Corporette.com

Updated: Nov 1, 2018 207 Comments · by

Frugal Friday’s TPS Report: Glossy V-Neck Blouse

The Personal Shopper (TPS)· Under $150

This post may contain affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Our daily TPS reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices. Limited Glossy V-Neck BlouseOoh: I kind of like this lightweight V-neck from The Limited. I like the drapey nature, the respectable V-neck, the keyhole in the back, the 3/4 sleeves with 1-button cuffs, and the fact that it's all machine washable. It's available in three colors (black, red, purple) in sizes XS-XL, and it's on sale — it was $49.95, but with code INLOVE it comes down 40%, to $30. Glossy V-Neck Blouse Seen a great piece you'd like to recommend? Please e-mail tps@corporette.com. (L-2) Psst: Happy Valentine's Day, ladies!

Sales of note for 9.10.24

Some of our latest posts here at Corporette…

RSS Error: WP HTTP Error: cURL error 60: Issuer certificate is invalid.

And some of our latest threadjacks here at Corporette (reader questions and commentary) — see more here!

Some of our latest threadjacks include:

About Kat

Kat Griffin is the founder, publisher, and editor-in-chief of Corporette. You can read more about her here.

Comments

  1. Becky

    Love the skirt but I just can’t see it in my work wardrobe. Something about animal print…

    Threadjack.. any recommendations for Paris apartment rental companies. Looking for an air conditioned place in the 6th for a honeymoon trip this summer.

    • Polished Pinstripes

      Love the skirt, but kind of meh on the blouse. It’s nice, but I’m not in love with it. Regarding apartments, I have always had good success with homeaway.com or homeaway.co.uk. I’ve used them to find apartments in Paris, Hawaii, Tuscany and Switzerland and they haven’t failed me yet.

      http://www.polishedpinstripes.com

      • Anonymous

        I’ve had awesome luck (although not in Paris) with airbnb. Air conditioning might be a tough one though.

      • zora

        love the blouse as a basic, bc i always want more long(ish) sleeves to wear under suits in the winter

    • Anon

      I had good luck with feels like home in Paris. American ex-pat runs it so easy communication .

    • anon

      We used Our Home in Paris and loved it (I found through VRBO but you can also just Google and find their website).

      Our place was in the 3rd but I think they have apartments all over.

      We also considered using Haven in Paris — the apartments were so gorgeous in the photos online, but we liked the location, price and Parisian vibe of the place we booked in the 3rd better.

    • Bonnie

      I like the shirt in purple and wish the skirt was still available. Good pick Kat.

    • Jules

      We used NY habitat dot com to get a flat in London several years ago, and they also have listings in Paris; I recommended it to a friend and she found a good place in Paris last summer. The staff was great to work with.

    • Amy H.

      I used http://www.lodgis.com in 2002 and had a fantastic experience. I loved that you could sort by arrondissement and loved how many photos there were of each flat. Obviously that is awhile ago though . . . .

  2. Ms. Basil E. Frankweiler

    I know this has been discussed before, but site: search is failing me.

    Denver has finally gotten a Trader Joes and I’ve never been. What are some things I should look forward to grabbing?

    • Monday

      CHOCOLATE-COVERED ESPRESSO BEANS. They’re surprisingly hard to find and expensive anywhere else.

      • SoCalAtty

        Second the frozen apps. We keep some of the frozen spinach dip in the freezer in case we have random guests. That + pita is perfect.

    • HSAL

      Oh man, your world is going to change:

      Gone Bananas (chocolate covered banana slices)
      Chicken Tikka Masala (frozen meal)
      COOKIE BUTTER
      All of the wine.
      Pretzel bread
      All of the frozen appetizers I’ve tried are great.

      I recommend checking out the blog What’s Good at Trader Joe’s. They do very detailed reviews of a variety of products, and I agree with them almost all of the time.

    • DC Association

      they have GREAT frozen stuff. Their turkey meatballs are amazing and very attractive calorie and fat wise. I prefer them to the beef meatballs for flavor so the low-fatness is a bonus. I also love the butter chicken frozen dinner.

      They also have a great variety of oils and vinegars. The price on their sesame oil can’t be beat.

      • anon-oh-no

        +1 for the turkey meatballs. they are so good.

        seriously just walk through the asiles. you will want everything

    • Awful Lawful

      I love their canned no salt added tuna. It sounds silly, but it’s so much better than Bumble Bee, Starkist, etc. Single serving brie cups, whole wheat pizza dough, grilled balsalmic chicken, wasabi almonds, seasonal teas in tins (my favorite was pumpkin rooibos during fall)… They also have pretty nice greeting cards for $.99 and nice soaps.

    • Anon

      Frozen garlic cubes. Frozen basil cubes. Shepards Pie. Sublingual B vitamins. Flourless chocolate torte.

    • Bonnie

      Wine and cheese. We also love their frozen whole wheat veggie lasagna. It heats up in the microwave so it’s a great quick dinner. I also use their facial moisturizer with SPF without chemical blockers.

    • Olivia Pope

      All of the frozen food.
      Charles Shaw wine (aka Two Buck Chuck! Though it may be three whole dollars a bottle)
      Nourish Spa conditioner – I use it to cowash!

      • Joanna Toews

        I second the conditioner. It is PERFECT – everything a conditioner should be. We stock up every time we go to the States. $3-something per bottle, too!

    • Anon in Denver

      I’m so excited! I’ve heard the parking situation is going to be a nightmare though…

    • Jules

      All the chocolate (the cocoa almonds are the bomb)

      Frozen foods of all types – the Japanese fried rice is SO good, with tofu or another protein and some kale (prewashed and cut, also from TJs) or other veggies it’s a meal — veggie blends, potatoes with mushrooms and haricot verts, rice blends, fancy frozen desserts

      Prewashed and cut veggies – greens, squash, Brussell sprouts, others I can’t think of right now — make it easy to make a healthy meal fast

      Coffee — good selection of FTO coffee at a good price — and teas

      Fresh flowers

      Oils and vinegars – the orange champagne vinegar is really good

      • Jules

        Oh yes, and:

        Soaps and tea tree oil face wash for acne

        great prices on protein/meal bars (not TJ’s brands, the same ones as elsewhere but much cheaper)

        dishwasher soap that works great and is not full of chemicals — when I run out and have to use grocery-store stuff, the bleach smell now makes me sick

        Greeting cards

      • Maddie Ross

        The precut seasoned brussel sprouts are the bomb. So yummy and so healthy!

