Robert Green wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Wed, 4 Aug 2010 23:03:20 -0400, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:

All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy.

So, the bills got to be paid. The church tithes and offerings. The
electric, rent, etc. But, that gets boring in a hurry. How much to
spend on fun? Does anyone have a formula? Percentage, or what?
After all of the above, and savings, whatever is left. ;-) Put another
way,
as long as the obligations are taken care of, it's your money.

Yabbut. How much money is reasonable to keep in a fast access, rainy day
fund? I could only really start enjoying myself knowing that if something
truly bad happened, I'd have some resources to deal with it. That makes the
calculation a bit messy.

They say you should have at least 3X the mortgage payment tucked away, but
trouble often hits much harder than that. I think 30X the mortgage payment
is probably where you can start to feel comfortable enough to plan a Disney
cruise with the kiddies. From what I've seen lately, people have 30X the
monthly mortgage payment in DEBTS, not savings!! I guess the advantage
there is that you can file for bankruptcy and make your fellow citizens eat
the losses in higher prices. )-:

Fortunately, US savings levels, which were at all time lows are starting to
creep back up as people realize how long they might have to fend for
themselves if the breadwinner gets fired and can't find a new job.

--
Bobby G.



Amen, brother. I've been poor, as used to be traditional during and
shortly thereafter college. Didn't care for it, gonna try like hell
never to do it again. There were family financial dry spells growing up
as a kid, although we always had a roof and food. Several siblings have
been broke on and off over the years.

Net effect of all this is that I have turned into a bit of a cheap SOB
over the years. I'll never be rich (too much of a mouth to ever play the
corporate game successfully), but I have managed to hold on to a decent
paying job for 30 years. I have enough in the bank to pay the mortgage
for several years (small house, half of what they approved me for), as
well as buy food, plus enough seed money to start over elsewhere if I
had to, at a modest level. Never made a monthly car payment in my
life, and buy my toys off the trailing edge. There are people with
non-working spouses and rug rats that get by (and save regularly) on
less than I do, and I have great respect for that, but the 1/3 pay cut I
would take if I retire as soon as I am eligible scares me to death. If
I could find a job that I actually enjoyed that would make up part of
the difference, it would make the decision to go a lot easier.

--
aem sends...