Pharmacist expenses

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Is that after retirement savings?
 
You guys realize median income in this country is in the low 50s? Even adjusted for NYC, you guys should be saving for retirement and have cash flow, especially if you’re single.
 
projektreverb said:
You guys realize median income in this country is in the low 50s? Even adjusted for NYC, you guys should be saving for retirement and have cash flow, especially if you’re single.
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where do you live? rent takes 33% and Im asian. So I have to give out money to my parents to take care of them. I even give my dad a allowance lol. That and I have a lot of hobbies. there is always something to do in the city. Also Im picking up languages in German, French, and Spanish.
 
Lubeckd said:
where do you live? rent takes 33% and Im asian. So I have to give out money to my parents to take care of them. I even give my dad a allowance lol. That and I have a lot of hobbies. there is always something to do in the city. Also Im picking up languages in German, French, and Spanish.
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One of the more expensive cities in the Midwest. If you’d make an educated guess you’d probably be right 🙂 I refuse to live in the city due to cost and I hate being stuffed into a shoebox, Pay way more just to say I live in the city when it’s just a train ride away from me and my living costs are way less. Have plenty of relatives in the Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs. They pull it off. I’m a first gen immigrant too so I get that battle. Much respect for supporting your folks my friend!!
 
You are polish or german descent. Maybe bulgarian innnn chicago.
I say it because chicago is the biggest city, and its the biggest polish city besides warsaw and krakow. Also German because midwesterns tend to be german or dannish. Last big bulgarian population in chicago
 
Lubeckd said:
You are polish or german descent. Maybe bulgarian innnn chicago.
I say it because chicago is the biggest city, and its the biggest polish city besides warsaw and krakow. Also German because midwesterns tend to be german or dannish. Last big bulgarian population in chicago
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Correct guess on the city, and if I was a betting man, I would have probably guessed the same thing on nationality, but I’m of a different variety🙂 Statistically you did have great odds with Eastern European 🙂
 
Lubeckd said:
where do you live? rent takes 33% and Im asian. So I have to give out money to my parents to take care of them. I even give my dad a allowance lol. That and I have a lot of hobbies. there is always something to do in the city. Also Im picking up languages in German, French, and Spanish.
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33% of gross towards rent? Ouch.
I don't know your circumstances too well, but it sounds like your inability to save comes from your choices rather than involuntary expenses. Even after rent, taxes, and cost of living fees, you should still have at least 30k left annually.
 
curious to know what a mid 30's single person should have saved up ... worked a decade at a major chain probably made around 120-140k per year and still feel like i haven't saved much.... (those effin student loans)
 
khydroxide said:
curious to know what a mid 30's single person should have saved up ... worked a decade at a major chain probably made around 120-140k per year and still feel like i haven't saved much.... (those effin student loans)
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Average U.S. Checking Account Balance: A Demographic Breakdown

We analyzed data on the average amount Americans hold in their transaction accounts, with a focus on the differences we found among people of varying income, age, gender and race.
www.valuepenguin.com www.valuepenguin.com
Paycheck to paycheck Nations. Been wondering about it. It happens in other countries as well
 
TheBlaah said:
33% of gross towards rent? Ouch.
I don't know your circumstances too well, but it sounds like your inability to save comes from your choices rather than involuntary expenses. Even after rent, taxes, and cost of living fees, you should still have at least 30k left annually.
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It's actually half your income in NYC. Yes I'm bad, it shows you are better at saving. It is indeed my choices
 
First, $1000/mo is far from living paycheck to paycheck so at least you are saving. Many people live on $1,000/mo or less. But if you still have loans, why don't you put that extra $1000/mo towards them?

I don't see the appeal of NYC. You'll never pay your loans off or save for a house with those expenses.

I paid off 100k in loans, bought a ring, a used car, wedding, saved 20% down payment for our first home in under 3 years living in a suburb. Two years later we have a kid (daycare is expensive) and live in a more expensive town so we don't save as much outside of retirement accounts and 529. Still put 20% down on a mid 700k home and paid 18k cash for a 3 year old car.

