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Updated: Mar 14, 2021 184 Comments · by

Suit of the Week: Gabriela Hearst

Suit of the Week

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For busy working women, the suit is often the easiest outfit to throw on in the morning. In general, this feature is not about interview suits for women, which should be as classic and basic as you get — instead, this feature is about the slightly different suit that is fashionable, yet professional.

I adore so many of the little details here — most of all the “rustic whipstitching” that adds shape and a bit of structural interest to this inky navy linen suit.

For my $.02, the stylist needs to hem the trousers for the model (also a huge problem with this gorgeous suit from Kwaidan Editions) — in the video you can see them pooling at her feet!

Both the linen and the fact that it resembles denim put this firmly in the “casual” range, and the price probably also puts this in the “fantasy” range for most people — the blazer is $2600, and the pants are $990. 

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Comments

    • anonshmanon

      Somebody shared this on my twitter feed. I couldn’t finish it, although it’s hard to put into words why it rubbed me the wrong way. The way that everything in today’s life was distorted as ‘everybody was always on their phone, and polluting the world, and the world was going to sh!ts’ is just not compelling to me.

        • Pure Imagination

          It was so interesting to me that apparently India’s government has long maintained that India’s horrible air quality is due to its unique geography, but just a week or two into lockdown, the skies became as clean as skies in the U.S. People could see the Himalaya from Delhi for the first time in 50 years. I’m sure there will still be climate change deniers out there, but the proof of human activity’s negative impact is in the skies. Now how can we harness this knowledge while also reducing human suffering?

      • Ellen

        IMy Dad and I so agree. There is something very evil in this that this fairy tale seems to forget; that is the senseless loss of innocent people having NOTHING to do with the evils perceived in this video that seemingly caused the VIRUS to proliferate? What about all of the poor innocent older people, the health care workers and the countless people living in close proximity to one another that were hit so hard by the COVID and died! Why is this video omitting all of that in favor of some lily white high class people who can safely stay in their castle and avoid the COVID? By ignoring all of the real-life heartache and death of the minorities across the world in favor of the people in this fairy tale, this portray’s a very imperfect and racist view of the world where the “unmentionables” are eliminated without so much as a whimper in favor of the silly fairy tale rhyming claiming we needed the virus to restart society their way! WTF? My dad says this is very much like the eugenics movement back in the 1920’s only worse because these schmoes should have known better before putting out such an unsensitive video. DOUBEL FOOEY!

      • Never too many shoes...

        I am so glad to hear that there is someone else that did not really care for this video.

        • Cat

          I felt similarly. I liked part of the message (pay attention to what you’re not missing from Before!) but felt very patronized by it at the same time.

          Honestly, all of my parent friends are saying they are relying on screen time more than ever….. and the whole nonsense about having to get on a plane to see the stars? Excuse me? I like leisure travel as much as any good millennial but the travel we’ve forgone due to Corona is a visit to my in-laws (2-3 day drive one way) and grandmother (3 day drive one way). Tell me how this is helping me reconnect with what matters?

          • Anonymous

            We should all become medieval farmers, never leaving the village we were born in; marrying a third cousin and praying that our children don’t come out with two heads and three arms. And no need to worry about overrun hospitals due to coronavirus, there won’t be any.

            IRL, I predict an uptick of beggars after this, not unlike Rome.

    • Anonymous

      A bit tone-deaf — if your business is closed and you’ve lost your job, you just want to keep a roof over your head and food on the table. Hard to look for a job now that jobs are closed. Our city’s food banks are overwhelmed with demand.

      “I’m not contributing to carbon waste b/c I’m unemployed” is hard to rejoice to.

      • Anon

        It’s rich people/countries who contribute the most to carbon emissions. I don’t think the video is rejoicing in unemployment or trying to apply itself to every person’s unique struggle out there, but it rightfully identifies that climate change is an emergency and that this is a wake up call. Are we going back to business as usual or are we going to start slashing business travel and commutes and help the planet? If you can do more, you should.

        • Anonymous

          This. The current crisis is awful but I hope it forces businesses to take a hard look at how much business air travel is necessary and whether things can more frequently be done remotely.

          • LaurenB

            On one hand, yes; on the other hand, airlines, hotels, car rental companies, convention centers, etc. provide a heck of a lot of jobs. And on the leisure/tourism side, a lot of towns and cities are dependent on tourism – including a lot of restaurants, small businesses, etc. I’m certainly not advocating a return to constant business travel, but I don’t think the answer is never any travel at all.

    • Senior Attorney

      I’m not going to naysay. Yes, it’s not going to resonate for everyone and yes of course things are terrible for a lot of people. But I found it comforting for four minutes.

  2. Anonymous

    This is awesome! I can never figure out the blouse thing. Now I can just skip!

    • Senior Attorney

      Right?

      Although I love this suit and if you trimmed a digit off the price I would be buying it right this second.

      • Anonymous

        Yes (OP on this thread). Would use a plain white shell b/c I am uncreative. I would feel the need to wear a bra, so might as well add shirt. But looks lovely as styled.

