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justlikeofficespace OP t1_j1s9r48 wrote

Created using SankeyMATIC

Backstory: I moved back home with my parents mid-pandemic (hence why there's no substantial expenses like rent and food). This chart doesn't include my investment or retirement accounts. It also doesn't account for ~$950 of miscellaneous expenses I didn't want to categorize. My goal right now is to stow away as much cash as I can to hopefully purchase a home towards the end of 2023 (or if/when there's a major economic downturn).

I've been tracking my expenses for years using PearBudget. It's an app/service now but you can find the Excel template with a quick Google search, which is the one I use. My expenses were already categorized in PearBudget so it was a matter of summing them up for input in SankeyMATIC.

A few things stood out to me after seeing the visual representation of my finances.

  • Uncle Sam has his hands deep in my pockets (lol). I file as single so that's kind of to be expected.

  • I don't eat out that often. It was interesting to see that the handful of dates I went on this year comprised ~30% of that expense! Dating is expensive (and emotionally draining!)

  • Emergency dental visits suck! Had a crown come out and had to get that fixed/redone. Brush your teeth 2x/day, floss, WaterPik, etc. people!

  • In an age of subscription services galore, I somehow only still have one.

For clarification:

  • Luxury goods are exactly that. A designer brand wallet, sunglasses, Tactile Turn pen, etc.

EDIT: Ah crap, I accidentally left out 1 month of pay. Spending figures should still hold true. Revised the savings. Revised chart for those curious.

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Ciarrai_IRL t1_j1sbypd wrote

Impressive savings discipline. You damn millennials (I mean that lovingly) are going to be at the top of the food chain while us Gen Xers will still still be paying off our mortgages all because you decided to stay home a little (a lot) longer after school. Fuck you (necessary). But good for you šŸ˜œ. I make more than twice the amount you make and my rate of savings/investment (excluding 401k) is less than a quarter of yours.

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Sichdar t1_j1sch0s wrote

That's a very strange dog dressed in pink shorts, socks and wearing a green and red top

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A_Casual_Guys_Guy t1_j1sd71u wrote

If I went through and looked, I wouldn't be surprised if mine looked almost exactly the same LOL. Must be a California thing.

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MidnightPale3220 t1_j1sfif8 wrote

Impressive indeed. For the record, Uncle Sam is pretty lenient with his taxes. For a first world country to get more than 50% of your salary in net income seems luxurious to many Europeans.

Then again, we don't generally need to save as much for medical bills, if I understand correctly.

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vtTownie t1_j1sh3hi wrote

Damn that having no rent looks so nice

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VinylPuppies t1_j1sm5pp wrote

If Iā€™m reading this correctly, youā€™re spending around $100 per month on food between groceries and eating out. If thatā€™s the true figure, you should make sure you incorporate growth in that area on your future expenses when youā€™re on your own.

Great discipline overall, and be sure to get your parents something real nice down the road :)

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justlikeofficespace OP t1_j1smxd0 wrote

When I was living on my own, I was spending between $150-200/mo on groceries and eating out. I'm a simple man. 50 lb bag of rice, bulk spinach, chicken thighs, and eggs goes a long way.

>be sure to get your parents something real nice down the road :)

You know it!

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VinylPuppies t1_j1stif9 wrote

That's the way to do it. Before I got married, I used to have tuna/hamburger helper quite often to stretch the grocery dollar as far as I could. Let's just say that marriage changed that a bit (for the better).

FWIW, we budget $500 on groceries for the two of us. Eating out is a bit more variable, but we consider that a bit on the entertainment side. We recently moved into our first house a few months back, and if you can nail down a cheap garage fridge/freezer, the extra space goes a long way towards freezing meat that you can buy when it's on sale.

Keep up the great work and good luck on the future housing hunt!

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kushtiannn t1_j1sxx8b wrote

You spent $234 on gas the entire year?

