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Saving More Than I Realized

February 6th, 2013 at 08:05 pm

I made our goals very early in January and didn't give them a lot of thought. In fact, I still haven't!

One of our goals is to save 15% of our gross income for retirement. Some was to go to my husband's TSP, and the rest to max out our Roth IRA's. Turns out what we are actually saving for retirement is 17.3% of my husband's gross income. Clearly we were saving more than 15% before his raise and increased Roth IRA contributions limits! I just didn't realize it. Another good reason to automate savings.

Another goal was to save at least $500 for each of our daughter's college funds. I thought the $2000 limit for Coverdall IRA (ESA's) was expiring last year, which would have put the limit back to $500. Now we are on track to save them each $2000 in their college funds.

We are saving nearly 22% of our income for retirement and college. Amazing! Do you know how much as a percentage of your income you are saving? Doesn't take long to do a quick calculation.

Posted in Saving | 1 Comments »

1 Responses to “Saving More Than I Realized”

  1. Single Guy Says:
    February 6th, 2013 at 09:02 pm 1360184566
    1360184566

    Always a tough question, as the first part is "a percentage of just what???" Gross pay, net pay, or some hybrid. For me, going against my gross pay, a quick estimate would be about 40%. Maxing out the 457 plan and a Roth IRA (like I did last year) puts in about 30%. With no major expenses any more (read - paid off house & car) I'm probably saving about another 10% into savings / brokerage. Its a little tough right now, but I will get used to it I'm sure.

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