    • Vicky Austin

      Same! (Although genuinely the color and detailing on this one are SO pretty to me.)

    • Anonymous

      I appreciate that the stylist understood that once I pay $3600 for a suit, I won’t have any money left for a blouse.

      • No Longer Anon

        I skipped reading the description of the suit to get to the comments, as one does, and missed the price. When I read your comment I assumed you’d mistyped.

        Good god. Two months of rent or a suit? Mmm….decisions, decisions.

        Does anyone remember the bag from 3ish years ago that looked kind of like a diaper bag that was $2100?

    • Anon

      Same. Actually I used to wear my suits without a blouse. Late 90s, early 00s. They were those “ladylike” skirt suits that buttoned up high. Unlike this model, though, I buttoned all my buttons.

      I like the longer jacket on the suit here. I’m tall so those shrunken blazers always looked like I just couldn’t find my size.

      • Anon

        I was googling to see if I could find my favorite Leslie Fay suit from the early 00s and instead I found this. Not my size but someone please buy this! It’s fab

        https://etsy.me/3dmpm5b

        Hope this link works!

        • Senior Attorney

          Oh, I wore suits like this in the 80s (not the 70s) and loved them!

        • Belle Boyd

          I LOVE this suit!!!

          Please don’t anyone take this the wrong way, because I mean this kindly and wonderfully. This reminds me of the gorgeous suits my Gramma always wore. She was always, always impeccably dressed and had the most amazing suits and shoes. I always hoped to be able to wear her clothes, but she was an incredibly tiny petite size 4 or 6 and wore a size 5 shoe. She had to have been a designer’s dream. Me? I shot past her size somewhere around age 10 or 12, grew b00bs and a butt, and couldn’t fit into her clothes in my dreams. Fortunately, jewelry has no size, and she also had a fantastic jewelry collection, too!

    • Anonymous

      wasn’t there an episode of Seinfeld where Jerry’s girlfriend of the week only wore a blazer with a bra?

      • Anonymous

        Honestly, I think that is an amazing look for a woman in a tuxedo or similar formal suit going to some kind of social event, indeed far less scandalous than some dresses, but there is no time that styling works with this suit.

      • Anon

        Yes! Elaine was offended by her clearly going braless, so she gifted her a bra, then the girlfriend kept thanking Elaine for the new “top” and wore it everywhere! Haha

  3. Flats Only

    What to wear for a zoom call with a recruiter? I’ve worked with her before. Assuming full hair and makeup so as to not look like a slovenly corpse on screen. I am leaning towards dressy stripy T Shirt and bright cardigan to look put together but acknowledge that I’m at home. It feels like it would be weird to wear a blazer.

    • Anonymous

      Can you wear a solid color top? That’s very neutral on level of dress.

      If you are going to wear a tee and cardigan, I’d go with a solid tee and a cardigan in a neural color or dressy style (like more jardigan or wrap style).

      Yes, it’s only a recruiter. But it doesn’t hurt to look a little more office like.

      • Clementine

        For video chats, I’ve found that jewel tones with more structured fabrics work best. I would also highly suggest lifting your computer so that it’s closer to eye level (aka looks more flattering). Pro tip: cookbooks are PERFECT for this (I say from my standing desk made of Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything).

        I usually stay away from patterns as sometimes they can look wonky.

        Check your lighting situation and be aware of your background.

        • Senior Attorney

          +1 I wore an emerald green tee on a Zoom the other day and got a ton of compliments.

          • Anonymous

            +1. I have a kelly green heavy weight t-shirt that I got at Target this spring which looks awesome on Zoom and has been in heavy rotation. I look much more dressed than I am and it was like $15.

      • Anonymous

        Or alligator (real)?

        Such the right outfit for a soap opera villainess!

        [OMG what are soap operas doing now? Reruns of Days of Our Lives Cruise of Deception???]

    • Anon100

      If you click on the “pants” link they show it styled with an agate-rock slice belt. I don’t know if I’m amazed or appalled. Both?

  5. Anonymous

    I fully acknowledge the ways in which this is deeply frivolous, but, uh, is my fabric face mask professional? I feel like I’ll be wearing them for a lot of professional interactions in the next several months. In a business formal environment, would you try to keep your fabric choices fairly staid, color-coordinate with outfits, choose a color like a lipstick, or what?

    • Senior Attorney

      I just ordered four identical leopard print cloth face masks.

      Leopard is a neutral.

    • Anonymous

      I’d avoid the whimsical but that’s it. Anything functional/neutral is fine. I feel like trying to make it into a fashion statement is frivolous/tone-deaf when there are still PPE shortages, essential workers without masks provided, and a lower class/unemployed/population who can’t afford masks.

      • Anonymous

        Oh please. My making masks out of the adorable fabrics I already own is not tone deaf. It is practical. People like you are the worst.

        • Anonymous

          Well, some of us are going back to workplaces knowing colleagues have died … which is the actual worst. You and your adorable fabrics are relics of a different time.

