Matt, that's amazing. I've never had a five-figure savings account!
I did until I bought a car. (Actually, it might still be 5 figures; after we bought the car, we were going to shuffle some funds around -- seriously, our household finances are half banks and half the equivalent of burying money in the backyard [please no one come dig up our backyard unless you're willing to re-grade it so it doesn't slope] -- and we just haven't shuffled them around yet.)
But, to be fair, I'm a really paranoid freelancer, so I keep a large savings cushion. Tim has been prodding me to let go of the death grip on some of the savings and put it into the retirement fund (which is not actually buried in the backyard), and I really should do that. Except: PARANOID.
With the low return on savings these days, you might as well bury it in the backyard.
Yeah. I have a cowrite with a guy in Sweden who's putting his kids to bed while I'm eating lunch, and another one with a guy in South Korea, which is my Friday night and his Saturday morning. That one is so great because he's like my own personal cautionary tale. If he comes in all hungover, and I finish up with him and then go out with my band, I'm all, oh, yeah, this drink is good enough, thanks.
With the low return on savings these days, you might as well bury it in the backyard.
And with the amount of Kato poo back there, thieves would be deterred.
Kind of my reasoning when I drove across the country with my cash stashed in the snake's cage. She wasn't poisonous or anything, but I figured she was still a deterrent.
Of course, when she somehow got loose and found her way to the front seat and scared the crap out of the cats this did not seem like such a smart plan. But the money stayed secure, I suppose.
I moved all my savings to an investment account with a planner to get a better return. Takes a day or two to get money, but it is earning more.
Yeah, I'm not counting on much compounding of savings from my 20th of a percent annual APR. Mainly my savings account is a can't-spend-down-unmindfully-by-writing-checks account. When I have a cushion suitable for a year of unemployment (also the benchmark for a decent condo downpayment, if and when) I may just start putting any extra money into my 401k instead.
I'm kind of paranoid about having some savings, just in case. I've been on my own for long enough that I've had to go through some very tight times (last year, for example, I got a "raise" that meant my take-home pay went down ... it was tight, but I got through). I realize a lot of people don't and I don't want to end up deeply in debt. Since my mother died and I realized I got pretty much nothing (in comparison to what she had and what I'd expected), it's all my responsibility.
I'm not a saver because I still have debt. If I have extra $ it goes toward getting me debt free before I retire.
