
<blockquote>quote:
Originally posted by: Geekbabe
About the time people's salaries start climbing is also about the time the clothing they wore in college or during interships is no longer appropriate.People pay you a professional wage,they expect you to be dressed and groomed accordingly.</blockquote>
If you feel it's appropriate to suck off your boss because he's paying you enough, go ahead. I on the other hand do what I'm required by the job specification. If someone asks me to wear a monkey suit, that's the last request they will ever get to make. If you're willing to bend over for the company at your inconvenience, I pity you, and I congratulate your company. They've found themselves a well trained monkey.

As for the initial question, the niceness of my things has remained pretty constant with my increasing income. In fact I'm spending less than ever because I already have most of the things I want.

lmao, that is such a stupid statement. In most places the dress for success idea is still in place. For instance I work in a business casual workplace and most people wear khakis and polo shirts and when I started I work slacks and long sleeve collared shirts and sometimes ties and now I have had two managerial promotions, you definately look at how people dress in the workplace. My line of work is computers/customer service and the last thing you want to do is send some slob out to an important customer site.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

my mom has plenty of stories being a mortgage broker in fairfield county($$$$) many folks she deals with make 1-2 million a year and have nothing in savings and bad credit!

 

[Chewy]

Originally posted by: KingGheedora
Has anyone here actually tried doing this? If so, how has it worked out for you, do you just not get urges to buy gadgets, electronics, whatever? Are you still happy with your life?

That's pretty much the way I am now. I buy things every so often, but rarely. I honestly don't know why I'm saving what I save... just force of habit and the way I was raised I guess. I don't think I'd be more or less happy with my life if I lived paycheck to paycheck. I'd prob just think "whatever".

 

[Maleficus]

I'm cheap as hell, I don't buy anything unless I have to

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I'll admit that I stepped up a little bit. But I've still been packing away money for a house and easily been staying in the black. Next year I'm going to be eating ramen a lot more. Though my pay really hasn't gone up too terribly much since I first started while things like gas and insurance sure have.

<-- wishes the job market were better in his area

 

[PepePeru]

i am unimpressed by material excess.

 

[child of wonder]

At the beginning of this year I got a $10,000 raise. The only nicer things we purchased were a 47" LCD TV ($1,600) and a new queen size bed ($1,100) to replace our 10 year old hand me down full size bed.

In fact, we downgraded one of our cars from a 2001 Ford ZX2 to a 1997 Ford Taurus because we wanted a second 4 door car. We plan on driving the crap out of it and our 2000 Taurus instead of getting newer vehicles since they're just a huge expense.

 

[brikis98]

i do spend more as i make more... but the percentage of my salary going to each group is the same... for example:

* 15% into 401k right off the bat
* 10% into a stock purchase plan
* 35% into a money market fund
* 25% for expenses (rent, food, insurance, etc)
* 15% for fun (going out, gadgets, etc)

so, yes, if I go from a 70K salary to a 90K salary, i'll go from spending ~10K to ~14K on "fun" (note: these are highly inaccurate pre-tax calculations ), and probably own things that increase my expenses (nicer apartment, nicer car, etc) but I'm also investing more in 401k/stock/money market etc, so it balances out nicely. if you have trouble saving money, by far the best thing you can do is to have a large percentage automatically taken from your paycheck and deposited somewhere you can't touch it

 

[vi edit]

It's a give take thing. As I've gotten older, and our household income goes up, I find that we spend less on a lot of things like clothes, going out to eat and stupid little incidentals like buying movies and games and random crap.

But we do end spending more on things that "last" like better furniture, appliances, ect. Stuff that isn't as disposable.

We also are scaling back on the price of cars that we have owned previously too.

But we are facing a $1200 a month daycare bill in a few months plus all other costs associated with a newborn. So we are scrambling looking to cut costs easily where we can.

 

[Patt]

I'm only doing this because I haven't seen anyone else.

It isn't Neuvo Riche ... it is 'nouveau riche' (French)

Anyway, my wife and and I not insane spenders, and no, I don't necessarily buy myself something bigger and better every time I get a raise. Fortunately I have few wants, and if there is something I truly desire, generally we come up with a plan to be able to afford it AFTER putting our requisite amount into savings.

 

[nonameo]

I only spend what I have to in order to pay for my expenses, with few exceptions. I would do so even if I made eleventy billion a year.

 

[Cal166]

With the money I made this year, I still spend like I was making 40k a year but I did buy myself some nice clothes this Winter.