    • Senior Attorney

      In addiiton to what everyone else has noted, I love the precooked frozen brown rice. Yes, I know it easy and cheap to make my own rice, but it takes a long time and it’s so awesome to have perfectly-cooked rice in the freezer three minutes from being ready to eat.

      I also love the frozen mac n cheese and Chana Masala.

      • Anon in NYC

        +1 to the brown rice. Sometimes you just don’t want to spend 45 minutes cooking brown rice.

      • zora

        This is great for taking to work for lunches, too. Or just when I get home starving and I don’t have time to make a full meal. But that said: I like the rice medly even better. It has brown rice and wild rice and is SO TASTY.

        • Jules

          + 1. I’ve also felt a bit guilty about not just cooking up a pot of brown rice or a medley, but who has 45 minutes on a weeknight?

          • zora

            Rice keeps pretty well for about 4-5 days in the fridge. I cook up a full pot of rice or quinoa on many weekends and then I have it for lunches and dinners throughout the week. Heating up in the microwave works of course, but I also just dump it into the pot of veggies or whatever I’m making for the last minute or two and stir it all together to heat up the rice in the pan.

            but the frozen is so great as a backup!

    • anon in tejas

      for me, it’s been hit or miss on interesting looking stuff. I have followed a few blogs to find out what is good.

      what is good at trader joes is one of them.

      I’d suggest checking out their reviews. here’s a few of our favs

      chicken chili lime burgers
      vegtarian canned chili + frozen mac and cheese = great dinner
      sweet potato fries (best frozen ones we have found)
      eggplant stacks

    • Baconpancakes

      Sea-salt and dark chocolate covered almonds.

      Truffle oil mushroom flatbread pizza.

      The entire fresh flower section.

      Just go nuts. You’ll look at the total at checkout and think, “Wait, is that all? That’s so cheap!”

      • Ellen

        Yay! Fruegel Friday’s! I love Fruegel Friday’s and I love trader joe’s!!!!! I also agree with Baconpancakes that the dark chocolete covered almond’s from Trader Joe’s are the BEST!!!! I buy the big container, then bring about 15 each day with me on my walk to work. They give me energy, which help’s me make the walk fun. It is about 2 mile’s to walk, and in the winter it is ALOT harder b/c of all of the snow and SLUSCH all over the place. FOOEY! I am wearing my new RED boot’s which are WATERPROOF, then when I get to the office, I change into my PUMP’s! YAY!

        The manageing partner does NOT want me goeing into court with my boot’s but I told him I do NOT want to get $150 pump’s all wet b/c he would have to buy me new one’s. So now, Mason’s job will be to carry a big brown bag (FROM BLOOMIE’S) and when we get to court, HE has to give my my pump’s and I give him my wet smelly BOOTS to put in the BAG. I knew he would work out for me! YAY!

        Benjamin is now back in DC, but he said he would let me know when he is comeing back to his family in LI. I said I would come visit when the Cherry Blossom’s are out, but given the amount of SNOW they have on the ground in DC, Benjamin say’s it wont melt until June, so that is when I think the blossom’s will be out . YAY!!!!

    • anon2

      Frozen chocolate croissants (bake next day), naan, TJ’s greek nonfat yogurt, precooked edamame, carnitas, soaps, moisturizing shampoo, pita chips, cheese of all kinds, honey sesame almonds and cashews, all the chocolate, and at holiday time, dark chocolate dipped peppermint jo-jo cookies (they are like crack).

    • Niktaw

      Marinated flat iron steaks.
      Boxed organic basil.
      In the frozen case:
      French macarons.
      Excellent frozen fish.
      Raspberry and pear tortes.
      Chocolate croissants!

      • Ah!

        Raspberry and pear tortes… drool! I loved them. I don’t like fruit but the pear was so perfectly poached that i ate all 4 of them in one sitting!

    • Ms. Basil E. Frankweiler

      Thanks ladies!

      @Anon in Denver, yeah, I figured as much. A couple of girlfriends and I are going to brunch tomorrow (can’t shop on an empty stomach) and then we’ll carpool over. Amazing this much thought has to go into a simple grocery trip, huh? :-)

      • anne-on

        Spanakopita, kale/spinach bites, carrot cake, and their frozen croissants are our go-tos in the freezer section. My son can’t live without their dehydrated fruits (strawberries, bananas, etc.) and their nut selection is insanely good and cheap.

      • Lynette

        Did you make it? I’m an East Coast transplant and have been waiting for this since I moved here a year ago. I made it two feet inside, gave up, and went home. I’m trying again Tuesday.

    • Miz Swizz

      Coconut oil, their lip balm is great and super inexpensive, any sort of cheese you can think of. I love me some TJ.

    • Trader Joe's

      Frozen Alsatian tart. Even better if you drizzle it with TJ’s truffle olive oil.

  3. NOLA

    Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! I hope you and your Valentines have a wonderful day. And if you don’t have a Valentine, you have lots of us here. Better not to have one than to have a sucky one (and I’ve so been there).

    Any funny Valentine’s Day stories? My ex-H and I once went to this beautiful romantic restaurant on the river. We were eating and I looked down and there was a tiny little mouse running along the baseboard. We pulled a waiter aside and told him but didn’t want to make a fuss. It just made us laugh. FWIW, I don’t think going out to eat is particularly romantic. I so prefer a night in.

    • Cb

      Aww, that was sweet of you not to freak out about the mouse. Not a valentines story but I walked into my dorm one day (I was an RA) to find residents crying and a housekeeper having barricaded herself in a student room? Why? A tiny little brown mouse. They kept yelling at me to do something. Poor little mouse was frightened out of its wits.

