Do you feel financially secure?

That physician makes nearly 14 times what I do. Maybe he doesn't feel secure because he's invested his entire life's philosophy, or his entire spirituality, into the material world. Maybe he feels he is nothing if he cannot keep his $1 million home, his three cars, etc. Worse, maybe he feels he is nothing if he cannot accumulate more. It isn't any way to live. Dude has three cars. I've never owned one before, and I can't afford one at the moment (though I'm grateful to have access to one if I want).

In the meantime, I'd like to think that making in a year what he does in a month would make me feel very fortunate indeed. I'd like to think that making $50,000 (on average) would make me feel financially secure. But not on its own. I'd like to use the extra cash flow this would create at first to pay down my debt. After that, much of it would be diverted into savings, which are virtually non-existent to me right now.

So in summary, $50,000 (adjusting for inflation year to year) with little or no debt would be an ideal for me. It would be the baseline for me to feel financially secure.

Would I want more? Probably. But that's my baseline for financial security. I'm not that far off that mark, though at the moment my income fluctuates, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to reach closer to that goal soon, but maybe so in the near future once I figure out this freelancing thing out better.

 

We feel more financially comfortable now than we have ever before. We're not living in debt. Our investments are doing ok, we're able to set aside quite a bit of money every month, and have a decent amount stashed away for retirement. My husband has a reassuring level of job security. We have good health care benefits and a significant amount of money in an HSA account to cover medical emergencies. We definitely aren't scraping by from paycheck to paycheck.

BUT we are very concerned about the future. We're worried that either through inflation or other means that money we've saved for retirement will be worthless or gone. We're also concerned that we will be unable to meet our daughter's educational needs without accruing debt.

One of these years my husband would like to go into business for himself, to have a family business, but we just can't figure out how we could possibly save enough money to make that a reality. So for now we work and save and do our best to live frugally, knowing that every penny we stash away could be taken away at any time.

I don't feel that any income would make me feel fully financially secure at this time. But having some significant amount of my own money coming in every month, rather than this grad student stipend, would be helpful. I'm looking forward to when my husband and I both have a reliable, stable income.

 

Right now? Not particularly, just because of some major things coming.

One, my husband is due to graduate with his Master's in September. I hope that this goes more smoothly than it did the last time he graduated. The economy is recovering, so I can only hope there are jobs. This time, I can't afford for him to be unemployed for six months. The only reason why we made it through last time was because I had a job teaching 40 hours a week at a preschool for $9/hr, we went on food stamps, and my parents owned the house we lived in, so they cut our rent significantly. I can live very frugally if need be as far as food is concerned. This whole "let's push up graduation" thing happened suddenly; we were expecting to both graduate in December. Right now, we don't have enough money to cushion us if he does not get a job. I cannot support us on my income alone since I am in graduate school. I try to have a cushion of savings for emergencies, but it's down a bit since we've had some medical bills and work done to the car. This all came up AFTER I bought my ticket for Toronto and we made plans to go together to his conference in Napa. It also doesn't help that I only have my 10-hr a week job over the summer; having to student teach in the fall cut into my employability significantly.

Perhaps if he'd start applying for jobs NOW I would feel better about this whole graduating in three months thing.

 

There is always a tendency in these kinds of discussions to equate wealth with a high income and a lavish lifestyle. Income has little to do with wealth.
Wealthy or "rich" is measuring your net worth, not your income or counting toys. If you spend all you make (or more) you'll never be wealthy, no matter what you earn.
I'm rich by those standards, with my net worth being a little over a million in stocks, land, and other investments. I'll admit to having some good luck with investments, but I'm also diligent and have always lived well under my means.
I currently have two cars, a 2002 SAAB and 1983 Honda Civic. I've never owned a new car. I live in house valued at about $125K in a middle class neighborhood. I keep up with the Barnetts next door, not the Joneses.

Last year I lived on significantly less than I paid in taxes. I have no debt.
I shake my head and laugh at some acquaintances that are so concerned with looking rich that they most likely will never be rich.
I've been working since I was fifteen years old and what impresses me is intelligence, work ethic, and pragmatism. I'm too driven to not work, but I'm where I can work for myself, and be choosy about working for others, mostly taking jobs to learn.
I could care less about 500k McMansions, Lexi, Range Rovers, wristwatches the size of a dinner plate, and other risky depreciating illiquid "assets" that are so popular with seekers of status.
So yes, I feel financially secure.

 

I feel secure because I spend less than I make and I also save plenty.

I don't buy crap, well, I try not to. I try to buy things that generate a small income. I tend to buy experiences.

I pay cash for everything. Only debt I have are some mortgages, but they are being paid fast as possible.

Since November 2012, I paid cash for a sports car (not new) and a house. These are 2 psychological barriers for me for some time but I needed to make it happen as a goal and I did.

 

I live within my means, but post-secondary education was so damn expensive. In another two years, my student debt will be cleared, which will free up $300/month in cash flow.

I remember chatting with a coworker who went to university 10 years before me. She paid less than half what I did. I felt ripped off.

 

No, not yet.
Not after I've been through the past some years.

But give me time, hopefully life doesn't throw me another twist...and I'm slowly able to rebuild.
Talk to me next year.

 

Living off of granola and working from home* help too.

*No dress code, no fast food lunches, no transportation costs (heck, I don't even own a transit pass, let alone a car)

 

Well, I said I worked from "home." That's a good sign.

You only mentioned Cheerios, being a pauper, and an old hatchback. That doesn't sound good.

 

I shall have you over for tea sometime.