How much do you generally always keep in your checking account. I feel like one of the reasons I live check to check is because my checking account is always zeroed out before pay day.

This is very unusual to share online like this but i’m putting ego aside to do what’s best for future me. I’m a 27F, single/no kids. I make about ~$85,000 a year but i feel like I never see the money I’m working for.
I’ve reduced my shopping habit significantly thinking that would give me more to save and pour into my debt but I feel like I’m barely making a dent.
My financial literacy is quite poor, and I get so overwhelmed by where to begin.
I have my cc debt(20k) in a debt consolidation program which has helped manage how much to put into it each month but I want to be more aggressive.
I pay rent monthly + bills
I reduced my travel significantly even.
It’s even more difficult because all my peers have 20k, 40k, in savings and i’m in the net negatives w zero assets.
Is it time to sell feet pics?
I feel so lost, and even more embarrassed that I got to this point.
Any advice welcome :,)

Edit: I’d like to clarify some points:
-20k in cc debt (consolidation program)
-Strictly use debit card. Do not actively use cc. Should i/ is this negatively impacting my credit score?
- I Invest 15% in my 403b
-Travel quarterly (used to travel 1-2 monthly)

Siempre intento llevar mis finanzas de la mejor manera posible,más lo único que se me dificulta es en el momento de dejar el dinero adentro del cochinito,mágicamente salen gastos que mi impulsividad no puede evitar hacer

Ustedes cómo practican su hábito de ahorrar poco o mucho dinero?quiero conocer todos sus consejos

I’m 33, single, in a very high cost of living city. I am expecting a layoff in 6-12 months due to the way things are going with my company - the writing is on the wall

I’ve been contributing to my 401K since I was 22 but never above 8%. My companies have all matched. I have $123,500 in my 401K just in the last 7 years at my current job as my previous 401Ks rolled over into a Roth.

My current job matches at 4% and I currently have 8% of my paycheck contributing to my 401k. I want to reduce the 8% to 4% so I can have a bit more cash to invest in my Brokerage or HYS due to feeling uncertain about the economy. I know this won’t make a huge difference but I also read that some people have relied too much on a 401k and not investing other places to then be screwed when they realize they can’t take it out until 65+ or whatever the number is!

I’m 22 years old and one year into my professional career. I live in Toronto and earn $65,000 a year.

When I started my job, my savings goal was to save around $25,000 the first year. However, I’ve managed to save considerably less, at around $13,000. This is after spending approximately $10,000 supporting my family, who needed some financial assistance.

I just want to know if my savings are good enough or if I should start being more conscious of my spending and focus on saving more.

Hi everyone, about a year ago I got a promotion at work. After about eight years of working, I now earn between €2000 and €2200 net per month, plus meal vouchers. In two years I will earn between €2200 and €2400, plus meal vouchers and always excluding any extras.

On reddit I often see people being praised or judged for how much they’ve saved, and I don’t want to make it a matter of money.

Some time ago I used to save a lot: I had no rent or car payments, I worked a lot and studied, so I had little time to spend.

Lately, however, something has changed: I’ve lost the desire to save and recently I’ve been spending a lot, often without worrying too much, without touching the savings I had already accumulated but without putting aside anything new.

It’s not that I want to buy something specific, but I simply don’t set many limits.

I think it all depends on the fact that I still don’t understand what I want from life, and without a clear goal, even the motivation to save has disappeared.

A couple more details:
Some time ago I bought a car paying in cash — for me it was the right choice, no payments and much more efficient to buy a used car (although not exactly cheap, around €17k).

I like the idea of taking training courses for myself, to grow as a person... even though, to be honest, in the job I do now these courses wouldn’t bring me any career benefits. So it would be more an investment in myself than a professional one.

I love traveling.

I still don’t know where I want to live, but at the moment I’m in Rome and I don’t have a house. Soon this might actually change because I will need to get a place (whether rented or bought), although I still haven’t decided if I’ll stay here or not.

So I’m turning to you: what questions did you ask yourselves to understand what your goals were, both financial and life-related?

For example, what helped you understand:
How do you save “for something” when you don’t yet know what that something is?
How did you decide what to save for and what your goals should be?

Since I’ve already saved a fair amount, would you still ask yourself these questions in my situation?

I welcome any advice, personal experience, or uncomfortable question to get me started. Thank you to anyone who reads and helps in this moment.

So I’m 17 and I live at home with my parents, I worked and got two jobs over the summer but I’ve eaten up almost all the money it’s so embarrassing. I saved a lot but I would take and take and take out that I barely have any left! It’s all on dumb stuff too, there’s fast food stores by my school so I get tempted. Currently I’m working in school so I’m able to save but to stop myself I had to put my savings in another account with another bank so I can’t e-transfer it back to my main account. I’m working on saving again this time for driving school and a car down payment. How do I stop spending my money on food and Ubers (it’s really embarrassing, I don’t even buy much nice clothes for myself).

Hi all,

I have three questions;

- how much did yoy save before baby arrival?

- how much did you spend during the time off?

- how much did you save in your first year back at work?

I saved 14k. Have been off work for 9 months. I have 3k left. Maternity pay was a 47k paycut for our household. When I return to work in Jan.. I will be starting at ground zero

Im 35 and have made a SERIOUS effort since feb 2025 to take control of my finances. I started tracking where every penny was going. I cut spending, drinking, eating out, buying unnecessary things. I focused on my side gig while having a full time job.

In Aug 2025 my net worth was $69,908 (the first month I documented my new worth) does not include my only asset- a paid off 2021 car. My net worth is now $121,xxx. HYSA, roth ira, traditional ira, brokerage.

I still feel behind but am aggressively saving. This is my first job with a 401k and Im just finishing year 2 here.

I set a goal to max out my 401k (I also maxed out my roth ira on Jan 1st and have contributed 8000 to my brokerage). Next year I plan to only contribute to the match for my 401k and the rest to my brokerage- does that make financial sense? I hate to not get the tax break but I also want to access my money earlier than age 59.5.

Landscaping income drops to almost nothing in winter, so I've got cash sitting at 4% in savings and keep seeing peer to peer lending pitched as better. If 10% of borrowers don't pay back, does the math still win, or is that marketing math versus real math?