      And a valentine story from today, I’m currently sitting in a cafe which also sells fancy chocolates. There is a queue of increasingly stressed out men.

        • Cb

          Haha! I went in the kitchen to get a bowl to ‘catch’the mouse’ and by the time I came back, it was gone. It was my nod to doing something without actually doing something.

    • cbackson

      My best Valentine’s Days have always been with friends – including the year that my BFF agreed to spend the a vacation (including Valentine’s Day) with me in an Exotic Foreign Locale so that I wouldn’t be at home waiting for my final divorce decree to arrive.

      The love that friends share really gets short shrift in our culture, which is unfortunate. Friendly love never gets epic-movie treatment. But let me say this: the closest I’ve come to seeing the face of God on earth has been in the things my friends have done for me.

      • Monday

        That’s awesome, and I agree that friendships are not celebrated enough. Pop music is another mass media forum where this kind of love is rarely mentioned–yet even the most dysfunctional romantic relationships are glamorized!

      • Amy H.

        Hear, hear. But wait — you don’t agree “I Love You, Man” is an epic movie?

      • Snoozy

        I spent Valentine’s Day with my closest (gay) male friend, watching the Winter Olympics, wincing at the biathlon results, making sarcastic comments about figure-skating, eating way too much of both junk food and dinner, and generally discussing the meaning of life. In all honestly, I’m not sure how much better something romantic could ever be than that sort of thing, at least on a particular scheduled day of the year. So yes, yay for friends.

    • SV in House

      I needed a scheduled c-section for baby #2. 39 weeks, the doctor’s preferred date, was February 14. I did not want him/her to share a birthday with Valentine’s Day, so we have a 2/15 baby!

      • NOLA

        I have one cousin whose birthday is Feb. 14. We just always celebrated her Valentine Birthday and made it fun. My friend’s 6 year old had her birthday yesterday – one of the few kids I’ve ever known who was born (not by scheduled c-section) on her due date exactly. Her party is on Sunday – I can’t wait!

      • Anon

        My mom’s birthday is Valentine’s Day. And my daughter turns 3 tomorrow! (She came on her own about 2 weeks early. My mom jokes that she–my daughter–wanted her own birthday!)

    • Annie

      Our 2nd valentine’s day together, I decided that I wanted to do something fun and not super romantic. We went to Outback Steakhouse because we had a gift card (woo college!), and then went bowling. Something at Outback Steakhouse gave us food poisoning, so we ended up cutting bowling short and going home and being sick. Since then, we’ve just done spaghetti and a movie at home.

    • hoola hoopa

      One year my then-boyfriend and I each had an event that happened to fall on V-day night. The holiday isn’t important to us, so we happily went our separate ways that night. My friend (who’s boyfriend was traveling for work) and I stopped at a bar after our event to have a drink together. A pair of men came over to hit on us and first would not believe that we were single since obviously two women drinking alone on valentines day MUST be single. They were pleasant and we chatted for a bit, and it turns out they were coworkers of my boyfriend. Haha, they gave him a rough time on Monday for leaving his girlfriend alone of valentines.

    • CKB

      My oldest son was born Feb 12. Feb 14 was the day we came home from the hospital. When my mom came later that day to stay with us for a while to help she brought flowers and said “Sorry, all they had were Valentine’s day flowers, so I had them stick an ‘it’s a boy’ balloon in. Dh & I looked at each other and said “Wait, it’s Valentine’s Day?” We had totally forgot.

      Of course, and ever since then, birthday celebrations have been more important than V-Day and have taken our energy. Although, he’s a teenager now, and last year we actually made it out for dinner on the 14th!

    • anon

      I am 29. I have 36,000 in retirement savings. My husband has something like 5,000 in his account.

    • Anon

      DH and i are both 30, one kid. We have about 200k set aside, 120 in his name and 80 in mine, technically. About 50k of that is all roth, so taxes are paid.

      • Meara

        Eek, I always feel like I’m doing good compared to friends who are not on top of things, but this makes me feel very not!

        • Anon

          Don’t feel bad. I am single and after getting laid off early in my career I became pretty focused on saving a ton of money. I needed that kick in the pants early on though and I am grateful for it.

    • HSAL

      Coming back to this thread will make me nervous, but I’ll play. 32, around $25K. Just recently started getting more aggressive with it.

      • Anon

        I feel like a good kick in the pants is good every once in a while. At least for me. Every time we do these finance threads I go an up my contribution % a little :)

    • roses

      25 – and about $1200. Last year was my first year working after law school and I was paying for part of my wedding, so I just didn’t have the leeway to start contributing (I may have felt differently if my employer matched, but it does not). Started contributing 10% my first pay period this year. Everyone has to start somewhere!

      • Anonymous

        I’m in a similar position – just turned 26 and about $ 2200 saved, but that has all been been put away in the past two and a half months since I became eligible for my (first full time) employer’s 401k. I think I can probably catch up to where it needs to be, especially once I start getting my employer match next December.

        • Anonattorney

          Yep. These threads always make me feel bad and stressed out. I guess it’s helpful to see what others are doing, sort of, but just remember that everyone has their own individual circumstances, and you can’t know the truth behind any of the numbers.

          • Anonattorney

            Retraction: as painful as these posts are, they are, in fact, helpful, because based on this thread I just set up a monthly auto-pay of $100 to my Roth. Until now I’ve just been relying on lump sum payments out of a bonus or other windfall. Every little bit counts, right?

            29, $12,000 in 401K and $33,000 in Roth. Married, husband has about $8,000 in a 401K. Income for the household is in the low 100K, less his tuition, less mortgage, less student loan payments, less my wine habit . . . I mean, water and kombucha habit?

        • Joanna Toews

          Ahahaha OH GOD.

          33. 7k saved. Plus a public sector pension, yay? *cries bitter tears*

    • SF

      44 years old, single, no kids. Likely will always be single.

      $135k in a ROTH
      $175k in a brokerage account (mostly in safe index funds or similar)

      No 401k – not options at my prior employers. Not in a career where I will have any pension.

