Young Professionals Navigating New Income
Recent graduates and young professionals are experiencing a significant increase in income for the first time, leading to anxiety and a lack of clarity on how to best manage their finances. They seek guidance on budgeting, saving, debt management, and long-term financial planning, feeling overwhelmed by the responsibility and unsure of where to start.
SOURCES (60)
“I'd do B. I've had a similar dilemma before and chose the B equivalent and I'm significantly better off financially a decade later (talking like an order of magnitude better off). For your situation: Relocation is already covered RSUs depend on whether the company is…”
“You say "non luxurious but very comfortable" You also say you "feel like you arent saving enough"...what percentage of your income goes to savings? Out of everything left over you create your "very comfortable" lifestyle. Your only option is to make more money, cut your "very comfortable" lifestyle down to "comfortable", or to accept the fact that you are saving as much as you can. If you genuinely want to save more money take the money out of yo”
“Honestly I don't think I'm going to have any major expenses in the future, and I might get a job sometime soon so its gonna feel like the money is just sitting there. I know checking accounts are great but don't you want your money to be like making money? I've always heard so many people talking about "starting early" regarding investing and everything else so I don't want to miss out. Maybe I'm overthinking it?”
“I got full tuition scholarship from T-25 college. I am leaving my stable job and going for MBA two years Full Time. My college starts in a week and now I am wondering about how I will take care of all the finances (living + college fees + insurance) other than tuition. I am thinking of taking a private loan as I am international. Does anyone have similar experience? Am I thinking too much? Should I just take a loan and focus on the two years MBA now and face the storm when it comes? Any other al”
“That’s not always true; people also spend money on what they think(or led to believe) they should spend money on. This is how we know money doesn’t always buy happiness; and phrases like “keeping up with the joneses” Sure, “What do I do with all this money” seems like an odd complaint (especially to jealous eyes) however making a lot of money and the desire to spend a lot of money aren’t two sides of the same coin Some people don’t care about car or clothing badging; some people don’t want exclu”
“I just felt like we weren’t being intentional with money. Since then, I’ve set up a few sinking funds for vacations, home repairs, and a car replacement fund. There is money in them as well as a CD with 6-9 months of expenses, a random emergency fund with 2 months expenses in a HYSA and we have 3 months expenses in our checking account on top of these sinking fund accounts. with how random and scattered all of this is, I am not sure you are being all that much more intentional with it now. Now i”
“A financial therapist would be beneficial here (there is a whole subset of therapists who are trained on the psychology of money and help people work through their financial trauma).”
“Hi all, new to this sub and new to really figuring out how to handle my money. My parents really never taught me anything about investing and I don’t have benefits through work (yet) so I have just been riding the wave of my checking and savings accounts . Looking for advice on whether or not I am in a good or bad situation financially and hoping for some pointers on what I can get some money invested in!! Here are my “stats” I guess??? -I’m a 28 year old female -income: 75,000 a year (with no b”
“Hi there, TLDR: I got a $5.8k bonus and a $600-$700 per check pay increase; I want help prioritizing debts/expenses and building my savings back up after a medical emergency (thank God for savings). The bonus is equivalent to my current credit card debt, ≈ $2k pet expenses on the rise (vet/insurance), only $1k left on bedroom set payments, and I want to rebuild the savings. My monthly fixed expenses are about $1.5k bc I have a high car payment and insurance (still the cheapest in my area due to”
“Your parents are right, but it doesn't seem like you understand why. First thing you need to do is read the pf wiki investing sections and go from there. if I should pay someone to manage this money in the hopes of better returns This is a particularly dangerous line of thinking”
“Saving that much net is incredible. I’m not knocking you for that. I’ve never saved that much and I’m older than you. But if you’re not making good financial choices then if/when the money stops flowing then you’re going to burn through your cash pretty quickly.”
