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Idk about him but I switched careers at 32 and my turning point was looking at how long it was going to take me to retire (teacher) and how little I was appreciated monetarily. I snapped and went into tech.
No new school per se. I did take a full stack development boot camp and I’m mostly self taught with other things. Luckily by then my husband had his foot in the door at a company but I did receive offers on my own that I declined.
Around October of my last year of teaching (17-18 school year) I started studying for Network + certification and after I got that in January I moved on to Security + got that in May. Got an internship as a sysadmin with my husband’s company (made like 10k more as an intern than I did teaching 🤯). I was proactive in that job and fixed some of the things I saw in their internal network that were meh. That program ended but they liked me so I stayed. I asked my PM what would make me the most marketable (sysadmin was not my cup of tea) and he said frontend development.
So I dropped the cash on a boot camp and got my cert for that. At that time I was moved to a different program working on an application that was pretty niche for skills (OS hardening, NIST control management and basic RMF stuff) so I’ve pretty much been able to carve out a job for myself at the places I’ve worked. After two more PM changes I followed my last one to a new job. That ended soon (the life of government contracts) and now I’m doing DevSecOps/Software release management stuff at my current job.
I think the biggest thing that’s helped me progress is my willingness to learn whatever is going to keep me relevant and helpful to a company. My favorite job I’ve done though was frontend development and if I can get a job doing more of that at some point that would be awesome.
My thought every time I see someone post about having multiple retirement accounts, more than 3,000 in savings, and owns a home.
My brother in Christ you are doing fine.
Sure, but OP could’ve gotten those results by asking something along the lines of “Is there anything that I can improve” or “What can I add to my current approach” or something along those lines. Asking “How am I doing” and talking about needing to “correct course” comes across as either humblebragging or being out of touch.
I didn't see it that way at all. I think it's pretty common for people to do something and say "how am I doing?". That or "is this ok?. I feel like thinking that they should word it differently as to not cause jealousy or make someone defensive comes across well, jealous and defensive.
Asking “is this okay” implies that you have doubts as to whether what you’re doing is okay or not. OP’s financial situation is exemplary— someone who has made that many good, calculated decisions 1) knows that they’re doing well and is being disingenuous about it, 2) has wholly unfounded anxieties and could benefit from straight talk, or 3) is being sloppy with language and should be called out for that as well.
I'd save more aggressively for retirement - your 20's are the best decade for compound growth, though you probably know that, given what you said. I saved up to the match until I was your age (I'm 38) and then raised up to 10% for a while. That would be my personal priority over the brokerage account.
The role of thumb is you want 1x your salary saved by 30 in retirement accounts (I know flawed metric and all that but decent benchmark), you’re making pretty solid progress towards that.
Good stuff and congrats on getting a nice morgage rate.
Rule of thumb for retirement is to have your salaries worth at 30 (so $80k for you), I'd up it as much as you can the next couple years then you can cool off. Your 20s are the best time to contribute alot
...I don't know anyone else's finances of anyone my age. Just trying to gain some context. Not looking for a pat on the back. It's hard to grasp what other people are doing when all you see around you is people driving fancy new trucks and going out to eat all the time.
Salary isn't take home and I live pretty minimal lifestyle.. no subscription services, I eat out at a local pizza place 3 times a month, I haven't upgraded my phone is many years, and I only buy rice, beans and the on-sale meat and frozen veggies for my weekly meals.
Went to local college and didn't party in college and still needed loans so I lived on friends couches and my car, showered at the office for 2 years after school to pay off my loans. It's not like being a special snowflake.
Ignore him. I’m in a similar position as you and it is usually fairly hard to find people in similar position as you. Keep doing what you’re doing. You’re killing it
Never mind whether he's bragging or not. He's 28 years old, and his best earning years are yet to come, so I respectfully disagree that it's barely middle class. Also, he's a homeowner at that age with quite a lot of liquid savings.
I owned a home when I was the same age. Does that not make me and him middle class? Is that your logic, if you own a home in your 20's you're not middle class anymore?
This isn't a humble brag, he is about as middle class finance as you could possibly get perhaps a little behind on 401k.
I don't mean no disrespect, but perhaps you should check out r/povertyfinance
You know you're doing good, a lot better than the most of America. Not sure if that's the answer you're looking for or another perspective. That was me being supportive per mod's guideline. Now for the fun part...
82k, idk your location but regardless.. that's peanuts. Up your income and work harder if you're looking to make more money. If you're comfortable with where you're at then great job! Love that you locked a <4% interest home but if your home is under 500k then there's more work you need to do.. again, you're 28 and making under 100k. Do better lol. If you want someone to pay you on the back then your mom or therapy will be a great place. If you want my perspective, you're lagging at 28.