Most of that was paid with earned income (money from our paycheck). We didn't invest much in taxable accounts like many here do. So we could have saved much more if we were invested.

As a single pharmacist you should be saving a lot more.
 
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You're in one of the most expensive US cities and there are an unlimited number of ways to spend disposable income. Helping your family is also going to undercut your ability to save vs nearly everyone this forum but I understand that is cultural - how much do you give them monthly?
 
Lubeckd said:
Hi, Im curious what everyone expenses are.
Cause Im here feeling like Im living paycheck to paycheck, I probably only save 1000 per month.
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if you're saving 1000 per month, you are not living paycheck to paycheck lol.
I save only about 1K-1.2K a month as well but im aggressively paying off my loans and will be finished next year so will end up having much more cash flow then.
Right now money is just going to rent, utilities, food, and on vacations once in a while. My hobbies are just video gaming so i don't really spend much going out, maybe once a week with friends. I have a gf as well but if you are single and have no loans, saving 1000 a month seems a little low unless you are investing your money somewhere
 
While I do advocate saving more, $1k a month for a 40 year career will be enough. You won't live a great retirement life though. I hope you are at least living it up now.

What you need to be considering is how long will you be working. If this job is gone in under 20 years, you could be in trouble.

khydroxide said:
curious to know what a mid 30's single person should have saved up ... worked a decade at a major chain probably made around 120-140k per year and still feel like i haven't saved much.... (those effin student loans)
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There's no reason why you shouldn't have at least $500k. You've worked during one of the greatest markets ever.
 
wagrxm2000 said:
While I do advocate saving more, $1k a month for a 40 year career will be enough. You won't live a great retirement life though. I hope you are at least living it up now.

What you need to be considering is how long will you be working. If this job is gone in under 20 years, you could be in trouble.



There's no reason why you shouldn't have at least $500k. You've worked during one of the greatest markets ever.
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500k .....wow that is discouraging(got nowhere near that much)
 
khydroxide said:
500k .....wow that is discouraging(got nowhere near that much)
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We've averaged 13% annually this decade. The 5th best ever.

Saving 2k a month should have gotten you there and I think that's a reasonable amount to save.

Some/many will disagree but it all comes down to the life you want to live now compared to later.

If you aren't saving that much a year, you better be living the best life imaginable. Well or just not live in these high cost of living cities. I honestly couldn't imagine being in my 30s or even 20s and spending that much a year here in the midwest.
 
what ever you do, just dont be that pharmacist who works their entire life and has no savings, so when the hours starts to get cut, they cant make their budget...
 
pencilandpen said:
what ever you do, just dont be that pharmacist who works their entire life and has no savings, so when the hours starts to get cut, they cant make their budget...
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Yeah, at least make sure your van is paid off, then you can at least live down by the river.
 
khydroxide said:
curious to know what a mid 30's single person should have saved up ... worked a decade at a major chain probably made around 120-140k per year and still feel like i haven't saved much.... (those effin student loans)
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A pharmacist should have $300K net worth at your age
 
I got 900K saved in my 40's....I'm just glad I chose to save because things are not going to get any better
 
wagrxm2000 said:
10 years working in a straight up market?

That's way too low.
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Recall the student loans that have to be paid. I think 300k is pretty reasonable for anyone with 200k in loans.
 
wagrxm2000 said:
Wasn't it more like $100k ten years ago?
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Good point, someone at the 10 year mark now would have probably had 100k or less to start with. Still 300k isn’t terrible, it just isn’t the best they could have done either. Hopefully they enjoyed whatever they spent it on.
 
Lubeckd said:
Hi, Im curious what everyone expenses are.
Cause Im here feeling like Im living paycheck to paycheck, I probably only save 1000 per month.
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Eh... sounds about right in new york.

