From time to time I like to challenge you creepy blog readers to get a little vulnerable by answering a few questions. These five simple questions say a lot about a persons current financial state. Yeah I know it’s taboo to ask most of these questions in the real world, but this is the virtual world so normal rules don’t apply. Provide as much information as you want (you can comment as “anonymous” if you prefer). Okay, on to the questions…
1. How much do you make?
2. What is your job title, or what industry do you work in, how old are you, and where do you live? This will help provide some context for question one.
3. How much debt do you have? Break it down by type ($10k student loan, $5K CC, etc)
4. How much did you pay for your car?
5. What’s your net worth?
Simple enough? I wanted to keep it pretty straightforward because YOUR responses are what will make today’s post interesting. We shouldn’t use this information as a means to measure our own success, but as a resource to discuss what are often seen as “inappropriate” questions. Obviously, honesty is crucial so please don’t pretend you make $150,000/year if you really don’t. Be sure to check back throughout the day to see a small financial snapshot of your fellow debt punchers!
My responses…
1. $73,420/yr
2. I work in the security sector of the federal government.
3. Fortunately I’ve been debt free for 13 months.
4. I bought my car brand new for $17,500. Last time I’ll do that 🙂
5. Roughly $100k
1. 40,500
2. I am a social worker for a state in the southwest working with kids in the foster system.
3. I have a crap-ton of debt. 16,000 (credit card) and 33,000 (student loans… private out of state college… oops) And if you want to count mortgage, I’ve got about 104,000 left.
4. About 8,000 back in 2000. It’s 14 years old now and still running.
5. LOL, See #3. My net worth is in the negative.
To my credit, I have paid off about 20k in the past 3 years. I worked a 2nd job for about 2 years and that really helped. I don’t charge things anymore and I do my budget every other week. I simply need to make more money to be able to pay down this debt. I can manage on what I make now, but I have very little left over to pay down debt with without a second job. Which reminds me, I should probably send out some more resumes…
Scully, I am in the wrong region. You make 25% more than I would if I did social work full-time on the east coast.
1. between $18,000 and $24,000
2. full-time bookkeeper for a store (started as a sales associate) and part-time social worker
3. I’m about to go back to school full-time -so $75,000, really
4. 0.
5. I have some nice jewelry?
For the past several months, I have been hovering around a net worth of 0 – what was coming in was just enough for what needed to go out – but I’m putting that on hold since I’m about to begin school again.
(That should be -$75,000)
1. almost $50K
2. Education sector, Australia
3. Equivalent to your student loan = $20K (also a psych grad like you!)
4. Don’t have one. Mooch off the old folks but am in the process of looking to buy
5. Will pass on this question!
1.120k
2.Software Operations Manager
3.$190k (mortgage)
4.10k back in 2004. It’s a 2002 model and still going strong.
5.cash/investment/home equity – just under/over $350k, depending on which way the stocks blew today
I think another crucial bit of information here is a person’s age – I feel pretty happy being where I am, for being 36 – if I was nearing retirement age, I’d be feeling a lot less comfortable.
Regarding debt – I had a car payment when I first finished school and started working full time – that lasted 3 years and I sold the car, paid off the amount owing and got a few hundred bucks out of the deal. I had a student loan of $26k (Cdn) back in 2000 – at the time, the US/CDN exchange rate was in my favour, so my $350/month payments converted into just over $500 a month CDN! That loan was paid off by the end of 2003. I took out a loan in Feb 2004 to buy my current car – and paid that off in full in June 2004. Haven’t had any debt since June 2004, until I signed my mortgage documents last November.
1. $0 (I am a SAHM) husband $50K
2. Mum
3. 187K Mortgage
4. $5000
5. About 100K
1. About $55K
2. Parks agency- Federal Gov’t
3. $3K Credit Card, $2K buy now pay later, $75K mortgage
4. $5K in 2009
5. About $15K
1) 16K? CDN
2) English as a Second Language teacher slash Employee at an Organics Store. I’ve been in school, travelled and I’m now working at the organic store in France
3) 800 CDN in line of credit, to be paid off in July wooo! and 2,000CDN to my bf who’s been keeping me afloat
4) no car, spent 90 dollars on my bicycle
5) neg 3K 🙁
I really should be making more money…I have a degree, but like DN I regret what I took in uni. Now I’m making do with what I have, prioritizing debt payment, and then we’ll see how I can make more $. I have a tough situation as bf and I are not from the same country, so we have spent time back and forth and for now we are in France. Makes for less finances for now, but great memories I geuss.
1. $71,100
2. Auditor – Fed Gov
3. 0 debt
4. $14,000 – new car in 2005 (paid off in 2008)
5. about $82,000
(forgot the $133,000 mortgage debt, but no CC or student loans)
1. $150,000 (OT and Bonus)
2. System Operator for Power Grid – Live in Northeast
3. Total $184,000 – 171,000 mortgage (15 year @ 3.625%) and $13,000 in CC debt (0% interest for the next 1-12 months)
4. $28,000 Acura TL – paid off
5. Approximately $330,000
Notes: I am 30, soon to be 31. I did not have any college loans, which is a huge factor to why I am where I am. My credit “debt” is high, but there is no interest being accrued on it. I put that money aside for the months or years until that offer runs out and collect interest on my money. It used to be 3-5%, but not rates are 1% and lower.
1. $79,000 with annual bonus
2. Software Engineer for a private pharmaceutical company in North Central WV
3. Credit Card = $0
Student Loan = $25,000
Cars (2) = $11,500
Mortgage (starting in Aug) = $88,000
4. $9,900
5. $45,000
1. Base is about $75,000 per year, but with OT and other things I never get less than $82,000, this year I’m on track to clear $90,000.
