About Money Under 30 | Money Under 30 (2024)

FAQs

About Money Under 30 | Money Under 30? ›

About us. Money Under 30 is a personal finance site helping people reach their financial goals. With real-world advice for anyone and everyone under 30, we cover how to start investing, save that first $1,000, pay down student loans, and a whole lot more!

Money Under 30 was designed to help young people access free personal finance advice to make more informed decisions about how to allocate their money. Money Under 30 now offers an email newsletter, plus exclusive advice and links, road maps to help meet goals, and advice tailored to specific income levels.

Money Under 30 was founded in 2006 by David Weliver, a former employee at Dow Jones' monthly personal finance magazine SmartMoney (now shuttered). The website was acquired by XLMedia in August 2017 but then reacquired by David's company, Northern Lights Media, in June 2023.

Saving $1,500 per month may be a good amount if it's feasible. In general, save as much as you can to reach your goals, whether that's $50 or $1,500. You could speak with a certified financial planner to help develop a plan for your finances if you aren't sure how much money to save regularly.

By 30, it would be beneficial to have $50,000 saved. This comes from the goal of being able to replace about 70% to 80% of your pre-retirement income in retirement.” While having the equivalent of your annual salary saved up by 30 may seem unattainable, Kovar believes it's achievable if you start saving in your 20s.

By age 25, you should aim to have an emergency fund of 3-6 months of living expenses, and start regularly contributing to retirement savings to take advantage of compound interest over time, even if it's just small amounts.

Fidelity suggests 1x your income

At the end of 2021, the average annual salary was $49,920 for 25 to 34-year-olds and $58,604 for 35 to 44-year-olds. So the average 30-year-old should have $50,000 to $60,000 saved by Fidelity's standards.

Best Egg requires borrowers to have a credit score of at least 640, but to qualify for the lowest rates you must earn at least $100,000 annually and have a credit score of 700 or higher. Best Egg, unlike Upstart, offers homeowners a secured personal loan option.

Bad Credit Loans target people with imperfect credit. Some may be legitimate solutions with high-interest rates, but many are scams. Here's how to tell. Nearly everyone has a credit history and a credit score.

Personal loan companies may call your employer simply to verify that you are employed where you claim to be. This helps the company determine if you are actually eligible to receive a loan, as a big part of whether or not you can get a loan depends on your income.

Is saving $500 a month a lot? ›

Saving $500 a month is an excellent starting point. Yes, it's ambitious, but it's achievable and will set you up financially over time.

Aim to have three to six months' worth of expenses set aside. To figure out how much you should have saved for emergencies, simply multiply the amount of money you spend each month on expenses by either three or six months to get your target goal amount.

Assuming a 15% annual growth rate (on average), a $50 per-week investment could grow to a value of more than $1.5 million after 30 years. And it would take a little more than 27 years for it to hit the $1 million mark.

Data shows that the average 40-something has $77,400 in retirement savings. If you're 40 with $40,000, you're by no means doomed, but you may want to ramp up your contributions as much as you can. It's also important to invest your savings, so your money is able to grow over time.

One common benchmark is to have two times your annual salary in net worth by age 35. So, for example, say that you earn the U.S. median income of $74,500. This means that you will want to have $740,500 saved up by age 67. To reach this goal, at age 35 you may want to have about $149,000 in savings.

By age 35, aim to save one to one-and-a-half times your current salary for retirement. By age 50, that goal is three-and-a-half to six times your salary. By age 60, your retirement savings goal may be six to 11-times your salary.