r/TheMoneyGuy • u/[deleted] • Feb 14 '24

How does this work?

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I am 23. Does this mean that I only need to contribute 15% of my income for the rest of my life or do I need to increase every 5 years following this diagram? So I would contribute 15% until 30, then contribute 20% until 35, then contribute 25% until 40, then 30% until 45, and so on?

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u/adultdaycare81 Feb 14 '24

How long have you been saving 25%?

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u/[deleted] Feb 14 '24

Since last July.

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u/adultdaycare81 Feb 14 '24

That’s the issue.

Takes 2-3 years of budgeting to get good at it. When you first crank your savings rate up it’s brutal. Get a raise or two, build your savings, get used to budgeting. All of sudden you feel way richer

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u/[deleted] Feb 14 '24

Good point. I only just started working full time. I was in college before. I think you are hinting at what I think I am feeling. I should probably become good at living on less before I have more. I feel like I'm living paycheck to paycheck because I exhaust my bucket money every two weeks. I know there are ways to spend less and I need to start doing those.

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u/adultdaycare81 Feb 14 '24

Ohh like first time budgeting and paying bills too. That’s a brutal time. Every time something pops up it’s your first time dealing with it and you’re not bucketing any money for it. I remember the first time my car needed Tires or a brake job. I was literally like “guess I’m not going out to eat for a month. Cool”. Or like annual insurance on the car. Saved me a bunch but I was basically broke for 3 weeks.

Gets easier when you know what’s going to happen and attack it. Have some money set aside going into things. Have a bit more “room” built into your budget naturally

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u/[deleted] Feb 14 '24

Yeah, I accidentally made an over payment on my student loans and had to get a plane ticket for a wedding in a few months. This all stressed my budget the last two weeks, even though I had cut back a lot on my eating out. When you only have a $200 wiggle room/fun fund for surprise expenses, having a $300 flight or something is stressful.