YAST: Your Available cash as a percentage of your income

[urname7698]

What is your avaible cash (Savings/Checking) as a percent of your income? How many months of savings do you try to keep just in case.

Also, do you use your savings to pay off credit cards monthly or do you carry a balance etc..

 

[Mr N8]

I'm in debt.

 

[Tifababy]

I put about 7% of my take home pay into my savings account which is not touched, it's saved for a rainy day (like when my car breaks down). I only carry a balance on a 0% interest credit card, all the others are paid off in full each month.

I just bought a house 6 months ago, so right now I only have a little over 1 month of expenses put away.

 

[urname7698]

Well I don't have a set amount i put away each month I just try to spend less than what i make. I am a little cash ritch right now so I have about 30 months worth of savings stashed away while i search for my next investment. As a percent of my yearly income i have about 83% of my gross yearly income in savings. What I mean is say i made 1000 a year I would have 830 in savings. No sense giving the real numbers as no one cares about that.

 

[FoBoT]

25% of a months pay, not enough
but i do have a 401(k), if i was out of work, that would last about 1 year if we eliminated all the "nice" stuff (Tv,cell phone, etc)

 

[LTC8K6]

My available cash is just a little under one year's pay and I'm debt free.

 

[toekramp]

i'm in debt, and my savings is about 3% of my income...i suck

edit: debt from school loans

 

[pancho619]

Available cash is just under 1 month's pay right now. That'll change since I"ll have to buy a new Refrigerator for the new house this weekend.

 

[Toasthead]

I have about 2 months pay saved up I try to put 10% in savings every month, but we have zero CC debt. In fact the only thing we have is a balance of 140k on out 450k house. Which is good because weve got a kid on the way ( in 7 weeks!!!!)

 

[FrustratedUser]

~40% of my net goes to savings now.


Prolly around 5 months of salary in cash now.

 

[vi edit]

about 75% of one years net income.

 

[Drekce]

I have about 1.5 months worth of pay in cash, but I have much more available in mutual funds that I could easily sell if I ever needed the money. Why keep six months worth of cash in a savings account (where you get 2.6% interest at ING) when I can buy mutual funds and generally make much more? It's not like I will need six months worth of income in one day, there is plenty of time to sell the MF.

 

[sygyzy]

That is not a very useful metric. What if you make minimum wage and your grandfather passes away. Bam, you now have $25k in savings.

 

[GasX]

Available cash: ~15%
Unavailable cash: >>>>100%

Not sure of the value of your metric without income numbers but there you go...

 

[kgokal]

Good rule of thumb is to save 40% of ur GROSS INCOME. And spend 60%, including TAXES.
10% - Long term Savings
10% - Short Term Savings
10% - Retirement
10% - Fun

 

[Yossarian]

75%

 

[GasX]

Originally posted by: kgokal
Good rule of thumb is to save 40% of ur GROSS INCOME. And spend 60%, including TAXES.
10% - Long term Savings
10% - Short Term Savings
10% - Retirement
10% - Fun

Since taxes are over 30% for many of us, that doesn't leave a whole lot to live on!

 

[urname7698]

Originally posted by: Mwilding
Available cash: ~15%
Unavailable cash: >>>>100%

Not sure of the value of your metric without income numbers but there you go...

I have to agree.. its probably not that useful.. I guess I am wondering what people like to have to feel comfortable. For one person keeping $100 in the bank is hard, and for others $1m is easy.. just your income vs savings is probably not a good comparison.. maybe income compared with your MRC (monthly recuring charges) vs what you keep in savings. My savings fluxuates a bit as I pay bills each month..

When I was right out of school I was comfortable having (just) $1k in savings.. then as time progressed this has creeped upward.. Now I don't know what i feel comfortable having.

Mutual funds have burned me in the past.. I honestly don't want to get into them yet.. so I am shopping for a rental property to buy but the market in Phoenix is aweful.. so.. on my cash i sit still looking....................

 

[Ryan]

I have about 10k in the bank - my income last year was around 17k last year (at least, that's what my W-2 says ).

Yeah - not bad for a college student living on his own It's taken me roughtly a year to save that much. The only credit card I have is a secured visa, which I pay off at the end of every month.

 

[urname7698]

rbloedow that is impressive saving that much. Unless of course a great deal of your income is not reported.. either way you are definately doing well for a college student. When i was in school I worked full time and couldn't even afford to buy all my books after rent/food/etc.

 

[Ryan]

Originally posted by: urname7698
rbloedow that is impressive saving that much. Unless of course a great deal of your income is not reported.. either way you are definately doing well for a college student. When i was in school I worked full time and couldn't even afford to buy all my books after rent/food/etc.

Well, there are some of my tips.....some.... I've been pulling 50-60 hour work weeks for most of the last year, and lived wiht my parents for the first half of the year. Basically, I saved up that much in a few months, then have been breaking a little above even for the past 5 months. I get weird about money - I hate spending it. I don't eat out, and am a general scrooge.

If there was one thing I can honestly say I gained from my parents, it was fiscal responsibility.

 

[toekramp]

Originally posted by: FrustratedUser
~40% of my net goes to savings now.


Prolly around 5 months of salary in cash now.

:Q that's an incredible amount to be able to put away

 

[Baked]

Carry a balance? Are you insane? I pay off my CC bills by eBill the moment I get them. I hate carrying a balance. I got a load of my salary locked up in CD, and the rest in orange savings. minimum balance in the checking acct.

 

[FrustratedUser]

Originally posted by: toekramp

Originally posted by: FrustratedUser
~40% of my net goes to savings now.


Prolly around 5 months of salary in cash now.

:Q that's an incredible amount to be able to put away

Living cheap now!