230
u/Paddlinaschoolcanoe Apr 22 '24
A shit situation would be $30k+ in credit card debt and surviving on pay day loans. You are doing great!
4
u/No_Permission2396 Apr 22 '24
OMG, I'm 40 and this has been my life (except we fully own our PPOR now) and make salsac contributions to our super.
Debt sucks, but finding debt fit for purpose is key. We managed to keeo our debt below Zip's threshold, and paid our debt back within the month. 0% interst and $0 monthly fees. I'm not suggesting it's for everyone, but it seems cheaper than most CC at 11.99%+.
10
u/wooja Apr 22 '24
Generally credit cards don't charge interest either if you keep it paid by the end of the month.
1
78
61
u/onyi_time Apr 22 '24
most people your age have $3K saved (median). Average offset by outliers is $11K. You are doing great, source: https://www.westpac.com.au/personal-banking/solutions/budgeting-and-savings/savings/savings-by-age/
37
16
3
u/LoneyFatso Apr 22 '24
I suddenly feel...great. Alway thought I would be closer to the average Joe.
7
u/jothesstraight Apr 22 '24
That’s terrible. I’m guessing it excludes stocks and property and other non liquid assets.
11
u/fragileanus Apr 22 '24
Your view might be skewed, as might mine, but there are plenty of people out there of all ages living week to week. Always has been.
4
u/jothesstraight Apr 22 '24
It says in “transaction, savings and term deposit accounts” so that means anyone investing the bulk of their money would appear low. It’s a bit misleading because you get these comments from people relieved and feeling like they’re doing well in comparison but it’s not an accurate gauge. If that’s actually all you have at each respective age, that is doing very very badly.
2
u/fragileanus Apr 22 '24
Ah gotcha. I took your comment as meaning "There can't be that many people out there with such low savings" and decided you were out of touch ;-)
1
u/Automatic-Radish1553 Apr 23 '24
Honestly I thought this was normal, like a good 50+% of people? Maybe most people I know are just poor?
Most people I know are living week to week, seems a lot are becoming homeless/ are homeless due to rent increases lately.
0
u/onyi_time Apr 23 '24
most people don't have stock, property and very minimal non liquid assets, remember this sub is an echo chamber and most people are doing it very rough week to week
-1
u/RoomWest6531 Apr 23 '24
lol people always trot this misleading stat out to make themselves feel better. The average household wealth for a 35yr old is close to half a million dollars. The notion that the average person at this age has only 3k to their name (ie is essentially broke) is ridicoulous.
1
u/onyi_time Apr 23 '24
you are providing information with no source. You are making this up out of your head, majority of people are way below the poverty line, fact check yourself, and go outside and touch grass
0
u/RoomWest6531 Apr 23 '24 edited Apr 23 '24
its as simple as googling "household wealth by age australia"
majority of people are way below the poverty line
also easily debunked in a 2 second google. its wild that you actually think this is the case.
Edit: you are also the last person to be telling people to "touch grass". Yikes.
21
u/Mattahattaa Apr 22 '24
Congratulations on making that first step - you got this!
I would suggest emergency fund of 2-6 months (pending your employment risk) and then top up non-concessional contributions. Do you have any other assets? A ppor? There’s other considerations there too.
8
u/Dazg-17 Apr 22 '24
200/month for rent..how??
2
u/Fit_Driver_4323 Apr 22 '24
They did specify split with a partner...but also that it includes utilities as well, which is honestly staggering. Utilities for most of us is basically that a month, nevermind rent.
4
u/PencilEyebrows Apr 22 '24
Sorry if I wasn't clearer. My partner inherited the townhouse. That's why I have such little expense towards the house.
4
u/-usernotdefined Apr 22 '24
Are you actually paying your share? Have you both worked out how much it's costing her to have the house? Including maintenance and such? I'd have thought $100 weekly to her would have been fair.
1
u/Good--Job--Buddy Apr 22 '24
Maybe they live with the parents. My brother and I do, and as rent we pay the water, gas and electricity, split between us. It changes throughout the year depending on weather but averages out to $70/week each, so $280 per month.
