The math doesn’t add up.
Tori Dunlap is not the person who was married. That’s another woman whose blog was shown on the 100K woman’s site. Tori did, however, take vacations abroad and her site has a lot of pics of her doing things most of us would think inadvisable for someone trying to save, such as drinking Starbucks and going out to eat.
I do think her site has a lot to offer in terms of advice on how to save. She did things like negotiating down debt, not using cards with fees, negotiating her salary. She invested, reinvested, and took advantage of any savings vehicles offered though her job. She doesn’t carry credit card debt. Most importantly she’s paying attention to what she spends.
I also think she’s a talented marketer. The photos on her site are sharp. She has kept up a vibrant Instagram. She’s clearly partnered with a number of businesses on her site, and she has been able to garner some good press. Good for her for all of that.
However, I have a hard time with the 100K math as well. @twoinanddone’s math only works if she had been earning what she’s earning since graduation. She hasn’t.
Feeling like a stalker here, but this is from one of her posts. (Bolding added by me)
2018 IN NUMBERS
•
States visited: 8
Times I went viral: 1
Photo shoots: 6
Events coordinated: 1
Hours of music listened to: 48,550
John Mulaney-related dreams: 10
Podcasts I’ve guested on: 8
Jobs I quit: 1
Blog posts published: 21
Boys I kissed: 6
Boys I wanted to kiss: 10
Events attended: too many
Times I seriously considered quitting: 2
Months in my own apartment: 8
Money saved: $12,000
Personal messages from women about my work: 68
Musicals seen: TBD
Times I cried: a lot
Times I laughed so hard I cried: a lot
Even if she has amassed 10K the vast majority of that has to be from her side business. Having a side hustle is a great idea, but most people won’t make anywhere near the kind of money she’s making in a second job,. My advice would be to listen to her advice and apply it when possible but don’t buy into the hype.
^That was supposed to say, “Even if she has amassed 100K…” Darned sticky zero button!
@twoinanddone, her central core, her schtick is, “I saved 100K in Three Years.
It’s not, “My employer contributed to my 401K, I counted the money I saved my entire life, I invested and the market went up,” it’s clear what she is saying.
However, I think it is a marketing gig. That gets people’s attention, and most people won’t stop to think about the math.
@busdriver11 It’s actually 2 years…
I read it as her setting a goal when she she was 22 that she wanted to have ‘saved’ $100k by the time she was 25 (as someone else had done). It’s also a reporter’s interpretation of what and how she did it and she may have given him the facts and he edited out that she started with $10k in savings or got a few bonuses.
I think it’s legit to include her 401k balances in that savings goal, include any employer match, bonuses, gifts from her family, lotto winnings, interest, rebate checks. The $12k is her liquid emergency fund, not part of the 27% saved through her employer. Maybe it came from her take home pay, maybe from a side job. Sounds like she takes the extra she earns from the ‘side hustle’ she invests in the stock market and that’s in addition to the $12k too.
Wherever it came from, she’s got $100k in savings now. Can everyone do it? No, and it did help her to have a really good start from her parents, no student loans, no health problems, etc. Not everyone can afford to put 27% of salary into 401k’s because they do have student loans or insurance costs or car payments or a Starbucks habit. She can.
Jessica Simpson lost 100 pounds. Part of that weight loss was actually having a baby but the fact is that she weighed 240 last year (while pregnant) and 140 now. If she’d lopped off body parts to reach her goal (the Steve Martin diet), I might not give her the same admiration, but to get a 20 pound head start by giving birth? I’m good with that. However this women got her $100k, I’m good with that too.
" it did help her to have a really good start from her parents, no student loans, no health problems, etc."
And if other articles I read about/by her, she acknowledges that.
“However this women got her $100k, I’m good with that too.”
Me, too! Even if it was only half that figure, still impressive. In a society where folks spend too much and don’t save enough, kudos. If she is motivating other young adults to save, even if it is less, bravo!
