I’m in my late 30s, single, no kids. I barely have any savings, have been irresponsible for a really long time. Help out parents now and then but nothing that’s beyond my means had I been responsible otherwise. Have around 70k in 401k, 25k in crypto, 20k in stocks and 10k in CD. Almost 0 liquid cash. Live pay check to pay check 😕 have a shopping addiction. Have a debt of $30 from family medical emergencies and $10k credit card debt that I keep revolving from one 0% APR credit card to another with one time 3-4% bal transfer fee every 1-2 years. Monthly Budget :- Rent - $3k Utilities - $500 Food - $750-900 ( mostly eat out, hate cooking ) Shopping - $1k-$2k ( mostly impulsive ) Current Base ( = TC ) - $160k New Base in 2020 - $190k. TC ~ $250k PS - I know I’ve screwed up big time with my finances
Well I haven’t been making top dollars like Bay Area SWEs .... most years my TC was ~$100k. Spent most on rent and my shopping problem ....
What did you buy when shopping? $1000 outfits each month?
Standard for NYC. You’re losing 40% of your income to taxes. But hey - you’re having fun. YOLO.
😒
You have jersey city money. Move there and pocket the 3-6% city tax savings bro. You can also score a nice 2br for under 750
yeah you need to fix the root cause here before you set any targets man. Why do you need to pay 3K rent? are you living in manhattan? What kind of utilities you have for 500, probably winter heaters? Shopping gotta go or reduce drastically. First thing you need to budget your spendings for 3 months and follow it strictly. Once you settle down on a budget you stick then you need to set a realistic goal for the end of 2020. Mint website can help you with budgeting. Send some part of income every paycheck to a savings account, treat it as a spending in budget. And target to increase it every month if possible. Wealth accumulation requires getting high pay and less expenses. You are already half there with 250K for single person. Now you need to cut the expenses to save up to buy that house/apartment. Or/and get a higher pay job.
I’ve been using mint for years now but haven’t been able to realize it into savings .... I just look at the trends and realize sh*t I’ve spent too much on rent, clothes and shoes and the cycle continues ... Keep increasing my expenses with increased TC 🙄😒
That's because you just look at it after the fact. You need to set a budget before the month begins and stick to it.
Why do you need 2mm house in tri state? Lots of reasonable places with <1mm houses.
Most 2 bedrooms are 1.5-2MM, I work in manhattan so don’t want to commute 2+hrs everyday to work .... especially cause I don’t have kids
Where? In the most expensive part of Manhattan? You don’t need to live there. My buddy bought in Brooklyn recently for 700k and he’s a 35min subway ride to work in manhattan
Aim lower and hope for appreciation. A $2m house isn’t gonna happen for you. It’s fine, it’s not the end of the world.
I guess ...
Also if you are single no kids, you do not need house. You will die from boredom in suburbia.
I’m not planning to buy a place in suburbs ...
Then why did you say tristate?
Aren’t there shopping addiction AA type of groups. You already recognize a problem which is the big hurdle for addicts. Wealth accumulation is impossible without expense control. You need to cure yourself from addiction otherwise nothing will help. Look at mike Tyson and how he managed to waste tens of millions of his earnings. You got to plug the hole in your 🚢
Haven’t heard of one but will try to find out… Thanks for the advice
Check this out: https://akademiai.com/doi/full/10.1556/2006.5.2016.064 they found that group therapy works best for compulsive buying disorder. However, you self diagnosed it. I wonder if your insurance covers the consultation with a shrink. It could be an option to establish whether it’s just a matter of simple discipline and awareness or you have a serious case
Cut shopping. You gotta cook to save money. You gotta live somewhere cheaper, maybe with another roommate. Only way to become rich is to sacrifice something: wlb, comfort, laziness, etc. Or you can be like Kalanick or Spiegel, you IPO your company, which is highly unlikely
Move to good paying firms. There’s lots here.
Good idea. Transform your shopping addiction into a leetcode addiction then get into a top payer. Then resume shopping addiction.
If OP goes to faang with 15yoe they should be able to get sde3 equivalent, which should be around 350k. Finance firms can pay more than that
You just showed base. What is total compensation?
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