2. Canadian police officer.
3. Line of Credit – $2500 which will be paid very soon! Car loan ~ $17,000 (that’s my husbands car, mine is paid off, and I think we will not ever pay that much for a car again!). Mortgate ~ $240,000 left, we’ve had a mortgate for 3 years now, but put down 20% on the $310,000 and it’s worth more now, which is where most of our net worth comes from.
4. Acura TSX – way too much! owe about $17,000 still. Payments of $710 per month, with 2 years left.
Chevrolet Equinox – Paid off!
5. ~$70,000
Also, I am 27, husband is 32, and we have a 4 yr old son.
1. 43.5K/yr
2. Chemist at a pharma company in metro detroit
3. $600 cc debt, $2800 car loan on a 2008, 20K student loan and 110K mortgage.
4. I think 16.5K in 2008
5. Only 2 or 3K 🙁
I’m 28 and feel way behind in retirement savings. I’m trying to build an efund right now though. Ohh and owning a house eats up most of my money, fun!
1. How much do you make?
$0 right now, I just quit my job. I am starting my own business now, which with the first client will be a whopping $8,700 a year (definitely planning on adding more down the line!).
2. What is your job title, or what industry do you work in, and where do you live? This will help provide some context for question one.
Web administrator/designer. Indianapolis, Indiana.
3. How much debt do you have? Break it down by type ($10k student loan, $5K CC, etc)
Never had any.
4. How much did you pay for your car?
$0.00 it was a gift from my dad. However, were I to have purchased it, $3,500 (2000 Mazda Millenia)
5. What’s your net worth?
$15-20K. Somewhere in there. =]
Notes: I am 25, live with my boyfriend who pays 1/2 the bills. I spend less than $80 a month on gas since I now work from home. I am a college grad but couldn’t find a decent job, so quit my terrible job and started my own company.
1. $98,000
2. Energy Construction Engineering – Greater Boston
3. Just a Mortgage – $177,000
4. Paid $2000 out of pocket plus insurance payment when I was rear-ended and my old car was totaled. Old car was a paid off 2005 Corolla, new is a 2006 Civic.
5. $200,000
I’m 30, my wife is also 30 and is a SAHM raising our 18 month old daughter.
WOW! I’m ancient compared to all of you! At 53, and still rebuilding my life and finances since a divorce and cross-country relocation at 45…today’s status:
1. $90K
2. Professional Practice Manager in healthcare
3. Mortgage – 160K; LOC 1500. (LOC to be paid off by end of this month – thanks be! Ive paid off 26K in 3 years)
4. 17K back in 1999 – and my Toyota is still going strong!
5. As of today 300K
1. 83,000
2. Electrical Engineer for the Navy (civilian)
3. Mortgage only (140K)
4. 3500 for a late 90’s model truck
5. Around 180K
I am 28 years old. Best thing I ever did was work hard to get scholarships for college. I had no student loans and no credit card debt when I graduated college. I married a woman with no debt as well and with her income we are around 110K a year. We currently have 70K in liquid savings. We are waiting to allocate it because we are trying to add to our family and are having some difficulty. Since we don’t have credit cards I have to have money to pay all doctors bills in cash.
1. 80,000 + Bonus whatever that ends up being
2. Investment Ops Manager in Boston
3. Student Loans 6K, CC’s 3K (all interest free for next 12-18 months), Car Loan 24K
4. Just bought 2008 Audi A6 for 28,000, what can I say I like nice things even if they are sometimes financially irrational.
5. Net Worth had just crossed 50K but now back towards 25…see #4.
1. $80,000 (soon to be waaay less as I become a full time student)
2. let’s say consultant.
3. big fat ZERO baby! (and hoping to keep it that way – see #1)
4. $6,000 many years ago and still going strong
5. around $110,000 (soon to be waaay less – see #3)
1. 36000
2. Outreach Worker for Not For Profit Agency in Canada
3. 4800 CC, 3400 Mom
4. 2800
5. -6000
I am 26, was in good financial shape until a recent major change in my life. Spent all savings and went head first into debt. Eeeek! A little freaked out looking at those numbers actually! Now back on track. Yay debt repayment.
1. 98K + bonus
2. financial analyst, recently relocated by the company to tx
3. cc paid off each month, no other debt (student loans for grad school paid off 2 years ago)
4. 9k on my 98 Corolla back in 2000
5. around 100k, mostly in retirement accounts
1. 70,000
2. Software Developer for a utility company
3. Debt free except for the mortgage (a little over 100,000)
4. 11,000 for a used Scion xB. Wewt
5. I had no clue until I did this- thanks for asking! 70,000
1. $30,000 at my entry level job + ~$1000/month in rental income = ~$42,000
2. IT Analyst working for a big medium size HVAC distributor based in Richmond, VA
3. ~$120,000 mortgage. Otherwise, none.
4. None. Parents bought me a ’05 Nissan Altima for my senior year of HS. By the time I owned it it was already paid off.
5. According to Mint.com, $96,000. That might be a little high though.
1. $58k, but with overtime last year I made ~$69k
2. Construction field work oversight
3. Home mortgage totaling ~$163,500. Otherwise, no credit cards, no student loans, no car loan, no HELOC, etc.
4. $17k for a brand new 2006 Chevy Cobalt. 5 years later she’s worth about $5k
5. Networth just over $36k. If you remove my car as an asset it totals ~$31k
Not bad for a single 27 year old gal. But I know I could be doing better. Hopefully all the stupid mistakes are in the past!
