How much should an average single middle class guy have in his bank?

Answer 1

Three months of your income. So if you bring home $2000 a month, then you need an emergency fund of $6000.

After that, any money you save needs to go into a high interest saving account (something like INGdirect) or into an IRA.

Answer 2

You should not have very much in the bank. Money sitting in the bank, and not working for you is not that great of a plan.

Take your age, multiply by 40000 and that should be about your net worth. At 40 the average person is worth at least 1.6 million. But, not much of that should be in the bank. I don't think most people keep more then about 20k in the bank.

Answer 3

Not much if you have an empty HELOC you don't need more than a few hundred in the bank. It is more important to be putting 15K into your 401K and money into other investments or ROTH IRAs. You will need about 25 times your annual income before you can afford to retire so it depends on your age and income to see if you are on track to work forever or not.

Answer 4

Three months' gross pay for the "unforeseen," in addition to enough for the "foreseen."

But never mind the bank. At middle age, you should probably have $200,000 - $300,000 in equity in your home, and an equal amount in your brokerage account + retirement accounts.

Disclaimer: I don't know what I am talking about, so pay no attention to me.

Answer 5

As I understand it, there should be 3months salary as an average balance and saving at least 6% per month in 401k, which my friend says means he has a good job!

Answer 6

A year of salary.