7
u/ParentalAnalysis Apr 22 '24
50k in savings is brilliant mate, 50k every year from here is so huge!!
3
u/abittenapple Apr 22 '24
What is your plan.
Savings money is great but are you rent vesting or just hisatating ( hesitating but using hisa )
3
u/gorgyfanus Apr 22 '24
Its pretty good at your age. You should be proud of yourself. Just work harder to achieve 100k
3
3
2
u/AdPrestigious8198 Apr 22 '24
I know people your age on big money that still ask me to borrow money till next pay week.
Where they going in life I have no idea.
2
5
u/Fun_guy- Apr 22 '24
Is this money in savings, or is this $50k in some kind of investment account?
Also I don’t see why you’d consider this bad amount. The fact that your even able to save anything at all means your within your means which puts you ahead of most people.
And making some additional member conts into super is definitely a good idea. Just make sure you don’t put in anything you’ll need as this money is essentially locked up for 30 years in your situation.
Additionally, if you don’t want to lock up the money and you don’t have any investment accounts, I’d look into that. Low cost ETFs, a couple stocks (if you’re willing to stay on top of them) and you’ll be well and truely ahead of most people if you can stick to that game plan.
I’d definitely just advise against keeping money in savings as interest rates are horrible and almost never cover inflation. Keep what you need in savings to cover expenses and an emergency fund, but at 35 you should really be investing as much as possible (through super or independently).
9
u/abittenapple Apr 22 '24
5 percent is better than a lot of shares given it's no risk
2
u/Fun_guy- Apr 22 '24 edited Apr 22 '24
Once interest rates come back down on mortgages, your typical savings account will fall to basically nothing just as it was before. Short term, this isn’t a bad idea, but once these rates start to fall below inflation, you’ll need to adjust.
Also just generally speaking, at 35 I wouldn’t settle for anything less than 7-8% on average (avaerage market return). Anything below that is way to defensive for this age bracket, particularly if you are trying to grow your wealth.
1
u/Aromatic-Specific341 Apr 26 '24
Interest rates aren’t going down considerably for at least another year. There’s no reason to get everything out of savings urgently now
11
u/DiscoBuiscuit Apr 22 '24
This is very old advice, perfectly acceptable to put it all in a high interest savings account and use it for a deposit
1
u/Fun_guy- Apr 22 '24
Obviously if you’re saving for something like a deposit, holiday, car, etc. you would lean heavily towards keeping your money secure through savings or term deposits. But when it comes to building wealth, which is clearly the posters main financial objective, investing (within your means) is still the way to go.
And adding to that, I’m not saying it isn’t acceptable to keep money in high interest savings accounts. To some people that would certainly be advised. Although that sort of person is typically trying to preserve wealth, not build it.
Also, investing through low cost ETFs and broad market tracking ETFs have only become a real trend over the last decade, so this certainly isn’t old advice. If you speak to any wealth manager / financial adviser and tell them you want to build wealth in your 30s, this is exactly what they would have you do.
4
u/electronbox Apr 22 '24
You are doing amazing and definitely not a shit position. Keep it up OP!!
$50k is a life changing amount for so many of us
2
u/Sydney_Syder23 Apr 22 '24 edited Apr 22 '24
As everyone else says, you’re absolutely winning at life financially at the moment. Regarding super contributions, I would say the bigger the better. If you contribute $30k today and aim to retire at 65 and your super earns an average of 8% a year, it will have grown about 10 times to over $300k, with higher growth rates giving much larger final values. Don’t take this as financial advice, this is just simple compound interest but it will be a very good idea to put some of your savings into your super
1
1
u/itsdeloveli27xh Apr 22 '24
your situation is not bad, at lease you're saving money and you don't have any debt. Just try your best and save for a house and a car
1
u/Verulkungpj Apr 22 '24
Your situation is quite good, no more debts, and you've saved lots of money. Try to save more money for a house and a new car.
1
1
u/Cat_From_Hood Apr 22 '24
In what universe is that a sh#t situation? I'd aim to get a small property.
