Charlene

Hi, how's it going?

I am currently working as a environmental health and safety manager. I'm currently able to save about over, I think, half of my biweekly paycheck. And a lot of my financial goals, I'm thinking a lot about financial independence and ways that I can generate more passive income and also really want to see how I'm doing on track to retirement.

Thank you.

I have some in my 401k that I put aside. I also have some deductions for my employee stock purchase plan with my employer. I put about 15% into that. And then I have another 10% or so going into just like high yield savings for like emergency funds.

A lot of the times we often they say like comparison is not really great. But I always just wonder, am I on the right track? Because I did do some home remodeling in the past two years that I moved to Texas when I bought my house. And so I did take some of my retirement time. Contributions, I reduced them.

I used to do 20% when I was in California and now I've scaled it back because I had to pay for some wedding expenses as well. So I wondered if those things kind of put me off track with a lot of the talks about the economy, you know, recession and such. It just made me wonder, am I on the right track? How is my net worth now that I'm getting closer to 30?

The age, the number seems to be like getting bigger and bigger.

I'm just curious. I think a lot of times, like I did a quick Google search and there was a chart. It was like this age bracket. And then this is how much you should have saved in your 401k. But it doesn't really talk about net worth. But maybe people don't even consider that as part of their thinking. Maybe they just think more about the balance in the 401k.

Definitely.

Yeah, I mean, that definitely gives me a greater idea. And you're probably right. Everyone's circumstances are different and also location too. When I lived in Bay Area, a lot of the employees that I would see and talk to, their numbers kind of like blew my mind when I first moved to Bay Area.

And then later, you know, when I would go home and see friends and family and just kind of hearing their stories, I realized,

Right. Yeah, I definitely agree.

we'll look at what our goals are in the next five, 10 years, 15, 20 years, and kind of see, are there any more life changes happening? Maybe some medical expenses come up, like you mentioned, that might require us to reassess our financial situation. I think it'll give me a gauge of, do I need to change up my strategy of how I contribute to retirement or even pull some money out of

any other investment accounts because I also have my E-Trade account. So if I decide to maybe invest in something else, that might help me understand where my journey is when I reassess my net worth years down the road.

What does net worth mean? What is included in the definition of net worth? And does the definition of net worth differ from coast to coast or different people?

Yeah, that makes a lot more sense.

That makes sense.

Thank you for having me. Really appreciate your answers.

Will do.

And just there's little to no enjoyment with the things that I'm spending that money on. And so... There's always kind of buyer's remorse and always way more months than there is money. And so no matter how I tweak the budget, I just can't seem to fix it. It's not a budget issue.

Takeouts. First and foremost, I hate to cook. So there's a lot of signing out or fast food takeout that's being spent. And it's shopping of any kind. thought. I can't stop myself from just buying anything that I see online or walk past the store or if my son looks at something and there's a twinkle in his eye, he'll immediately get it and there's just no second thought.

I just buy and then it's almost immediately after I've made the purchase that I get that buyer's remorse and I'm annoyed with myself that I've bought it, but damage is already done. So I'm trying to figure out a way to stop the swiping instead of feeling bad about it afterwards.

Yes, yes and no. I've got the cash. I just don't like using the cash because I know that history has told me I'm not going to have enough at the end of the month. So I do use my credit card and it does get paid off every month. But yes, I use the card so that... But do you see what would happen there?

But then what happens if I can't eat?

Okay. Yeah. I kind of feel that too because I, I know that financially I'm okay. I just, Don't know how to stop.

Yes, I have 13K in a personal loan and 10K in student loans.

You just don't. you find another avenue for food.

Yeah.

Hi, guys. Happy New Year. Thanks for taking my call.

A question about my frivolous spending is where we're at to start off the new year. A little about my background. I'm a single mom to a toddler earning $88,000 annually and working part-time. I have a budget that I think, or at least I thought was quite strong. And there's a line item in my budget for food and spending. But without sale, I'm blowing through that allowance every month.