I know the take-home for Americans is way higher than for Europeans (with their stupid taxes). But on average how much would you say you are able to save a year? And how many years do you need to fully pay for a house there?

21 comments

  1. Right now, it’s only about $18,000 USD a year since I am early in my career. A common payment plan is a 30-year mortgage, but that depends on several factors such as income, where you live, what condition the house is, how much you put in downpayment, etc. I won’t have a house for another 6-7 years at least, I’d think.

  2. These past few years have been weird. With staying home, not commuting, and no eating out, we put $20K in savings and investments last year. I doubt this year will be the same.

  3. It’s extremely rare for someone to buy a house without financing it. We save around 25-30% of our total take home. We live fairly lavishly, and have 3 kids. So we don’t save as much as I’d like, but Perks of having a California salary but moving out to the middle of nowhere. My company never adjusted my pay when they transferred me out here.

  4. We probably safe $80,000-$100,000/yr.

    The standard mortgage is a 30 year term.

  6. Single income house, I’m lucky if I can save the shirt on my back by the end of the year lol

    Only about 20% of Americans have any sort of savings at all, if that says anything…

    Standard mortgage is 15 or 30 years.

  8. Buying a house is not on my radar so I couldn’t even begin to make a guess on that one. But I saved about $20k a year for the last three years. Primarily because travel has been on the back burner, but also because I’ve doubled my salary since then.

  9. American savings statistics for 2020 show that nearly 70% of Americans have less than $1,000 stashed away in their bank accounts. That number rose from 58% in 2018. Meanwhile, the number of those with savings between $1,000 and $5,000 stands at roughly 12%. Only 5% of Americans have savings accounts that range between $10,000 and $20,000.
    https://fortunly.com/statistics/american-savings-statistics/

  10. I keep an emergency savings of like 10k, but do most of my savings into retirement. Between mine and employer contributions, maybe like $30k/year.

    I have a 30 year mortgage that I just refinanced for a lower payment. I don’t have much intention of working hard to pay it off. It was $500k when I bought it a few years ago, it’s worth about $900k now. I’m sure it’s value will dip at some point, but plan on staying for awhile and playing the long game with it.

  11. Its extremely rare to buy a home in full with cash. Probably 99% of all home purchases are with money down, 10 to 20% then finance the remaining balance with a 15 to 30 years mortgage.

    Married in 1995. My wife and I saved 20K our 1st year for a down payment for our home. We invested the max every year into our IRA. Which changed from 1995. From like 6000k a year then to 12k for 25 years. That with my pension allowed me to retire at 50. She still works part time. Probably another 3 or 4 years she said. We have 10K in savings for emergencies. With her retirement from work and not taking social security till 65, we’ll be making the same annual income for life.

  12. My husband and i are about 12 years from retirement so we’re saving quite a bit. For the last few years, we’ve been saving/investing about $95K a year.

    I bought my first house when I was 20. i put $2K down on a $64K house. The last house we bought was in 2015 and we paid cash of $790K.

  13. > But on average how much would you say you are able to save a year?

    I shoot for 10-15% or more. $6000 to my IRA account, 5-10% into cash savings/CDs.

    > And how many years do you need to fully pay for a house there?

    That’s not how we buy houses. When Americans say they “bought a house” they mean they got a mortgage/borrowed money from a bank and will pay it off with interest over the course a term, typically 15, 20, or 30 years. If we saved cash it would take 15, 20, or 30 years to *buy* a house.

  14. Pre-tax: About 25% not including employer contributions to things

    After tax: about 15%

    House has a 30 year mortgage at sub-3% interest rate, so we will likely drag that out for 20-25 years at the least.
    As a family (2 kids), we try to live well below our means in the big categories (housing, cars, etc.). We have very ambitious goals and are fairly young, so we want to take advantage of the time value of money.

    Edit: I would not say we are “average”. We are a very fortunate, college educated household (60k of debt to attain that!). We have been very intentional with our lifestyle and savings to hopefully provide for our children the same stepping stones in life. (I.e.: a good education (formal and otherwise), a few life experiences via travel, and a positive outlook!). In other words, that perhaps illusive American dream.

  15. Depends what you mean by “save?”

    My retirement saving is 7% of my paycheck into a 401k plus $300 a month into a Roth IRA. It will be about $8.5k this year. My last job (laid-off 2020) didn’t have a 401k, so I maxed out the roth and put some more into municipal bond funds for the tax incentive. I was putting away $600/mo then. In 2020 and 2021 my retirement saving was only $300/mo since I started a new career from the bottom with lower pay.

    I also save into my checking account for home repairs or other unexpected bills. If my checking account ever gets too high, I’ll transfer some to my Roth IRA, but that has not happened yet. There are always home improvements to be done. I bought a cheap house.

    Some people might consider paying down a mortgage “saving.” I don’t consider a primary residence to be an investment, but some do. The principal portion of my mortgage is about $225/mo 6 years into a 30 year mortgage. This will grow as the mortgage ages.

  17. To save per year after bills and auto investments I make into my 401k and IRA, maybe 25-30% of my yearly income goes into savings.

  18. Just a common office laborer. I put aside $500 a week, about 40 or 50 percent depending on my hours for the week. I put $300 a month in the IRA and $100 a month for the kids college. When I become eligible I’ll do 4 percent for the company 401k (for the match).

    This will keep me in the $15000 cash per year range. And maybe 8 or 10k in retirement.

  21. Not exactly what you asked but just under 40% of owner occupied homes don’t have a mortgage.

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