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justlikeofficespace OP t1_j1symi9 wrote

Yes. 2 factors behind the low costs:

a.) I'm on a remote-centered work schedule meaning I only have to commute to the office 1x/week.

b.) I drive an alternative fuel vehicle, specifically a compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle. Typically CNG is 1/3-1/2 the price of gasoline. When gasoline spiked to over $5 or whatever it was, I didn't even blink. I was filling up for around $1.89/gge. [Filled up for even cheaper in March/April for $1.26/gge and $1.30/gge]. A "full tank" of gas costs me me $7-10 and gives me 250 miles of range.

I also track my driving/fuel-ups for the year and here are some numbers.

  • 2022 Total Miles Driven: 4832

  • Total Fuel Cost: $234.55

  • Cost/mi: $0.049

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folstar t1_j1t2fk2 wrote

Yeah, just your typical millennial earning in the top quintile, no current housing costs, and spending $10.59 a week on groceries.

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randomando2020 t1_j1t9c2f wrote

No rent/housing cost is a god send. It is the single most drain of pretty much everyoneā€™s budget so to not have it, milk that for as long as you can as larger down payment will avoid interest costs and frankly just cost of owning a house with repairs/taxes.

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justlikeofficespace OP t1_j1tajx9 wrote

It truly is the biggest expense for most people. I have a 20% down payment for my high COL area but the bidding wars have been quite crazy. It's not uncommon for folks to be outbid $50-100k last minute. I want some wiggle room with the extra cash on hand + 20% down.

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BeliefInAll t1_j1tenhp wrote

Much better than the other guy who spent 8k a year on weed...

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gfreyd t1_j1ts7fg wrote

How come you donā€™t contribute to the running of the household?

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AlternativeRhubarb99 t1_j1tt0oj wrote

> You damn millennials (I mean that lovingly) are going to be at the top of the food chain while us Gen Xers will still still be paying off our mortgages all because you decided to stay home a little (a lot) longer after school

Millennials are now 40 and older. We're not young, and most of us A, don't make 90k. B, Sure as fuck don't have a pension or union, and C, are FORCED to live at home because we don't make enough. This guy is an extreme exception to the rule and I hope he gets his house. Most of us however are fucked way harder than Gen X is.

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Bunny_Butt16 t1_j1us790 wrote

Do you only pay dental and vision? It says Medical but it isn't.

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justlikeofficespace OP t1_j1uvps9 wrote

Those were out of pocket expenses I had to pay this year not covered by my dental or vision insurance. I have traditional health insurance too as shown in deductions. Had a couple of immunizations but those were all covered with no co-pay.

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justlikeofficespace OP t1_j1uw198 wrote

Sorry, it wasnā€™t my intention to rub people the wrong way. Just sharing a data point. Again not representative of any group or anyone. I should have added the ā€œliving at homeā€ part in the title.

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DocCEN007 t1_j1uwv40 wrote

Change your withholding. You're giving the federal government a $4000+ interest free loan you could be investing/saving.

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No_Procedure_4232 t1_j1v5zp5 wrote

No rent and effectively no gas or food costs either. Must live at home and that is ok too. We encouraged our kids to move back home after school to save some cash before moving out. It cost us almost nothing and it really made a difference when they did move out. I used to say, ā€œItā€™s fine with us as long as you capitalize on the opportunity to save some $$. And if we do this right you wonā€™t want to stay, and I wonā€™t have to ask you to leave.ā€ šŸ˜‰

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nrlb t1_j1vgwty wrote

You may be able to talk to your employer and ask about how they calculate withholding. You may be able to put into their system you have 1 dependent or more, but file without those dependent at tax time. Their system usually provides an estimate of your taxes, but it's just an estimate. There is no way for your employer to know about your other sources of income outside of your employment (hence why you file). I once worked an extra job where I only made a few thousand, and so my withholding was very small for that job. Your only danger is you might get fines for underpayment depending on the state. Also talk to an accountant, not take advice from weird people on the internet without question. :)

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rude_duner t1_j1vim4x wrote

You donā€™t pay anything for housing? Like even if you still live with your parents you make over 90k and donā€™t give them anything? Not even groceries or utilities (I know for a fact that grocery figure doesnā€™t cover the whole family).

