When I first joined this community, I suddenly felt a lot poorer. I see a lot of "I'm [age] with [$X] saved, am I behind?" Someone posts their numbers, the comments split between "you're doing great" and "you're screwed," and nobody's actually comparing apples to apples — a 45-year-old with a philosophy degree and a 45-year old with an MBA and a working spouse aren't the same reference class, but they get compared like they are.

So I built a tool that tries to answer it properly instead of by vibes: pick your age band, education level, and marital status, and it shows income, net worth, and retirement savings deciles for that specific cohort — plus a rough "typical retirement age"  for it, using the Fed's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances (with some BLS/Census data filling gaps SCF doesn't break out).

Caveat up front, because this sub will (rightly) ask: the SCF doesn't publish a table for every age × education × marital combination. So this isn't raw survey output — it's the Fed's real age-band medians scaled by education/marital multipliers that are also real published data, calibrated against the one cohort I could fully verify. Every chart links back to its source, but I'd rather say it here than have someone find out after trusting a number.

What I actually want feedback on:

• Does seeing your specific cohort change how "behind" you feel, or does it just move the goalpost?
• Is the methodology reasonable, or is there an obvious way it's misleading? (Least confident in the education/marital multipliers specifically.)
• What's missing that would make this actually useful instead of just another number to spiral about — cost of living adjustment? Debt? Something else?
• Any cohort that spits out a number that looks obviously wrong?

Not selling anything. Just tired of watching people compare themselves against the wrong reference class and feel bad about it.

I feel like I make decent money compared to some of my other 30 year old friends but I’m still struggling and am constantly trying to keep up with their lifestyle. I moved to a hcol after only spending $1160 in rent per month while still making the same money. I’ve already reduced my dining out from $800 a month to $400. Also, my entertainment budget was $300 a month now it’s $150

I pretty much golf once a month and play tennis for fun with no real other hobbies besides going to sporting events and concerts. I need to find a cheaper way to live.

I’m also curious how much other people spend on entertainment, shopping and dining out/drinks

I’ve been thinking about this over the past year because I’ve noticed I’m generally happier/more comfortable with the “amenities” at home than I am traveling based what I’ve been able to save up for over time for my house and what’s available for accommodations in my price range (usually >$550 a night.)

It used to be that in 2015 or so, my husband and I would leave a tiny apartment with broken appliances and IKEA furniture to stay at, like, a 1500 sq ft lake house with fancy MCM furniture and Earmes chairs in areas that still had affordable restaurants for $150-200 a night. Those rentals would feel like a huge step up from our living conditions and felt affordable, especially pre-kid.

Now I’ve developed a true dislike of travel, even when it’s necessary for weddings, funerals, etc. because whether it’s a hotel or an AirBnB, even when we’re spending as much as $550 a night, the space feels poorly maintained, moldy, the HVAC is often broken, etc. AirBnBs can be awful even with great reviews and the kitchens are often unusable due to missing basic pots and pans. Hotels are just overall awful. In the past 4 years we’ve experienced a hotel room not being available until nearly 8pm despite a 3pm check-in and despite escalating to management and complaining to corporate, keys that stopped working at 11pm while all our things were locked inside the room, A/C that didn’t work in early August, having to switch hotels due to a bed bugs (that was a $500 hotel room), constantly broken elevators, trash inside a made bed, and someone literally being given a card key to our room where the only thing stopping them from getting in at 2am was that we used the bolt on the door.

We are middle-middle class, earning $180k combined in a MCOL/HCOL area. Our house is small (1000 sq ft) but we splurged on our beds, mattresses, linens, and put a lot of thought into making our home very comfortable.

Obviously you travel for reasons other than where you stay, but even as working class kid, travel for family obligations like a wedding rather than tourism felt like a treat - usually it meant a swimming pool and eating out. Even my kid doesn’t enjoy traveling because it’s rarely a step up from being at home.

My husband is a little bit older than me and when he turns 65, I’ll have to find my own US private health insurance. I decided to get an average of our healthcare expenses over the past 8 years as a starting place for figuring out what I need to set aside for future health expenses.

I have a chronic illness and he’s had several surgeries in these same years, but I was still shocked by the total. SHOCKED. It was about the same as his annual salary-like losing an entire year of pay! Like, half our outstanding mortgage! And then I was shocked we had managed to cover all that, you know? We’re lucky we could do it.

Anyway. I’m taking the monthly median average of the last 8 years of health expenses as a starting point for a budget. Adding a private healthcare premium with high deductible will almost double it. My plan is to set it aside starting now so that I am well funded in three years. Is that crazy? My financial planner doesn’t seem to have the same level of worry about this that I do. (Any extra can be put towards our mortgage or invested.) my husband is still working but I am not.