“Hey, you'll get through this. You're still young and you have your whole career ahead of you. Focus on building a solid portfolio during your first couple of years. You never know where you'll be three years from now. You could be one of those people earning six figures a year. Just keep learning and improving. Automation is in demand these days, you can venture into that field”
“Hi all, Bit of background I was a bit of a mess in my 20s. Struggled with addiction didn’t really hold down work properly and money just came and went with nothing to show for it. Fast forward to now I’ve been married a couple of years I’m sober and out of debt and finally starting to get my life in order. I’ve managed to save £500 so far which I know isn’t exactly impressive for a 33 year old but for me it’s a big step in the right direction. At the moment I can realistically put away about £10”
“Before you start reading this thinking that I'm some 15yo that doesn't know what he is talking about, let me start and tell the entire story of how I got the job and what I'm doing now. I am looking for advice for my future. I am currently a marketer for a Farmers Insurance agency in Southern MN, I got this job through my own wits and reaching out, not being a "nepo" by any means. HOW I FOUND AND GOT THE OPPORTUNITY - To start, I want/wanted a future in financial services,”
“Hi everyone, I’ve been trying to make an idea come to fruition for a little while now. I’m 22F and have a decent savings pot from my job but want to allocate a couple thousand to finally getting my business launched. It’s an innovative skin care concept that I think would be easily marketable on social media. For some context I studied chemistry and then self taught cosmetic chemistry and I’ve worked in beauty sales for 4 years. My only sort of bottleneck right now is manufacturing. It’s hard to”
“First off, congrats on your freedom and props for looking for advice on getting started. Legitimately wish you best of luck. What I recommend would be to try getting a bank account after you get your ID, if you don't have one already. That will give you a place to cash your paychecks. If you can, go to a credit union. It's more likely they'll have zero-fee checking accounts than big banks and in most cases just suck less. I also prefer them to digital banking services like Ally becau”
“Need some input or advice, I am 21m with a full-time job(apprentice Lineman) making $42hr w/ pay increases every 1,000 hrs worked. I work lots of overtime and have a pretty good retirement from the union, along with benefits. I live at home, single, have a car that's paid off, and have pretty much no expenses other than car insurance and credit card bills. I max out my Roth every year and currently have 10k in an investing account on the app Acorns that I put $200 in weekly. I have 100k sitt”
“Every now and then I track all my spending for a month or two and make sure it makes sense, but as long as my income is sufficiently greater than my expenditures I don’t spend a lot of consistent effort on it. I’m not a budgeter because I haven’t needed to be, and I’m okay with not optimizing everything. I’ve done it with a simple spreadsheet and being mindful that in need to log my spending in close to real time.”
“hello! looking for some general financial advice on my current situation! i am working part-time (weekends) making $19/hr and am also in a coop program and am a summer intern making $21/hr, 35/hrs a week rn. im in 3rd yr uni pursuing comms/marketing. i still live at home, i do not pay for much regarding rent/phone bills/etc, fortunately. my parents have a second car that i use the most, so i pay for gas and monthly insurance. i want to move out, but i know that the real world is far harder than”
“Hello all. The last two years I’ve worked really hard at a new career and have saved over 100k. I just have it sitting in a regular savings account. I know it’s not much money but I was wondering if there would be a smart way to make this money grow? I personally don’t know anyone who has money and invests. I don’t know who to ask for advice and trust so that also makes it hard. We are in our early 40s and I’ve never really had money saved before. If anyone is experienced in finance and has sugg”
“If I were to start savings and investments from scratch, what should I do? I don’t need to buy a home for a few years, I’m single, so no sharing anything lol and I’d like to rent an apartment for myself budget- 1500 all inclusive. What do you think, is that too much to spend on rent? I’d like to take an international vacation once a year too. How would I split the money. Take home salary (minus RSU)= 100k, Canada. Thanks for your inputs submitted by /u/AdAbject7166 [link] [comm”
“I’m looking for some honest financial perspective on when it would be realistic for me to move out. I’m 23 and this is my first full-time job after college. I currently make: $27.36/hour ($57k/year) Take home about $1,700 every 2 weeks I have scheduled raises that will bring me to about $28.61/hour ($59.5k) in a few months and about $29.86/hour ($62k) next year My current situation: Living at home right now (no rent) Paid-off 2018 Honda Civic with about 175,000 miles Student loans: $25,800 ($300”
“I think good income can be relative. If they’re ultra disciplined and their expenses are on the lower side, what someone would consider mediocre income could be more than enough to OP”
“You listed costs of basically just cars which eats up 35% of your monthly income. That's so much just for cars! How much are you saving for retirement and long-term goals each month”
“> Hi, I’m an actuary. I’m kinda lazy rn, so I’m not gonna do the math as exact as it can be done, but here’s something. This is giving big “I’m terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought” vibes to me. Even your lazy math is fairly thorough.”