          • Anon

            So, like, should we all wear black masks for mourning? What the eff does a whimsical pattern for a face mask have to do with people who have died?

        • Anonymous

          Also, if adorable fabrics make you happy, why are you bullying people with name-calling on the internet? Cute on the outside, black and rotten on the inside for sure.

          • Anonymous

            I’m confused … are you guys arguing that whimsical masks are professional? And you want to wear them like lipstick?

          • Anon

            Are you arguing that the idea of a “professional face mask” is something we should care about and devote time and mental energy to? I’d argue if that’s the case you really need to remove the stick from one of your orifices.

          • Anonymous

            Actually, I think it is very appropriate for masks to become objects of fashion and whimsy and to be used as signals of personality. We need masks to be normalized, widely accepted and employed, and symbolic of a society that is functioning. If masks continue to be viewed as funereal or threatening, we are going to (continue to) have a very hard time getting people to wear them, correctly, at all the appropriate times (and to stop murdering people who ask them to comply with mask requirements!). Masks are hiding facial expressions that are already being muted by social distancing, so yes, I want you to view my mask as “lipstick” or a bumper sticker or a statement necklace.

          • Anonymous

            Water bottles, please … tell us how you feel about bandaids (cartoon characters are a yes, I presume)

          • Walnut

            Yes, anon at 3:52, I parsed the question. My snarky response suggested that I will be returning to a professional work environment wearing a face mask with a fun pattern. I will not be judging the face mask choices of any of my colleagues unless the decision is to not wear a face mask at all. I will also be contributing to a culture around my office where we can show our personality through our face masks.

          • Anonymous

            It’s fine to answer that you don’t care about this, and I can appreciate your viewpoint. What I don’t appreciate is getting told “you’re the worst” for expressing an opinion. So it turned out to be an unpopular one and I do see the other side … but the real issue here is that most of you are lacking kindness and grace. I apologize for my part in continuing the conversation and and won’t reply again. Thanks to those that responded informatively

      • anon

        Dude, no. I am ordering a Golden Girls face mask and feeling 0% bad about it.

        • Anonymous

          Yeah, but are you going to wear it in order to look professional at work and think of it as selecting a color of lipstick?

          • Anonymous

            Clearly the answer is that the rest of us are not going to spend anytime wondering if it is professional and just wear what we have or what gives up a bit of lift. And also I’ve not once selected a lipstick based on whether it is professional.

            Is this our weird button down shirt dude?

          • Anon

            No, this is not that troll, he just wants to get his rocks off. This is somebody who needs a nap and a donut.

    • Seersucker

      I’ll admit to wondering about this. :)
      I’m in the office and we’ve been masking for about 4 weeks now. I haven’t worried about this yet; I just use the one that they gave me (which is made of light blue seersucker and actually quite cute and goes with everything). But we all stay in offices with closed doors most of the time, so I’m really rarely actually seeing anyone.
      But at some point, assuming this lasts, I guess I start thinking of it more like a scarf? Get a few in nice colors as an outfit accent? I really don’t know. It’s still so weird.

    • Anon

      Coordinate with your outfit like Slovkian president Zuzana Caputova. (But seriously, she looked very BA last month when the new government formed.)

    • Ribena

      I’d think of it like a blouse pattern – I wouldn’t wear Disney prints or Star Wars masks, or ones designed to be funny (with smiling mouths) or something – but anything I’d wear as a blouse I would probably wear as a mask.

      • Anonymous

        I, on the other hand, am ordering the Star Wars masks from Disney and fully plan to wear them to meetings (not court).

        • Ribena

          Oh, in meetings I would totally wear Disney prints! I don’t tend to think of meetings as ‘business formal’ because most of mine aren’t. I don’t wear suits to work more than twice a year, for example.

    • Anon

      Nancy Pelosi has been doing a good job coordinating her mask to her outfit. This one caught my eye when I saw it in the news the other day:

      https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/speaker-of-the-house-nancy-pelosi-d-calif-conducts-a-news-news-photo/1211399874

      Same mask, different day: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/house-speaker-nancy-pelosi-a-democrat-from-california-news-photo/1211296612

      And this staffer looks cute: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/staff-members-wear-protective-masks-during-a-news-news-photo/1211296606

      • Anonymous

        I think it takes away from her gravitas. Like, doesn’t she have better things to do than worry about this, or did she hire a stylist?

          • Anonymous

            I’m not worried about it … that’s the point. Why is Nancy worried about it? I guess because of people like you who judge based on appearances rather than actual accomplishments. She may be on to something after all.

        • Anonymous

          I couldn’t disagree more. NP has always been known for her classic, understated style, with attention to details. I think the coordinating scarves / masks look great and reinforce her brand.

      • Anonymous

        I am so glad she stopped using Hermes scarves and went with a real mask.