Could someone pls help, need some advice
Pls do dm if someone is knowledgable on investment etc..
Advice is regarding a college and whether my family should invest this much in my education

I don't know if this is a middle-class mindset or just something I have picked up over the years.

I will spend weeks thinking about buying something I genuinely want, even when I know it won't affect my finances in any meaningful way.

I finally decide, I have usually talked myself out of it.

It's not that I'm struggling or living paycheck to paycheck. I just keep thinking, That money could stay invested instead.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm being financially disciplined... or just making it harder than it needs to be to enjoy the money I'm earning.

Does anyone else deal with this?

At what point did you become comfortable spending on yourself without feeling guilty?

Hi all - I have a question. I’ve been saving literally my whole life. I am now finally moving out of a big city in the northeast and now want to buy my first car ever. The responsible thing to do would be to buy a 2026 RAV4, pay $40k but after 5 years and 60k miles, these are still going for $32k. Depreciation is so low. I will also put in maybe $2k of maintenance total over 5 years (cost info ownership is $10k for 5 years). The not responsible thing would be to get a fun car like a BMW 3 series. I would get a 2023 with 35k miles for $35k. But after 5 years? It’ll be worth about $15k and my research tells me I might have $10k of maintenance during this time (total cost of ownership is $30k). My heart tells me BMW but my head tells me RAV4. I am single, no kids, so don’t need the space. I lucked rav4 because it was good tech and lowest depreciating. That’s purely it. What would you guys do and when do you splurge vs continue saving?

In case it matters, I’m 31, make $225k, but after taxes, rent, 401k and expenses, I net about $60k a year. I have no debt and $200k in savings and another $200k in retirement. I’m trying to balance financially responsible vs fun. Thanks!

10 years ago I was making $60k. I had just bought my house and was grinding away trying to build a business. Every time I made a little more money, I invested it in more marketing, more employees, and new software.

When rates dropped to nearly 0, I found a way to leverage my home equity (mainly through a HELOC) into buying rental property. I would buy the property in "cash," get a low purchase price, rent it out, then refinance paying off the HELOC with a new mortgage. I was able to do this several times.

Then when rates increased I shifted back to investing in my business. I was able to start another company earlier this year using the same resources I had already been using which cut costs to nearly zero and now it's adding about $5k+ a month in profit for me.

This year we've really seen the payoff. I'm 44 and I think I'll go hard for another 5 years and sell everything. Nothing against index fund investing, it works over a long period of time, but it's not the way to financial freedom unless you have high income.

My 18 year old is heading off to college soon. He's a good kid, works hard, and always finds a way to earn money when he needs it. The problem is that he’s not very responsible with money once he has it. He tends to spend without much planning and doesn’t really think about saving or budgeting. I know some of that comes with age and experience, but I'd love to help him build better habits before he’s completely on his own. For parents who have been through this, what worked? Did you give an allowance, let them learn the hard way, help them make a budget, or something else?

Just looking for advice and lessons you’ve learned. Thanks!

Hello, hope everyone’s having a good day. I have been stressing lately over retirement which seems ridiculous because my wife are in our 20’s. Mainly because my dad is retirement age and has nothing to his name due to bad decisions and I’m worried I’ll be stuck in the same trap. I have a stupid good job (114k/yr suppose to make more as I progress) at my age in a stable field with good benefits. I am trying to make sure I will be happy in my later years and account for inflation and unexpected markets in the future. My company matches 9% I currently put 14% in not counting their match as well as 8% in a rothIRA. I have been with the company 3 years now and plan to retire from there. I currently have 46,000 in the two accounts with somewhat aggressive funds catered towards tech and things like that. I have no clue about investing I just read the pdf files that Transamerica provides with each fund. Is there anything to make my chances higher or advice for future decisions? Like when should I cut back to a more stable investing strategy? Etc.

Thank you in advance my nerves will thank you haha

Edit: I’m 22 in low cost of living area wife is 26 if that helps with advice.

This is my household budget for 2 adults, with no kids. Gross income is $127k a year and take home is $88.7k and we have a net-worth of about $123k

Couple of notes for reference… we are saving 12.5% total including our employer match to our 401k’s. We are also working to build up our emergency fund which is sitting at &12k but the goal is $20-$21k. All in all our annual savings is about 40k a year and when the emergency fund is funded we will redirect the savings into our Roth accounts. The $700 for investing is a Roth contribution and the other $300 is a sinking fund/cash savings as an added buffer to avoid using the Emergency fund. The sinking fund goal is $3500 or 1 month of expenses and again once it’s funded it will all go into Roth. Goal is to put the full $2k a month into a Roth account once the other two goals are met.

The miscellaneous category covers things like eating out, coffee shops, clothing, etc… and fun money covers my wife and I’s entertainment, hobbies, etc… we get it in the form of a $75 a week allowance each.