1. $35,000/year
2. Administrative position in a private, marketing firm in the DC area
3. Debt free for 4.5 months!!
4. I share my dad’s car (see comments below)
5. About $10k but Friday is payday!
I graduated in 2010 without a job and about $15k college loans (no CC or otherwise, though, always worked two to three jobs during school to pay my way through college). My GPA didn’t suffer, still got a 3.5, but my chosen field didn’t handle the economy troubles very well and I was left without any prospects. 🙁
Spent about 5 months job searching without any offers (even in the DC area it was hard to find something entry-level for a college grad with no full-time work experience). My parents let me live with them and I still live here, sharing all expenses. Finally got the administrative job in October and been here ever since. First thing I did was gather up all my savings and newly accrued paychecks and gave away my student loans. Debt from since February 1, 2011! And all subsequent paychecks go into a savings account. Hence the $10k net worth. As for the car, my dad and I share a car to get to work (we would drive in the same direction anyway and this way it’s a bit more fun).
That’s my story! Oh and I guess if it helps, I’m 23. But you could probably tell from my graduation year.
1. $53,200 (not including profit sharing, etc) until I went to part time…about the same for the DH
2. Civil Engineer (not licensed) in a small city in Texas.
3. Only $74,000 mortgage to be paid off in 10 years, yay!
4. $0 for a 1996 Dodge Dakota given to me by my parents when I left for college, and we paid $19,000 for a new Honda Civic in 2006 (paid off in 3 years)
5. ~$55,000 depending on the stock market
I’m 26. Thanks to the hubby being a college grad a year ago and a great job/boss, I am blessed to work part time from home when the baby gets here!
1) a bit under 50k/year
2) Government/Wyoming
3) 0 CC debt, 16k car, 14k student loan
4) 20,000 for a new truck – hopefully wont need another one while im alive
5) about (positive) 4k
1. $48,500
2. I’m a chemist and I live in the Adirondacks.
3. I was debt free until a month ago when I took out a car loan (not what I wanted but my fiance and I need a more reliable vehicle), but it will be paid off in less than a year (hopefully!).
4. Said car loan is $15,000. We bought a brand new Subaru Outback Sport because to buy one that was a few years old only saved us ~$1000-$2000. The car cost $22,000.
5. Net worth is a little less than $40,000.
I feel like age should be on here too….I’m 27.
1. $57,225 Gross = $42,379.22 Net
2. Environmental, Inside Sales Coordinator – Waste Hauling and Disposal in Ontario Canada
3. $16,623.57 all on a credit card (will be debt free by end of year!)
4. My Car was purchased new in 2005 for 27,243.60 – getting close to the 200,000km mark and still going strong!
5. Net worth currently $6,000 and climbing each time I make a payment on that debt!
I’m 32 – a little behind in my financial status, but beginning to catch up. I’m taking classes part-time to upgrade my college diploma to a University degree as well – and paying everything in cash! Though my net worth could be a lot better, and my debt could not be there – the goal by year end is to be able to answer question 3 with ZERO and question 5 with $25,000 and climbing!
1. How much do you make?
Base is 50k plus bonus that ranges from 3-5k per year
2. What is your job title, or what industry do you work in, and where do you live? This will help provide some context for question on
Hospitality in Midwest
3. How much debt do you have? Break it down by type ($10k student loan, $5K CC, etc)
5k Student Loans, 16k credit card debt (yikes)
4. How much did you pay for your car?
16k for used 2006.
5. What’s your net worth?
It is negative (boo). Probably 3-5k negative
Currently working on paying down credit card debt. Goal is to have it paid off by end of 2012.
Because my “virtual life” is in no way different from my “real life,” these answers are kind of lame and vague. But I’m going to try to answer them anyway.
1. I’m a journalist. So…not enough. But alas! I loves my job, so that’s OK for now.
2. I’m the assistant editor at a small, independent magazine in Toronto. Context galore! Despite the sadness of my paycheque, it is, unfortunately, a fair one, given the industry.
3. I don’t have any. Wooo! I mean, I think there’s something like $400 on my MasterCard right now, but that’ll be paid off well before it has a chance to earn any interest.
4. Don’t have one. I wish I did, but living in such a large city, it’s just not necessary at all. Because of traffic, it would probably take me longer to drive to work than it takes me to walk, and it would cost me a fortune in parking.
5. Again, because the virtual world IS the real world for me, I don’t want to say. I’ll just say that given my salary, and that I graduated in April 2010 with about $10 to my name, my networth is something I’m actually pretty proud of. It kind of bums me out that I can’t talk about it on my blog.
1. $65K
2. Human Resources for gov
3. Zero non-mortgage debt for three years now…$250K remaining on mortgage…should be gone in 10 years (10 years earlier than amortized)
4. 17K for a 2010 Chrysler Town & Country Touring…hey I have kids, don’t knock the minivan!
5. Approximately $200K
1. about 90k
2. Aerospace Engineer in a large east coast city (high cost of living)
3. Student loan of $17k (could pay off, not in a hurry to)
4. About $22k, new!
5. My wife & I together have about $150k – she’s a student & will make a similar salary to me in a year or two.
1. $60k
2. Software QA Engineer
3. Student Loan $35K, Mortgage $140K, and car $2K
4. $14K a couple years old
5. -$55K with the house, +3K without, purchased the house when market was going down but not at the bottom 🙁
1. $133k for me (salary, bonus, and military retirement). About $30k for my better half.
2. Software Engineer in a medium telecommuniation company.
3. $115k mortgage.
4. $28k for new car this year. Paid cash.
5. About $700k
1. 50,000 – Atlanta
2. I’m a web analyst for a large retail corporation.
3. About $6,000 in student loans and $15,000 on a car loan
4. $15,000 I just got it.