    • Anonymous

      I prefer appropriate to professional. I’m not going to agonize over what my mask looks like, but some are inappropriate for work, like the Rolling Stone tongue logo, or a flag, or a weird saying. I’m pretty confident that eventually my employer will have one with a discreet logo they’ll give us to wear. Right now, people are wearing what FEMA gave us, or what we made, and today several states donated thousands of masks to us. And we are happy to have them, don’t care what they look like. In the long run, as 90% of our employees are public facing, it’ll just be easier to issue us company masks.

    • Anonymous

      I feel like we’re all going to wind up with “wardrobes” of cloth masks – some will be plain and professional (the little black dress of face masks), others will be for playtime / fun occasions (silly characters, sports teams, etc.). After all, I’m not going to wear a silly mask to a funeral or somber setting. Right now, though, I’m wearing a surgical mask (no haters please, we already had on hand prior to the pandemic) and that is as neutral as it gets IMO.

  6. Anon

    I have been doing fitness blender hiit and strength workouts everyday for a about a month because I’m trying to lose some weight or at least avoid the quarantine 15. But I’ve noticed that my thighs are getting huge. I feel so dumb. I was doing hiit because they are hard and burn a lot of calories fast. Any recs for high calorie burning workouts that can be done from home? Cardio? Dance?

    • Anon

      Drink a LOT of water. Aching muscles retain water.

      Ask me how I know this…..

      • pugsnbourbon

        +1. It’s likely that your muscles are retaining water.
        HIIT workouts are great. If I’m eating at a deficit, they definitely boost my weight loss. I bet there are other changes you’re seeing besides your thighs.
        To each their own, but I love my big AF thighs.

      • Anonymous

        Oh, I hope this explains how I gained 4 lbs overnight after hard workouts two days in a row!

        • Anon

          Guzzle water for three days straight, eat plenty of fruits, and stretch or foam roll. Then weigh yourself again.

    • Monday

      Strength training makes muscles grow. The shape they take on is mostly due to genetics. People may gain inches/size as they get into better shape physically.

      • Anon

        Sure, but a month of fitness blender workouts is not causing that much muscle growth.

  7. Anonymous

    I work for my state legislature and I’m being called back to work next week. I have a job where I can do 98% of my job from home, as can my staff. I have been working long hours from home and most weekends. Our county and all surrounding counties are still under stay-at-home orders. Half of staff will report one day and the other half will report the next day. I’m very upset by this especially considering the few times I’ve had to go into the office during this time, I observed multiple people without masks and not observing social distancing. Under normal circumstances, there is absolutely no work from home permitted and they have a very old-school mentality and they apparently believe that no work can get done outside the office. I’ve never contacted HR about anything, but I’m at a total loss as to what else to do. I’m sick over this situation. Is there anything I can do? I just can’t believe they are going to bring in dozens of employees with no consideration given to those of us who can keep doing our work from home.

    • Anon

      If you worked in my state legislature and you went to HR about this, you’d probably not find another job again after this session. Which I absolutely don’t think is right, but it is the reality. That is, if you’re staff to an elected member. I don’t think it would go over all that well either if you were non-partisan staff of the legislature itself, because they basically have to be there when the legislators are, although those folks here probably have more room to push back. I wish you did work in my state, because the legislative staff I know here have been completely ignoring social distancing or quarantine guidelines and it drives me crazy that they think it doesn’t apply to them for whatever reason.

      • Anonymous in Texas

        I work for a Fortune 100 company and we’re bringing back employees in 4 phases this month. We are exercising every precaution and masks are required unless you’re in your office. We just have to get back to work. If you have a medical condition, you can continue to work remote. We have employees like you who just don’t think it’s right to come back at this point and we’re allowing them to wait until the last phase, but that’s it. I hate to sound harsh, but you don’t call the shots. If you’re employer says come back, then you have to come back unless you have a medical excuse or else find another job.

      • Anonymous

        I figured this was the likely consequence. The crazy thing is this has nothing to do with being there when the legislators are there. Our legislature has been in session almost every single week since this started (don’t get me started on that either). We are assigned random days for when to be there, which also means we are going to have to go in on our non-assigned days too when that’s necessary.

    • Anonymous

      Maybe visit askamanager for her post about what to do if you’re company is being unreasonable/still requiring you to come in (which was posted at the beginning of the shutdowns). One suggestion was to speak up as a group.

    • Anon

      I’ve worked in a state legislature before. With politics the way they are these days (optics, presenting everything as hunky dory), unless you’re high-risk or live with someone who’s high-risk, I don’t think there’s anything you can do right now but go in.

    • Anonymous

      Possibly just call HR or speak to your manager just to find out more information (so you can decide whether to ask for more time at home, etc). From HR, find out what the requirements are to request staying at home for medical/at-risk reasons … some companies allow you to do that when remote work is possible without any actual gate keeping. From your manager, find out if you can adjust your schedule to stay home on scheduled days when you have to go in on non-scheduled days. Basically, try to get a sense of any flexibility … maybe have the convos in person so you can read the room.

