Hellobee Boards

Well for us DH is paid as salary plus bonuses so each month can have very different income. We try to focus on how much we want to save for the year as a whole. We have never had a month with no savings but some have been pretty low.

I think it sounds like an okay situation for you though - you're still saving for retirement, have savings to lean on, and this is not a long term set up.

@snowjewelz: As an aside, the scenario you are describing is not uncommon. The vast majority of people under 40 are not even taking full advantage of the match provided by their employer. Most of my clients (retirees) have large retirement accounts, but not many assets aside from that. They focused on maxing out their 401(k)s which just for one individual is $18,000 annually. My concern would stem more from essentially living month to month not from the lack of saving, but it sounds like you have a healthy emergency reserve to address any potential problems.

@snowjewelz: definitely makes sense. We don't touch our savings unless we have no other option - I would definitely forgo saving more in the type of situation you are mentioning. I would be comfortable doing what you are describing. I would tighten where you can but also make sure to live and enjoy life a bit too! You cannot get two years back later so as long as you don't dip into savings I would try to set aside small amounts of fun money when you can.

I'm comfortable with basically breaking even (after 401k contributions) as long as I have a decent emergency fund to draw from if necessary.

After our first was born, this was basically where we were. We were still contributing to our 401ks, but weren't saving any additional money after our normal bills, daycare, and additional child expenses. Each year saw raises and an increase in the ability to save.

Well we have a nice amount in savings right now, however the majority of that will be going to closing on our new build in a few weeks.

After we close we will be starting over, besides about 2 months of living in our emergency fund (and of course we have not touched our 401Ks and we have some additional assets that we could liquidate if absolutely necessary.) We know that we will be able to build it back up in the next year-two, but it doesn't make it any less scary to have saved for so long and then to see it all go in one big check!

But I'm a believer in "use it when you need it" and right now it makes sense to use it on our down payment for our new home in our dream location.

I think how comfortable I would be would also depend on the stability of employment - i.e. I'd want a bigger emergency fund in an industry where layoffs were super common than if I had a job with a five year contract, etc. Obviously layoffs aren't the only emergency, but are a big one. I think you just have to do what you can, and to the extent you're still meeting your retirement savings goals and have an emergency fund you're comfortable with, you're probably doing way better than most of the population.

@gingerbebe: we just made a move and paid off all debts except for our car loan with part of the proceeds instead of bulking up savings. We probably should have a saved a little more, but it was the BEST feeling to remove those debts off our financial spreadsheet!

I am right where you are. Dh and I both max out retirement (about 10% a paycheck each) and have healthy savings from pre-kids, but with two kids in daycare and a car payment we bareeeeely are putting anything in savings (if we have a home/car repair that month, definitely nothing). It sucks and I am far from comfortable with it, but within a year we'll be ditching the car payment and should both see considerable raises. FX I can survive the anxiety until then!

We actually haven't been contributing to savings (other than retirement and 529) for a while now! We built our emergency fund to a place we are very comfortable with, and beyond that we have other priorities. We've been working on paying down my student loans, and when we have 2 kids needing childcare we probably won't have much/any left over most months. But it's just temporary, and as long as you have a good emergency fund its fine IMO.

I didn't read all the responses so sorry if it's already been mentioned, but one thing I do try to set aside some money for is holiday and birthday shopping so we don't totally bust our budget for those events. And other things that we have to pay for just once a year vs. monthly like insurance, car registration, etc. It's nice to put a bit aside every month. We have multiple savings accounts to keep track of all these things.

@snowjewelz: Sounds like you're doing well. Not to be a negative Nancy but have you looked into afterschool care costs to see where you will be in two years? I was surprised to find after school care for kindergarteners at our local public school is more than we pay for in-home daycare and preschool. It drops to 90% of daycare cost for elementary aged kids. I'm glad I know now with one year to explore options.

The internet is totally a crazy bubble of ideal circumstances. I would venture for a majority of parents with younger kids there isn't substantial savings going on. Our month to month varies greatly on my overtime... but we contribute to a 401k up to my employee match and then have a set small amount go to an IRA and the kids 529s. I will have preschool costs for the next 5 years (with a year off when my son is in kindergarten and my daughter hasn't started) but I think a car might be paid off in the meantime so there will be a little more wiggleroom.

Anyway, depending on the month I save a few hundred extra cash or none at all or dip into savings. It is what it is. I do over pay my taxes as a forced savings which seems to work well for me.

We are the same. I am maxing out my 457, and DH is getting his 100%match, we are putting a little into a 529, and we have an emergency fund that is fine but we aren't contributing more to right now. We aren't saving a bunch to invest like we were before because of daycare costs. And we'll contribute more to 529s once they are in school. I'm perfectly comfortable with this situation but DH is a little stressed about not saving as much as he used to.

I guess I think if you're maxing out your retirement then you ARE saving! And since you have a significant emergency fund already then there really isn't anything to worry about... If you have to dip into that, that is when I would tighten my belt to get your emergency fund back up to that level, but if everything remains status quo and nothing big comes up, I think you're doing just fine!

I'd be fine with it as you described. In an emergency situation, you have adequate liquid savings to access, could decrease your 401(k) contributions (just to get the match), and worst case could access your investments. Based on all of that, your (relatively) stable job situation, and for a defined, short timeframe, I wouldn't worry about it.

I'm very risk averse and generally we are financially smart/sound people...but 2 years ago, we had a special circumstance where, for 1 year, we were in the red every month. Like, I literally had a spreadsheet that showed what we could spend/had spent each month in order to just hit zero on our liquid savings at the right time! We still had investment accounts we could've accessed in a catastrophe had it been necessary, and we had zero debt. But it was still a REALLY weird situation for me! I just had to keep perspective that it would only be for a short time and would be worth it!

We are saving only a very small amount per month right now. Like, maybe a couple hundred bucks in a month where we don't have unexpected expenses. It's been a tighter year because we bought a house (and of course we've had to do a lot of maintenance/repair to it) and had a baby. But, we had a healthy savings/emergency fund built up already (even after the down payment on the house), we keep a cushion in checking for unexpected expenses, DH maxes out his contribution to his 401k, I've got a decent amount invested, etc. As long as we don't have to dip into savings on a regular basis I'm "comfortable." (That's a relative term because I tend to worry about money no matter what.)

@babypugs: What's a vacation?