5. It’s negative by about $5,000 but I’m looking to change that drastically in the next two years.
1. 40K for me (31.5K for my old lady)
2. Government contractor
3. 14K (student loan at an insanely low interest rate)
4. 12K (used Mini)
5. 230K (without house which is 110K or my wife’s assets which are about 30K)
1: I make $2k, DH makes around $40k
2: cashier at a drugstore (I work 1 day a week), DH is a machinist. Otherwise I’m a SAHM to 2 kids.
3: about $800 total CC debt and just under $6k for our one car.
4: we paid $9k for our Grand Am, which I love. I’m hoping to have it paid off soon. Our next car will be a van and we’ll pay cash for it.
5: Together we have $40 or so in retirement.
I wouldn’t reveal all of this information online either, especially as our host (who keeps some of his own personal information private) knows my actual name and email address. Suffice it to say:
I work as a technical writer and multi-media designer in the software industry in the metro NY area, and earn a competitive salary.
I paid $22K for my latest car.
My salary is about 12.5% of my total net worth, and my total debt is about 5% of my net worth. My net worth is greater than most here, but since I’m nearly 63, it had better be.
And that’s all you’re getting out of me. 😉
Wow, that’s some juicy info! I was tempted to post here, but like you I think I’m too famous to have any kind of anonymity here.
1. $57K
2. Mechanical/HVAC Design Engineer in NYC
3. Down to the last $1K in CC. Thanks to my parents my 3 siblings and I left school without any student loans. VERY thankful!
4. No car. Too expensive to park in NYC on my salary…
5. About $10K, essentially all from my 401K – but slowly building my savings now that the CC is almost all paid off 🙂
1. 70K (plus 5% bonus) for me and 40K for my wife
2. I’m an IT Consultant
3. Oh boy… about 26K in auto loans, 4100 in student loans, and 600 left on an interest-free loan for a washer and dryer!
4. I paid about 18K for my 2010 Corrolla
5. +35K
1. almost 60K
2. technical research analyst for a energy consulting firm (civil engineer by schooling, just got my PE) i am almost 30 and live in the Denver area
3. Student loans 35K, Car 17.5K, Credit Cards 8K
4. 18.3K a few months ago with 0% interest
5. none, tear…
1. 13.50/hour
2. Currently working in retail after being unemployed since 12/2009. I’m 26 with a Master’s in mechanical engineering living just outside DC.
3. Between my husband and I we have 140,000 in student loan debt. This is about 100k down from our all time high of 245k (45k car loans and 200k student) in 2007.
4. 30000, biggest regret of my life. Its paid off now and I plan on downsizing once/if I ever get an engineering job again.
5. -130k if you include 401ks.
1. 75K
2. Marketing for a Tech Startup
3. None
4. Don’t own one. Live downtown & walk to work. Use Zipcar or public transit otherwise.
5. 650K
I’m 25, and I believe the best thing I ever did was intern for a tech startup in college. They went public, and have since been acquired, and I had a nice stack of pre-IPO stock that I’ve been able to use to pay off college debt, credit card debt that stacked up in college (about 12K), and re-invest. I’m now working for another startup, and figure if they are successful, I can likely become a SAHM for at least a few years once I’m ready to have children.
I didn’t even know my goals until even just last year, but this blog has helped me alot by proving that you’re never too young to be smart with your finances. At 26, I’m in a good position to build wealth and stability with discipline, common sense and a little side hustle 🙂
1. $32,000 salary, $10,000 adjunct teaching, $5,000 side hustles= $47,000
2. 9 to 5 title is Marketing Communication Specialist for a community bank, also adjunct professor and PR/Social Media consultant
3. 31k in student loans for both undergrad (4k) and graduate (27k). All adjunct and side hussle income is heading straight for that debt and it should be gone in about 2 years.
4. $8,500 cash in 2006 for a used navy blue Jeep Sport Classic and it’s running strong. I’ll have that thing for 10 more years hopefully.
5. negative $4,500. $26,500 in emergency savings and retirement funds and $31,000 in education loans. I’m on track to have a positive net worth of 30k-40k within 2 years.
1. 100K+
2. Chief of Staff (not in healthcare)
3. Mortgage $160K, Student Loans $10K, Credit Card $0K
4. $30K for a Mercedes… I just really really liked it! Good rational or no?
5. $500K+
Heya Ninja,
Always happy to help out with survey data. 🙂
1. $52,000/year income
2. Project manager for an online private school
3. Debt free for almost five years
4. $23,000-ish for a new car in 2003, paid off in 2008
5. $150,000-ish net worth
1. $95k
2. Engineer near DC
3. Mortgage: $345k, Car: $27500, CC: ZERO
4. $20k for my car (paid off 2 years ago), $33k for minivan in spring 2010
5. ~$150k
1. How much do you make?
Part time worker (700-800 hrs a year) making $35,000-40,000.
2. What is your job title, or what industry do you work in, how old are you, and where do you live? This will help provide some context for question one.
Rather not say what field I work in, but I am 45 years old and live in Ontario, Canada.
3. How much debt do you have? Break it down by type ($10k student loan, $5K CC, etc)
None other than our mortgage equalling $215,000
4. How much did you pay for your car?
$11,000 – 3 year old used Mazda 5
5. What’s your net worth?
Mine and my hubby’s net worth together would be about $180,000-200,000.
1. I make $52,083 annual, hubby makes $20,800 annual.
2. I work in law enforcement at the county level. Hubby is a mechanic for a private business. We are both 34 and we live in Tacoma.
