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Topic: how much do you save?
| Author | Message |
| Bleak Spouse | Posted – 8/8/2006 2:35:08 PM | show profile i'm only able to save about $1,300 a month after paying all my bills. is this a usual amount for people in media jobs? |
| belinda | Posted – 8/8/2006 2:45:03 PM | show profile Is this a trick question? |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 8/8/2006 2:47:27 PM | show profile Bleak Spouse, it seems your sole intent on this board is to try to rile people up. I hope they don't take the bait this time, but I'm guessing a lot will, seeing as a whole lot of us barely net 1,300 a month. |
| globetrotter78 | Posted – 8/8/2006 2:54:26 PM | show profile Ditto, maggirl |
| mailbag | Posted – 8/8/2006 5:51:45 PM | show profile | email poster Negative balance In the red $1.23 Considering actual inflation (not the Fed's numbers) is about 13%..... should be in the whole by $20 in November. Accepting donations now to make up the difference. Please send donations to Underpaid Journalists Assoc. 123 Main St NY, NY 10000 |
| Bleak Spouse | Posted – 8/8/2006 6:24:33 PM | show profile no, i'm not baiting. i'm curious how much people are able to save. and i don't believe you net $1,300 a month. that's like 23k a year. i think the average media salary in new york is more like 60k. |
| mailbag | Posted – 8/8/2006 6:53:50 PM | show profile | email poster really? Bleak... I don't know about average media salaries in NY being $60k. Are you talking payroll and not freelance? For the NYT, WSJ, broadcast stars - I'd agree ($60 and up.) For the rest I'd suggest $40K is closer to real, which is why so many of us try to get out after age 40. I know three freelancers who did NOT cut $20K in 2005 and that is because I did their taxes for them last year. If it wasn't for family wealth they'd be homeless - and these folks are superb writers too. PR? I have no clue, I have nothing to do with that side of media and maybe that profession skews up the range? |
| leprechaunsy | Posted – 8/8/2006 7:23:56 PM | show profile Bleak Spouse So how do you save that much? What's the breakdown on salary, rent, food ... I'd be open to hearing some pointers. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 8/8/2006 7:39:13 PM | show profile I think the relevent question is how much you save based on your income. The type of job you have, whether in media, or elsewhere is irrelevant. --i'm only able to save about $1,300 a month after paying all my bills. is this a usual amount for people in media jobs?-- |
| Hannah | Posted – 8/8/2006 7:56:51 PM | show profile My husband and I aren't especially prosperous, and our expenses are steep -- mortgage and childcare alone cost us $45,000 per year -- but we each put away about 6 percent of our income into retirement funds. We try to stash more in a regular savings account when we can, but it's tough. For us, the trick is having the money removed from our paychecks before we can blow it. |
| Venus | Posted – 8/8/2006 8:29:55 PM | show profile I think it's all relative to your income and expenses...and where you're living. I'm a freelancer living in the mountain west. Right now I'm able to stash 8 percent of my gross income in savings, and 4 percent into retirement accounts. Another 4 percent is going to paying off some credit card debt, so when that's paid off I'll be able to double the retirement savings. |
| Venus | Posted – 8/8/2006 8:41:30 PM | show profile ps. Here's a link to an article about saving. It's based on an effective (if ambitious) philosophy that you should be living on only 60-70 percent of your income. http://tinyurl.com/pwz56 Also, if you are fortunate enough to have savings, I'd suggest opening a high-interest savings account online. EmigrantDirect is currently offering 5.15% interest for their savings acct. HSBC has a good one too, I've heard. |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 8/8/2006 8:55:22 PM | show profile I actually meant per pay period, not per month-whoops. But I actually make less than that. And you also forget that this board is not just for NYers! |
| analog | Posted – 8/8/2006 11:57:46 PM | show profile This must be DC who started this thread. Years later, same old same old. |
| marlysghost | Posted – 8/9/2006 1:05:49 AM | show profile I save $1000 per week. I live in LA, make roughly $6K a week, and my living expenses (rent, food, bills, etc.) are $5200 per month. I'm trying to save up for a house, but even saving $50K a year, I don't think I'll ever be able to afford it (the neighborhood where I want to live, Beachwood Canyon, tiny 2 bedroom cottages are around $1.2 million) very frustrating -- even though I'm making a ton of money, I feel like my standard of living (apartment, can't afford vacations, etc.) is far below that of my coworkers, and I know I've got it really good, but it's still disheartening (fyi, I'm a TV producer and am single with no kids.) |
