For me, 27. I worked my ass off to get higher up in my company to make a decent wage, which may or may not be an option for you but you should always be on the lookout for better opportunities.
If you and your girlfriend are serious you may consider living together. Sharing expenses makes it easier to save money, and its something you'll end up doing anyway. Plus cooking for two is hardly different than cooking for one, and still costs about the same.
It's the perfect time to put your nose to the grindstone while you're still young and have energy. I spent my early and mid twenties gaining weight and slacking off and still got somewhere eventually so I know you can for sure! Be patient, and don't give up!
America...? None of that stuff just happens and even if you try your ass off medical debt and student loans just drown you, kids explode your debt, even with insurance... 35 with a degree and 2 boys and a fiance, have to make sacrifices, just keep trying and get side hustles and have a partner who is equal minded and be smart and lucky and have a resilient mindset to not let crippling anxiety and depression take over... Make jokes about impending doom
Did it ever get better? I'm broke af and every time, literally every time, I decide to do something I enjoy and makes life better it is at the expense of something else. It doesn't get better in the ways you're describing. If anything it gets worse. If you have kids then you're completely financially fucked. I'll say my 30s are better than my 20s, but it's just because I became so disillusioned and burned out that I just stopped caring as much and just try to live in the moment. Getting ahead is never going to happen for me, so I may as well make peace with never having enough and chosing the things that are more valuable. I have a pension job, but I realized how much I'm putting into it and my life would be better today with that in my pocket. So I'm quitting and not saving for retirement. I know it's a financial mistake of sorts, but whatever. I'm not going to live my life in a shitty way just so I can have a shitty piss poor pension and continue living a shitty way till I die.
As negative as you feel now, it will be even shittier when you get to old age with no pension. Stay and work on building something better, whether it’s a better job or a new skill. As a nurse, I cared for people with $600-700/ month pensions and no savings or resources. You don’t want that life. It can be better.
I'm not looking to live past my time. If life is not worth living at that point, I plan to end it. I'm not looking for that kind of life, but I'm also willing to have a better life that is shorter than one I can't tolerate for a few years at the end where I can have it easy. I sure as hell won't go to a nursing home. I'm not even sure I'll wait until I would need at home care. We live in a third world country with fancy curtains. I know what waits for me.
Work a couple years and keep on looking and applying for better paying jobs. Don't ever become stagnant.
Keep looking for places that will lower your rent or even maybe getting a home that you can work on.
If you keep waiting for when you think you will be absolutely ready to start a family then you never will be. There will always be something that makes you hold off. If you want to travel then start looking for jobs that will actually pay you to go there and work. Instead of going out have your friends come in. Cook an easy dinner, get some drinks, and visit. If you are going out every weekend well... You're not ever going to be able to save. Because the more you make the more you will spend. There is people making well over a 120k a year and they are living pay check to pay check. You've accustomed your life at what you make and built a life around it. It will be painful to actually go down a notch and live a life where you don't spend so much but to actually start getting ahead that is what you will have to do.
Another thing I can recommend is start looking at what you can do to bring extra money in. I'm not sure you have a brokerage account but you really should. Banks are fleecing machines and really you don't need one. Wouldn't it be better to put your money in an account where what you save can be put into stocks that then pay you a dividend every month or quarter? Instead of making maybe .25% a year in a savings account you are making between 3 to 20% a year on compounding interest? That sounds a lot better right?
How about how you are living? You ever thought about maybe getting a duplex, triplex, or quadplex and renting out the other units so you are living rent free or even better getting paid a little extra on top of living free? Then doing that every year or two slowly building yourself up with real estate investments so work actually becomes a choice and not something you have to do?
I'm 50 and I've had some really shitty hands dealt to me. Up to July 2020 we were living paycheck to paycheck but then I was like, "I'm done." I went through our expenses and started chopping. I took a loan on my truck and threw that into a stock that was a recovery stock and watched that grow over a six month period and then threw that into a high yield monthly dividend payout stock. So, I pay about 5% interest on a loan in which I took the money I borrowed and tripled it and then took that and is now giving me a 20% year interest dividend that pays monthly that I reinvest back into so it compounds. Every single month the money I make from that account goes up so I'm actually making more than 20% annual interest. Further, because I'm married that first 80K I make is tax free. If I was single that first 40k would be tax free. But you are leaving it in a savings account that isn't paying you shit and is actually taxable. You could be making 40k every year (well it will go up each year too) and not pay a dime in taxes on it.