3. We owe $163,000 on the mortgage, $3200 on a credit card and $16,200 on a car loan.
4. We paid $25,900 for the current primary vehicle, a 2009 (0 down loan).
5. Net worth for the household is $48,100.
I’m 30 and up until I was 28, I didn’t have a job that paid over 22k a year. I’ve been working at my current job for about a year and a half and have paid down about 11.5k.
1. 53k/yr
2. Systems admin (Navy Civilian)
3. Total debt, 36,000: 7k CC (@2.9% to be paid off by end of year), 19.5k Student Loan, 7k Auto Loan, 2.5k borrowed from a friend (he really forced it on me).
4. I paid [email protected]% for a well kept economy car. Next time it will be in cash.
5. 36k Ouch.
That networth is NEGATIVE. It didn’t capture the RED tags 🙂
1. $40K/year
2. I am 31, have a PhD and work in higher education in the Southwest
3. $97K student loans, $1500 credit card
4. I think with extended warranty and interest, it was about $13K. I bought it in 2001 and paid it off about 6 years ago.
5. Negative $85K or so.
1. Depending on bonuses, $62-$84k
2. I work for a specialized financial firm, where I direct financing for commercial real estate (CRE) projects. I’m pretty young to be doing this (23), and I live in a medium size Mid-western city, so my cost of living is pretty low (much lower than when I was living on the East Coast). I don’t have a title, per se, but it would be Director – CRE or something analogous.
3. I have ~$3k in auto debt, which will be paid down by the end of June. I always pay off my credit cards on time, I don’t plan on taking on additional consumer debt in the near future.
I am, however, looking at a great income-producing, 8 unit apartment building which I think is dramatically undervalued. If I pull the trigger, my debt load would skyrocket, but the property’s NOI would cover the debt 1.2x if I assume a further 25% vacancy, so I am less worried about the additional debt service. In my opinion, this is the classic example of “good debt”.
4. ~$10k (I bought a 2009 sedan, new to me, for 50% less than the value of a 2010 model, with reasonable amount of miles on it, from a family friend)
5. With the car, carried at its purchase price, I am worth ~$78k, though most of that is in investment accounts (cash/defensive stocks/small-caps less affected by macro-economics and more affected by company-specific catalysts). Note: I’m not including the value of two life insurance policies – is that generally done?
1. 95,000 per year
2. Engineering project manager, 45 years old
3. No debt, but four kids to help through college
4. 15,000
6. 350,000 plus college savings
1. $66,500 base + 0 to 10% bonus (target 5%) (9.5% promotion/raise last week, booya!)
2. Mechanical engineer in consumer electronics industry. I’m 24 and live in the Boston area.
3. $14,731.94 school loan, $3,644.96 car (possibly finished at the end of the month because of bonus month!)
4. I bought my car brand new for $17,500. Last time I’ll do that. Sound familiar?
5. As of 6/1: $9,169.53. As of 7/1 I expect it to be $4k-$5k larger than that.
1. 48K gross /35K net (also contribute about 10% to retirement)
2. Production Artist/Graphic Designer, in CT
3. 100% debt free!!! Helps to be a renter 🙂
(I have roughly 47K in an e-fund/house down-payment fund. Will probably be carrying a mortgage within the next 5 years or so)
4. Contributed roughly 5K to my first car (96 Honda Accord) when I was 16 or 17, traded it in for my family’s slightly newer 98 Nissan Altima at age 23 and still going strong(ish) with 128K miles. I’m currently saving up to buy a new car within the next year or so and have just under 10K in a car fund.
5. Net worth is roughly 75K
I’m 26 years old, extremely allergic to debt and live on roughly 47% of my income.
Bonus: My big splurges are travel! I’ve saved up and traveled to Ireland, Nepal and exotic Portland, Oregon in the past few years. And I will be in London and Paris this summer for a bit. My company refuses to hire me as an employee with full benefits (like 99% of their other employees) and so I have no paid time-off and must pay out of pocket for health insurance. But I save like crazy so that I can pay for travel/living expenses in full and still comfortably take the hit of no pay when I’m not at work. Being single and a renter sure does help!
(God help me if/when I merge finances with the current BF who lives paycheck to paycheck with 200K+ in student loans… I guess it’s true that opposites attract?)
1. 37K net (hubby 26K net)
2. Biochem technician at a university on the East Coast of Canada, he is a carpenter
3. 92K for mortgage, 4K left on student loan, 10K interest free gov’t loan for home energy upgrades, 2K LOC
4. $2000 cash two years ago for the ’99 Corolla my husband and I both drive (one car on purpose)
5. around $40K, but we put a big downpayment on the farmhouse+acreage so it’s mostly tied up in the house.
I’m 27, he is 31. We have no kids but a really old house that’s midway through gutting. We’ve been able to keep that debt under control while still paying off the student loan (paid off ~15,000 so far this year with tax returns, energy rebates and overpayments). It could go up at anytime though, depending on what we find behind the walls 🙂
1. I make 75k
2. I manage a support team at a software company
3. No debt! (paid off the last bit a year ago) (I’m a renter though)
4. 6k for a one-year-old car in 2005
5. including retirement, something like 145k; non-retirement is more like 10k
I’m in my late thirties, and live near San Francisco – I think those are relevant questions for the next time you post this!