      I am under-employed currently. No house. I worry a lot about my future, although I know I am still better then many. I am incredibly frugal.

    • Eleanor

      Ha, just so people who have saved less know they’re not alone: 29, no husband or kids, and I have $14,442.15 saved.

    • Cb

      Yikes, I got my retirement statement the other day. I like how they calculate your monthly payment at retirement, I think mine just had an image of a little old lady eating tuna.

      I’m 29 with $2500 saved, yay for a year long internship, nonprofit salaries, and returning to academia. However, I moved to the UK and will settle here permanently so fingers crossed that the social security system survives. I’m a PhD on a stipend but also work PT so when my monthly check goes above a certain amount, it kicks some money into my employee pension fund.

    • Should I be scared?

      I have about $20k saved plus I am vested in a govt pension that currently is scheduled to pay out 20% of my annual salary per year, so like 20k ish a year, which will go up as I continue to serve.

      I am 32. I also have about 100k in assets that I am planning to dip into to go to grad school part time.

      • SF

        That’s amazing that you already have a pension guarantee like that. Truly amazing, in my mind.

        I think you are doing ok. I would start saving more if you can, but yeah for pensions.

        • Should I be scared?

          Yeah, it feels a little anarchronistic to have a defined benefits plan, but I am thankful for it. (And frankly despite my being a crazy liberal, I think it’s overly generous.)

          Other govt employees, how do you calculate your govt benefits in the mix of your over all retirement savings?

          • Clementine

            I also have a guaranteed pension plan that I believe pays 60% of the average of my 3 highest years of pay when I retire.

            Honestly, right now (28, just bought a house, married 1.5 years) we’re just trying to save as much as we can for retirement. As of right now, I don’t know how much are in all of our accounts and use this as motivation to save as much as possible.

          • Gov anon

            I do count my pension as part of my retirement savings and always have. But several things have happened in the last year that makes me doubt the wisdom of that. I’m becoming increasingly worried that I won’t have enough saved, but I also can’t realistically save much more than I am.

          • Should I be scared?

            Yes, I worry that pensions will be radically rethought in the coming years. The avg govt pension is less than 50% funded and the estimated rate of earnings is still like 9% annually which is just insane. Clearly this system just doesn’t hold. That said if you have people starting paying 1% more for retirement and healthcare both then the numbers start to radically improve. I just worry that the two sides of this issue will dig in their heels and end up blowing the whole thing up.

          • Also a little nervous...

            I’m with Should I be scared… 43, and I’ve got a tiny pension through a former Hospital position in my first career, now am in a govt law position and expect to earn more towards retirement with each year I work, and my husband has a LEO pension that will pay a larger percentage of his salary upon retirement. I also have ~$40,000 in a 457(b)… but, with the way pensions are being eye-balled for cost-cutting, I worry we aren’t saving nearly enough, and my goal for the next two years is to reach a point where we can both max out our 457s at $17,500/year, then look at an IRA/Roth conversion once a year. Its hard, with his monthly child support, and my student loans, on govt salaries.

          • Gov Pension

            54 + 352 days – I can retire in two weeks with 60% of the average of my last three years salary. I can stick it out for another 5 years, earning another 2% each year – it maxes out at 70%. I also get an annual cost of living increase for the rest of my life. I chose the 100% survivor option – should I go first my spouse gets the same pension for the rest of his life. This reduces my pension about $200/month, but the security of knowing he is covered is well worth it. My fund is in the top ten in the nation, so I’m not worried about its fiscal integrity. I also have $250,000 in my 457 – I did not max out my contributions. I wish I would have but those pesky kids were very costly for a number years.

            I was always the one with the steady job, health insurance, etc., etc. My spouse is in the entertainment field and though he loves what he does, his income is very flexible, making it hard to anticipate and budget. So we have always lived off my income and invested his in commerical property. He also receives income from a trust, so we will have multiple streams of income regardless of what I do.

            My big decision is do I stay or do I go? I like my job, but I’ve been doing it for 30 years and I’m bored. I could wait five years to max out or go somewhere else and start over. There is no opportunity for advancement, any position which opens up is eliminated and the job duties are reassigned to others as my agency is in cut-cut-cut mode.

            I’ve decided not to decide anything till after my b-day as I don’t want to jinx anything.

    • cbackson

      33, and I have $140K saved. $81K in 401Ks and IRAs, and the remainder in more liquid stuff (for now).

    • Moon Moon

      I’m 30, and I have about $30K saved for retirement. Since I graduated law school, I have paid off 2/3 of the principal on my student loans and bought a house. I plan to get more aggressive as I move forward.

      The rule of thumb I have always been told is that you should have 100% of your salary saved by the time you are 35 to keep the same lifestyle, assuming you live to be 85 years old. So, if you make 100K/year, you should have 100K saved by your 35th birthday. I’m on track for that amount, so I’m not too worried. Plus, I plan to retire back home, rather than in the more expensive city that I live in now, so I will likely have even more buying power.

      • Anon

        See, that’s tricky. I posted this thread initially because DH and I make a combined $250k right now, but this is the first year that we’ve made anywhere near that amount. I made 30k until I was 25, 55k until I was 27, 80-95k until I was 29 and am now making 115. DH was making about 65k until he went to get his MBA, then made $0, and is now making $130. So until last year we were leaps and bounds ahead of the game, but now I feel like we’re behind again, from a pure “% of income” perspective.

        Our lifestyle is such that we could be living on $130k/year easily if student loans were not in the picture. I plan to retire with the house paid off, so I’d love to shoot for whatever the inflation adjusted version of 75-80k/year is. Even if we don’t get a penny from social security, we could live off that if the kids were out of college and the house was paid off, and still have a lot of fun.

        • Sarabeth

          Yeah, we are similar. 32 with about $75,000 between us, but we were both in Ph.D. programs so this is only our third year earning more than about $25k per year each. Given that, I think we’ve done ok! And we absolutely can and do live on much less than our current combined income – over the same period, we’ve also saved up the down payment for a house. In our low COL area, I figure we need about $60k per year in retirement to live well, which is less than a third of our current income. If necessary, we could do fine on closer to $40k.