Genuine questionā€”are you parents wealthy? If not I canā€™t help but feel like this is kind of shitty.

Also frankly itā€™s almost annoying that you made this post. This isnā€™t about financial discipline, itā€™s about extremely fortunate circumstance. The rest of us donā€™t have this option, so itā€™s kind of just bragging about generational wealth. Iā€™m sure you did something to earn your salary, but beyond that this is just a visualization of life on easy mode.

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justlikeofficespace OP t1_j1vk764 wrote

No I donā€™t, which is primarily why Iā€™m able to save so much. The grocery figure was only for a couple of months when they were out. A more accurate figure would be $150-200 which is what I was spending when I lived on my own.

No my parents arenā€™t wealthy but the house is paid for and they still work part time. Again it might be a cultural difference but they insist on me saving everything I can towards a house of my own. They wonā€™t accept my monetary ā€œcontributionsā€.

Sorry if this rubs you the wrong way. I was simply just trying to show a data point. Not meant to representative of anything.

This is definitely not generational wealth. Parents immigrated to the US in the 70s with barely anything and houses back then were around $100k. They worked hard and chipped away at the mortgage like every other working class American.

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rude_duner t1_j1vmrhf wrote

Well good for you and your parents, genuinely. I donā€™t mean to sound bitter about it, Iā€™m just not sure what weā€™re supposed to gain from this. It doesnā€™t inform anyone of any potential spending habits other than ā€œman it would be awesome if I had no bills.ā€

I make even more than you do and it will take me several years to save what you do in one. Just not sure what sort of feedback youā€™re looking for on this. Making it is one thing, posting it is anotherā€”it implies that you want engagement. But what sort of engagement did you imagine? Pats on the back and jealousy? Genuinely curious

Also FYI you should be aware that this is generational wealth. It may not be a 7 figure inheritance, but it is your previous generation providing you with a huge leg up on your peers to enable you to own more than you would have on your own. No shame in that, but thatā€™s what it is. Be happy and grateful, but make sure you never brag

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JustForMySubs t1_j1vo278 wrote

Seems like youā€™re overpaying your witholding significantly on your taxes if youā€™re getting almost 5k back. Youā€™re giving the government a free loan by doing so, id suggest updating your W-4 if youā€™re actually worried about ā€œUncle Sam in your pocketā€ and not just being glib

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justlikeofficespace OP t1_j1vrzdk wrote

It was intended to show a data point of a unique situation. You see other charts on here of very high earners, low savers, high savers, low earners, and a combination of these. This is just somewhere in between.

I wasnā€™t expecting a particular type of engagement. Just wanted to present some data.

I see how this can be generational wealth after you clarified. In my mind I always saw that term applicable to those around me who came from affluent families. Iā€™m talking about Ivy League educated families whose children never had to worry about getting into college or being able to pay.

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rude_duner t1_j1vsh1i wrote

I guess I can see the value in that. After all I am an advocate for transparency about these things. It may help others to see that it isnā€™t their fault for not keeping up with people in situations like yours for example.

And yeah there are absolutely levels to the generational wealth thing and you are arguably on the lowest tier. Thatā€™s fair

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justlikeofficespace OP t1_j1wogb5 wrote

The goal is to get into a house where I can rent out 2 of the rooms to help out with the mortgage. My income will increase 5% every year (until capped out) with additional salary adjustments based on the negotiated bargaining contracts from the union.

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Bender3455 t1_j1wu0o9 wrote

Hey! That's a great salary for a union shop, good job!

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OmelOgun t1_j1wu8ou wrote

What was used to create this sankey?

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[deleted] t1_j1z25yx wrote

Fuck that. Eating nothing but rice, spinach and eggs isn't enjoyable, nor is it a very balanced diet. I don't know why people on Reddit get off bragging about how Spartan their diets are. Sure, saving money is great, but eating the most bland foods around just to save a few bucks is hardly an ideal solution.

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Spa_5_Fitness_Camp t1_j20fupz wrote

Lower taxes than I pay in the US, and you get school and medical. Fuck me.

