I have had a few career moves in the last two years. Mainly on accident. I’m very very fortunate. Two years ago was making about $15k a year and now I make about 80k by myself. I’m also recently married. My husband hasn’t found anything in his field yet but once he does he’ll be making the 60-80k and until then he’s making 45k.
This is very new for both of us. I was homeless only 8 years ago and have no idea what I’m doing in the slightest. Every one of my financial decisions up until now has just been getting out of poverty and now that I’ve made it I don’t know where to start. Afraid of messing up a good thing and I’d love advice.
Only debt is student debt (15k combined) and a car loan.
Just got out of poverty, what should I be doing now?
byu/oxymoronic01 inpersonalfinance
Posted by oxymoronic01
4 Comments
The following provides a great foundation to build on.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics/](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics/)
Wealth is not what you make but what you save. If you can stay as frugal as when you were poor, you’ll become wealthy. If you just spend it all, because of some misguided notion that it is what you are supposed to do, you’ll remain as poor as you were before.
Financial educator here. There are some specific steps I usually recommend following:
1. Create an emergency savings fund (in a hysa)
2. Save additional funds for any specific expenses coming up in the next couple of years (in hysas, cds or t-bills)
3. Make regular contributions to retirement.
LMK if you have questions. And congrats on this huge milestone!!
I’d recommend building a cash buffer first.
You can aim for 3–6 months of living expenses in a high-yield savings account, but if that feels like too much, start with a “one-month-ahead fund” which is basically one full month of living expenses set aside. This gives you safety and confidence so one mistake doesn’t undo everything.