The numbers are in. Please grade me. Trolls welcome.

[reidrothchild]



If' you're going to spend money on strippers, I'd think Dallas is a much better investment than DC. Perhaps even first tier...

I didn't even realize OP is from Dallas. If Dallas is a 3rd Tier city, then I reside in like the 10th tier.

 

[Dewey]

I am amused that you regard "Lunch" and "Dinner" as significantly different categories.

Plus, you do not spend near enough on clothes or shoes. You don't have to live like that. Have some self-respect already.

 

[gqreader239]

OP needs to focus his efforts on a 401k and IRA strategy. Employer matches and pre-tax contributions juice your savings rate by quite a bit. After my first 1.5 years of working I was able to save a net amount of 60k. 40% of that amount was from 401k matches, Profit sharing plans and pre-tax contributions. But I also didnt go to strip clubs or have a nice car.. Sometimes you gotta just pay for happiness.

 

[Joffrey]



I didn't even realize OP is from Dallas. If Dallas is a 3rd Tier city, then I reside in like the 10th tier.

Damn, I can't find that epic thread where people ranked all sorts of cities into tiers. Basically NY, London and Tokyo (?) Were first tier. No idea what was 2nd tier - probably san fran, chicago, Paris, Berlin, etc. Fo'sho Dallas is at best 3rd tier. I was trying to be nice

 

[reidrothchild]



Damn, I can't find that epic thread where people ranked all sorts of cities into tiers. Basically NY, London and Tokyo (?) Were first tier. No idea what was 2nd tier - probably san fran, chicago, Paris, Berlin, etc. Fo'sho Dallas is at best 3rd tier. I was trying to be nice

Ah, so the tiering system is scaled on a worldwide basis. 3rd Tier actually doesn't sound so bad if that's the case.

 

[Joffrey]

Damn, I can't find that epic thread where people ranked all sorts of cities into tiers. Basically NY, London and Tokyo (?) Were first tier. No idea what was 2nd tier - probably san fran, chicago, Paris, Berlin, etc. Fo'sho Dallas is at best 3rd tier. I was trying to be nice

Ah, so the tiering system is scaled on a worldwide basis. 3rd Tier actually doesn't sound so bad if that's the case.

lmao, I said "at best".

 

[Rambo]



If' you're going to spend money on strippers, I'd think Dallas is a much better investment than DC. Perhaps even first tier...

Please. He only spent $1200 on strippers. That's definitely some 3rd tier bullshit right there. What is this, the Korbel branded champagne room?

 

[Laffertron]

The fact that you've been able to track your spending to the dollar and save 30% of your income is admirable.

You said your rent is spiking significantly. Have you done the numbers on buying a home? Depending on the market and interest rates, your repayments might be less than rent.

I would caution you against dabbling in any kind of futures/forex type investment (including large investments in precious metals). Speculating on something you're not an expert on in the hope of quick profits is a recipe for disaster. If you want to get involved in the stock market a regular investment in the Vanguard index fund is a good "set and forget" strategy for a non-expert. I don't know much about the different retirement accounts in the USA but I understand there are tax benefits for contributing to those as well.

Don't feel like you're a loser for saving so much money and living in a crappy apartment. Better to live below your income now and have the freedom to allocate it wisely than develop bad money habits which translate into financial difficulties when you're older.

 

[reidrothchild]



The fact that you've been able to track your spending to the dollar and save 30% of your income is admirable.
You said your rent is spiking significantly. Have you done the numbers on buying a home? Depending on the market and interest rates, your repayments might be less than rent.I would caution you against dabbling in any kind of futures/forex type investment (including large investments in precious metals). Speculating on something you're not an expert on in the hope of quick profits is a recipe for disaster. If you want to get involved in the stock market a regular investment in the Vanguard index fund is a good "set and forget" strategy for a non-expert. I don't know much about the different retirement accounts in the USA but I understand there are tax benefits for contributing to those as well.
Don't feel like you're a loser for saving so much money and living in a crappy apartment. Better to live below your income now and have the freedom to allocate it wisely than develop bad money habits which translate into financial difficulties when you're older.

I think this is solid advice, and I'm not necessarily disagreeing with anything said. However, I always advise anyone who isn't married with a child against purchasing a home. The mortgage is obviously not the only expense to consider. Increased utilities, insurance, taxes, maintenance, and (in most cases) renovations virtually always make home ownership vastly more expensive than renting. If someone absolutely needs a single family home, there's nothing to be done for it. But IMO, from a personal finance perspective, renting is usually better. It would be a total landslide if congress ever stopped subsidizing homeowner debt and banks by just eliminating the mortgage interest deduction.