My answers will be a bit silly since I get paid $0 to stay at home with the kids…but it’s not place to share my husband’s financial info on the world wide interweb:)
1. $0
2. Stay at home mom to 3 kids in Bellevue, soon to be San Jose:)
3. $230,000 mortgage
4. $13,000
5. About $50,000
Again it all looks off since I’m only sharing my part…but putting the entire mortgage up there. Oh well…
And, in other news, please don’t block me from being able to read your blog:), but we are getting a $25,000 car loan this month for a new car for hubby…
1. 25k
2. Legal Assistant in Dallas (graduated from college in 2009)
3. $800 in CC (one clothing card, one Visa), 25k Student Loans, fiance just bought a house but my name isn’t one it yet (110k mortgage)
4. $0, it was a gift (1998 Honda Accord bought for $3400), no monthly payments
5. Not sure. No retirement savings as of right now, a little bit of money in a money market ($5k)
1. 40k, ish
2. I work for a web company. 25yo in Seattle
3. $3k student loan at 2.2%, $7.5k owed to my parents at 0%. No CC debt.
4. $2500! Holla at the best deal ever.
5. Still negative.
1. $42,500
2. Education Administration
3. $17,500 in Student loans
4. 0$ gift from dad, $8000 for my wife’s car (about $2,000 remaining on that)
5. Net Worth is negative $5,000 at this point.
1. $59K
2. High-Tech R&D
3. None, for just over a year.
4. $20K (2002 Subaru Outback H6-3.0, bought used in 2005)
5. $50K
23 years old, graduated college Dec, 2009 started full time the day after I graduated.
$50,000
Training Coordinator, non-profit healthcare, 27, in Texas
3. $39k student loan, $3k car
4. $12k
5. if you include my husbands income (which I do, since everything is combined) , i think we’re around $20k-$30k..it’s been awhile since we’ve updated things.
$30k
part time bookkeeper in New England area
190k (with husband) on mortgage and $3k in medical debt
16k new in 2008 (my last car I paid 14k for new in 1999 and kept until this car)
Net worth is embarrisingly negative as good ol’New england Real Estate plummeted and we owe WAY more than the house is currently worth.
1. Currently about 39,000 but will be getting a raise as of July 1 to bring me to 47,000.
2. I work in management in a collegiate retail industry. I’m close to 40 and live in Kentucky.
3. Total debt is about $65,000. About $30K in student loans, 12K in car loans, with the balance being credit card. (In the last year I have brought this down over 10K – and this with being a single mom of two teenagers!)
4. I paid 12K for my used car in 2008. Still driving it with 175K miles on it.
5. ~($64,995) or so.
However, I will be in much better financial shape once I get married this fall. Fortunately my soon-to-be husband owns everything he has and owes no one. This will allow me to use my income to pay off all debt in just a hair under three years.
Actually, I totally forgot my retirement funds. Given those figures, my net worth is more like ($8,000) or so.
1. $31,900
2. I’m an administrative assistant in the hospitality industry.
3. No debt; I’m renting currently, paid off my car over two years ago, had a full scholarship for college, have never carried a credit card balance.
4. Paid $8,600 for a two-year old Chevy Aveo in 2008. Everyone laughed because it’s so tiny, but it gets 40-42mpg, so who’s laughing now?
5. Net worth is $33,544.81.
I’m 24 and getting married in the fall. My boyfriend has some savings too, so we’ll probably buy a house pretty immediately and that will affect our net worth pretty substantially.
1. 77k
2. gov
3. 777k mortgage – 337k in primary home, 340k in investment home, 20k to mom
4. 23k in 2007 in cash, will be driving it for the next 10+ yrs
5. 380k
#1 does not include the rent income i get from investment
1. $32,544 Gov’t pension
2. Single mother, 61 yo; Early retirement 7 years ago, Gov’t retiree not eligible for Social Security
3. CC $12,000 down from $28,000, new re-fi $65,000 to cut interest by 50%. Pay off scheduled in <5 years
4. $25,000 for new 2002 Mini Cooper, fully loaded; $4,000 used BMW 2002
5. Unknown. I've never figured out why net worth matters? Retirement accounts took HUGE hits. Still have not recovered. Savings would cover CC debt. Mortgage is 50% of current value, cars paid off, $40-50K worth of art.
Glad to see the young getting their act together. I didn't start paying attention until AFTER retirement.
I make $55,800/yr. and work in the oil and gas industry (not engineering though). I currently owe $45k on my student loan and my husband and I owe about $2000 on one of our cars. We also owe $175k on our mortgage.
One car was purchased for $9000 used (5 years old), the other was gifted to us by my in-laws.
My net worth is about $66k, even with my outstanding student loan balance. But that’s largely because of a chunk of money I inherited from my great-grandfather, but can’t actually access. If I COULD access it, I’d use it to pay of the student loan. That number does NOT include our mortgage though, and I’m not sure if that’s cheating or not.
1. $30k/year
2. PhD student, 25, California
3. $17k car loan, $5k loan to parents, $11k CC debt
4. $17k (2008 mini cooper)
5. -$10k
1. $51K/year. I went from $35K/yr in SD to $51K/yr in NYC. Finally broke that $50K mark! 😀
2. Finance (Operations/Back Office), 25, NYC
3. $0. Thank you Bank of Mom & Dad who paid for my private, out-of-state college! I didn’t even incur any debt when I moved across the country 2.5 months ago thanks to money I had saved up plus selling a lot of stuff.
4. $0. Again, thank you Mom & Dad! They also paid for my very first and only car (2002 Civic, RIP) which I sold when I moved. That cash has kept me going on the East Coast!
5. $67K. Combination of savings account, checking account, old 401k, Roth IRA and new 401k. Holler!
1. I make about 51K base (soon to be about 53K) but I do a lot of extra work – tutoring, summer programs, etc. so when all is said and done I probably gross about 57K per year.
2. I’m a high school teacher in the DC metro area.
3. I currently owe $13,800 on my student loans (down from 24K when I graduated 4 years ago – holla!) and $3,900 on my car. I’m going to pay off my car by September, though, so all I’ll have left is my student loans.
