Comments on: Should Income Be “Disposable?”

By: Gailete

Gailete — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 14:12:27 +0000

Lakeside–Good for you, although tough for me to hear that someone is saving 3 times what we bring in for an entire year. Not jealous though!

I have never thought of money as disposable as in something to waste. I think I have kind of hit the wall about this these past couple of weeks. I earned and received a $350 gift card to Amazon for some on line ‘work’. I’ve only spent maybe half so far since even though I have had things on my wish list that ranged in the $100 area, I’m still shifting through options wanting to make the most of this truly ‘disposable’ gift. When you first get this much money it is easy to see all sorts of possibilities, but when you live on the limited income like we do, even if it is fun stuff to buy, you really do want to make the best of it all If I had gone with my first instincts, I probably would have wasted it. I sure don’t waste the money we earn so why waste something like this gift?

By: lakeside

lakeside — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 15:00:31 +0000

I disagree — for some people. For those of us who are on top of our financial game, there is no reason to track every penny. “Hey, I’ve paid all my bills so whatever’s left must be fair game.” is EXACTLY how we live — but for us, our “bills” includes saving $80,000+ toward retirement every year.

Once we pay all our bills, including balance transfers into accounts for taxable investing as well as all the money that gets take out of our paycheck pre-tax AND short term savings for things like replacing cars, home repairs, and any other infrequent yet expensive event, what is left is EXACTLY disposable income, or whatever you want to call it.

Could we squeeze a few thousand more into retirement accounts by giving every single penny a purpose? Maybe — but we’re already on track to retire at 50-55, and we have no desire to live like paupers now so that we can live it up in retirement. There’s always the unfortunate chance that we wouldn’t make it to retirement so we don’t want to sacrifice everything right now. We’d rather go to dinner and a movie every weekend than have another three grand in a retirement account.

Basically my point is that “pay all your bills and contribute to your savings and retirement and then spend what is left on fun things and experiences that you enjoy” actually IS a valid budgeting style. Just because it’s not the one you prefer doesn’t make it a bad idea — it’s just not one you use.

By: jay

jay — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 18:53:14 +0000

Ah, the key is to TRACK your money! That’s where I think many of us get derailed. We may even go so far as to budget everything down to the amount we give ourselves “permission” to spend on a fun category. Well, unless you know how much you’re spending, it’s all moot. Back to the old envelope system!

By: Canadian Budget Binder

Canadian Budget Binder — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 04:09:40 +0000

Crikey it almost felt as if I was reading something that I would write or talk about. I agree with you on all levels about disposable income. It’s ok to have some fun but all of our money is in a designated category for the same reason so we don’t overspend. We know people that run out and blow the lot of a bonus or lump sum payment but seem to forget about the credit card debt they have mounting up. Personally, I’m not into debt nor do I wish to hang on to it. There’s always time for fun, and if we manager our money right the balance will be there! Willy Nilly, haha.. that’s what I often say.