I haven't read the whole thread but have some thoughts: 1) Figure out taxes. Once you know where you want to live, you should be able to find on-line information on the taxes for that area. For example, a quick looks says that if you make $37k in Massachusetts, your federal taxes would be 5431.25 and your state would be 1673.15 so your post-tax amount would be around 29,895. This is a rough guess.
2) Figure out what you spend $ on now. Write down everything you spend, if you can separate it into categories, so much the better. For example, have an Excel sheet and have a column for the amount, another for the date, another for general category (transportation, food out, groceries, clothing, medications, recreation classes, entertainment, books/dvds/jewelry/etc., gifts, other) or whatever makes sense to you. If you can factor in since Dec. so much the better.
3) Figure out what you would need to eat in a month to be reasonably healthy and sane (trust me, if you are used to real food, ramen noodles dry with ez cheese WILL drive you crazy after a few days). Go to the store and get a real idea of the costs (including sales tax and getting it home). Assume inflation
4) Find out what you will be paying in health insurance (most plans are on-line somewhere), dental, vision, life insurance, etc..
5) As Whimmydiddle mentioned, budget some to put away each month. My preference is to have a slot at the front of my checkbook and put X dollars there every month so what I see in the checkbook isn't quite true. I can then transfer that lump into other savings every so often. Shorter term, that money can become a downpayment on a house, longer term it could be part of your retirement.
6) Find out what the maximum you can put into retirement is and put it in, that compound interest now will make a difference and if you never 'have' the money you won't miss it.
7) Make a budget for gifts, for example Java and I have 6 neices & nephews + his sibs + my MIL + a bunch of yankee gift exchange gifts to buy for every year. It adds up and we have $$ budgeted for gifts and we try to buy them when we can find a good deal and not get slammed all at once.
8) Get a credit card, have your parents co-sign if necessary. Charge things now and pay it off promptly every month. I got my Discover card while I was in college and put my books on it, got a check from my sire and then used that money to pay off the books or tuition. That lead to the start of a good credit rating. The interest WILL add up frighteningly fast and will compound impressively fast and will usually continue for at least one cycle AFTER you pay it off. There are good reasons to carry a balance but you have to think long and hard about it (e.g. we did when selling 2 houses so when the sale of mine fell through we still had cash for the downpayment on our house).
Add up all the necessary costs (rent, insurance, heat, electricity, water, cell phone (if you need one), union dues, phone/internet, realistic living expenses and figure out how close to the edge you will be skating on your biweekly.
If you base your budget on your bi-weekly salary the extra paychecks can be used for savings or retirement or whatever.
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2011-03-28 09:44 pm (UTC)1) Figure out taxes. Once you know where you want to live, you should be able to find on-line information on the taxes for that area. For example, a quick looks says that if you make $37k in Massachusetts, your federal taxes would be 5431.25 and your state would be 1673.15 so your post-tax amount would be around 29,895. This is a rough guess.
2) Figure out what you spend $ on now. Write down everything you spend, if you can separate it into categories, so much the better. For example, have an Excel sheet and have a column for the amount, another for the date, another for general category (transportation, food out, groceries, clothing, medications, recreation classes, entertainment, books/dvds/jewelry/etc., gifts, other) or whatever makes sense to you. If you can factor in since Dec. so much the better.
3) Figure out what you would need to eat in a month to be reasonably healthy and sane (trust me, if you are used to real food, ramen noodles dry with ez cheese WILL drive you crazy after a few days). Go to the store and get a real idea of the costs (including sales tax and getting it home). Assume inflation
4) Find out what you will be paying in health insurance (most plans are on-line somewhere), dental, vision, life insurance, etc..
5) As Whimmydiddle mentioned, budget some to put away each month. My preference is to have a slot at the front of my checkbook and put X dollars there every month so what I see in the checkbook isn't quite true. I can then transfer that lump into other savings every so often. Shorter term, that money can become a downpayment on a house, longer term it could be part of your retirement.
6) Find out what the maximum you can put into retirement is and put it in, that compound interest now will make a difference and if you never 'have' the money you won't miss it.
7) Make a budget for gifts, for example Java and I have 6 neices & nephews + his sibs + my MIL + a bunch of yankee gift exchange gifts to buy for every year. It adds up and we have $$ budgeted for gifts and we try to buy them when we can find a good deal and not get slammed all at once.
8) Get a credit card, have your parents co-sign if necessary. Charge things now and pay it off promptly every month. I got my Discover card while I was in college and put my books on it, got a check from my sire and then used that money to pay off the books or tuition. That lead to the start of a good credit rating. The interest WILL add up frighteningly fast and will compound impressively fast and will usually continue for at least one cycle AFTER you pay it off. There are good reasons to carry a balance but you have to think long and hard about it (e.g. we did when selling 2 houses so when the sale of mine fell through we still had cash for the downpayment on our house).
Add up all the necessary costs (rent, insurance, heat, electricity, water, cell phone (if you need one), union dues, phone/internet, realistic living expenses and figure out how close to the edge you will be skating on your biweekly.
If you base your budget on your bi-weekly salary the extra paychecks can be used for savings or retirement or whatever.