Save about $3000 a month. With those savings im investing about $1000 in mutual funds, $1000 in other investments and $1000 in savings.

Im in texas so of course standard of living is much cheaper than new york. $1600 for nice two bedroom apartment, $800 for a car payment and rest are spent on loans, food and entertainment.

My wife makes about 2/3 of what i do so all of her money is pretty much being either saved, invested or her car payment. Not that we pay for things separately but just to give you an idea on how i spend my portion of income.
 
VictorOfHungerGames said:
Eh... sounds about right in new york.

Save about $3000 a month. With those savings im investing about $1000 in mutual funds, $1000 in other investments and $1000 in savings.

Im in texas so of course standard of living is much cheaper than new york. $1600 for nice two bedroom apartment, $800 for a car payment and rest are spent on loans, food and entertainment.

My wife makes about 2/3 of what i do so all of her money is pretty much being either saved, invested or her car payment. Not that we pay for things separately but just to give you an idea on how i spend my portion of income.
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$800/month? What kind of car?
 
We have many 100k saved, not including our house, kids' college funds or stock. That's after paid student loans and cash for home improvement projects. House will be paid off in 3 years but we could pay it off tomorrow if needed. It's not a place everyone would like living but we do, and if we decide to move, we can. Safe community with great public schools. Once that debt snowball rolls and the savings accumulate, it's pretty awesome. As someone who was flat broke and briefly homeless during school, I'm still in awe that I should be so lucky to be here today. I'm all for experiences but you can't eat them or live in them. My kids run in the sprinkler and ride bikes and think it's all great. We're not deprived.

We spend around 4k a month on expenses.
 
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It's hard to say how much you should have saved after working 10 years; do you consider equity in a house as savings? What about 401K plan? Everyone has a different situation based on what kind of a hole they trying to dig out for student debt.
Having said that, the people who are the most well off that I know are who: 1. bought property during the recession- home prices nearly doubled in certain areas since 2. Work for Kaiser 3. Married well.
 
steveysmith54 said:
It's hard to say how much you should have saved after working 10 years; do you consider equity in a house as savings? What about 401K plan? Everyone has a different situation based on what kind of a hole they trying to dig out for student debt.
Having said that, the people who are the most well off that I know are who: 1. bought property during the recession- home prices nearly doubled in certain areas since 2. Work for Kaiser 3. Married well.
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and people who had little or no student loans
 
northeast-southwest said:
360k net worth. Renting (so doesn’t include any RE equity). Net worth seems to increase about 5-10k/month on average depending on market.

29, CA

Good luck finding a spouse that’s ok with you shelling out a large % of your income to your parents each month as an allowance btw
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that's pretty dam good for 29. Good for you. Did you have any debt after school or paid off quickly?
 
northeast-southwest said:
360k net worth. Renting (so doesn’t include any RE equity). Net worth seems to increase about 5-10k/month on average depending on market.

29, CA

Good luck finding a spouse that’s ok with you shelling out a large % of your income to your parents each month as an allowance btw
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That's a common financial responsibility for first generation children. Or burden as some would consider it.
 
Look into the term "Prodigious Accumulator of Wealth" from the book "The Millionaire Next Door".

A PAW has a Net Worth greater than 2 x Age x Annual Income / 10

It doesn't really work in your early years with massive student loans, etc but by 10 years into your career hopefully you should be on track.

e.g. 2 x 35 y/o x 130,000 / 10 = 910,000 Net Worth to be a PAW

Once you reach PAW you just have to increase your NW by 20% of your annual income to stay at that level.
 
pezdispenser said:
Look into the term "Prodigious Accumulator of Wealth" from the book "The Millionaire Next Door".