    • Anon

      29, $57000 in my retirement accounts. Husband has less in his name but also expects a pension.

      • Anon

        I’m 36, husband is 34, one kid. We have about 200K saved in retirement accounts, about another 220K in regular investments, and 42K in a 529 for our son.

          • Anon

            He’s a toddler. I’m not sure we’re going to continue contributing that much, but it has a long time to grow.

    • anon99

      Scared by this, but paying for children’s college so cannot save more.
      37, $136,478.

      • Anon

        We actually were aggressive early on knowing The Fear that is college tuition. DH keeps telling me he wants four kids. I keep telling him if he wants to pay for college (which he does), he’d better pick up another job!!!

    • Ginjury

      Going off of this, is it really wiser to put money in a Roth IRA over a non-matched 401k early on in your career? Especially considering we don’t actually know what tax rates will be in 40 years and I can put away more that way?

      • Ginjury

        Oh and also 24 and $8k, which is actually a lot more than I thought I had saved.

      • KC

        You can always split your contribution between the 401k and Roth if you’re unsure about your earnings potential/tax scenario. I’m of the mindset that my tax rate will be higher when I retire, so I contribute about 80% post-tax.

      • Wildkitten

        No – put enough in your match to get the free money, then put extra in Roth if you want.

      • Anon

        I made <50k for the first 5-7 years of my career and all my savings went into a Roth. I figured taxes will only go up, and my retirement income won't be that much less than 50k/year.

      • XC

        I just finished reading Suze Orman’s Young, Broke, and Fabulous and she recommends Roth over the unmatched 401K. When I save up for a downpayment on an apt and then set up emergency savings, I plan on doing so.

        I feel behind compared to everyone here. I’m 25, and have 0 saved towards retirement. I am in my first ‘real’ job since graduating. My company has a 401K plan, but they don’t match until you have been with the company for 4 years.

        • Ginjury

          I’ve been meaning to read that book. How was it?

          In regards to feeling behind, I really recommend prioritizing saving at least something towards retirement before trying to save everything for an apartment/emergency savings. I started about 6 years ago with just saving 6% of my income at my min. wage job and only started a full time post-grad job last year. The littlest bit helps. Try just saving $100/month in a Roth IRA and increase your contribution as you can. Retirement is way more important than buying a house a year or two sooner.

    • BB

      28, married, very likely never having kids: $23K…also some random amount (less than 10K, I think) in a foreign country’s 401K-like plan.

      This thread is reminding me that I really need to figure out what to do with that foreign one. Anyone have this issue? I think the rules are that I can take it out before retirement without penalty if I leave the country, but I can only do this once. So if I ever go back to that country to work, I can’t take it out before retirement age.

      • Car Talk

        I have this issue with around $17K sitting in a British pension account. Looks like I can’t roll it over into a US 401(k) due to IRS restrictions. I have no idea what to do with it (no plans to ever live in the UK again) so I’m letting it sit there until I can withdraw it when I retire, I guess. I’d so much rather have it in my US 401(k) though so everything was easier to monitor.

    • Anon

      I’m 37 and have about $160,000 saved. I’m also maxing out thrift savings program contributions and will receive a pension.

      • Cupid4Today

        I also will receive a (federal) government pension–my three highest governement salaries will be averaged, and I will a percentage of that pay equal to my number of years of government service (so if I work in government for 25 years and my highest salaries are 105k, 110k, and 115k, I will receive 25% of 110K, or $27.5k/year in retirement). Plus my TSP, of course.

    • LitiGator

      27, $1500

      Thank you, student loans and emergency fund ($12k).

      I have a small roth IRA ($1100), and I just started contributing to my 401k ($400/mo.). Once I pay off my student loans ($140k left), I will start contributing more.

      FWIW, I am a 3rd year lawyer at a boutique making $93k in a big city.

      • Anonymous

        Thank you for posting! $625. No 401k until 2nd year at my firm, but no match until year 5 anyway. $200k in loans to worry about which will probably kill me before I get to retirement anyway.

      • anononononon

        thank you for posting this. 26, recently married, one year out of law school in a HCOL and with high 5 figures in student loan debt. the combination of trying to aggressively knock out student loans and build up an emergency savings ($13k), combined with the fact that i had to wait until one year at my firm to contribute to a (non-matched) 401k, means i have a whopping $450 in my retirement account. gotta start somewhere right?

        • Topanga

          Depending on your AGI, I would consider putting some of the money from your emergency fund into a Roth IRA. You can pull out contributions penalty free if you have an emergency, but in the meantime it can grow (hopefully!) tax-free.

    • Anon

      30 years old. Vested in a great state government pension, with a little less than 20 years left till retirement. Also planning on setting up deferred compensation ASAP and kicking myself for not doing it earlier.

    • anon a mouse

      36; $340K. The best thing I ever did was to max out my retirement in my first job, which had an incredible employer match and discount stock options on high-performing companies.

    • Anon

      24yo – $7k

      Am I way behind here? I’m going to grad school in the near future which will hopefully increase my earning potential a great deal, but I will likely have to take out significant loans for it.

      • Different Anon

        Considering most 24 year olds I know aren’t saving anything, you’re not especially behind. That said, saving as much as you can now, with time on your side, will help during the 2-5+ years you’re in grad school.

        • Anon

          when I was 24, I too had $7K when went into grad school tuition. I came out of grad school with 30K student loan (state university, MS in Computer Engineering, so no law/Med school fee). I worked part time in university to cover my living costs. So loans were purely for tuition. Now I am 30 and worked for four years, I have paid off the 30K loans and I have saved $275K (all not for retirement though). So..don’t worry…everything will work out..

      • PolyD

        You have time. I didn’t really save seriously until I finished my postdoc and got a real job, which put me at about 32 years old. I probably had less than $7K at that point in my life. I’m 46 now (not married, no kids) and if I add up all the various sources, I am probably in the neighborhood of $400K. Granted, my Vanguard account has done very well this past year!