“Another spin on this idea is if you have direct deposit and a separate savings account, you split the paycheck between the checking and savings account with the amount you want to save getting deposited directly from your check to that account.”
“Unless there’s more going on that you haven’t mentioned, I would talk to him and suggest you both open up separate savings accounts that you put a share into each pay. Very normal thing to do”
“Hey everyone, I’m 23 years old, live in California, and make about $100,000/year before taxes, fresh out of college. I’m the only income in my household and currently support both myself and my girlfriend. I’m trying to get my finances in order and would really appreciate advice from people who have been where I am. Here’s where I’m at: ● 23 years old ● Salary: \~$100k/year ● Single income supporting 2 adults ● $0 invested in a Roth IRA ● $0 invested in a 401(k) ● No real investing experience ●”
“Hello I am 24 (M) I have lived at home over a year after graduating college. I have 23k in low interest gov student loan debt, I make 65k a year before tax, I have a 6% 401k employer match and around a 5%-10% bonus. I have around 10k in Roth IRA and 6k in a traditional brokerage. An additional 3k in my 401k currently. And another 1k in my HSA. Another 1.5k in checkings. I have been saving for a year living at home and want to move out with two roommates but everywhere is kinda of expensive as it”
“I’m new to managing money and savings, so sorry if this is a stupid question. (or the wrong subreddit!) I have just started my first proper part-time job. I’m trying to get into good financial habits early and budget my money properly instead of just spending whatever’s left in my account. I’ve been looking at banks like Monzo because of the Pots feature. I like the idea of having separate pots for things like: Future Car Clothes Vinyls Concerts General/emergency savings Rather than having every”
“I am in my mid 20s and in the midst of a career transition. I am planning on going back to graduate school this fall. I've been making around 55k (with cap around $70k in career field), I plan on making more like 80-100K+ after grad school. Graduate school will put me in a better geographic location and give me more of a robust skillset. I currently have 0 debt and a payed off car. I currently have about 40k sitting in a savings account. I have about 10k in a 403(b) that I started investing”
“I recently graduated with a Bachelors in CS and I am set to make $100k with a $5k sign on bonus in about a month. I'm having a hard time deciding how much I should be spending on rent vs attacking debt vs emergency fund. Currently I am on my parents insurance, but I want to get my own car insurance probably around $150 a month with a crash on record. I just turned 23 so I'm planning on staying on parents health insurance until the deadline. Ideally I would like to target paying my mom ba”
“As the title says I’m 22 female, a registered nurse, live in Toronto. Single. No dependents. I will hit my 1 year practicing as a nurse in September Have about 15k saved up, honestly not happy with this figure feel like it could be closer to 20-21k but I had a rough start. Moved a bunch, financially supporting my mom. I don’t have any additional financial support. I pay my own rent, grocery bills, student loans etc. Is this good enough for where I’m at in life? How much should I aim to save for”
“Is that all you have at all or do you have retirement accounts too? Because if you literally only have 70k.. yes.. that might be too little for retirement but you still have time if you are in your early 40s... Also depends on location. If you are in a country that is affordable and has healthcare maybe you are not so bad? In the US that is low reserves for retirement, and also too much cash, unless you are planning to buy a house put some of that 70k savings in the market.”
“You mean save enough for FIRE? It really depends on your annual cost of living.”
“I lost my corporate job early this year and only have $75,143 in an investment account, which I have to pay for over another 7 years (a 5-figure amount each year). My husband has $70000 in cash, which we can use. This is us after almost 7 years of working, paying rent, international travel, etc. We have no loans or debt, and we are 40 years old. I had a few career breaks here and there due to COVID, layoffs, etc and I feel that if we do not have enough saved. We travelled a lot internationally a”
“Need help getting organized, money all over the place Hello, I’m a 24M in the military and I’m trying to really get into investing. I’ve always tinkered around with it since around 2020 just buying random stocks and options just for fun. I really need help getting organized and getting the highest return I can get, I feel like I have money going into a lot of different things and I can’t decide which one will be best for me. I’d like to concentrate more money into something, I feel like I’m over”
“25F, I am really at a cross roads at the moment, I joined a alcohol company after graduating college and my starting salary was 35k and went up to 38k with across the board increases however my role has dramatically changed since the last 3 years ago and I continue to take on more responsibilities with no pay. I have been fighting them on this for two years now. The company is in a bit of a precarious situation financially however the fact that I’m probably the most underpaid out of all the staf”
Elaborate on buying back time? Do you mean cutting down on my W2 OT?