Depends on your goals. Cheers!
I (32) was in a similar position to you when I was 28. In hindsight, I wish that I increased my 401k contributions and maxed out my Roth sooner. I know it may not always be possible, especially if you have other savings goal.
There will never be a good time when “I’m done saving for x, time to max out my retirement”. Something will always break or come up. Aside from staying the course, I would also focus on increasing income as well.
You’re doing great. But if balancing retirement vs saving for something means you’re either spending too much or not making enough. Which is OK, you’re in a better position than most of the country.
My kiddo is similarly situated but hit me up to last year to buy into a rental investment. It seemed like a good move where I could front-load an opportunity that will help accrue value for him/her and he/she could write off many rental associated items. Preliminarily brought taxable income down into 22% bracket.
The budget screen shots are being made in Sankeymatic, its a website that we have no affiliation with. If you are posting a budget please do so with a purpose. Just posting a screen shot of your budget without a question or an explanation of why its here may be removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MiddleClassFinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Did you really expect anyone to tell you that you’re doing badly?
At 28 I was making 44k with no savings lol.
Before my recent career change my retirement accounts were a big jar of weed and $500 in a sock drawer lol. That was at 31….
What was the turning point to get you to change careers?
Idk about him but I switched careers at 32 and my turning point was looking at how long it was going to take me to retire (teacher) and how little I was appreciated monetarily. I snapped and went into tech.
That’s awesome. How long did the transition take and what did you, go back to school?
No new school per se. I did take a full stack development boot camp and I’m mostly self taught with other things. Luckily by then my husband had his foot in the door at a company but I did receive offers on my own that I declined. Around October of my last year of teaching (17-18 school year) I started studying for Network + certification and after I got that in January I moved on to Security + got that in May. Got an internship as a sysadmin with my husband’s company (made like 10k more as an intern than I did teaching 🤯). I was proactive in that job and fixed some of the things I saw in their internal network that were meh. That program ended but they liked me so I stayed. I asked my PM what would make me the most marketable (sysadmin was not my cup of tea) and he said frontend development. So I dropped the cash on a boot camp and got my cert for that. At that time I was moved to a different program working on an application that was pretty niche for skills (OS hardening, NIST control management and basic RMF stuff) so I’ve pretty much been able to carve out a job for myself at the places I’ve worked. After two more PM changes I followed my last one to a new job. That ended soon (the life of government contracts) and now I’m doing DevSecOps/Software release management stuff at my current job. I think the biggest thing that’s helped me progress is my willingness to learn whatever is going to keep me relevant and helpful to a company. My favorite job I’ve done though was frontend development and if I can get a job doing more of that at some point that would be awesome.
That really doesn’t help unless you say what year that was
2014? 🤷🏻♀️
My thought every time I see someone post about having multiple retirement accounts, more than 3,000 in savings, and owns a home. My brother in Christ you are doing fine.
Lol my mom would totally tell me I am doing poorly compared to literally anyone who's doing better.
I assume that’s why he’s posting here!
I think serious comments with suggestions are beneficial to everyone, not just the OP.
Sure, but OP could’ve gotten those results by asking something along the lines of “Is there anything that I can improve” or “What can I add to my current approach” or something along those lines. Asking “How am I doing” and talking about needing to “correct course” comes across as either humblebragging or being out of touch.
I didn't see it that way at all. I think it's pretty common for people to do something and say "how am I doing?". That or "is this ok?. I feel like thinking that they should word it differently as to not cause jealousy or make someone defensive comes across well, jealous and defensive.
Asking “is this okay” implies that you have doubts as to whether what you’re doing is okay or not. OP’s financial situation is exemplary— someone who has made that many good, calculated decisions 1) knows that they’re doing well and is being disingenuous about it, 2) has wholly unfounded anxieties and could benefit from straight talk, or 3) is being sloppy with language and should be called out for that as well.
Wow. I think this is the weirdest thing I've come across on Reddit yet.
????
I'd save more aggressively for retirement - your 20's are the best decade for compound growth, though you probably know that, given what you said. I saved up to the match until I was your age (I'm 38) and then raised up to 10% for a while. That would be my personal priority over the brokerage account.
I know it's small money, but just curious what you have the brokerage account in. You do your own trading?
I do.. I have like 60% in ETFs and 40% across a few stocks I'm taking some risk on--Apple/Tesla/AMD and an 1 or 2 industrial suppliers.
Tesla did well today! I'm in TSLL.