4. I bought my Scion tC from my dad for $10,000 in 2009. Best. Deal. Ever.
5. Not quite sure, but I’d guess around -10K.
I’m 26 and fighting my way out of debt. I can’t wait until I can actually be building savings up instead of knocking debt down!
1. Last year we made 66k. That is for my husband and I combined.
2. We are self employed wedding photographers.
3. I think I have about 55k in student loans. Other than that we have no doubt (except our credit cards which we usually pay off monthly).
4. My husband’s parents gifted him a car when he was in college and that’s the one we use. I have no idea how much it’s worth.
5. Our net worth is probably around 50k, it was 47k last time I checked, but we’ve added some more to our stocks since then.
1. $75,000
2. 29 year old lawyer living in the Southeast.
3. $22K in student loans. $600 on a no-interest credit card that I used to finance finance some house stuff and that I plan to have paid off by October. No mortgage, and I pay all my other credit cards in full.
4. Paid cash ($6K) a couple of a years ago for a really old car.
5. Roughly $37K (but hey, that’s up from -$15K when I finished law school. Go me.).
1. 45k
2. Attorney, 25
3. 110k student loan (just graduated)
4. Paid 7k cash a few years ago
5. – 100 k
1. Husband + Me: $106,540 base salaries (includes his stipend from grad school).
2. I’m an engineer, working in defense; he’s a grad student.
3. $12,000 student loans for me. He has some, but his parents pay them.
4. $20,000 (including interest), bought in 2005.
5. $340,000
1. 67k plus a bonus
2. Data Analyst
3. 45kish in studnet loans
4. Zero! I use public transportation. woo hoo.
5. 10k in retirement and 17k in misc. other assets
*I’m 26
1. ~ $40,000
2. ESL instructor in Ontario, Canada (I’m 24) – soon to be an ESL intern instructor in Brazil, with only a stipend to speak of
3. ~$12,000 in government student loans (down from $20,000 last November)
4. no car…do upcoming flight expenses count?
5. -$2000ish as of today! But, my savings are soon to be depleted in the name of travel and education (and fun).
1. ~$50 K
2. I’m 23 in the social work field
3. $33,000 (school loans), $9500 (car loan)
4. I bought my car for about $16,500 including tax. ($7000 down and $9500 loan)
5. Something that’s definitely negative!
1. How much do you make? 75K
2. What is your job title, or what industry do you work in, how old are you, and where do you live? Mechanical Engineer, 24 years old, Southeast
3. How much debt do you have? $2K at 6.8% in Student Loans (will be paid off mid July), $13K Car Loan @ 2.9%
4. How much did you pay for your car? I believe around $17K. The brand new 2010 car was actually CHEAPER than the 2009 model, once you factored in financing deals.
5. What’s your net worth? Negative $7k or so. I am just getting started with retirement and e-fund savings as I’m digging out of the student loan hole. By end of 2011 I should be positive 5-10k.
1. How much do you make?
$160,000, plus $40,000 target bonus (wait, keep reading, wait till you see my debt)
2. What is your job title, or what industry do you work in, how old are you, and where do you live?
Westchester County, Mid-30s, In-House Counsel at publicly-traded company (subsidiary)
3. How much debt do you have? Break it down by type ($10k student loan, $5K CC, etc)
$35,000 in Credit Cards (expenses paid in full every month, rest ($32,000) is 0% balance transfer offers that I’m constantly rolling over, becoming quite a burden, actually, most of this debt was originally more private student loans – law school)
$20,000 in Auto Loans (0.9% offer on a new car)
$380,000 in a mortgage on a previous home (not able to sell it for a decent price when I was laid off in 2009, currently rented and covering the mortgage/taxes/insurance)
$96,000 Federal student loans (law school and Bachelor’s, $16,000 @ 6.2% & $80,000 @ 1.875%, paying the minimum forever, ummm, I can haz 80-year repayment plan plz?)
$38,000 private student loans (law school, other $70,000 I graduated with is 1/2 on 0% credit cards (see above $35,000) and 1/2 paid off ($35,000))
4. How much did you pay for your car? ($23,000, new Honda CRV, $13,000 used Mazda Tribute (PIF)
5. What’s your net worth? ($125,000, mostly because I have been maxing out retirement savings ($220,000) since I was 24 years old for myself, and since married, my wife)
I have a LOT of debt that needs to be punched in the FACE! Getting there…slowly…it seems…have 2 girls under 5 years old, both in preschool – $2700/mo – ouch…again…NYC area
1. £70,000/yr
2. Software Developer, age 29, living in London
3. $170k (house in NC)
4. N/A – sold my cars to move to London
5. $87,597.84 + £14,652.06
1. $43,500 for my full-time job + varying amounts of additional income for art on the side
Husband makes about the same, but varies widely from month-to-month. Sometimes he makes $1200 for
30 minutes of work and sometimes its $150 for three nights on the road.
2. Senior Administrative Assistant-Age 28, Minneapolis, MN
Husband is a professional standup comedian-Age 33
3.Debt: $9000 in student loans which is decreasing fairly steadily, though I’m mostly concentrating on not acquiring any new debt since I’m in school. Husband has $0 debt.
4. No car! I rent a condo downtown and our transit system is AWESOME!!! Additionally I bike and walk most of the year. And my husband has a car, so I can run errands when needed.
5. Hmm, with my rinkydink retirement fund, our emergency savings and checking acct, I think we break even against my $9000 school loans.