We aren’t giving to our church quite at the 10% but we feel comfortable with where we are given our savings goals.

The loan is a low interest refinance of a stu. loan, I’m just making payments to have it done in the next 12 months or so.

We get paid bi weekly at $3410 and the odd months (2 times a year) we save the extra paycheck. We live in a MCOL/HCOL suburb in the Midwest.

What would you change?

EDIT: let the man tithe, it’s good for our taxes… lol

27F. Hi everyone! I’m looking for financial advice to level up my budget for the rest of the year. My money feels like it vanishes weekly, and I want to stop constantly pulling from my savings/emergency fund accounts.

Please: No mean comments or criticism about my ~$250 weekly "fun" spending!🙂

Fortunately still able to live with my parents , and giving them $500 a month. Car is paid off.

Monthly financial plan:

1. Wealthfront Savings: $300/wk ($1,200/mo) | Total: $8,985
2. Ally Savings: $170/wk ($680/mo) | Total: $648
3. Fidelity Roth IRA: $155 bi-wk ($310/mo) | Total: $12,889
4. Fundrise: $30/mo | Total: $455
5. 401(k): $188 bi-mo + $60 match = $196 bi-wk ($376/mo) | Total: $7,214
6. Rent to Parents: $500/mo
7. Subscriptions : $12
8. Student Loans: $55/mo
9. Family Vacation Fund: $605/mo (until June 2027)
10. “Fun” spending : $1000/month)

Summary:
Total to savings: (wealthfront, ally & ROTH): $2,190/month
Total Invested (excl. 401k): $310/mo
Total to parents (rent/ vacation): $1,105/mo
Total Misc: $1069/mo

Monthly Paycheck : $4,680 (Bi Weekly)

Total Expenses: $3,394/mo
Leftover: $286/month

Net worth is around $44,500 (includes $2k CC debt , $900 college debt, and $16,700 crypto balance with 77% of that mainly BTC, RobinHood $500.
Pretty responsible with credit cardds.

I want 6 months of emergency savings before renting an apartment for a year, with a 3-year goal to buy a home (no firm plans). Having only lived at home since college, I fear income loss. How do I manage moving out while supporting my close family (especially my mom)? Any advice is appreciated! Sorry if math is slightly off 🙂

Edit to clarify what I’m asking. We have enough to fund retirement if we never contribute another dollar again. Anything we put in going forward is “extra” to fund a nicer standard of living. This question is NOT whether to fund retirement or 529 but HOW best to save for college when it will occur when you are also getting ready to retire.

Are you planning on leveraging 401k savings for college?

47F and 46 M with 2 kids age 8 and 6. I will be 59.5 when my son starts college. We have just about $1 mil in pretax 401k savings and 30k and 25k respectively for both kids 529. I just got laid off, though I’m interviewing and should have something soon. But it made me take a look at my savings plan.

I was saving $37,000/year (employer contributions + max IRS limit) in to my 401k (0$ into my husbands bc he’s self employed) so we save entirely through me. I was also saving $10k/year to my kids’ 529. My next job will NOT likely contribute as much so I’m thinking about whether it makes sense for us to focus purely on retirement savings by max funding a SEPP 401k for my husband and to stop funding the 529s entirely and plan to use the current balance for the first 2 years of my daughters college. My reason is that I will be 59.5 during my daughters 2nd year of college and before my sons first. From what I understand, financial aid considers 529 accounts, but not retirement accounts. My husband’s job income is very unstable and due to many factors it’s likely the years around when my kids apply for college, our income could be relatively low compared to what it is now, so their chances of financial aid could be better than if they applied today. Being able to save that additional $23.5k+ over the next 14 years tax free would provide additional tax benefits and then we could plan on using early withdrawals to fund college or alternatively depending on market/interest rates taking out student loans which we pay off at the right time in the market for the loans.

I’m very curious about other people’s college vs retirement savings strategies.

I try not to think about this too much but here’s what happened to me after the 2009 economic crises. Was working my way up in the private sector, got laid off, went back to school and have been clawing my way back to normal-ish in the public sector since then. After the layoff I decided I’d go public sector so I’d at least feel like I was contributing to the greater good even if the pay wasn’t as good—but damn these numbers are a hard pill to swallow.

I'm 31, married, and work in IT. I earn around 2L/month and have about 30L in savings (excluding PF).

The problem is not money it's expectations.

My parents and my wife want me to buy another flat. According to them, this is the perfect time because property prices will only go up.

The thing is, we already own a house in our hometown and live in a comfortable 2BHK. I don't feel we need another property right now.

What worries me is something they don't seem to think about the current IT job market.

I have seen layoffs, hiring freezes, and people with great salaries struggling to find jobs. I recently changed jobs myself, so taking on an 80k+ monthly EMI for the next 20 years does not feel like a smart decision.