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Ambitious-Ad6900 t1_j24q8a9 wrote

Do you realize the post clearly says "of A millennial" meaning it is specific to only one person not respresentative to a population? In this scenario, the author does not owe any explanations to you about their housing or family situation. Your questioning is hostile. What do you care if their parents are wealthy? Do you go around asking individuals of they are wealthy or how much they contribute to their parents?

It certainly is unfortutante that many people do not have this option, but the post does not seem intended to ilustrate a situation at population level, it is just about one person. Why is it shitty that they made this post? why is it a problem that not everyone has to struggle? are you bitter about every person who is in a better position than you?

I have news for you, in a lot of cultures, including mine, people do not have to leave their parents house, I mean they are not expected to leave, they can stay as long as they want, and we parents encourage our children to stay as long as they can so they can take advantage of having a roof and food while they are trying to build their life. It is not uncommon for people to live with their parents, even while earning a good income, and the reason goes beyond financial reasons, some times is even about company and taking care of your parents if they need that. If you marry you leave, if you don't marry you can leave or you can stay, hell sometimes if you marry you can bring your spouse (this is not ideal, but it happens a lot and no one judges that). People do not have to be wealthy to support their children like this. It is a cultural thing, more than a reflection of wealth, so your questioning is very inappropiate.

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rude_duner t1_j24r03k wrote

If you read further down you wouldā€™ve seen that I conceded there being value to the post. With that being said I donā€™t regret the way I approached it. My critiques were fair and I stand by them.

And Iā€™m not jealous of anything he has to be proud of. To be frank Iā€™m younger and earn more. Iā€™m simply pointing out that he essentially posted a visualization of his personal privilege, which, again, I have already conceded may be valuable info to some so that they can understand why others have so much more saved than they do.

I wasnā€™t being hostile, I was genuinely questioning OPā€™s intent, because it didnā€™t seem very positive to me. I liked his response though, and weā€™ve made peace. You can chill

ETA: and about the culture thingā€”I have absolutely nothing against living with your parents. I wish I could. I have something against earning an above average salary and not contributing. Without an explanation for that itā€™s an objectively a bad look. I stand by that.

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Ambitious-Ad6900 t1_j24sgav wrote

I have my children at home while they go to uni and I am encouraging them to not leave until they have a stable income and have saved for their down payment to ensure housing. I really see no need to send them out to the world to struggle when they have a house and we can suppor them as much as we can. We don't ask them to contribute to the house, our priority is that they save as much as possible while they can. The day they decide to leave, hopefully they will do it with resources to provide for themselves. Though it is a cultural thing in large part, in my culture children are not expected to leave the parents house a certain age, so for us is absolutely normal having our children home and hopefully for them the benefits of staying home outweight the social pressure to leave when they are not ready yet.

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Ambitious-Ad6900 t1_j24uyxj wrote

You really don't. They posted the data they chose to make public, you have no right to question what you questioned. It is none of your business if they contribute or not to their parents or if they are wealthy, let alone in the hostile way you did it.

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rude_duner t1_j24vk39 wrote

Again, hard disagree. If you donā€™t want people to question the details of your finances donā€™t post the details of your finances. If youā€™d simply said ā€œhe isnā€™t obligated to respondā€ Iā€™d agree, but to act like asking the question was out of line is frankly ridiculous

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rude_duner t1_j256x8w wrote

And likewise you stating that I have no right repeatedly will not make that true.

Are you one of OPā€™s parents or something? He wasnā€™t even offended by my question, why are you so up in arms about it?

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ioncloud9 t1_j28sqgn wrote

You should have enough for a downpayment on a 600k house with that one year of saving. You dont need 20% down. Mortgage insurance is really really low if you have good credit and you can get away with only say 5% down.

Now, having a bigger down payment helps keep monthly payments low, but keep in mind you are tying up that cash as equity in the house, and you could likely outperform your mortgage interest rate with investments.

You should talk with a mortgage broker or banker about your options and what your budget is with what you've saved so far. We only had to come up with 24k in cash to close on our house for example.

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