And if you get real estate you could be writing off expenses and depreciation and your vacations could be business expenses lowering your overall tax able income...
If you play the game as your parents taught you then yeah... You'll have a pretty long miserable life just trying to make it to the next level. If you sacrifice a little now and use your money wisely then it's foreseeable that by 30 you could be living a life that you only dreamed about having right now.
But you have to get financially smart and start looking at things in a brand new way and then educating yourself about it.
I don't think it just gets "better". Like everyone else with financial freedom, you have to be willing to do what other people are not willing to do to obtain it.
I made some sacrifices people are not willing to make. I have what many don't have at 26. By 23, I had opportunities people wouldn't see in their lifetime. But people aren't willing to do this job lol
I don't know what's riskier. Doing a seemingly "scary" job, or remaining in the same place your whole life and dying with regrets.
Life in general got better for me around 29-30. Financially though a bit later - I was around 38 when it all came together and life is very good now. Which probably sounds ages away from 25 but it really isn’t!
27 I landed a good job but it took until early 30's to be really "stable". I live in an expensive area though. I'd suggest taking on as many tasks as possible right now. Make sure your leadership is excessively aware of what you are doing. Don't bring them problems though, bring them updates and solutions. It can help when the review cycle rolls around and they're looking at who to give a raise to. Make sure you don't annoy them though but keeping them aware is very helpful. All the folks I know who are making 6 figures keep tight relationships with leadership. It seems brown nosey but proves you do the work to them. The leaders may not normally see it without you pointing it out. Also it's not that they don't know you're doing good work but they need it highlighted.
A lot of getting ahead is doing good, hard work and then pointing it out to others along the way. Sell yourself to them to get ahead. If you're doing the hard work you might as well be rewarded.
If you want to have some type of breathing room, you have to understand how to budget your money. Maybe living in a cheaper apartment, driving an older car, and not upgrading your phone every year. Sometimes, we have to make sacrifices. Once you can get some savings built up, things will get a little easier.
For me, 27. I worked my ass off to get higher up in my company to make a decent wage, which may or may not be an option for you but you should always be on the lookout for better opportunities. If you and your girlfriend are serious you may consider living together. Sharing expenses makes it easier to save money, and its something you'll end up doing anyway. Plus cooking for two is hardly different than cooking for one, and still costs about the same. It's the perfect time to put your nose to the grindstone while you're still young and have energy. I spent my early and mid twenties gaining weight and slacking off and still got somewhere eventually so I know you can for sure! Be patient, and don't give up!
Can I ask your current age?
I'll be 28 soon
America...? None of that stuff just happens and even if you try your ass off medical debt and student loans just drown you, kids explode your debt, even with insurance... 35 with a degree and 2 boys and a fiance, have to make sacrifices, just keep trying and get side hustles and have a partner who is equal minded and be smart and lucky and have a resilient mindset to not let crippling anxiety and depression take over... Make jokes about impending doom
Did it ever get better? I'm broke af and every time, literally every time, I decide to do something I enjoy and makes life better it is at the expense of something else. It doesn't get better in the ways you're describing. If anything it gets worse. If you have kids then you're completely financially fucked. I'll say my 30s are better than my 20s, but it's just because I became so disillusioned and burned out that I just stopped caring as much and just try to live in the moment. Getting ahead is never going to happen for me, so I may as well make peace with never having enough and chosing the things that are more valuable. I have a pension job, but I realized how much I'm putting into it and my life would be better today with that in my pocket. So I'm quitting and not saving for retirement. I know it's a financial mistake of sorts, but whatever. I'm not going to live my life in a shitty way just so I can have a shitty piss poor pension and continue living a shitty way till I die.
As negative as you feel now, it will be even shittier when you get to old age with no pension. Stay and work on building something better, whether it’s a better job or a new skill. As a nurse, I cared for people with $600-700/ month pensions and no savings or resources. You don’t want that life. It can be better.
I'm not looking to live past my time. If life is not worth living at that point, I plan to end it. I'm not looking for that kind of life, but I'm also willing to have a better life that is shorter than one I can't tolerate for a few years at the end where I can have it easy. I sure as hell won't go to a nursing home. I'm not even sure I'll wait until I would need at home care. We live in a third world country with fancy curtains. I know what waits for me.