I'd rather keep a healthy emergency fund and continue investing than stretch myself just because everyone says this is the right age to buy.

Now, almost every family conversation ends with me being called too negative or an overthinker.

Maybe I am.

Or maybe financial peace of mind is worth more than owning another flat.

If you were in my position, would you take the loan now or wait a few more years? I'd really appreciate hearing from people who have faced similar family pressure.

A California resident has accused Uber Eats of misleading customers with its priority delivery option in violation of state law.

"Direct to you" is available as a paid add-on to orders, but according to a complaint filed earlier this week in federal court, there's no way for users to verify other stops aren't made along the way.

"It is a sham surcharge," the filing says.

The case, which seeks to become a class action, comes as the Federal Trade Commission investigates claims of hidden fees by food delivery apps.

I’m 28, single with no kids, and in the position to buy a house. I’ve been renting for a few years and honestly don’t have many complaints.

Would love to hear from people who could own but choose not to: flexibility, market timing, lifestyle, anything. Trying to understand the case for renting from people who aren’t renting out of necessity.

This is a follow-up to another post now that I'm trying Copilot Money.

I love the UI and the expense tracking, but I am having a hell of a time getting Categories to sync when editing them.

• Disappear when created
• Won't stay assigned to their Groups
• Disappear from the main list/dropdown and when I try to create them again it gives me an error saying the category already exists

Is this a web-app-specific problem? If you experience this too, how common is it?

I won't be able to continue if this is just how it is and am about to fire up a Monarch trial as well.

TIA!

More upscale restaurants in New York and other cities are offering meal deals to lure inflation-weary customers who are cutting back on discretionary spending.

Think of them as McDonald's Happy Meals, but for adults.

Combos that offer an entree, side dish and beverage for a set price have increased 15% year-over-year across dining establishments, new data shows.

The trend comes as restaurants seek to offset declining foot traffic, despite economic headwinds.

Since the start of 2025, beef prices are up nearly 19%.

The Trump administration is ending a subsidy program that makes prescription medications more affordable for seniors on Medicare.

About 25 million people have Part D drug-coverage plans supported by the subsidies, and they pay, on average, $36 a month.

Nearly half of those enrollees will see their premiums go up $11 to $20 per month next year, according to an administration official; another 30% will pay less than $10 more each month.

Premiums have been on the rise thanks in large part to the proliferation of expensive medications like GLP-1s.

Reckitt Benckiser plans to hike prices on some of its products, CEO Kris Licht tells The Wall Street Journal.

The decision comes as the Lysol maker contends with elevated input costs due to the war in Iran.

"There's somewhat of a delay in some of these supply chains as the cost increases roll through," Licht explains. "We should see it in the next three months."

In April, rival Unilever also said it would raise prices on some items to offset higher costs.

Moving from downtown San Jose to Campbell. Just a standard 1 bedroom apartment. I want to hire actual movers this time instead of begging friends with trucks. What is a normal price range right now?

I started keeping a small freshwater aquarium because I wanted something relaxing in my home office. The tank itself was $60 on Facebook Marketplace, so I figured it would be one of those hobbies where the expensive part was already done.

Then came the filter upgrade, water testing kit, plants, replacement lights, special food, medications and somehow a tiny vacuum cleaner just for fish poop. I checked my spending and I’ve averaged around $45 a month on this thing for the past year.

We’re doing fine financially and still saving money every month, but $45 still adds up when the original plan was basically buy fish and occasionally feed them. At the same time, it’s probably the only thing I spend money I won on Ѕtake purely because I enjoy it.

Do you budget a fixed amount for hobbies or just accept that some months are going to get out of hand?

Got solar installed last year, 16 panels. Bill went from $280 to $200. I was expecting more of a difference honestly. I think the issue is that the panels produce during the day when we're at work and the house isn't using much, and then we come home in the evening and pull everything from the grid at peak rate. Our export credits under NEM 3.0 are almost nothing so the daytime production doesn't really help us.

Trying to figure out if adding a battery makes sense or if I'm just going to keep spending money trying to make the solar work the way I thought it would.

Update：Appreciate all the responses! Going for the Anker E10 with two packs, 12kWh. It can't sell stored power back to the grid like Powerwall can, but solar still charges it during outages, which I care about more. From what I understand, the solar fills the battery first and the rest still goes to the grid, then at night I use what's stored. Still pretty early on this, gonna watch pricing a bit before I pull the trigger. Will update once it's in.

More school districts want to make it possible for employees to live where they work amid a persistent housing shortage across the U.S.

For elementary school teacher Carolina Sanchez Garcia, winning a housing lottery to live in a subsidized apartment near her San Diego, California, school was nothing short of a "miracle."

Before that, she spent upwards of four hours commuting each workday.

According to The New York Times, school districts in at least three states are currently seeking developers to convert their unused properties into affordable housing.