        Best thing I did when I started earning “real money” was set up some automatic deductions from my checking account into mutual funds, and of course my 401K. I live in a sort-of high COLA (DC area), but found that, after years of living on such little money, it was relatively easy to save a bunch and still live comfortably.

        Now, well… it really seems like the paycheck does not go as far. I am still saving fairly aggressively (probably about 20% of my very low 6 figures salary), and do have extraneous spending I could cut, but it seems more difficult to save these days.

        • Blessed

          Thanks ! We are very very fortunate to not have any grad school loans (hubby was a science PhD so no tuition for him, I got a full ride to law school). That combined with very good salaries (BigLaw) is why we have been able to save so much.

    • Senior Attorney

      I’m 55. I have a defined-benefit government pension that will pay about 60% of my highest salary when I retire (but because of the pending divorce I will need to work until I’m 70). I also currently have about $900,000 in various tax-deferred retirement savings accounts (in my name, from my earnings) but I expect that number to be much, much lower once the divorce is finalized.

      Before the divorce we were on track to have the mortgage paid off in the next few years but now I am looking at going into retirement with a big mortgage. However I think I will still be able to equal close to 100% of my income in retirement if I work until I’m 70, so I count myself as very fortunate.

      • Car Talk

        Just hearing this makes me never want to get married. So sorry you’re taking such a hit on your own finances (and having to work 5 more years because of the divorce).

        • Senior Attorney

          Thanks. Although I think the lesson may be more “be aware of the divorce laws in your state and protect yourself with a prenup just in case” than “don’t ever get married.” ;)

    • Pink

      31, just under $70,000.

      I’ve maxed my 401ks, which have done well, which constitute half of that.
      Roths from previous career, and when I was in law school (funded with summer job $)
      And random pension. money which was rolled over last year since I wasn’t vested. No house, over $130k in ls loans.

    • SoCalAtty

      32 – like, oh, $2000? We’ve been putting the extra money toward student loans / debt and saving up cash to do a major home renovation. I’ve upped my 401k contribution to 10% for the rest of the year, and I’ll also be getting 11% of my gross deposited into our ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) program. My company is 100% employee owned, and distributes almost all of its profit into the ESOP and bonus plan at the end of each fiscal year. We vest fully in 3 years, and I’m 1 year in. I know it isn’t a good idea to have your “eggs in one basket,” so to speak, but it is an architecture firm that has been around since the 1960s, and survived the 2008/2009 construction market crash just fine (with a little trimming). So I think it is more than likely that will be great for me.

      The real goal is to have 6 months’ net salary in the bank by the end of the year.

    • Anon

      32, H is 36. ~$95K in 401K. 6 years out of LS, paid off $156K of loans so far, $128K to go. I also took 2013 off from work entirely after my second baby and 5 months off after my first, so it’s been tight financially for a while. I’m back in BigLaw now as a senior associate, so I’m contributing the max to my 401K. H is self-employed so no 401K for him. Have another $50k-$60K (I haven’t checked in a while) in the market.

    • Anon

      I am 30, married, no kids. We don’t own a house. We are renting. Following are just my savings (not including my hubby’s savings). I am from a different country, so my investments are both in US and in my home country.

      I have $30K in employee sponsored retirement plan. I made no contributions to it as there is no matching. My company just puts 5 – 6 % of my pay to the retirement account.

      I have an asset which is $200K (think apartment like, fully paid off) and I count it towards my retirement income as I will get rental income from it.

      My goal is to diversify the investment. As my employer contributions go directly into stocks and bonds, I invested in real estate. I have some investment in gold as well (15k), but I am not counting it towards retirement. Now I am saving to invest in farm land so that we can have another source of income (and also because it is close to my heart).

    • Anita

      37, married, one child (toddler). $500K in retirement and brokerage accounts as well as a newly hatched 529 college fund. Honestly, it’s mostly from my husband’s earnings. And we have a fairly large mortgage, but no other major debts.

    • anon-oh-no

      hubs and i are 36 and 37 and have close to $400 together, most of which is 401k + profit sharing. he started saving right out of law school at a big firm, 11 years ago, but my first 3+ years was clerking and i think my total retirement savings was like $5k during that time, so the big number is skewed more toward him.

    • Anon

      28, living with boyfriend (though finances aren’t co-mingled beyond shared expenses):
      Approx. $10k in IRAs and a little over $4k in a 401k. I currently contribute 6% of my gross income to the 401k and will be eligible for the 4% company match in a few months.

    • Anon for This

      Late 40s. Almost $5 million US including 401K, roll over retirement, investing. I have a defined benefit pension that is capped now, but will pay X% of my salary based on when I retire.

      For what it is worth, I made 99% of this, it wasn’t given or inherited. When I was in my late 20’s, I lost almost everything, think I had about $10,000, some furniture, and some clothes. In my early 20’s, I remember being too poor to eat.

      How I did this–I have a great job with a great company with a short and long term bonus. I’ve never, ever spent a bonus, at most, I would round it down and splurge with a few hundred, and I invested every cent. I max out my 401K, and try to save 50% of my take home. It’s not always feasible or possible, and it’s only been the past few years frankly that it’s been doable. My job isn’t easy, I work hard and long hours, and have made sacrifices giving up personal time and being away for travel. These weren’t always conscious choices.

      We weren’t able to have children, but I’ve helped other family members significantly.

      We live well within our means in terms of housing, cars, travel, but do spend where it matters to us–nice hotels when we do travel, eating out, books, clothes, and bags.

      • Sydney Bristow

        Thank you for posting this. It’s really inspiring.

        I’m 30 and have about $6000 in a Roth IRA. I started maxing it out last year and will continue to do so and all the rest of my efforts are going towards paying off my student loans.

      • Anon

        Could you talk a little bit about your investment strategy? This is definitely where I struggle most. I have no idea how to even get started.

        • Anon for this

          Hi — maybe this weekend, it’s an important topic and one that I can’t do justice to on the fly.

    • just Karen

      I will admit that this thread is causing me some significant anxiety. I’m 32 and have $80k saved for retirement…my husband only has $5k in his though (we’ve been married less than two years). We own our house, which is as large as we would likely ever need, but need to replace a car soon, and would like to have kids soon.

