How Much Savings Should I Have Accumulated By Age?
If you want to achieve financial independence, you’ve got to implement a savings routine. I don’t want to hear excuses as to why you can’t save if you want to be free. Go somewhere else please. If you are serious about living life on your own terms, study my recommended savings chart carefully.
Your savings rate should increase the more you make. To do this, you’ve got to spend at a slower rate than the rate of your income increase. I’m trying to use realistic numbers here so that folks don’t overly bitch and moan. I started saving 50% of my after tax income when I began earning more than $60,000, so please, save your excuses for the government instead.
Savings amounts are important, but what’s more important is your expense coverage ratio given everybody has different lifestyles. In other words, how many years (or months) of expenses can your savings cover in case your income goes to zero? Given nobody can work forever, we must increase our expense coverage ratio the older we get because we will have less ability to earn. At this point, it’s time to start drawing down our savings.
FINANCIAL SAMURAI PRE AND POST TAX SAVINGS GUIDE
| Income Level | Savings % | Pre-Tax Savings/Yr | Post-Tax Savings/Yr | Fed Tax Rate |
| <$25,000 | 5% | <$1,250 | $500 | 10%-15% |
| $25,000-$35,000 | 10% | $2,500-$3,500 | $1,000 | 15% |
| $35,00-$45,000 | 15% | $5,250-$6,750 | $1,000 | 25% |
| $45,000-$65,000 | 20% | $9,000-$13,000 | $1,500+ | 25% |
| $65,000-$85,000 | 25% | $16,250-$17,000 | $1,000-$5,000 | 25% |
| $85,000-$100,000 | 30% | $17,500+ | $8,500-$13,000 | 28% |
| $100,000-$150,000 | 35% | $17,500+ | $18,000-$35,500 | 28% |
| $150,000-$200,000+ | 35%+ | $22,500 | $35,500-$53,000+ | 28%+ |
I recommend everybody start off with 10% and raise their savings amount by 1% each month until it hurts. If you’ve ever had braces, you get the idea. Keep that savings rate constant until it no longer hurts, and start raising the rate by 1% a month again. If you make more than $200,000, certainly shoot to save more if you can. You can theoretically achieve a 35%+ savings rate in two short years with this method!
Please note that I am making 401K and IRA contributions a priority over post-tax savings. The reasons are: 1) we have a tendency to raid our post tax savings, 2) tax free growth, 3) untouchable assets in case of litigation or bankruptcy, and 4) company match. Obviously you need some post-tax savings to account for true emergencies. Ideally, my goal for everyone is to contribute as much in their pre-tax savings plans as possible and then save another 10-35% after tax.
I’ve been purposefully avoiding the topic of spending given the bombardment about holiday shopping. Buying things we don’t need is not exactly a path to building wealth. What’s more, I dislike buying things only to see them drop in price soon after. It makes me feel like a dummy!
Thanks to policies by the Federal Reserve, savings account interest rates are WOEFULLY light. The average saving interest rate is around 0.1%. That is pretty pathetic as an investment return. That said, the purpose of a savings account is NOT for investment purposes!
Thinking of taking a cruise? Well you’ve come to the right place! I just got done taking my 11th cruise and I’d like to share with you some tips on how I saved a couple thousand dollars and had a fantastic good time in the process!
I considered my paycheck to be “endless money.” Every other week I got paid for a service that I provided a company. Given I saved the majority of it, I began to treat money as if it were an endless supply. I devalued money because I only used a minority of it.