1. Base salary: $87,800 + bonuses & side hustles = 95-105K/year total
2. Marketing Director
3. 45K student loans (currently punching Sallie Mae in the face!); 215K mortgage–no other debt
4. 24K 9 years ago; paid off a looooong time ago
5. ~75K, but on the rise–especially with next month’s influx of $$ being sent to student loans
30, Boston
1. $48,000 full-time job + 7200 part-time retail
2. Architect
3. 22k student loans, 1200 cc, 2k personal loans, 74k mortgage (technically I own 1/2 my parents house, but I don’t pay the mortage. I’ve probably screwed myself for life.)
4. 24,000 4 years ago. My first and only brand new car.
5. Mint.com says I’m in the positive but only because I own a house on paper.
* Age: 29
1. $140k for me. $90k for the hubby
2. we are both attorneys in California
3. $0 student loans for me, $70k in student loans for hubs, no cc debt, no mortgage.
4. bought my car in 2002 new, for $25k, actually my parents bought it for me. Hubby’s car was bought in 2005 for $4000. both still running well.
5. big, fat $0. we have retirement savings of $60k plus some separate property stock of mine for $10k.
before you judge, we pay approximately 50% of our gross income in taxes. totally ridiculous. people can’t get ahead in this world.
love the blog, Ninja! I also like to hear about girl Ninja and her frugalness!
both age 31.
I wouldn’t normally post my details up on the web because I know that even if we post as ‘anon’ or ‘anonymous’, we can be trailed back to our IP addresses/links back to our website via previous and future comments etc
I find it funny being called a ‘creepy’ blog reader heh
Since I found everyone’s contributions interesting, I’ll also contribute mine/partner:
1. Similar to yours /over 100k
2. Professional paper pusher, 30yo / he pushes paper too, 30yo
3. Three: credit card (paid off monthly), mortgage, student loan / he has a cc (also paid off monthly)
4. 37.5k car paid up front about 6 years ago / his will be a 56k car to be paid up front
5. Over 400k ish net worth / his is at 620k ish net worth
We’ve both been very fortunate in terms of capital growth across our investments and also blessed to have sold a huge chunk of our share portfolio in late 2006, just before the crash in late 2007 that started with the Bear Stearns fisco.
1. Officially 11K (actually 18K)
2. I’m a waitress… hence the difference in income. I’m 23 from Canada!! Just graduate from my undergrad, headed to teacher’s college in September
3. Student Loans: will be just over 40K after next year. CC: just under 7K
4. $3500, paid cash… 2001 Mazda Protege
5. (-21K) currently… will be closer to (-30K) following teacher’s college
1.) 70-73k
2.) Registered Nurse, 25 years old.
3.) Had LOC debt of approx. 15k, and student loans debt appox. 3k when I graded. Everything paid off but $700 left of student loans.
4.) Sold my car couple yrs ago
5.) 40k
1. $63,000/year
2. Associate Software Developer for a digital marketing company, 30 year old female, Midwest
3. $0.
4. $17k, bought new in 2007 on a 5 years loan (paid off in 2 years)
5. $55k.
1. $40,000
2. Tax Accountant for a software company, 28, Ohio.
3. $15k Student Loans.
4. $14k new, 10 years and 165,000 miles ago. Plan on driving it into the ground.
5. $18k
1. $ about 30K – DH is realtor so it varies.
2. Sales/Customer Service/Floater
3. 220k..includes mortgage.
4. We just sold a truck we bought new off the lot-won’t do that again…was a bit upside down in it but by selling it now we come out ahead in the long run. I think it was $26k at the time. Just bought a 1999 tahoe to replace it. Paid $21K for a new crossover vehicle 2 years ago..once again, won’t ever do that again. Both will be driven till they crap out at this point.
5. no idea…
Honestly, we struggle monthly but we’ll get there. We’ve changed a lot of our ways.
Clarification…I make about 30k, I didn’t list an amount for DH…
1) 48k GBP (about 77k USD)
2) Audit manager, public practice
3) Nil (OK, maybe a hundred or so on CC but it’s getting paid off in three days time)
4) 7k GBP (about 11k USD) in March 2010. Currently trying to work out at what point I should sell it to get most bang for the buck on a new one…
5) Around 60k GBP (~96k USD)
28, United Kingdom
1) ~37k
2) Molecular Bio Ninja, 24, Boston
3) 61k student + 1.5k credit
4) $0. Have a car paid for (not with me in Boston) and a bike (pedal) for transport
5) -56.5k and rising. cmonnnn 0.
1. $70,000, plus variable bonus
2. HR Manager, food processing industry. I’m 29 and live in the south.
3. $5500 auto loan, $1500 student loans, $120,000 mortgage. No credit card debt 🙂
4. $18,000 in 2007. Stupid mistake, never buying new again!!
5. Around $40,000.
1. How much do you make? $33,500
2. What is your job title, or what industry do you work in, how old are you, and where do you live? This will help provide some context for question one.
Administrative Assistant, Governement contractor, 45, Maryland
3. How much debt do you have? Break it down by type ($10k student loan, $5K CC, etc)
No CC, student loan, or car debt. $59,000 left on the mortgage.
4. How much did you pay for your car?
$19,000 in cash
5. What’s your net worth?
My husband and I have a net worth of about $300,000
1. $58,000 + Bonus (hoping for about $5000 this year)
2. IT Project Coordinator, Toronto, 24
3. for now $0, but just signed a mortgage which will be about $254,000 (will be shared with BF)
4. $0. I take public transportation.
5. $71,000 but soon to be dropping to $40,000.
I have recently bought a condo with my boyfriend so my net worth and debt will look very different in about 2 months. Boyfriend’s financial state is about the same as mine.