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Questions for recent college graduates.
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03-11-2008, 03:30 PM | #23 |
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Start a 401K as soon as possible, and try to max it out if you can. This money comes out of your paycheck before you even see it, which is great. Money put in now compounded over a long time is brilliant.
As for savings vs. short term, I'd say it is a healthy combination of both. Save for the future, but hey - enjoy yourself at the same time. You never know how long you're going to live, might as well enjoy it some now. There is another thread with ways to save money too. Look at this for some ideas (light bulbs, electricity, etc.). Use the money saved here to pursue your passions.. So yeah, enjoy your life (within moderation) while keeping the future in sight. I think it's all about finding this balance.. Let us know how it goes.. EDIT: By the way, like others have said, build a certain amount of money as backup, short-term and long-term. Don't touch them unless sh!t happens. That is extremely important..
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03-11-2008, 05:13 PM | #24 | |
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The price of living is pretty expensive where I live, and even at 50K a year...assuming no car payments at all, I still don't think you can afford a decent home. My parents bought a 1,300 sq ft condo back in October for almost $600,000 and the price was already dropped due to the economy. The area we live in is no Newport Beach or Beverly Hills either...upper middle class at best. I know unemployment rate is sky high. 3 of my friends were laid off in the last 5 months, all of which were in the real estate business. We used to envy them as they never step foot into a university and was making around 70K a year at the age of 22. Now we feel sorry for them because their unemployment is about to run out, and are having a hard time getting new jobs that pay anything close to what they were making. (Also these guys didn't prepare for such events, more of the short term people. Drive Ms and AMGs, and have a hard time with making payments now). I would like to get a head start on life as I'm fortunated to be in that situation. My car and tuition are taken care of by my father so when I graduate, I will have no debt. This is why I come to this board for opinions on stuff like this, as corny as that sounds. Kids around my age don't see things the way you older guys do. Some of kids that are still in high school in my neighborhood are even buying $25-30k cars on their own, on their $8-10/hour wage at the local Best Buy. I would love to get into investing, but sadly I know nothing of that field, it's pretty much the other side of the spectrum of my major. I just know that there's very very very few short term investing that pays off, most of them are in for the long run. I wish I knew about high interest yield savings account a bit earlier however. In my Statistics class, we were showed how much money can be saved up if you were to put in just a hundred dollars a month and leave it in a high yield interest account until retirement. The more I type this, the more I feel like it's a blog, lol. The life of WJ4 |
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03-12-2008, 05:03 PM | #25 |
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Well it seems to me that you're not in a great financial trouble and neither are your friends. Thus the reason why they're spending so lavishly & perhaps why you wouldn't mind spending 4 digits on a watch.
I don't know what you're looking for and don't know what to tell you. It really isn't that hard to manage your money. The hard part is managing your own temptations, separating wants from needs. It's easy, save more then you'll have more. Save less then you'll have less
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03-13-2008, 01:13 PM | #27 |
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I live for today, you never know if you are going to be around for tomorrow. I graduated last May and I have an active savings account, put money into my 401K every paycheck, bought a used motorcycle, a new '07 Z43.0si last September and just bought a new townhouse (build date June 15th ).
I would rather live my life to the fullest when I am young, single and able than to wait until I am old. Just my opinion.
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03-14-2008, 01:37 PM | #28 | |
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So I decided to have fun on a budget. I got a 2004 ZHP coupe instead and saved money on payments and insurance. I still love the car and so does everyone else! I would like to purchase a house at some point soon, but with the way homes cost in this area, I would be dead broke trying to afford a 400,000 condo! So I figured spend money on fun stuff (but not too much) and eventually as you get older your pay increases and i'll be able to afford a house. Especially if you get married and have two incomes to work off of. But as of right now, be young, have fun, but do it smartly. Many older people told me that having fun is very important when your in your 20's and to do what makes you happy. Good luck! |
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03-14-2008, 02:22 PM | #29 |
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I can no longer consider myself a new grad with 5 years of work experience. But I am definitely on the more conservative spectrum and want to align my life philosophy to that of Buffet's. The credit crisis today isn't caused by people with low-incomes alone, there are many people with high income but still live paycheck to paycheck. Excessive hedonism is the problem, not saying I wouldn't like bikini clad bombshells feeding me grape every morning.
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03-14-2008, 02:26 PM | #30 |
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Here is something that I created for my personal use. It is a budget worksheet made in MS Excel.
Use the yellow and green shaded areas to fill in your income/expenses. The blue shaded areas will give you the totals and should be very helpful in telling you how much you are spending vs. saving for the year, and month to month. This will also be useful in calculating your total cost for a given expense. I hope this is helpful to you guys in creating a budget as I spend a lot of time on it! Enjoy! p.s. if u have any trouble using it feel free to pm me. also, if there are any expenses not on the list that you have just rename stuff or add cells if u are good in excel just make sure they are added to the =sum(*,*) functions! p.p.s. this is broken down into bi-monthly income/expenses. if you get paid once a month and want to do it that way just ignore every other column.
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03-15-2008, 03:27 AM | #31 |
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If your friends are driving $100k cars and making only $40k to $50k per year in California, your friends are idiots.
