Submitted by PurpleFilth t3_110pcxa in personalfinance
I'm a 30 years old manufacturing engineer making about 85k a year. I live in So Cal which of course has an insanely high cost of living. I feel like I'm stuck in this weird situation where I seemingly have plenty of money and yet I'm no where close to being able to buy a house. I have a net worth of about 120k right now. Breakdowns are below.
HYSA: 15k
Savings: 8k
Checking: 3.2k
Robinhood: 16k
401k: 35.9k
Roth IRA: 33k
HSA: 10.6k
Coinbase (BTC/ETH): $850
I've generally invested pretty heavily into retirement but lately I'm trying to build up more cash. I have no debt. At 30 years old I really want to move out and get my own apartment. Rent will probably be around 2.2k a month plus utilities. I'm specifically looking at 1 bedroom apartments, not really looking to have roommates right now. I currently pay 500 bucks a month to stay with my parents, and they pay for my car insurance and phone bill. If I move out, they will probably still pay my phone bill but not my car insurance.
I'm having trouble reconciling how terrible of a financial decision it is for me to move out. I know the smart answer would be to stay at home a few more years and save heavily so I can buy a house, but I feel like I can't wait anymore. A few years is a long time and I'm already 30 years old.... Am I overthinking it? Am I in a good enough financial position to move out and get my own apartment? My job is stable and I have the potential to be making 100-120k within a few years if I get promoted to a senior engineer, I could also switch jobs and likely make more money now...
I won't lie, I kind of also want to upgrade my car to something nice, I currently drive a 2007 Corolla with 190k miles on it. I can hold off on the car but I just feel like I've been saving my whole life and I kind of just want to let loose a little bit. When I turned 30 I told myself I would move out within the year, but I'm having trouble making the leap.
EDIT: My pay is a little on the lower side it seems, this is partly explained by the fact that I graduated in 2019, so I only have about 3-4 years of experience as an engineer. My take home pay is 4500 a month. I've also never really budgeted before, I have no debt and no obligations other than 500 a month for rent. My car is paid off and other than that I have Spotify and HBO Max accounts which I think is just over 25 a month. I believe gas is under 100 a month.