      • Anon

        I feel you on the anxiety. I just did a very rough budget sketch for me and my husband and realized that after fixed expenses (including savings) and “savings” for monthly indulgences (so that we can pay them in cash rather than on our credit card), we have $200 left over every month. Yikes. So…. feel better?

        I’m 33, planning on having a kid soon-ish. DH has 200k in his 401k, I have 66k in my 401k, and 30k in a Roth IRA.

      • CountC

        I refuse to let these threads cause me anxiety.

        I’m 33, have $33k in retirement accounts, own a house that I don’t live in, and have $120k in student loans. I have changed careers a bunch of times and am now an independent contractor. I don’t make enough now to save anything, but once I do, I will start contributing to my IRA again.

    • Anon

      Awe man – am 26 and have just under $10K. Might be starting to panic now…

      Have no employer match or guaranteed pension so it’s all me… guess I better increase my contributions…

      • Godzilla

        I look at threads like these as aspirational (and make-believe). There is no way I could ever match any of these numbers. But it’s good fuel for thought.

        • anon

          Me too. Kind of depressing because I thought I was doing well. And I probably am, for my salary range, but still.

      • Don't panic

        I’m 35 with $130,000 saved in both pre and post tax investments. I also have $25,000 in my pension fund (I can cash it out if I ever leave my job, otherwise I will collect a pension if I retire after age 60). Ten years ago I probably had less than $10,000 saved. I passed the $100,000 threshold a little less than a year ago.

    • KinCA

      Single, I’ll be 26 next week!, $39k saved between my 401k/IRA/former company pension.

    • Anon

      I kind of love these threads. I’m 31 and single, about 100K in 401K/TSP accounts. Another 30-35K in a taxable account and about 50-60K in cash for my emergency account/possible downpayment one day. In a pretty HCOL area, started saving when I was 25 after law school. I feel like I should have more saved up at this point, and am kind of freaking out because I just left my big law firm for government, which was about a 100K/year hit, so it’s so much harder to save now.

      That said, I’ve paid just about all of my 180K+ law school loans off so to make myself feel better I try to remember a lot of money that would’ve otherwise went to savings went there. I would never marry or be in a relationship just to be in one, but part of me looks forward to the one day that I’ll hopefully have a double income and be able to save on things like rent.

    • Amelia Bedelia

      early 30s, but my husband is ten years older. He hadn’t saved until we married, though. Not counting equity in house, we have about 400k.

    • Anon

      26, about $90k in retirement accounts and $40k in general long-term savings — trying to determine whether to park that in a brokerage account, but I’m very risk-averse.

      • Catfood?

        46, and in the same ballpark. double eek!

        My husband has a defined benefit pension plan, and says not to worry, but who knows what the future holds (well, college when we’re on the verge of retirement).

        • Parfait

          The boyfriend is in a lot better shape. It’s terrible but I find myself hoping we get married for that reason. I mean that’s obviously not the only reason, but I’ll be eating a much better brand of catfood if we make it for the long haul.

    • Reiss Smithfield

      I’m 29, husband is 27. Both in grad school, although I’m graduating in a few months and he’s got 2 more years.

      We have ~$190-195K in 401Ks and IRAs, ~$135K in my name, ~$60K in his name. We both started saving in college or soon afterwards.

      I’m glad we started saving young, but I just can’t shake this feeling of “not enough.” It affects me mood much more than I like it to. My goal is to get to the max out everything stage (401K + Roth IRA) as soon as I can for myself, and then when husband graduates and finds a job, do that for him as well.

      • Anon99

        I also can’t shake the “not enough” feeling. I think I need to be saving at least 50% of my take-home just for retirement, probably more, based on the following assumptions:
        – I will want to maintain a similar standard of living
        – Any reduced expenses (e.g. mortgage) will be more than made up for by increased health care costs
        – I cannot safely or reasonably assume in the long run a rate of return that exceeds inflation (I think anyone who does is foolish)
        – I have no pension plan and Social Security will be long gone by the time I retire (I am 30).
        – I will be retired for as long as I work, or longer (people in my family typically start suffering from significant dementia young (mid-60s) and live to be old (late 90s) so I expect to be forced into a very long retirement in which I am unable to work).

    • DowntownBK

      DH and I have about $600k in 401(k)s and Roth IRAs. We’re 32 and 29. We are very fortunate to both have generous employer matches in our 401(k)s and we have been maxing out our contributions the past few years. We have approx. $450k in other investment and savings accounts (excluding home equity). No kids yet, but we’ll likely have to ramp back savings at that point since we’ll have to scale back on work and will have additional expenses.

    • CanadianStudent

      This post makes me incredibly thankful to be Canadian. My SO and I are 21 +20 respectively and are in the last year of our Under grads. We will each graduate with ~30k debt (tuition only, we pay our own rent, expenses ect). Because of prior job connections neither of us will be getting a Masters or PhD. We each also have about 10k emergency savings. That being said we plan to aggressively pay off student loans in 2-3 years and then split extra money between savings and retirement after that. Thing like saving for medical expenses is entirely unheard of to us.

  5. Info Interview

    So, I had a tenative info interview set up for today with an attorney in a practice area I’m interested in. He threw out a couple of dates that might work, and I followed up to agree on one of those dates, suggest a time frame, and ask about in person vs over the phone. I didn’t hear anything for about a week, so I followed up again to check in and haven’t heard anything back.

    So, I’m debating between calling him anyway or letting the day pass since we didn’t have anything firm set up, and try again with a couple of new dates. Thoughts?

    • ac

      One more email today, perhaps phrased as, “I realized one of the dates we’d discussed was today, but we never confirmed. Would it be OK to call you at ____ p.m . or should we look at a date next week?”
      Absent a confirmation from him of some kind, I don’t think he’s planning on it. Sorry!

  6. Toot toot

    I feel like this was recently discussed but my searches are not helping me.

    How does one “toot” their own horn without being obnoxious?

    I’d say I’m pretty close to my bosses. We’re not friends outside of work but have very good rapport and they look to me as one of the most senior people in our young and small company.