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03-15-2008, 03:32 AM | #32 | |
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Gotta get your priorities straight too... Getting a 997 S will be a depreciating asset. Hopefully by 30, you will own some type of property which will appreciate. I'd rather spend the money on a property instead of a depreciating asset... ALTHOUGH... houses in SoCal are a depreciating asset for the moment. :
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03-15-2008, 03:44 AM | #33 | |
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I've pretty much made up my mine that in the unfortunately case that my 335i doesn't last as long as I would like it to, I'm just going to jump in something cheaper and save up to buy a condo or a house of my own sooner than later. If I had the money, I'd so buy a house in SoCal right now. My parents were looking at a house in Porter Ranch back in 97..back then they were dirt cheap. But when we looked again in early 2007, they were easily over a million. As of last week, they've come down quite dramatically. |
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03-15-2008, 03:54 AM | #34 | |
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Too bad I didn't get the Director job at CSUN. Otherwise, we'd be hangin'. I might be losing my job soon, but I got enough to last me a year. These are the times to be saving. When the housing market bottoms out, that's when you need to jump in. I realize that as a recent graduate, it's too difficult to even fathom being able to buy a house, but I saved about 3 years after graduating and bought my house. Yeah, it was tough, but I got in at such a great time. You want to be in the same situation too, by saving now for a couple of years, and getting in the housing market in 2009 or 2010.
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03-15-2008, 04:12 AM | #35 | |
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03-18-2008, 02:13 AM | #36 |
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My first post on these forums, yay.
I graduated in '06 and am 24 (as of yesterday). As much as it is sometimes annoying living at home w/ the parents, I am glad I made the decision to move home and have saved up this past year and a 1/2. If you think about it, the amount of money you're going to spend on rent/internet/utilities to get your own place in Los Angeles will run $1000+ a month. And with the economy nowadays living at home will save you upwards up $12,000 a year... which for a new college graduate is probably more than 25% of your annual income. I currently have a job at a great and growing company which I love and do side gigs (djing, web development and photography) to save up more money. My tip to upcoming college graduates. - Move home and save up. The determining question is this "do you hate your parents that much that if someone paid you $1000 to live at home you wouldn't?" because that's what it comes down to... - Pack your lunch, make your own coffee. Don't waste your money eating out each day. At most once a week, unless it's your birthday or you got a hot date or something. - Review your bills, credit card statements, and get your physical pay check in your hand in each month (no direct deposit). Seeing how much you make I believe pushes you to excel more and advance your career even more. *crosses fingers, saving up a lil more for my 1st bmw hopefully next month (the civic has served me well.. but it's time!). I really think that if I moved out on my own, my savings would be no where near what it is today. Probably wasting it each night on el pollo loco or wendy's. |
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03-18-2008, 04:06 AM | #37 |
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I say put 60% into your savings, and the rest into fun...
live in your budget range... buying cars they cant afford is not bright...
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03-18-2008, 01:49 PM | #38 | |
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I turned 24 on Saturday (the 15th), my last car was a 2002 Civic (black EX coupe) and I just got my first BMW. The only thing I don't understand is why you think you get any more money by cashing a check than when it is direct deposited... it is the same amount and it is much easier for most people to check the amount online. Plus I save a couple bucks a year more than you do by not wasting gas to go deposit my check in the bank That and I would not even get close to $1000 to live at home... my parents would charge me rent too
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03-18-2008, 03:14 PM | #39 | |
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03-18-2008, 06:28 PM | #40 |
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This won't be a popular reply, but don't get a friggin' brand new car! Sure as hell not a BMW. I graduated in 1999 with a degree in mech engineering at the age of 23. Made over $50k the first year. Bought a brand spankin' new TL. Worst fuckin' idea I ever had. Got an apartment, nice place, paid almost $1000/mo w/ utilities and everything else. Pissed away a lot of money.
Fortunately, I figured it out real quick. Sold the TL after 18mos, and got what I owed on it. Leased a Honda Accord V6. Moved to a place that cost me $600/mo. Put a lot of money away. Eight years later, and I've got nearly $100k in my 401(k), 2 houses (well 1, I just sold 1, getting ready to move to another) and I'm in a pretty good cash position. There's this thing called a match in your 401(k) (at least I hope - it varies by company), MAX THAT FUGGER OUT! Screw the car. Trust me, the only snatch it's going to help you get, you can't afford. Also, don't forget the beauty of compound interest. The more you save at a younger age, the better off you'll be. I'm not talking about 50 either. I'm 32 now, I have my bimmer, my truck, and my wife has a nice SUV. I've worked hard, managed my money, blew some, but in general put it to good use. If I wouldn't have pissed so much away on a car and apartment at 23, I'd be in even better shape now. Just adding 8% of my first 2 years salary, plus match, plus compound interest....I'd have at LEAST another $20k in the bank. You don't have to get an '88 Honda Civic. Check out the new Accord Coupes. Or a CPO BMW - my first bimmer was a CPO, and while I wouldn't own it after 100k miles, it was a helluva good deal 6 years ago. Trust me, the car now won't mean shit to you in 10 years, but $50k-$100k in the bank will. Something else to consider - you don't yet know if you'll like your job, company, career choice, etc. Don't screw yourself with debt, such as a car, just yet. I was lucky to get out of mine, the guy completely over-paid for it. Selling a used car for $30k in the private market is hard as hell. Keep your expenses down, savings up, and you'll have the financial freedom to look at alternatives when you're 30, or you'll have the cash to pop on a house or condo or investment or whatever.
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03-18-2008, 06:37 PM | #41 |
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hell yes. I bet we see some great buying opportunities through 2009 and into 2010. But you gotta have at least a little cash, and favorable ratios, if you want to play those games.
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03-18-2008, 06:57 PM | #42 | |
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03-18-2008, 07:08 PM | #43 |
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spend like there's no tomorrow, the only thing in life that's guaranteed is the current breath you're taking. I had a friend who's parents saved everything and didn't buy anything nice in hopes of having a ton of money to retire with and go see the world. They retired with over $1M in savings and his Dad got sick within 2 weeks of retiring and was dead within 6 months. His mom died less then 30 days later. Didn't see the world or anything new for that matter. All that wasted time and joy in hope of living a dream that never occured.
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03-18-2008, 07:34 PM | #44 | |
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