  8. mini money diaries

    Someone in our friend group chat casually mentioned that she didn’t have a savings account, which I didn’t want to get into, but I’m curious to know. Kind of like the “money diaries” posts – If you’re in the first 5 years of your career and not married (bc joint accounts/expenses etc throw this off a bit), how much do you have saved? And how do you save it?

    To start off:

    I’m 25, finished grad school a year ago, between scholarships + parents luckily do not have student debt, have about $30k saved ($10k is in stocks) . I used to put my paychecks into my savings account and move money to my checkings account as needed but I’ve realized that it was hard to track how much I’m saving each month that way, so I’ve flipped it to putting my paycheck into checkings and the bank automatically moves a certain % to savings. And I only spend / pay credit card bills out of my checkings.

    • Anon

      I honestly didn’t know you could have a checking account without a savings account.

      • mini money diaries

        Maybe she meant she just doesn’t use it much? I didn’t want to pry

        • Anon

          Of course you can have a checking account without a savings account. Stop judging your friends.

          • mini money diaries

            I’m . . . . not judging. At all. Stop being rude over the internet.

          • Anon

            At every bank I’ve used they always go hand in hand. Was just curious, don’t think it was a weird ask. Not sure what your issue is here tbh.

          • woah

            Ok I dont think you were judging your friends but yeah of course you can have a standalone checking account. The privileged mindset never ceases to amaze. You’d think I’d gotten used to it in 7 years of being a minority associate in East Coast biggish law.

        • anonshmanon

          I used to have my money sitting in my checking account for many years, until I learned that you can get at least a little bit of interest with a money market/savings account. Could be that your friend has savings, just not in a savings account.

    • Anon

      i’m older now, but i had a savings account starting at age 6 when my parents took me to the bank to open one to put in money i got from the tooth fairy (things were very different then and online high yield interest savings accounts did not exist like they do now). i realize the privilege of having parents who were able to teach me about the difference between a savings vs. a checking account, because it is not really something covered in school. unfortunately, finances and financial literacy is an often skipped over topic. what you are doing is smart!

      • mini money diaries

        Chillax. When’d everyone here become so rude and know-it-all? Okay, it’s not savings, that’s fine, I don’t expect it to be.

        • Anonymous

          You asked literally a question about savings! You started this convo being surprised at people not having savings but you yourself aren’t using the terms correctly. You chill!!

          • Anon

            I don’t mean the emotional tit for tat on either side. I meant not considering investments as part of one’s savings is incorrect IMO.

      • Anon

        She didn’t call the 10K part of her emergency fund, just part of her overall savings. I save money that I put into the market beyond my emergency fund and I certainly consider that saving. There’s risk in cash too, risk that you don’t keep up with inflation.

      • Anonymous

        That’s literally the definition of saving as per any principles of macroeconomics textbook lol

      • LaurenB

        Of course someone’s $10K in stocks is savings. Savings is not just “savings account at a bank that earns piddly interest.” I save for retirement in investments. I save for retirement in my 401K, IRA, etc. What I have in an actual account at the bank that is titled “savings account” is minimal compared to those things.

    • Anon for this

      I’m 27 (went to grad school so I’m in year 5 of my career). I’m extremely lucky in that my parents paid for my college and grad school. I lived at home and commuted for about the first 4 years after school. During that time, I saved really aggressively–I started out at $1,000 per month, and then any time I got a raise, the difference it caused in each pay check was redirected to the savings account. By the end, I was saving around $1,400 per month. In total, I saved $50K in about 3.5 years. That money was direct deposited into the savings account and never hit my checking account, so I just pretended like it wasn’t there, which is really my only trick for saving. I also have shorter term savings accounts for things like vacations and gifts, which again are direct deposited into in the range of $50-150 each paycheck. I’ve probably saved around $3K per year for vacations, and $1K per year for Christmas/birthday/wedding gift expenses. I’ve also contributed to my 401(k) account since I’ve been eligible. I’ve contributed to at least the max of the employer match (6%) each year. Right now, the balance is about $23K. However, during this crisis, my discretionary spending has gone WAY down, so I just switched my withholdings to 50% of my salary (leaving just enough to cover rent + groceries + automatic savings account contributions), so hoping to ramp that 401(k) balance up fairly quickly over the next few weeks.

      • Anon for this

        Also the other trick I use is having a 2 checking accounts and a ton of savings accounts (I think about 6 or 7?). I use one checking account specifically for rent and other recurring payments (utilities, cleaning lady, gym membership, etc.). I have savings accounts for multiple purposes and only use the money for those particular purposes. I like Ally Bank for this purpose because you can open as many accounts as you want, and you can “name” the accounts (e.g. for vacations, etc.). Then, my main checking account gets anything left over after deducting for my recurring payments and savings goals. I only let myself spend whatever is leftover in the main account.

      • Anonymous

        Do you have suggestions for alternatives? … like, just … spend everything and take out some loans to enroll in Trump University or what?

        • Anonymous

          Leave money in your checking account because interest rates are so low it doesn’t matter?

          • MagicUnicorn

            My checking account actually has a significantly higher interest rate than the savings account associated with it, so the bulk of my easily-accessible savings (including my emergency stash) does just hang out in my checking account.

