My Income Breakdown and Net Worth Average

If you saw yesterday's post, you would know that I have been doing a lot of thinking about where I am at, where I want to go, and how I will get there. Money is a big part of the key and how I manage it will be a big determinant on how much I will achieve.

In yesterday's post, I stated that I was currently living in the now. By that, what I meant was that, I have had no short to medium term goals. Actually I had no real goals between now and retirement. All I knew is that I wanted to retire comfortably, hence I have a retirement savings account that I send money to every paycheck and that's it.

Why I got annoyed with this is because things that I consider small purchases, like a tablet or tickets to a show, I have to think really hard about. For someone living in the now, I don't have any real savings that I could use to splurge on these things, what little savings I have already have to go towards helping future yearly expenses like car insurance or semester fees for school. Which means every time I think about purchasing something, I have to remember that I don't have a lot to spend. Bigger than these small purchases are the larger dreams I have; like owning a home. I called it dream because if I change nothing now, it will remain just that, a dream. I have now moved that dream into my seven year plan so I have 7 years to achieve it; no more.

In order to get a better grasp of where I am at and what needs to change, I decided to compare myself to some averages and recommendations. Let's first look at my net worth. I got the following picture from Fabulously Broke a long time ago who got it from CNN I believe(I don't have the direct links to the original post, sorry).

I'm in the first category in both sections, I am under the age of 25 and my annual income is just under 25k. Judging from this, I'm doing pretty good. My net worth at the beginning of the month stood at $7507. This means I am well above average in both. Judging from this I should be happy but I don't feel that way. The bulk of my net worth is tied up in retirement... 60% to be exact. Which means 60% of my net worth is inaccessible and not easy to liquidate without serious penalties. This is annoying because retirement savings can't help with my current goals and money saved in retirement accounts can't be spent on "stuff". My future self better be much happier than I am now with the sacrifices I am making because it is getting hard.

Take a look at this next chart. I got this one from Money after Graduation who got it from Gail Vaz Oxlade. It is a suggestion for a balanced spending plan.

Take a look at where I stand. I used my 2012 spending for this.

I don't even know how to start with this one. When I first did it up, I was completely annoyed. I know that the suggestion from Gail is only a guideline and obviously my situation would not allow me to match that, but 40% of my NET income going to transport is ridiculous; and I have what would be considered a low maintenance car. The thing is too, my car is more of a need than a want at this time, given the hours I work, public transportation, safety and the fact that I work full time and attend university, my car is necessary. I think this part will need a post of it's own so stay tuned for that. I'll end here for now since I am getting annoyed again.