 

[otc]

I'm usually of the opinion that buying a home is an opportunity to pay a premium to get what you want.

Nothing wrong with it...it opens up more options and gives you far more control (and in truth sometimes it costs less than the rental option if you ignore the lock-in). If you get lucky, it also turns into a leveraged investment that outperforms the market (if you get unlucky, you are now levered up on an under-performing investment).

You had better be damn sure about what you want though. If you decide that you want something different 5 years from now (a different location, an extra bedroom, a different style), you can end up paying out the ass in transaction costs to make the change--long before you've recouped the differences between ownership and renting. In 5 years, you will have mostly paid interest, so its not that much different than "throwing money away on rent".

If you're married and have a kid...a lot of those potentials for change start to go away. You know how many bedrooms you need, you are far less likely to make a big move, and since you are buying with your spouse, you won't run into a clash of aesthetics when she doesn't want to move into your ultra-modern bachelor pad.

 

[Augustus Medici]

To the OP, relax, you're doing fine. Forex is a gamble, but it's not as risky as speculating in precious metals or random stocks. Like anything else, preparation and study is key.

Pay no heed to the city snobs here. Dallas has its faults, but it's not "third tier." The LNS douchebag from DC is especially lulsey. I had to spend six months in DC and thought it was a shithole. Great museums and decent food, but it's also ghetto as hell. It's in the middle of gentrification, but people used to make fun of it for all the violent crime and the fact that they willingly elected a crackhead for mayor. That and it's dominated by ass kissing lobbyists and lawyers that give handjobs for party invites. Real classy place.

Miami's got some beautiful areas but even bigger shitholes. I never met a single person from Miami that wasn't a big ego fuckhead, including one Haitian ****** that thought he was brilliant because he had a degree in small business management from FSU and reads The Economist. And did I mention the snobby Jews? Tampa is known for their strippers, not Miami. If it weren't for coke, nobody would even care about the place.

 

[HelloIDistance]



To the OP, relax, you're doing fine. Forex is a gamble, but it's not as risky as speculating in precious metals or random stocks. Like anything else, preparation and study is key.

Pay no heed to the city snobs here. Dallas has its faults, but it's not "third tier." The LNS douchebag from DC is especially lulsey. I had to spend six months in DC and thought it was a shithole. Great museums and decent food, but it's also ghetto as hell. It's in the middle of gentrification, but people used to make fun of it for all the violent crime and the fact that they willingly elected a crackhead for mayor. That and it's dominated by ass kissing lobbyists and lawyers that give handjobs for party invites. Real classy place.

Miami's got some beautiful areas but even bigger shitholes. I never met a single person from Miami that wasn't a big ego fuckhead, including one Haitian ****** that thought he was brilliant because he had a degree in small business management from FSU and reads The Economist. And did I mention the snobby Jews? Tampa is known for their strippers, not Miami. If it weren't for coke, nobody would even care about the place.

Dayummmm bro, you okay? I'm worried about you after this violent post.

 

[ter1413]

Interesting...

 

[Reevolving]

You should be able to save a lot more this year, since you got a $20k pay raise. You could bank it all (extra $14k in cash) Stick it out for another year, and you'd have $65k in cash next Xmas. That would put you above 90% of the people who post here. (Look rich, instead of be rich) However, if you're like most people, you'll just spend more on things like a new car and better apt. Otherwise, you could have a nice nestegg by age 30.

End of 2011: $35k
2012: $65k
2013: $105k
2014: $140k
This doesn't count future raises, investment appreciation/decline of existing assets or investment income.

 

[lasbar]

To the OP, relax, you're doing fine. Forex is a gamble, but it's not as risky as speculating in precious metals or random stocks. Like anything else, preparation and study is key.

Pay no heed to the city snobs here. Dallas has its faults, but it's not "third tier." The LNS douchebag from DC is especially lulsey. I had to spend six months in DC and thought it was a shithole. Great museums and decent food, but it's also ghetto as hell. It's in the middle of gentrification, but people used to make fun of it for all the violent crime and the fact that they willingly elected a crackhead for mayor. That and it's dominated by ass kissing lobbyists and lawyers that give handjobs for party invites. Real classy place.

Miami's got some beautiful areas but even bigger shitholes. I never met a single person from Miami that wasn't a big ego fuckhead, including one Haitian ****** that thought he was brilliant because he had a degree in small business management from FSU and reads The Economist. And did I mention the snobby Jews? Tampa is known for their strippers, not Miami. If it weren't for coke, nobody would even care about the place.

Dayummmm bro, you okay? I'm worried about you after this violent post.

He sounds like an open-minded well-balanced character...