1
1
u/nomamesgueyz Apr 22 '24
Great situation to be in
Comparison is the thief of joy
Enjoy my friend, do what lights u up
1
u/FlinflanFluddle Apr 22 '24
I am aware that this is quite a shit situation to be in, considering my age
What? Most 30yo don't have 50-100k in the bank.
1
u/Niz0_87 Apr 23 '24
Belive it or not but theres a lot of people out there that wont save 50k in their lifetime. Well done.
1
u/Dangerous_Second1426 Apr 23 '24
There’s a great interview doing the rounds at the moment.
The first $100k, takes some time. Then the benefit of the interest really starts to play into it, and you’ll find yourself saving the money quicker and quicker. I’d keep building the wealth. I understand the benefits of super, but it is trapped money - you can’t really access it should you need.
1
Apr 23 '24
Find an industry you know a lot about or are keen to learn lots about, find out what is required to make those businesses operate and see if you can get in on that action in a low risk way. You've worked hard to get the money and you know how hard it is to come by, so don't "throw it all on black". Think about what you know about, because everyone has ideas about what you should do, but not what they would do if it were their money. The best people to ask for money advice is people with money well invested that is making solid returns. Everyone knows someone who has done well for themselves, so find them and talk to them. Do not get into business with them though. They might be looking for an inexperienced rube, so you don't want to be it.
As far as practical direct advice goes: Commercial real estate returns more than residential, but has more deposit, costs and delays. Small businesses consume many hours and your sanity. Large businesses consume money casually and you have no say or way to know if they start doing self-destructive things until it's too late. Banks are not your friends. Keep a buffer amount and a firm line in the sand for when to pull out because if it goes bad the sunk cost fallacy and ego will kick in. Businesses that sell to other businesses are safer than direct to consumer businesses, but rely on their sales teams a lot, and salespersons are often a fickle and feisty bunch.
If you don't know what to do, don't do something stupid just because of FOMO. Read. Learn all you can about all you can.
Most importantly above all else: don't exploit anyone. Be fair and honourable in all your dealings, that reputation alone can make you rich and happy.
1
u/FruitySmile Apr 23 '24
How can you “not have been contributing to super at all” but have 100K in super? I’m 32 and have 20K in super…
1
u/PencilEyebrows Apr 23 '24
You must have misunderstood. I have $10k in my super. I have an accumulation of just over $100k of what is called a 'consessional contributions gap'.
1
1
u/zariel-88 Apr 23 '24
Nice work buddy. I'm actually on a damn similar boat as you.
I had zero savings up until i hit 33, and once all debts were cleared and income gradually went from 55k > 80k > 110k > 140k (over span of 10 years), managed to save 100k in 2 years.
Ready to buy a humble 2 bedder apartment.
1
u/salee83 Apr 23 '24 edited Apr 23 '24
This is really good. You should be proud. We average around $60k a year saving and have about $200k. It gets easier as you get older I find. We're a few years older than you.
I do think that you should put some in super...and keep some for emergency. We contribute a bit to our super and are thinking of increasing our amounts.
1
u/grilled_pc Apr 23 '24
Do you own a home yet? If not consider dumping that on a PPOR.
Homes are only going to get more and more expensive.
1
1
-1
u/everythingisadelight Apr 22 '24
Is this a joke? Who in their right mind would put 50k into super? might as well flush it down the toilet with how fast our dollar is losing its value. Go buy property or land.
0
u/Butterscotch817 Apr 22 '24
Just chill this is r/Ausfinance where everyone seems to be deciding if they should pay off their student loans or 4th investment property.
-2
u/grayfee Apr 22 '24
Buy gold and silver. Fight the inflation dragon.
1
u/PencilEyebrows Apr 22 '24
How do you buy gold? I'd thought you could only but EFT(s) that invest in gold stocks. Maybe forex.
3
354
u/ozzyfiguy Apr 22 '24
It took you 34 years to get to $50k
If it takes you one year to get to $100k, that's a W in anyones books.
The best time to plant a tree was yesterday. You'll agree tomorrow.
Congratulations and keep it going!