Teacher in the US here so here is my current breakdown of my finances, i'm reading and watching and learning so much but most of the videos i've watched are focused on saving up for real estate investments (This will take me a long time on my salary) but I do enjoy teaching and don't want to leave it for a sales job (non-guaranteed incomes are not for me).
Breakdown
36,000 a year = around 26k a year after retirement, insurance, taxes.
26,000 net 40% goes to living expenses; house,car,food. Utilities are included in my shared housing.
Past two months i've saved 40% of gross and it's just sitting in my banks savings account with an apy of 2%
10% goes to student loans.
10% goes to spending/entertainment (It's not a lot)
866 to living, 866 to savings, 200~ in variances that is spent on things like gas, restaurants, cell phone bill.
I can't really lower my bills/car stuff so 40% of net is about all I can manage to save but at 2% it's going to take years before I see any real returns building from it. Isn't there some better use for my money than this?
Edit: As one poster informed me i'm actually saving 40% of my net income, not gross. Sorry for the misleading title I did not realize I was using the wrong term.
Second Edit:
I will be logging off soon (I didn't realize it was getting this late on a work night) thank you all for the advice.
You have given me a lot to think about and research, especially the Roth IRA/Mutual Fund/ETF there are a lot of things I just don't know about that yet. My plan is to contact a financial adviser once I see if my job as a teacher can get me free/cheaper advisement.
** Takeaways **
Look at paying off student loans first since the PSLF system can be volatile and may not truly help me where I could have paid my loans off earlier with less interest.
Create one of the above terms I don't know funds after talking with a financial adviser.
Use some savings and look into buying a house for the long term equity as I don't plan to move from my area for the majority of my life. (Save for 30-40% down payment to reduce mortgage is my plan there)
Maybe look into getting my Masters Degree for the higher income per year and chance for advancement in the education system.
Increase my emergency fund to 10-12 months if possible (seems long, but I understand having that security would be great for me.)
I'm sure there will be even better information when I check back before work in the morning. I will do my best to read as much as I can to help make my life more successful in the long run.
Submitted May 27, 2019 at 07:31PM by 3rdFloorPoor http://bit.ly/2QB3lpn
