Anonymous wrote:We've always made significantly less than you, OP, and yet own a home in a nice suburb of DC and have enough to pay for college and retirement. We lived extremely frugally when we were younger, however, and invested in stocks early on that have done well over the decades. You really must start reining in your spending and investing what you can, except that your time-frame will be much shorter.

+1

DH and I have always made way less than you as well. But, we’ve had the financial discipline to always take the high road and live within our means. We’re in our mid-40s and have $1.6M saved in our 401k, $750K saved in 529 plans for our three kids, a taxable brokerage account with $600K, and an online savings account with 36 months ($150K) of net living expenses for emergencies.

Maybe it’s time to stop spending so much of your money on buying the latest car and cell phone model every two years – take the bus like we do. Lose the cleaning service. Stop eating out and actually cook your food. Stop taking vacations – save that for when you’re in retirement.

Anonymous wrote:We've always made significantly less than you, OP, and yet own a home in a nice suburb of DC and have enough to pay for college and retirement. We lived extremely frugally when we were younger, however, and invested in stocks early on that have done well over the decades. You really must start reining in your spending and investing what you can, except that your time-frame will be much shorter.

I think it’s a bit mean to pile on OP. She already knows she made some wrong decisions. It’s not too late, she has a good income and can definitely improve her situation. We don’t know whether she has children and what her expenses are but there’s always room to improve with this income. It’s actually not that small of an income at all.

We've always made significantly less than you, OP, and yet own a home in a nice suburb of DC and have enough to pay for college and retirement. We lived extremely frugally when we were younger, however, and invested in stocks early on that have done well over the decades. You really must start reining in your spending and investing what you can, except that your time-frame will be much shorter.

If you have any credit card debt, focus on eliminating it.

Set a monthly savings goal - maybe $500 a month?

Anonymous wrote:Any debt?

Recommend Dave Ramsey Financial Peace for the basics. You can do anything you put your mind to, OP!

+1

Start here, OP:
https://www.ramseysolutions.com/ramseyplus/financial-peace/class

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean this in the nicest way possible..but how?

How can you be middle aged with only $5k saved? What is your HHI? Never too late to start making positive changes! Count your blessing too -- you are married and hopefully healthy.

HHI 160,000 ... I don't know. It is embarrassing to admit. No family money. College loans, short-sighted spending, not amazing incomes, pricy area?

Don’t be embarrassed. I assure you that you aren’t the only American in this position! You are in good company. I think it will be a crisis in the coming years. No answers, but please drop all feelings of shame.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean this in the nicest way possible..but how?

How can you be middle aged with only $5k saved? What is your HHI? Never too late to start making positive changes! Count your blessing too -- you are married and hopefully healthy.

HHI 160,000 ... I don't know. It is embarrassing to admit. No family money. College loans, short-sighted spending, not amazing incomes, pricy area?

Perhaps spending isn’t properly curtailed? Would you be able to move to an all- or mostly-cash basis for daily expenses and set up an automatic transfer from your checking account (or wherever your pay goes) into an investment or retirement account? It doesn’t have to be much, it just has to become habitual.

We're at the same HHI with two kids, OP. We're only in our second year of both having employer retirement accounts (401k type) so we have a ton of catch up to do. What we do now is save first - 35% of our income goes to maxing out retirement accounts. We also use FSAs for forced savings. Unfortunately our housing situation is not enviable (far out, very small, lots of deferred maintenance), but we can afford it on our take home, which is only 72k. Hopefully we'll be able to retire at reasonable ages.....

Anonymous wrote:Can I turn it around? Sometimes I'm afraid of being homeless in my old age. I rent, terrible at saving, decent enough but not lucrative job, spouse in same boat, measly retirement and maybe 5k in an Emergency fund.

Share more specifics for people to help..

Age - You and spouse.
Jobs - Are jobs secure? Where do you work - Private co, federal Govt, non-profit, state govt?
Salary - You; Spouse
Kids - Ages
Home - How much is rent
Current savings - How much do you save? In what vehicles?
Expenses - Breakdown of expenses each month. How much do you have left over after expenses.
Other info - Health issues; kids related issues, etc. that might cost money.

Savings - Exact amounts of what you have saved - 401K, IRA, investment account, savings, etc.
Pensions - Are you expecting any? If so, when/how much?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean this in the nicest way possible..but how?

How can you be middle aged with only $5k saved? What is your HHI? Never too late to start making positive changes! Count your blessing too -- you are married and hopefully healthy.

HHI 160,000 ... I don't know. It is embarrassing to admit. No family money. College loans, short-sighted spending, not amazing incomes, pricy area?

At that HHI, you have time to recoup the past years.

Even if it seems minimal, saving is a midnset. Save $100 month, the next month save $125, and so on. Start somewhere and don't be embarrased!

You need a budget. Stop everything nonessential and Ave as much as you can.

Anonymous wrote:I mean this in the nicest way possible..but how?

How can you be middle aged with only $5k saved? What is your HHI? Never too late to start making positive changes! Count your blessing too -- you are married and hopefully healthy.

HHI 160,000 ... I don't know. It is embarrassing to admit. No family money. College loans, short-sighted spending, not amazing incomes, pricy area?

I mean this in the nicest way possible..but how?

How can you be middle aged with only $5k saved? What is your HHI? Never too late to start making positive changes! Count your blessing too -- you are married and hopefully healthy.

Any debt?

Recommend Dave Ramsey Financial Peace for the basics. You can do anything you put your mind to, OP!

Can I turn it around? Sometimes I'm afraid of being homeless in my old age. I rent, terrible at saving, decent enough but not lucrative job, spouse in same boat, measly retirement and maybe 5k in an Emergency fund.