        • pugsnbourbon

          The hell? She didn’t say savings were unnecessary, she said savings accounts. Interest rates are abysmal on most traditional savings accounts. The biggest chunk of our money is in a high-interest checking account. We also have a chunk in a Roth account and a money-market account.

          • Anonymous

            Well, I guess I’m just going to go ahead and say “you’re stupid” since that’s the vibe on this site and the environment that is fostered here.

            There’s really no difference between a high interest checking account and a high interest savings account linked to checking, except that savings account interest is usually higher.

    • Bee

      I’m a week shy of 25, in year 3 of my career, and between cash savings, 401k and Roth IRA, I have about $50k saved (not counting my 401k employer match since I won’t be vested for another 2 years so I don’t feel like it “counts” yet). I have a set % that gets deducted pre-tax for my 401k, I max out my Roth, and save between 20-30% of my take-home as cash. I dip into the cash savings for vacations/big purchases/etc. occasionally. My plan is to get $15k in cash savings and then switch that 20-30% to mutual funds and maybe some individual stocks for fun.

    • Anon

      Not nearly as much as I should, partly due to circumstances (laid off, big car repair, those kinds of things) and partly due to my own poor financial management. I’m trying, really I am, but it does seem like two steps forward one step back and I just don’t know that I’ll ever have the “responsible” savings accounts that I should.

      • Anon

        I felt like this for a long time. Keep pushing. Laid off in 2008, took me a year to find new solid full-time employment. 200K student loans. Bad spending habits.
        Net worth at start of 2013 was negative $96,462
        Net worth at start of 2020 $445,223
        I don’t own a home, so the above don’t include equity in real estate.
        Hoping this helps motivate you.

          • Anon at 2:51pm

            Combination of increases in compensation, better handle on expenses, markets performing well during this time period.

            For additional context:
            – I’ve been with the same company since 2009 (when I was hired following my year of un- and under-employment
            – In 2010 I was at 90K salary with 10% bonus and I think 10K equity target?
            – I’m now 170ishK salary with 30% bonus and around 70K equity target
            – I’ve maxed out my 401K starting in 2012 (as in I contribute the max amount permitted by law annually). My employer matches 4%.
            – I paid off my last student loan in September 2017

            I’ve been with the same partner this entire time (boyfriend –> fiance –> husband) but we keep finances separate, and since I make about 70-75% of our HHI, I pay for more things than I would if I were single (which is totally fine by me – it’s all for “our lives together” at the end of the day).

          • anon

            Yeah, my net worth at the start of 2013 was almost exactly this poster’s and at the start of 2020 it was like $115k.

          • Anon

            Well, unfortunately for me, the answer to how seems to be have a job that pays a lot. I make less than half of this, so I think it’s going to take me a lot longer to feel good about my finances.

        • Anon

          It truly does help, thank you! But I also wonder how and would love more details if you’re willing to share.

    • Anon

      I am married but will just answer from my individual accounts/pre-marriage savings. I only just in the last year have a very, extremely small individual savings account, especially when compared to others on this board. The main reason for this is that I got into a ton of credit card debt prior to and during law school, in addition to taking out the max loans for living expenses, the bar exam, and then my wedding. I didn’t have anyone helping me to pay for any of these things, and I know there were bad decisions on my part in there for spending where I shouldn’t have, but I cannot change the past. I have been aggressively paying off all of my debt and have already paid off the credit card and wedding loan, and will be done with my bar loan in the next two months, leaving only my federal student loan which is well under $100,000, so I’m confident I will pay that off within 5 years. It’s super embarrassing to be in this situation financially at 35, but I am building a savings now.

      I have other friends, including married friends, who have admitted to me that they have no savings at all. So, I’m not surprised to hear that some of your friends have no savings. Honestly, a lot of people don’t have a lot of savings – or any at all – and are just too embarrassed to say.

    • Anonforthisone

      I’m 26 and have approx £7k emergency fund in my current account plus another £3500 cash savings and less than £1000 in investments. Plus about £20k in retirement. (I’m a year into homeowning).

    • Anon

      I don’t think I’ve ever had a savings account and consider myself financially responsible – I max retirement, pre-pay my mortgage, save for kids’ college and always pay off credit cards in full. I aim to keep about $20k on hand (this is at least a year of living expenses for us if we cut out luxuries), but I like to have it in checking so it’s easily accessible. Our post-retirement paychecks go there, and pretty regularly we have a bigger expense like a vacation or a home repair so that fund dips a bit and then gets replenished over the next couple of months. At one point, my bank had a special offer that if you met certain requirements (like having your paycheck direct deposited and using your ATM card a certain number of times) you got a pretty great interest rate even on checking, around 3% I think, but that promotion wore off and now this money earns minimal interest. It’s been on my to-do list for a while to see if I can find a checking account with a higher interest rate, or move some of the money to a savings account, but I haven’t done it yet.