 

[Supermercado]

I wouldn't say I've increased my spending dramatically. I worked for two years making just enough to get by (very small, semi-startup company in an expensive area and didn't spend a whole lot. I rarely ate out when it was on my dime, didn't really go out, etc. I did have enough to replace my car when it died (I paid $11,700 for it, 4 years old, $7700 down payment, financed the other $4000 for 4 years at just over 7%), built a new computer for about $1000. Nothing extravagant. I took a new job 6 months ago making nearly double in a less expensive area, and for the most part, haven't gone crazy. I bought about $1500 worth of furniture to help fill up my larger apartment (2BR 2BA vs 1BR 1BA that costs $135 more) and an Xbox 360. In the last two months, I've thrown about $2500 at my car payment and that's completely paid off now so my only debt is my student loan of about 10k. I'm planning a new TV purchase within a couple months but other than that, not much else has changed.

 

[Slew Foot]

When I finished residency and got a $230K raise, you bet I bought a bunch of fun stuff.

 

[qaa541]

Well as others have said before, I think my spending has plateaued since I have almost everything I wanted. I just turned 24, and I just got a great job in Silicon Valley.

As most tech people around here, I love gadgets. That means I at minimum must have the following things:
HiDef TV (1080p) - Bought a Sharp Aquos 37" before I moved
HDDVD and Bluray - Already had a PS3 and HDDVD drive for my Media Center Computer before I moved
Game console of some sorts (PS3 also playing double duty as BluRay Player).
Desktop computer capable of playing games and acting as a media server
Coffee Machine - I got a Krups machine as a moving gift from my Mom who saves the giftcards she gets as employee awards

And this is exactly what I brought up with me since I moved to Silicon Valley.

Here are things that I do NOT care about that most people do around here:
Fancy Car - I drive a 2006 Jeep Liberty, completely paid off - base model with no frills and I paid under invoice
Fancy Cell Phone - I have the Sprint SERO plan, costs me $30 a month and I come nowhere close to using the 500 minutes (almost all my mins are night and weekend) plus I get free data and texting. You wouldnt believe the number of people here with Iphones and the $80/month plans
Eating Out - Since I moved, I cook dinner everyday for myself that I am in the Bay Area. I sometimes go home to SoCal and have dinner out.
Drinking - I was already a cheapskate when it came to drinking out - Max 2 drinks. I don't mind throwing money in for a communal liquor run but I rarely drink out. Even better, since I moved, I stopped drinking altogether.

I am lucky that my uncle is letting me rent his townhouse in Mountain View at a very good family discount (although it is the same price as I am paying for my 1br apt in Palo Alto) but I get 3 bedrooms.


Now the rub is that even though I jumped over 50% in salary, my free spending money only increased approx. $200/month. Even that evaporates with flying home in this interim period to visit my family for the holidays.

This mainly is because i support my parents / family back in SoCal and I am basically sending them a second rent check every month. Almost all the extra money I made with the raise just goes to cover this added expense. I do this because I want to make sure my family stays comfortable down in SoCal. My parents are at retirement age and the family that lives with them is also aging and cannot contribute much (such as my grandmother and aunts who recently lost their jobs). I do not feel bad or strained doing this because this money I know is going to partially pay the mortgage. I am an only child and I will inherit the house one day so it makes financial sense to do so on top of the responsibility to my family.

Add to this is the expenses involved in setting up my new place up here. I needed to get furniture, kitchen stuff, etc. etc. Stuff that I took for granted when I lived at home. Even now, I am sleeping on a camping air mattress (for over a month now!!).

When my GF moves up in January, I have a whole another round of expenses getting the townhouse furnished and livable (instead of bachelor status living conditions). Luckily she refuses to freeload, even when she has not secured a job up here so at least she will contribute what she can when she moves and then contribute normally when she gets a career started. This will probably free up the most $$$ for me and finally make me feel much better financially. I know that having my GF up here will balance me out and make me think about the things that really matter vs. the short term stuff.


Overall I spend even less on my old needs/wants and have replaced it with a whole new category of needs (not necessarily wants). Overall I am glad that I did this and would do it again if necessary. The experience of finally leaving home is something that I was (finally) ready for.

 

[Elbryn]

my savings has gone up as i've made more money and gotten married. we're in the awesome dual income no kids stage atm and are stuffing as much cash into retirement accounts as we can. way we figure, we get a wide enough base in the next couple years then when kids come we can cut back, let compounding interest go into effect. it really is
1. get educated to get a decent job
2. meet someone of similar financial mind
3. save crapload of cash
4. ...
5. ...
6. ...
7. profit

 

[blipblop]

Yea, I'm currently 22 and my salary is much more than I can ever imagine. I don't spend money on things. I spend money on things that make me money. Stocks/Real Estate.