A PAW has a Net Worth greater than 2 x Age x Annual Income / 10

It doesn't really work in your early years with massive student loans, etc but by 10 years into your career hopefully you should be on track.

e.g. 2 x 35 y/o x 130,000 / 10 = 910,000 Net Worth to be a PAW

Once you reach PAW you just have to increase your NW by 20% of your annual income to stay at that level.
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If you are married, do you do this for each spouse? So two 35 year olds should be worth 1.82 million? We're not even close to that.
 
mentos said:
If you are married, do you do this for each spouse? So two 35 year olds should be worth 1.82 million? We're not even close to that.
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You can take the average of your ages or just use the age of the main breadwinner. But you should add together to get your total annual income and total net worth.
 
pezdispenser said:
Look into the term "Prodigious Accumulator of Wealth" from the book "The Millionaire Next Door".

A PAW has a Net Worth greater than 2 x Age x Annual Income / 10

It doesn't really work in your early years with massive student loans, etc but by 10 years into your career hopefully you should be on track.

e.g. 2 x 35 y/o x 130,000 / 10 = 910,000 Net Worth to be a PAW

Once you reach PAW you just have to increase your NW by 20% of your annual income to stay at that level.
Click to expand...

To have achieved PAW over the past 10 years you would have to save 3650 a month Or $43800 per year at the 13% percent we have achieved.

Now PAW at age 55 is very doable. Assuming a more normal return since the crash is coming of 7% you need to save a little over $1k a month for those 31 years.

It won't be very easy to retire with 1.43 million at age 55 if you still want to have a great life though. This is especially true if you plan on traveling.

Any person under 30 will probably need 3 million when they retire to live a great retirement life.
 
mentos said:
That's a common financial responsibility for first generation children. Or burden as some would consider it.
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How about the parents themselves? They did not work? Or is it some sort of Asian family thing?

I am an immigrant (Eastern Europe). My parents are financially stable, after being in this country for 20 years. They would never accept money from their children. This is the norm among people I know.
 
Rainbowdash said:
How about the parents themselves? They did not work? Or is it some sort of Asian family thing?

I am an immigrant (Eastern Europe). My parents are financially stable, after being in this country for 20 years. They would never accept money from their children. This is the norm among people I know.
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You are fortunate, but there are many who are not. Asia is a very big continent so you can't generalize all of those countries in one statement.

My in-laws for example escaped a war torn country and arrived to USA on a leaky boat with no possessions. They are uneducated and don't speak English so they don't know about 401ks or IRAs. They make barely above minimum wage working in a factory, as a result they have arthritis and health issues. The Dad has more back problems because he was kept prisoner inside of a cage where he couldn't stand up. He recently had a stroke. My wife owes them her life, she would not be here without them. If you were in her shoes, would you not help out your parents financially? I mean, I guess she could be driving a Mercedes instead of a Honda if she denied her parents money.
 
I can probably retire in my late 40s/ early 50s if I were to keep my current job (I am in early 30s at this point). Issue is that’s not gonna happen given the pharmacy climate.
 
mentos said:
You are fortunate, but there are many who are not. Asia is a very big continent so you can't generalize all of those countries in one statement.

My in-laws for example escaped a war torn country and arrived to USA on a leaky boat with no possessions. They are uneducated and don't speak English so they don't know about 401ks or IRAs. They make barely above minimum wage working in a factory, as a result they have arthritis and health issues. The Dad has more back problems because he was kept prisoner inside of a cage where he couldn't stand up. He recently had a stroke. My wife owes them her life, she would not be here without them. If you were in her shoes, would you not help out your parents financially? I mean, I guess she could be driving a Mercedes instead of a Honda if she denied her parents money.
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Understood. That makes complete sense. Thanks for your explanation.

It looks like we are truly privileged, since my "sample size" includes mostly educated Ashkenazi, who had their own struggles, but, luckily, war was not one of them. . .
 
pezdispenser said:
Look into the term "Prodigious Accumulator of Wealth" from the book "The Millionaire Next Door".