    Recently, however, I’m starting to feel overlooked. They’ve come to expect the level of work I produce and I fear they don’t recognize the effort I make, if that makes sense?

    I often see them giving other employees glowing feedback that I don’t often hear. Am I overvaluing the work that I produce or do I just need to toot my own horn more often?

    • Monday

      You say you are “one of the most senior people” now–do you think that could be the issue? In my experience, senior people get the fewest direct kudos on a daily basis because as cornerstones of the company/department/what have you, it’s just understood that their work is crucial and their judgment is trusted. Especially if you’re training or supervising others, it could be that your boss assumes you simply know your worth to the company and don’t need to be told.

      That said, I do think it would be smart to make sure there isn’t something lacking in your performance that you don’t know about. I’d ask for feedback and any concerns either at my next review or in a separate individual meeting with this boss. Don’t mention that you feel unappreciated compared to the others who are being praised, just ask if there’s anything you need to be working on at this stage. If you’re angling for a promotion or raise, this info will be helpful either way as well.

    • Brant

      Do you just want a pat on the back/”job well done”/public recognition? Or do you want a raise/promotion?

      Since ’tis the season, how was your latest performance review?

      I have to say, I’m guilty of holding my directs to a high standard, and could probably be more generous with the pats on the back, but honestly, I don’t feel the need to coddle. My star performers get big bonuses, hefty merit increases, and I write a darn good performance review. Since we do those 3-4x per year (the reviews), I’m fairly confident they’re feeling recognized for their job well done.

    • Grace Institute

      Hi, if you’re in the NYC area, Peggy Klaus holds a toot-your-horn workshop for the Grace Institute, which is free to Young Friends of Grace, if you attend as a volunteer.

      Please contact me if you’d be interested in becoming a Young Friend, and/or just volunteering for this one event. I went to it last year and it was GREAT!

    • LilyB

      nice! I got a work dress, casual dress, and blazer (couldn’t find the matching pants or skirt, if they ever existed, but I think I’ll get lots of use out of it anyway) from the sale also. Also ordered a fancier dress for a wedding but I’m returning because it’s not the most flattering.

  8. cbackson

    Reposting from yesterday – I used to have a lot of Korean students, who were always mentioning that skincare products were better in Korea. Having discovered the I can get a lot of Korean brands through Amazon Prime, I’m interested in trying some. Any recommendations for medium-to-dry skin? I use a prescription topical retinol, topical antibiotic, and oral antibiotic and hormone blocker for my skin already.

    • Carly

      I’ve read good things about Atopalm barrier cream, but haven’t tried it yet. Amore Pacific is a great line, but you can get it elsewhere in the US (Neimans, etc).

  9. lhh

    I don’t know if any of yall watch House of Cards but season premier is on Netflix as of today!!!!

    *sorry if someone else mentioned this….

    • Senior Attorney

      This may be an awesome activity for my Valentine’s-Day-evening-at-home-with-BFF!

      • Olivia Pope

        This IS my v day activity. I can’t wait to leave the office! I love to binge watch.

        • Senior Attorney

          Olivia, I keep meaning to binge-watch YOU! I hear you’re awesome…

    • Annon

      Yes, sushi, wine and house of cards is my valentine’s day plan for tonight, so much more exciting than sitting through some mediocore date as in some past years.

  10. anon

    TJ: Any recommendations for good retailers of leather goods for men, especially wallets? I’m finding that my knowledge of good online & brick & mortar stores is (unsurprisingly?) limited to stuff I’d buy for myself…!
    If anyone is up for it, I’m looking for a “long” or “secretary” style leather wallet for men – slim, and in which the money lies flat. Ostrich-embossed leather a plus!

    • NOLA

      Not sure about what you’re looking for specifically but my brother requested a wallet from Leatherology for Christmas last year. I just bought what he asked for so I can’t vouch for it. He has fairly expensive taste, so I’m sure it’s nice.

    • Platinomad

      I stumbled upon a WILL Leather Goods in Venice in LA a few months ago and was very pleasantly surprised. They have a few brick and mortars and a website. Everything has a bit of that used/well worn/Madewell vibe, if you like that sort of thing

  11. linkedin question

    About 1.5 years ago I left my position at a CPA firm. The person that was hired to take my position had some questions specific to a client. He asked if we could meet for coffee to discuss his questions. We met for coffee (1.5 years ago) and it was strictly a business conversation. He’s kind of a different guy, he seemed to lack social cues. I met with him to help him out in his new position. I would want someone to do the same for me.

    Last week I saw on LinkIn that he was promoted. I sent him a message that said “Congratulations on the promotion”. He wrote back “thank you, how is your position going? Anything else new?” I wrote back, “it’s going well, thanks.” Three days later he wrote back “Anything else new?” (apparently since I didn’t answer his question the first time). I saw the message but didn’t write anything back to him. I’m just not interested in small talk with this dude. I’m married and quite frankly he’s weird (and at this point annoying). This morning he wrote “Ummm, so I guess nothing is new then???” No dude, nothing is new!

    Should I write anything back to him or just continue ignoring him?

    • linkedin question

      BTW….I write to acquaintances all the time on LinkedIn congratulating them for a promotion, award, publication, etc. Am I wrong to do that? I felt special when others did the same when I was promoted.

      • Killer Kitten Heels

        Congratulating on new positions is totally normal (I think LinkedIn even offers it as one of it’s “auto-messages”) – what this dude is doing is not. Don’t respond.

    • anon

      My instinct is to continue to ignore him rather than add fuel to the fire, especially since it is online.

  12. Ah!

    I’m actually tempted to buy these Moroccan poufs from the One Kings Lane ad displayed on this site. Any good? Planning to buy 2 in hot pink and put them under the coffee table.

  13. Paging "Gov Pension"

    How do you know that your fund is one of the top ten in the nation? I have a government pension, too, and have always wondered where to look to gauge its health. Can you share the source?

    Thanks.

Back to Top

About

Work with Corporette®

Serious Stuff

work fashion blog press mentions