Well, the math doesn’t work. Even if she were making $80,000 a year, 27% in savings after taxes still comes up to no more than $18,000 a year, meaning $54,000 in savings. Not bad, but far less than $100,000. For her to save $100,000 by saving 17% of her salary, she’d have needed to be making about $125,000 a year, AFTER taxes, or about $170,000 a year before taxes.
So the title of the story is BS.
However, the fact that she has saved $100,000, with about half coming from an initial $10,000 or so, tell me that she is a sharp business person. She should be featured in articles, but I do hate it when the authors are focusing on side issues. Yes, she is pretty frugal for a young person with a good salary, a good side hustle, and investments. However, it her business sense and that fact that she is really good at what she does that should be the focus of her story.
I may be mistaken, but I think I smell more than a whiff of misogyny there. If she were a man, I believe they would go on about how brilliant he is in investments and hustling, not about being frugal and saving.
Far better than the “I have 100k in college loans and csn only find work working as a barista.”
I think the best thing is to tell our kids to save as much as they can when they’re starting out. If your company offers a retirement plan. take advantage of it. And try to live at or below your means. This girl earns more then most Americans so her advice and story is not going to apply to everyone…
My 25yo son truly has saved over 100k in 3 years out of college. He started with full ride merit scholarship. No debt. Salary in 50s. Maxed out his retirement accounts, employer match. His living expenses are about 6.5K per year. He is a miser. Never buys anything. Uses public transportation. Wants to retire early.
Wow. 6.5k would not even cover rent here in Seattle. A small room in a dump… maybe. Miss saver form the OP pays about $1500 a month for her apartment. Sounds about right - on the lower end for an apodment.
@atomom Your son spends less than $550 per month?
$6500 sounds a little overly miserly unless he’s living somewhere free with free some free meals as well. I’m a huge proponent of living below one’s means and saving but I also believe in some life balance and enjoyment as well.
Yes, I agree–he is overly miserly.
I do wish they’d broken down the $100k in savings. It would help the other young working kids to know that she puts 27% into the 401k, and the employer matches 4-10% (and how much that was) and the interest earned, and how much she save of her salary (sounds like $12000 and she used some for unemployment and then replenished?), and how much she invested in the vanguard? from her side hustle. Seeing the actual numbers really helps others to see what it takes and if they can do it.
I think it also helps to show that she did spend $25 on throw pillows and only $80/mo on groceries because she doesn’t eat anything, etc.
As a lesson in how quickly money can add up when you do thing right. My daughter has been working for about 3 1/2 years. She puts in her 401 K the max that is matched (5%). Her 401 K plan and her company stock account now have $30 K in them (added together). The stock is taxed as income at the time of each vest (they sell off shares to pay it automatically).
Key word for those attempting to save- frugal.
Both H and I grew up with modest means and translated our hard work as physicians into being able to pay for son’s college education. That is a huge benefit. So is the car we bought for son because he couldn’t get paperwork proving he had his first after college job in time for a loan. We spent far less than our income- including a spending on what it is worth having, not just what we could spend mindset (not the latest, greates xyz when they first came out et al, middle class lifestyle including travel). Son incorporated frugality, underspending his income by a lot. Unfortunately he doesn’t follow investment advice we give him- perhaps if the markets crash he will benefit, sigh.
Reading the short link and following posters here I see MARKETING, something we don’t do. I guess it is the point of business to make money. We have been fortunate that society values our work - that translates into larger incomes than average. Wish I could go back in time and give myself and family the money we now have. Finally loosening up a bit- H reminds me I can afford to pay for extras like valet parking at that hotel…
Good for your son for his savings patterns. What investment advice did you give him and what is he doing instead?
Our S is also very careful about his spending but enjoys creature comforts. Because his engineering salary doesn’t provide for as many of them as he’d like, he also has a part-time job that earns more than his engineering salary and with the two streams of income he is able to both save a lot AND enjoy travel and living at a very nice place.