<p>I’ve read all your posts so far. However, as we just discussed, a small change in your rent will lead to you saving far less than “just” $6000 for the next 10 years. And this isn’t the only possible thing that can happen. You may lose your job and be unemployed for a number of months, wiping out your savings. You may end up needing to buy some medical care. There may be some unexpected opportunity you wish to invest in.</p>
<p>The point is, small events in life will result in you not being able to fulfill your goals exactly. While it may seem impossible not to hit your target savings of $5-8K per year, it could very easily occur over the years. Perhaps this is the case with your cousins. Or perhaps they don’t share your views on savings. Either way, what does it matter to you?</p>
<p>An etiquette point: It’s not polite to sit around and think about how much others & make and how they spend their money. Honestly, it’s really not your business.</p>
<p>I have no idea how much others in my family earn. I don’t ask and they don’t volunteer. Nor do I care.</p>
<p>Insomniac, i carry no debt, aside from mortgage, have the ability to buy what i want, when i want…i think stashing 6 months of living expenses in an account that pays zero is foolish…i have a heloc for that 1 in a 100 chance i actually need it…you are young and not financially savvy, as another poster said, you will learn,someday…clearly, you don’t value any opinions that disagree with yours…best of luck,youngster</p>
<p>I carry no debt and can buy what I want too. I do have way more than 6 months of living expenses in cash. It’s something that I don’t worry about. I have a line of credit in my checking account and have credit cards with limits that are a lot higher than I care for (it’s a pain to get these things lowered).</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with the OPs approach at that age.</p>
<p>For the OPs original point, there are not many couples with a child who own a house that also have $200k cash in the bank.</p>
<p>Why not? Well, it costs $10k to $40k to move into a house. Your house may have gone down in value over the last 5 years. It costs $ to have a child - between $1k and $10k depending on what insurance pays. You have thousands of dollars in items to buy your newborn, and then you have daycare cost on top of that, which is something like $15k to $20k a year. You have student loans to payback. You have cars to buy, and they need to be reliable. You have car repairs. You have furnishings for your house to buy.</p>
<p>A 24 year old can save relatively easily. It’s much harder to save when you are a parent and a homeowner and a husband.</p>
<p>Talk with any financial adviser. They will tell you to have at least 8 months in an emergency fund. </p>
<p>1 in 100 chance? lol I am only 24 and I am glad I had money for a rainy day. Car broke down twice, medical expenses, etc.</p>
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<p>I am glad somebody understand what I am trying to say.</p>
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<p>You clearly haven’t read the posts. My cousin and husband have been married for over 10 years without a child. They barely had their first child 2 months ago.</p>
<p>Makes me think of the money I could save if I didn’t have to pay 110K for college costs next year. I should tell them I’m going frugal, take a loan or go without.</p>
<p>My intentions for this thread wasn’t to talk about my cousin and his wife, but the thread went into a different direction</p>
<p>I asked this one question and haven’t gotten many answers: “It just got me thinking. If two people with good, stable jobs don’t have an abundance of money, what is everybody’s else’s situation?”</p>
<p>Insomniac, when you have the money to pay for any surpise that may happen,and have a heloc, 6 months cash is not smart,and a GOOD financial advisor would also tell you that. I have the funds, just not in cash…sheez,rookie</p>
<p>There are cultures where saving is ingrained and Americans can be repulsed by how far people from these cultures go to save a buck. One guy I know has a Costco membership. We were discussing GPS units as I bought one a few years ago. When he has to go on a trip, he buys one at Costco, goes on his trip and then returns it. I thought that that was dishonest - you buy something to use it as that is the expectation of the buyer and seller - but take advantage of a generous return policy to use something for free. There are a lot of other areas where he tries to save money like using the cheapest mechanic and putting off car maintenance until something fails. I generally like to be proactive with car maintenance to avoid getting stranded and to avoid the worry over driving a car where I know something will eventually fail.</p>
<p>When I met my wife, I had five times her income. She had five times my savings. She grew up in a third-world country, single-parent and lived a far rougher life financially than I did (I grew up in a single-parent family in the US and we often didn’t have food when I was a young teenager but it wasn’t poor like in third-world countries).</p>
<p>My mother is in her mid-90s and lives off two pensions, social security, and dividends from a bunch of stocks that she bought a long time ago. She lives in a nice community in a house that’s probably worth around $600K to $700K and pays her own property taxes, transportation, food, heat, home maintenance, etc. Her kids are available to help her financially but my guess is that she’s too proud to accept anything. She grew up in the depression and has lots of stories about deprivation.</p>
<p>“Have to pay 110k? Nobody is forcing you to pay that ridiculous amount for college costs”</p>
<p>As the kids say, well duh…</p>
<p>It’s all relative. There are plenty of people on this board paying that amount of money and more, because they think it’s worth it. Many would say no way. I think it’s worth it, my kids will be very happy, have chosen great schools that offer excellent career assistance. I suspect they will be well paid, God willing, if this economy starts to roll along.</p>
<p>If someone had to pay it back via a loan, of course it would be ridiculous. But if you can pay it out of current salary or savings, with enough left, why not? I can’t count the number of threads upon whether it is “worth it” or not. But obviously it’s quite a different situation for those who make 2 million (I don’t, unfortunately) vs those who make 20K.</p>
<p>Have you ever talked to a financial adviser about this? Every financial adviser I have talked to and have heard on TV all have said to have at least an 8 month emergency fund.</p>
<p>^^People often make decisions on the schools where they think they will fit in, be challenged, and many other factors. Sometimes they are schools that will cost them next to nothing, sometimes they are schools that cost 55K+. Paying more will certainly not guarantee happiness, but if one has the means to do so (or gets financial aid/merit from the school), sometimes a private school is a better option. Depends on the kid. If you have the funds and the kid loves that school, why not? No guarantees in life, but you can make the best choices for your family at the time.</p>
<p>As far as income, my S1 has already got internships that pay quite well. Sometimes, the fact that recruiters solicit students from particular schools can be very helpful. I am certain that because he goes to a school that is at the top of his field, he has far more opportunities than if he went to our local community college. Though I’m sure many students from cc’s do quite well. I feel kind of silly even responding these kind of questions, because you can look all over this forum and see this debated.</p>
<p>Just curious. So if your kid likes a $30k car and not the $20k car, you would buy them the $30k car?</p>
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<p>There may or may not more opportunities. I know some people who went to CC for two years and to a state school who have jobs and kids who went to the “top tier” schools who don’t have a job. You just never know. If you feel spending $440k on two college educations and will never have any regrets, then good for you. If I had that type of money, I would rather save that money and give some to my kids to give them a nice down payment on a house.</p>