“I personally keep $100 after everything due "that paycheck cycle" is paid off just in case I accidentally write a bad check or something. Everything else gets siphoned off to a taxable brokerage account, with about 3 months emergency cash in Treasury bond funds, the rest primarily in stocks”
“What’s your actual concern? Personally, we keep our checking account at a minimum (2x bills) and keep the extra in our savings account.”
“I broke up with my boyfriend and moved out of our apartment. Then I got laid off so it was mostly living expenses. I’m normally super diligent with money but life just got a little crazy I have a new job making more money now which I’m so thankful for. Like I mentioned I can make the monthly payments no problem and I’m paying an extra couple hundred every month to help pay it off quicker. But itd be nice to not have to pay $500-700 monthly and just have it be done”
“How much have you made a month over the past few months? Like can you list it out? Also, are you contributing to any retirement accounts?”
hi everyone. im a freelance designer. some months are good, others are slow. but i never felt steady financially. i read somewhere that i should try paying myself a fixed amount instead…
“Not true. If you save $5k of $25k, you're saving 20% of your income. And your expenses are $20k. The savings rate (not raw number) is all that matters. At a 20% savings rate, you can retire in ~36.7 years. https://networthify.com/calculator/earlyretirement?income=25000&initialBalance=0&expenses=20000&annualPct=5&withdrawalRate=4 Obviously it might be challenging to live on $20k. So making more money certainly makes it easier to save. But what matters for retirement is expense”
“I’m early 20’s, live with my parents, not a ton of bills and would like to own a home at some point (ideally within the next year). I’ve been going pretty aggressively at my student loans at $650 a month, and should have them paid off by the end of the year. Unfortunately the car I’ve had since highschool crapped out so I bought a newer, used, more practical vehicle. Took out a small loan with a family member and have pretty aggressively went after that with $1000/mo payments, don’t like owning”
“this doesn’t make sense. income does matter. from your example: it don’t matter how much you save if you make 25k, you’ll never retire”
“With no more tuition bills we just funneled that cash straight into a nicer wine budget and spontaneous trips, spend didnt drop at all”
“Title: What skills should I learn to become financially independent and wealthy in the AI era? Hi everyone, I’m 20 years old and I’m trying to build a successful future. My long-term goal is to become financially independent and eventually wealthy. With AI advancing so quickly, I’m wondering which skills are truly worth learning today. What skills or industries do you believe will remain valuable and difficult for AI to replace over the next 10–20 years? If you could start over from scratch toda”
“i’m a 24f working in tech, in a high cost city. i have no debts/loans. my base is ~$160k/year, and w stocks + bonuses, my total compensation comes out to ~$200k/year. i have about $300k net worth, w a majority of it being in my 401k and investment portfolio. i was laid off less than a year into full time working, but last year, i was fortunate to find another role in the company that was a higher role. since that role change and higher base compensation, ive been maxing out my 401k (employer mat”
“I would aim for $800-1000 rent if I were netting $1575 biweekly. If utilities are included, then you are in the right ballpark with 1100 to 1400. You are sort of "on the bubble" in terms of if it makes sense to have a roommate or roomates in most housing markets. I would expect your student loans to be about $100 more/mo and your phone bill to include your device. I'm sure there is a reason for the premium to be so high, but it's never a bad time to shop for new car insurance.”
“Money is a taboo topic for most. I have plenty of close friends... but we're all in different financial positions and talking about 401K balances and total comp just isn't something we do. I'm grateful that both my parents and in-laws are relatively financially savvy. I've had them to talk about basic financial planning stuff.”
“I don't really have anxiety around spending... it's just trying to decide what spending can actually make my life better versus consumption for consumption's sake. For example - we significantly upped our travel budget and that has been great. Regarding the car - I love the car and have had it since it was brand new. I don't drive it because I don't want to spend money on a new car. I drive it because I like it. It was considered a very safe car when it was new and has ABS, f”
“Thanks to this sub I have gotten soooo much better at budgeting and my finances. One thing I want to do now is plan for some big purchases that I want to make over the next 2 years. Wondering how people go about this or if there is a "best" way to maximize my savings for these things. Background: I do have $35k in an emergency fund HYSA with Upgrade, my only debt right now is student loans at $45k (doing my best to try and get this paid of ASAP) Things I want to make sure I have saving”