    • Anon

      I was 25ish and worried about layoffs, like actually freaking out that I’d have to leave the city and go live with my parents. I didn’t have any savings other than a small IRA/401k m, plus a credit card nearly at its max that had previously been my emergency plan.

      I did graduate with student debt and had to pay for my own everything so maybe that was part of it, but i didn’t have any contingency plan for even a month of unemployment.

      • Anonymous

        Yeah, at 25 I had barely been making ends meet working two jobs since graduation, while paying off student loans. I had some retirement savings but not much else. This whole “everyone should have a giant savings account at age 25” attitude assumes that one didn’t pay one’s own way through college and probably had other parental help along the way. I don’t know where a person comes up with $30K in extra money over the course of three or four years when she is paying all her own expenses and student loans on an entry-level salary with a bachelor’s degree.

        • mini money diaries

          I didn’t mean to be rude . . I was just curious about this after texting with my friends today and didn’t want to ask them, so I figured I would ask y’all instead. Anonymously.

          As I said my parents did pay for undergrad and I got a scholarship (no loans) for grad school. I paid my rent and expenses, but I’m not trying to hide that I got a lot of help from my parents. One of the posters who has $50k lived with her parents, I’m not sure about the other one. I’m not making a judgement about how much anyone should have, I’m just asking to get ideas. For example, this thread is making me think I should get a high yield online savings account.

          • Bee

            I was one of the 50k posters above—I had some help from my parents for college and covered the rest with scholarships, part time jobs, and a loan. I was able to build a nest egg and pay the loan off while living at home for a year post-grad’. I could never overstate the importance of my parents and their help as it relates to my financial situation. I’m very aware of the privilege of having parents who are both able to help out and to teach financial literacy. But I have been in similar situations to OP where I was surprised to learn my friends didn’t have some savings a few years out from college because saving was something my parents placed a huge emphasis on and I naively assumed it was the same for other people. OP you weren’t being rude, this thread was helpful for me as a similar person to get some perspective.

        • No Longer Anon

          There’s no way I could save 30K over the last 4 years since law school. I’m in public interest. I save what I can but I hate threads like this because they just make me feel crap about where I am. Not saying they shouldn’t be posted, and I usually scroll by, but wanted to comment on this one thing. Skipping the rest of it.

        • Also Anon for this

          Yeah… obviously this blog skews high-income, but at 25 I was making a 30k salary in the DC area after the great recession. Savings? What savings!? I didn’t have the option of living at home (my family is on another continent), so between rent, transportation costs, and food, I was lucky if I had an extra $100 a month to go to “savings”. I did manage to put $50/biweekly paycheck into my 401k back then though. I was proud of myself the first time I managed to save up $1000 in my savings account so if I got evicted (long story, roommate never paid rent on time), I had some emergency money to find a place to live.

          I’m in my 30s now and I do have a savings account, 401k, a house, and some stocks. I’ll be honest here since I’m anonymous, but I’m house rich and cash poor because my family pushed me to buy a house before I was ready. I have decent equity in my townhouse, but I still have less than 10k in my savings account, not counting my 401k.

          • keep at it!

            I’m 40 and a high income lawyer. But this year is the first time my net worth is in the black. I went to law school late, grew up solidly middle class without any financial education from parents or otherwise, and didn’t earn more than 45k until mid thirties. I’m hella proud that I got serious about budgeting recently and have a (comparatively measly to many other posters on thsi site) $50k in retirement accounts,$5k in savings, and recently paid off my student loans. To each her own!

    • Anon

      23, 4 years into career (except 2 of those were minimal to no saving because I was paying for college out of pocket), 30K in savings account…I’d have to check on the retirement. I’m in the fed, so it’s 5% matching for TSP and I contribute 7%. Going to up that to 10% upon promotion. For some reason, I prefer to save more than contribute more to my TSP lol.

    • Anon

      I used to have a checking and a savings account, but for simplicity sake moved things over to a high interest checking account (which is no longer so high an interest, given drops in rates). The interest rate on my savings account wasn’t so great for me and having just one account made my life easier. Honestly, at what point am I throwing money away/screwing up by not having a savings account? My parents aren’t the most financially savvy so this is not info I got from them.

      • Anon

        I was just like you for a long time!

        If you don’t touch the “savings” amount in your checking account it’s fine! People like separate accounts to stop them from spending their savings (which is easier when everything is in a checking account). If you were getting better rates in the high-interest checking account it was fine to combine it into there.

        But for next steps – what are your financial goals? If the savings amount is just your emergency savings, I’d look around (I’m partial to NerdWallet) for a higher interest online bank and transfer your savings amount there. It’s a pretty easy process and can make you more money.

        • LaurenB

          So let’s say your emergency fund is $20K for the sake of argument, and your monthly expenses are $5K/month. (Just pulling numbers out of thin air, don’t get hung up on them.) Some people are able to let that $20K sit as a “cushion” in a checking account and never dip below that. Other people are too tempted to spend it, and thus need a separate savings account that they won’t touch except for an emergency or a planned purpose (e.g, $2K for a vacation).

