How much savings should people have in their 30s?

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I am in China, where ordinary people generally like to save money. The average 30-year-old of my friends typically has a savings of $50,000 to $100,000.

The media always tell us that Americans like to spend and rarely save money. Is this really the case? How much savings do ordinary people usually have in their thirties?

New user pass phrase: I genuinely don’t know the answer

Comments

  1. Simple_Emotion_3152 Avatar

    in general Americans do have a problem of over consumerism… some Americans have an opinion that the government should enable it

  2. Iocnar Avatar

    Depends what you mean by savings. Yeah cash savings are very frowned upon here from my casual understanding. Like if I had $10,000 saved that would actually be a big problem. And just for me personally I think I’d buy an Avengers #2 to offset that. I think I’m gonna have to actually. Keyword being investment. 100k investment is excellent. 100k cash savings as in just a savings or a checking account is a big no no. I mean maybe there’s some good savings accounts especially for 100k but generally thats very frowned upon. First and foremost because of inflation. You want investments that do well during inflation. Like an Avengers #2

    You want credit cards with a total of 50-100k credit limit and then investments. And those investments should be ones that easily turn into cash in case you need it. Which I would assume is most investments. See it’s literally a different world now. Just even 30 years ago I couldn’t really say especially for everyone and the average person that an Avengers #2 can easily turn its value into cash. Now you can. Because of the internet and ebay etc and how long thats been going on. So really probably only 25 years maximum. Whole new world.

  3. Myfury2024 Avatar

    10-20% of your allowance should be your savings if your lower income, mid-income should be 30%, if you’re a millionaire, spread your wealth..🤣.. you should save enough money that if you lose your job today, you got 2-3 months to spare on your living expenses without work or til you find one.

  4. Warm_Hat4882 Avatar

    Depends on weather your job provides enough fit basic living, then some discretionary money, and then, if anything is left over, savings. When I was 30, I was living pay check to paycheck, and maybe able to save a little for a house down payment while paying student loans. Ten years later, I have an ounce of platinum, palladium, and gold, and are tubes of silver. Do not much savings at 40, but I have a house. If I made less, I wouldn’t have the house. If I made more, I’d a $4m stock account. Point is that only a small percentage of 30 yr olds can have $100k savings

  5. gimli6151 Avatar

    Do you mean 100,000 Chinese yen? Then yes, many Americans have that at age 30, that is only $13,000. But that is much easier at 40 than 30 because 30 year olds are paying off college loans, car, and house, and it makes more financial sense to pay down those balances so you get charged less interest. Hoarding a lot of cash means you are paying extra interest for no reason.

    The average American has $8000 in the bank but that is misleading because of how finances work in the U.S.

    US society has major wealth inequality. For many Americans $13K (100,000 yen) is nothing. I am spending that on vacations this summer. And I am definitely not wealthy. And then I have friends who are lawyers who are spending much just on a hotel for a week. It’s nothing to them.

    Then are a lot of people for whom 13K would be 2-4 months salary at age 30. So that would be a lot to save when you are paying car, house, and school loans.

    A lot of people who don’t keep a lot of money in their bank account. Instead they put it into house or car. And if there is an emergency they could always take out a loan using their house or car as collateral.

    Also if you have a salaried job, which many people do by age 30, your company will put money in the stock market for you, and you can put some in and get more for free. For example, I put 10% of my salary into the stock market and my company matches it and gives me an extra 10%. My gfs company lets employees buy their stock at a 15% discount (they aren’t allowed to sell for a year). So the money isn’t in the bank but we have access to it if we need it.

  6. Blue387 Avatar

    I have about $100,000, helped by my family. My aunt lives in Shanghai and gave me $2000.

  7. i8noodles Avatar

    we talking USD? im in aus, but i have close to 80k AUD. im 32.

    it depends on where u live and what u do. i live in syd. one of the most expensive cities in the world. but i also have a slightly above average pay for my city.

    i also want to say my savings are invested. i dont have 80k in cash laying around. this is also something u need to consider. 50k in cash is very different tue in stocks and investment

  8. Somuchallthetime Avatar

    More info needed. Multiple properties? Like houses? Apts? Whattypes of cars?

    Do you guys live on your own?

    (Not all, obviously) but a lot of American-Asian ppl around me, usually live 3-4 generations in one house therefore can probably save money. I’m assuming if it’s the same, it’s a cultural learned behavior?

    But the general public move out around 25-28 years old. And at 30 it can vary from 1k – 50k in savings on their own. I’m from Southern California so HCOL also and everything is expensive. Our pay doesn’t match our cost of living.

  9. lellololes Avatar

    A general goal for people in America is to have ~1 year in wages saved at age 30, and ~3 years at age 40 – this including retirement accounts and other savings. For a lot of people this is very difficult to save, particularly if you end up taking a few years aftercollege to find a career, or end up working unskilled jobs. If someone is at $60k in savings at 30 and $200k at 40, they’re doing well…

    But there are a lot of people here that can’t manage to do that, and for a many there is no culture of saving money. I recently had a conversation with a co-worker that didn’t seem to even have a concept of keeping money in the bank – they said they didn’t have any money and couldn’t afford some inexpensive plane tickets that cost maybe 8 hours of wages – in spite of working in a job that pays a living wage in this region. But, hey, they “needed” a new car. There are a ton of people that live like that.

    And then, other people here are incredible savers, but they’re in the minority.

  10. Playful-Ad573 Avatar

    Savings as in liquid cash or savings as in retirement?