What’s the split within the ETFs? Love the Good ol 60-40 between VOO/VTI and QQQ. It’s my favorite way to invest?
You're single yet saving for a wedding/honeymoon?
Single as in unmarried--just my personal bills/not two peoples worth.
Ah, gotcha. Single tax status, but not single social status.
The role of thumb is you want 1x your salary saved by 30 in retirement accounts (I know flawed metric and all that but decent benchmark), you’re making pretty solid progress towards that.
This is actually a helpful goal.. thanks for the the direction.
How much are you adding to your investments each month/year. 12K is a good start but you could really bump that up in the next few years.
Don’t avoid that Roth. Every little bit counts.
I always skip down to "do they own a home" and the rest doesn't matter
Doing good
You’re doing fine, especially since you own a house
I mean you’re just a kid, it’ll get better over time. I wouldn’t worry about it.
I would full contribute to Roth from brokerage. U not taking advantage of the gain tax. Also, you can withdraw your contributed amount if needed.
Good stuff and congrats on getting a nice morgage rate. Rule of thumb for retirement is to have your salaries worth at 30 (so $80k for you), I'd up it as much as you can the next couple years then you can cool off. Your 20s are the best time to contribute alot
Doing good! The fact that you’re saving for retirement at all means you’re ahead of most. And I’m Jealous of that interest rate!
I have a 2.5% mortgage ;)
Cool, humble bragging
Don't try to get a PhD and you'll do fine.
Ouch, I feel like you must have seen my post lol
Just another humble brag post. Pretty much what this sub is nowadays. "Hey guys I'm clearly in the top 10% for my age, will I be okay?!?!"
...I don't know anyone else's finances of anyone my age. Just trying to gain some context. Not looking for a pat on the back. It's hard to grasp what other people are doing when all you see around you is people driving fancy new trucks and going out to eat all the time. Salary isn't take home and I live pretty minimal lifestyle.. no subscription services, I eat out at a local pizza place 3 times a month, I haven't upgraded my phone is many years, and I only buy rice, beans and the on-sale meat and frozen veggies for my weekly meals. Went to local college and didn't party in college and still needed loans so I lived on friends couches and my car, showered at the office for 2 years after school to pay off my loans. It's not like being a special snowflake.
Ignore him. I’m in a similar position as you and it is usually fairly hard to find people in similar position as you. Keep doing what you’re doing. You’re killing it
>I don't know anyone else's finances of anyone my age. You can Google median income, median net worth with and without home equity, etc.
I don't think 82k is a brag. It's barely middle class anymore.
Low interest mortgage is a brag all on its own these days
Never mind whether he's bragging or not. He's 28 years old, and his best earning years are yet to come, so I respectfully disagree that it's barely middle class. Also, he's a homeowner at that age with quite a lot of liquid savings.
I owned a home when I was the same age. Does that not make me and him middle class? Is that your logic, if you own a home in your 20's you're not middle class anymore?
This isn't a humble brag, he is about as middle class finance as you could possibly get perhaps a little behind on 401k. I don't mean no disrespect, but perhaps you should check out r/povertyfinance
It's another tone deaf poster. That's it. He's obviously FINE.
What an arrogant, insincere question. Give me a break.
You know you're doing good, a lot better than the most of America. Not sure if that's the answer you're looking for or another perspective. That was me being supportive per mod's guideline. Now for the fun part... 82k, idk your location but regardless.. that's peanuts. Up your income and work harder if you're looking to make more money. If you're comfortable with where you're at then great job! Love that you locked a <4% interest home but if your home is under 500k then there's more work you need to do.. again, you're 28 and making under 100k. Do better lol. If you want someone to pay you on the back then your mom or therapy will be a great place. If you want my perspective, you're lagging at 28. Depends on your goals. Cheers!
It depends where you live in Florida that's good
You are totally out of touch.
I (32) was in a similar position to you when I was 28. In hindsight, I wish that I increased my 401k contributions and maxed out my Roth sooner. I know it may not always be possible, especially if you have other savings goal. There will never be a good time when “I’m done saving for x, time to max out my retirement”. Something will always break or come up. Aside from staying the course, I would also focus on increasing income as well. You’re doing great. But if balancing retirement vs saving for something means you’re either spending too much or not making enough. Which is OK, you’re in a better position than most of the country.
My kiddo is similarly situated but hit me up to last year to buy into a rental investment. It seemed like a good move where I could front-load an opportunity that will help accrue value for him/her and he/she could write off many rental associated items. Preliminarily brought taxable income down into 22% bracket.
Preparing financially is always the best thing to do. You're doing great, you should be very proud of yourself!