    • AFT

      “Savings” versus “traditional savings account” are two different things in my mind. While I think it’s important to have an emergency fund, putting that amount into a traditional savings account often doesn’t make much sense as interest rates are typically miserable. I have a small amount in a savings account liked to a checking account that I never bothered to close, but the majority of my emergency fund is in my checking account, a high yield online-only savings account (and I’ve used a money market account for the same purpose previously) and a open HELOC that I could draw on if necessary.

    • Anon

      I’m single and started my first professional job in August. I tend to keep a generous balance in my checking account and have about $200k in student debt, so my tiny $4k savings account only includes what I’ve specifically earmarked for the future: $2k emergency fund (several months of rent, thanks to roommates and a low-COL location), plus actively saving to cover a planned unpaid leave and cross-country move when I transfer locations later this year. I alternate: save half of one paycheck, pay half of the next paycheck on loans.

    • Anon

      I have a savings account, but barely use it. I’m 38, earn $150k, and it only has $1k in it. Maybe the most I’ve ever had in it is… $2500? I have a decent amount in my 401(k) (but nowhere near whatever you’re supposed to have – 3x income?). I have $9k left on my SLs and that’s where my money has gone aggressively for the past several years since getting my current job that paid enough to actually live with some breathing room.

    • LaurenB

      Maybe by “don’t have a savings account” your friend means “everything not needed for everyday living expenses is in investments”?

    • Anon

      Give that something like 50% of Americans couldn’t come up with 400 in an emergency given polls over the last few years, no, it is not unusual.

    • Jess

      I have a checking account where I get 2.5% interest. My cushion/emergency fund is kept in my checking account. Everything is is put into retirement accounts since I don’t make enough money to max them out. Maybe ten years from now when I’m saving to buy a house I’d put my savings elsewhere, but why should I do so now?

  9. Anon

    You guys, first I learned how to make sourdough bread. Now I have learned how to make cashew brittle with cardamom and saffron.

    It’s not good. I mean, it’s so, so good, but it’s not good that I have this knowledge.

    • Anon

      Ooooh man that sounds good! Recipe?? Share this dangerous knowledge with us :)

    • Anon

      Recipe: sprinkle 1 cup cashews (I used roasted) with a crushed pinch of saffron and 1/2 t ground cardamom and set aside. Also have ready 1 t baking soda.

      Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

      Cook 1/2 c corn syrup, 1 c sugar, and 1/8 t salt over low heat until hard crack stage – 300 degrees on my instant thermometer. When that temp, turn off heat, add cashew mixture and stir. Stir in baking soda, which will foam. Stir until consistent color and texture, then pour onto parchment paper and allow cool. Crack into pieces when cool.

      Get that pan and spoon into hot soapy water as soon as possible – the sugar will dissolve.

    • Anonymous

      Am I the only one who thinks saffron tastes gross, like rotten flowers?

      • Anon

        I’m op. I don’t like it on its own, to me it tastes kind of medicinal, but when combined with other things, the right things, it seems to elevate them. I don’t know how else to explain it.

        But yeah, people’s tastebuds are different. Like the cilantro thing.

  10. Anonymous

    Update on my question this morning about would I be crazy to plan a vacation to Glacier NP in August tacked on to travel to Chicago for a wedding: wedding just got moved to summer of next year, so makes that decision easy. Guess now I have a year to plan vacation? I swear this summer I’m going to get a projector and project various scenery on my back deck, get some nature sounds playlists, and pretend I’m on a beach in Tahiti or out in the wilderness somewhere.

    • pugsnbourbon

      If our August trip to the beach gets canceled, I’m going to sit in the front yard (gets more sun) with a baby pool and a white-noise machine tuned to waves. I will wear my bathing suit and alarm/amuse the neighbors.

  11. Anonymous

    Does anyone use an eye cream with SPF? The one I was using seems to have been discontinued and I’m not finding a lot of options out there. Or… should I just be using my regular facial sunscreen around my eyes (?!)

  12. Anon

    I’m in my backyard and it’s spring and the wisteria smells amazing and my cat is lazing about. Now I think of all the days like this I spent in the office and no one saw or experienced this beauty. It feels like such a waste.

    • Vicky Austin

      It’s absolutely beautiful today and I’m inside. DH stayed home to wait for the plumber and came to work raving about how gorgeous it was this morning while he was spending time with the dog. I turned green on the spot.

  13. Anonymous

    What are your favorite online stores for furniture? I’m shopping for a desk, hoping g to spend about $500 or less. I’ve checked overstock, wayfair, Macy’s, west elm, gilt, cb2 and room and board. Any others i should try?

    • Anon

      I think if you’ve looked at all of those places your problem is not going to be lack of options, it’s going to be way too many.

    • lsw

      Does it need to be online? We’ve got a consignment furniture place locally that has vintage and newer furniture, amazing condition, the prices are great, and delivery is super reasonable. No veneer/particleboard/plywood. My tastes skew walnut and teak and there’s no way I’m buying that new.

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