| writesonwater | Posted – 8/9/2006 1:19:35 AM | show profile | email poster Good old Bleak, either stir it up or rub it in, take your choice. However, I'll bite. Not much -- our balance seems to hover around the same amount. That said, we've picked up two investment properties, and it seems we are destined to be land-rich and money-poor. My spouse is in education and will have a pension, thank goodness, because everything I write gets spent. Maybe one of these days the novel thing will pay off ... here's hoping, for all of us. |
| Bleak Spouse | Posted – 8/9/2006 2:22:16 AM | show profile marly: something tells me your not a local access tv producer. |
| mailbag | Posted – 8/9/2006 5:30:27 AM | show profile | email poster Dumb "Bleak Spouse -- marly: something tells me your not a local access tv producer." Well Bleak, what marly describes is what everyone I know in LA does actually make $250,000 a year and up, so that does not surprise me. I'm more surprised s/he claims to be in media though. Real estate and development, investing, IT - those careers are the ones I'm most familiar with. Media is way to volatile for "my smart" relatives to have ever considered as their career. I'm the dumb one in the family. |
| Venus | Posted – 8/9/2006 9:41:28 AM | show profile marly--why not save $2k per week, or even $3k? If your expenses are less than 6,000 per month, you should still have plenty of cushion there, and you'll be able to afford that house a lot sooner. Wish I had your problem... |
| jcpatterson | Posted – 8/9/2006 10:02:46 AM | show profile OK, on the off chance that folks are actually visiting this thread for real information: I save about 25 percent of my gross each month, with "savings" meaning retirement funds, long-term savings vehicles, and short-term accessible money (like for vacations, etc.). I am married and do have a second income in the family to complicate the spending/saving pie, but I generally saved 20-25 percent even when I was single. |
| marlysghost | Posted – 8/9/2006 11:16:32 AM | show profile I can't afford to save more than $1K a week -- my $6K is gross, and over half of that goes to taxes, agent, business manager, etc. I'm left with relatively little. and I produce a network show... |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 8/9/2006 11:22:08 AM | show profile I live in Los Angeles and know lots of people who make far less than $300,000 (I am one of them) who do just fine. In fact, I know lots of people whose income is less than your living expenses who are able to do all the things you mention. It seems the problem is one of expectations -- that you need a $3 million house or need to take $20K vacations. --marlysghost Posted ? 8/9/2006 1:05:49 AM | show profile I save $1000 per week. I live in LA, make roughly $6K a week, and my living expenses (rent, food, bills, etc.) are $5200 per month. I'm trying to save up for a house, but even saving $50K a year, I don't think I'll ever be able to afford it (the neighborhood where I want to live, Beachwood Canyon, tiny 2 bedroom cottages are around $1.2 million) very frustrating -- even though I'm making a ton of money, I feel like my standard of living (apartment, can't afford vacations, etc.) is far below that of my coworkers, and I know I've got it really good, but it's still disheartening (fyi, I'm a TV producer and am single with no kids.) -= |
| writesonwater | Posted – 8/9/2006 12:07:32 PM | show profile | email poster Regarding California real estate, hang in there -- repos are going up, prices will be coming down. |
| marlysghost | Posted – 8/9/2006 1:51:36 PM | show profile I admit it completely is expectations -- I know I could afford a house in different area or a longer commute, but I *do* want a beautiful house with a big yard and lots of trees in this amazing neighborhood that's close to the studio where I work, and I can't afford it, and I'm saving as much money as I can, but I still am impossibly far from reaching this goal. I don't think this is such a terrible thing to want -- I have no family or responsibilities other than myself, I just hit 35, and I've worked incredibly hard to get to the position I'm in, so why not strive for a home that I love? (I'll admit, though, that the vacations I want to take are exhorbitant -- which is why I don't take them! Better to save that money towards my house...) I'm glad to hear the housing market's going down, but I wish it'd hurry up! |
| alx_ds | Posted – 8/9/2006 2:45:53 PM | show profile saving? don't manage to save anything. 35k salary in new york is tough, of course, and a few luxuries -- fancy dinners, new clothes, vacations -- mean that i pretty much am desperate for the next paycheck. all of you stop whining -- you have it so good. |