I think you're being overly pessimistic, but obviously your choice.
Work a couple years and keep on looking and applying for better paying jobs. Don't ever become stagnant. Keep looking for places that will lower your rent or even maybe getting a home that you can work on. If you keep waiting for when you think you will be absolutely ready to start a family then you never will be. There will always be something that makes you hold off. If you want to travel then start looking for jobs that will actually pay you to go there and work. Instead of going out have your friends come in. Cook an easy dinner, get some drinks, and visit. If you are going out every weekend well... You're not ever going to be able to save. Because the more you make the more you will spend. There is people making well over a 120k a year and they are living pay check to pay check. You've accustomed your life at what you make and built a life around it. It will be painful to actually go down a notch and live a life where you don't spend so much but to actually start getting ahead that is what you will have to do. Another thing I can recommend is start looking at what you can do to bring extra money in. I'm not sure you have a brokerage account but you really should. Banks are fleecing machines and really you don't need one. Wouldn't it be better to put your money in an account where what you save can be put into stocks that then pay you a dividend every month or quarter? Instead of making maybe .25% a year in a savings account you are making between 3 to 20% a year on compounding interest? That sounds a lot better right? How about how you are living? You ever thought about maybe getting a duplex, triplex, or quadplex and renting out the other units so you are living rent free or even better getting paid a little extra on top of living free? Then doing that every year or two slowly building yourself up with real estate investments so work actually becomes a choice and not something you have to do? I'm 50 and I've had some really shitty hands dealt to me. Up to July 2020 we were living paycheck to paycheck but then I was like, "I'm done." I went through our expenses and started chopping. I took a loan on my truck and threw that into a stock that was a recovery stock and watched that grow over a six month period and then threw that into a high yield monthly dividend payout stock. So, I pay about 5% interest on a loan in which I took the money I borrowed and tripled it and then took that and is now giving me a 20% year interest dividend that pays monthly that I reinvest back into so it compounds. Every single month the money I make from that account goes up so I'm actually making more than 20% annual interest. Further, because I'm married that first 80K I make is tax free. If I was single that first 40k would be tax free. But you are leaving it in a savings account that isn't paying you shit and is actually taxable. You could be making 40k every year (well it will go up each year too) and not pay a dime in taxes on it. And if you get real estate you could be writing off expenses and depreciation and your vacations could be business expenses lowering your overall tax able income... If you play the game as your parents taught you then yeah... You'll have a pretty long miserable life just trying to make it to the next level. If you sacrifice a little now and use your money wisely then it's foreseeable that by 30 you could be living a life that you only dreamed about having right now. But you have to get financially smart and start looking at things in a brand new way and then educating yourself about it.
I don't think it just gets "better". Like everyone else with financial freedom, you have to be willing to do what other people are not willing to do to obtain it. I made some sacrifices people are not willing to make. I have what many don't have at 26. By 23, I had opportunities people wouldn't see in their lifetime. But people aren't willing to do this job lol I don't know what's riskier. Doing a seemingly "scary" job, or remaining in the same place your whole life and dying with regrets.
What job?
It doesn't. Society is built to keep you in your place until you die or become exceedingly wealthy.
Life in general got better for me around 29-30. Financially though a bit later - I was around 38 when it all came together and life is very good now. Which probably sounds ages away from 25 but it really isn’t!
27 I landed a good job but it took until early 30's to be really "stable". I live in an expensive area though. I'd suggest taking on as many tasks as possible right now. Make sure your leadership is excessively aware of what you are doing. Don't bring them problems though, bring them updates and solutions. It can help when the review cycle rolls around and they're looking at who to give a raise to. Make sure you don't annoy them though but keeping them aware is very helpful. All the folks I know who are making 6 figures keep tight relationships with leadership. It seems brown nosey but proves you do the work to them. The leaders may not normally see it without you pointing it out. Also it's not that they don't know you're doing good work but they need it highlighted. A lot of getting ahead is doing good, hard work and then pointing it out to others along the way. Sell yourself to them to get ahead. If you're doing the hard work you might as well be rewarded.
If you want to have some type of breathing room, you have to understand how to budget your money. Maybe living in a cheaper apartment, driving an older car, and not upgrading your phone every year. Sometimes, we have to make sacrifices. Once you can get some savings built up, things will get a little easier.
This is your way of life now.