A PAW has a Net Worth greater than 2 x Age x Annual Income / 10

It doesn't really work in your early years with massive student loans, etc but by 10 years into your career hopefully you should be on track.

e.g. 2 x 35 y/o x 130,000 / 10 = 910,000 Net Worth to be a PAW

Once you reach PAW you just have to increase your NW by 20% of your annual income to stay at that level.
Click to expand...


mentos said:
If you are married, do you do this for each spouse? So two 35 year olds should be worth 1.82 million? We're not even close to that.
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Thanks for sharing this formula - I hadn't seen it before.

Based on this, dear spouse and I should have $2.697 million...yeah, I've never felt like I've been a million bucks in the red before today!
 
There are no magical formulas to determine where you should be currently. You just need to set a spending goal for your retirement and use the 3% or 4% rule which has extensive history on showing you will have enough money to make it through retirement.

I lean towards the 3% rule since bonds are much lower then they used to be.

So it's pretty simple. You want $100k in retirement. You think social security will cover $30k which might be too high or low. You need $70k or a nest egg of $2.3 million to feel confident you can retire for 30 years without going broke.

Obviously don't forget the first ten or so years you won't have social security if you retire early so play it even more safe and go with 3 million.

Finally remember, your egg is still making money. If you can retire during the beginning to middle stages of a new bull market, that 3 million could easily go up $300k a year depending on your stock/bond ratio which should be near 60/40 in retirement.

Just be prepared to spend significantly less during 50% plunges.
 
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wagrxm2000 said:
To have achieved PAW over the past 10 years you would have to save 3650 a month Or $43800 per year at the 13% percent we have achieved.

Now PAW at age 55 is very doable. Assuming a more normal return since the crash is coming of 7% you need to save a little over $1k a month for those 31 years.

It won't be very easy to retire with 1.43 million at age 55 if you still want to have a great life though. This is especially true if you plan on traveling.

Any person under 30 will probably need 3 million when they retire to live a great retirement life.
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The keyword is Prodigious so not everyone will get to that level. If your net worth is 1 x Age x Annual Income / 10 then you would be an Average Accumulator of Wealth. If it is < 0.5x, then you would be an Under Accumulator of Wealth.

Also your home equity is included in your net worth, so if you have a 300k 30 yr 4% mortgage with a payment of $1450/mo, around $450 of that in the beginning is going towards the principal. Plus if the market value of your house goes up, that will also increase your net worth. e.g. 375k house x 3%/yr = 11250/yr or 937.50/mo.

If you get your house paid off early, your monthly expenses will drop dramatically, so not only will you be able to save and invest much more of your income, but also you won't even need to have as much saved for retirement. e.g. 1.43 mil x 4% = 57,200 - 5k taxes - 18k living expenses without a mortgage = leaves 34k for discretionary spending which is plenty.
 
pezdispenser said:
The keyword is Prodigious so not everyone will get to that level. If your net worth is 1 x Age x Annual Income / 10 then you would be an Average Accumulator of Wealth. If it is < 0.5x, then you would be an Under Accumulator of Wealth.

Also your home equity is included in your net worth, so if you have a 300k 30 yr 4% mortgage with a payment of $1450/mo, around $450 of that in the beginning is going towards the principal. Plus if the market value of your house goes up, that will also increase your net worth. e.g. 375k house x 3%/yr = 11250/yr or 937.50/mo.

If you get your house paid off early, your monthly expenses will drop dramatically, so not only will you be able to save and invest much more of your income, but also you won't even need to have as much saved for retirement. e.g. 1.43 mil x 4% = 57,200 - 5k taxes - 18k living expenses without a mortgage = leaves 34k for discretionary spending which is plenty.
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So you are selling your home in retirement? Most people don't sell in retirement when retiring early unless there's a specific lifestyle you plan on living.

My point was there's no reason to use that calculation like my more recent post shows, set your own goals with your own estimates.

My wife and I believe our costs will be going up not down in retirement since we will be traveling a lot more and will most likely buy another home for winter.
 
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