Finance Year in Review

Interesting statistic - the average person in the US saved money this year - 2.4 percent of income as of the most recent report. (http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/pi/pinewsrelease.htm) Not much, but it's better than the negative numbers of previous recent years. Interesting when tracked historically that the number has never exceeded 15 percent http://www.bea.gov/bea/dn/nipaweb/Nipa-Frb.asp

How do I stack up?

Since I've now been at one address with one job for over a year the finances are stable enough to note (sale of house excluded from the numbers below - only job income counted)

Percent of total pre tax income to:
Income Tax - 21% set aside in deductions - based on previous years this is pretty accurate
Rent and Utilities - 23%
401k - 8%
Money Market Savings - 28%
General spending - food/gas/travel/clothing/stuff - 20%

Other interesting facts - The interest gains in the mm-savings account did not offset the losses due to some optimistic stock bets in my 401k - total investments are down 1.6% on the year.

Rent and utilities are high in an absolute sense - though offset by very small gasoline expenditures - no gas for the commute and errands works out to less than a tank per month.

I had the sense there was going to be a stock market drop and rearranged the 401k, but not enough apparently. I also rearranged a bit post-correction, though still a bit risky. It will probably be a year until things really start to turn around and post small gains there.

General spending also seems high in an absolute sense - but then there's the quality of life quotient... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122955255403315677.html ... I suppose it's a small price to pay.