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What's a comfortable salary?

OptoGypsy

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What's a comfortable salary for a single man that lives in the City? Rural? Suburb?
 

Honor

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It really depends on where you live. Google CNN Cost of Living Calculator for help.
 

cafe

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I think this is a pretty good calculator. Seems pretty accurate for my area and family, at least.

Edit: It assumes you have a kid, so it might not be that great for a lot of folks here. Sorry.
 

kyuuei

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It depends on HOW you live and how you WANT to live.

For me, I started living extremely frugal.. and now, even if I had more money, I wouldn't go back and I'd still keep these habits. I feel better with them, and they make my life a happier, more humble place.

I've lived on my own in the city of Houston, TX for around $1,000 a month. That was a meager salary with no room for mistakes. I also had an emergency fund (which I ended up needing when my car was stolen and wrecked :( I still miss that car so much, it was such a POS) to catch me if I totally fell. I had my health insurance being paid for by my parents, and sometimes my neighbor gave me food to help me out. But I could live on that. I could have lived more comfortably on that knowing what I know now, but I was young then.

Wall of text:

 

chickpea

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My uneducated guess for my area would be 50K. I could live very comfortably on that, but I'm used to a lot less. Comfort's relative.

edit: cafe!a calculator says 61k if i had a kid, so pretty close.
 

cafe

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To be comfortable, I'd say at least $25K most places. The poverty line for one person in the US is between about $12K and $15K depending on where you live. Anything up to 200% of the poverty line is considered low-income, so that would be a reasonable bottom number. It also depends on your age. Healthcare is more of a big deal the older you get and it's not cheap.
 

Lady_X

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I think this is a pretty good calculator. Seems pretty accurate for my area and family, at least.

Edit: It assumes you have a kid, so it might not be that great for a lot of folks here. Sorry.

that was cool to look at. interesting that when you added a parent. like 2 instead of one the household income only jumped up like 5k

but also the housing price total was waaay low.
 

OptoGypsy

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At this point I want to be able to afford to take care of myself so-dishwasher, Kitchen, Dryer etc Have a mattress, 1 bathroom, Entertainment Room (Home Entertainment system, Table Games), Bar, A Mitsubishi Lancer Evo for transportation and to be able to go Laser Tagging on a weekly basis. Outside of that food, Clothes (Zumiez for casual, Armani for work) Gym Membership, so would that be around $80,000-100,000?
 

kyuuei

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I don't know....

I don't know almost anyone who makes $56k a year, and that's what it says is comfortable for 2 parents and 1 child. And I know people who live pretty comfortably--though I don't know anyone completely worry free bill-wise.
 

cafe

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that was cool to look at. interesting that when you added a parent. like 2 instead of one the household income only jumped up like 5k

but also the housing price total was waaay low.
I thought so too and we don't even have a mortgage. Utilities are just high or something. But we don't have childcare, so it evens out. Transportation seemed low to me. We pay less, but our vehicles are paid off. Most people have car payments.
 

OptoGypsy

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This is how I calculated the cost of living life the way I want to live it:
Housing: $2,000
Food: $540
Transportation: $620
Health Care: $1,000
Other Necessities: $2,000
Taxes: $840
Monthly Total: 7,000
Annual Total: 84,000
 

cafe

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This is how I calculated the cost of living life the way I want to live it:
Housing: $2,000
Food: $540
Transportation: $620
Health Care: $1,000
Other Necessities: $2,000
Taxes: $840
Monthly Total: 7,000
Annual Total: 84,000

That'd be comfy and then some anyplace in the US, I'd think.
 

kyuuei

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This is how I calculated the cost of living life the way I want to live it:
Housing: $2,000
Food: $540
Transportation: $620
Health Care: $1,000
Other Necessities: $2,000
Taxes: $840
Monthly Total: 7,000
Annual Total: 84,000

FAR beyond comfortable. $1,000 for healthcare? You can get some pretty bad ass coverage for more than half of that.. Unless you have a family. $2,000 for housing? Maybe. If you live in a decent area of a large city. The food budget sounds luxurious. Transportation is very very luxurious there. $2000 for other necessities?!

At least you factored in taxes, which you will definitely pay at that bracket. I hope you're getting an amazing education for that salary level..

Just something to keep in mind though... More money, more problems. I don't just mean the money--I mean the commitments you make with that money. A house is a LOT of time and repairs. It takes active effort to maintain. The bigger the house, the more it is to heat it, cool it, care for it, and clean it. A nice car requires a lot of nice bills--and time. An $84,000 a year job usually requires a lot of personal time.. having a large house, a nice car, a time-demanding job.. you'll be pretty absorbed in your own financial situation with all of that. You'll probably end up needing that health care plan. You'll probably be spending that $2k on hired help to get things done occasionally. Or maybe you'll meet a nice person that'll help you with all of that. Who knows. And Gods forbid you lose your job somehow, and you have all of those commitments, with no savings plan set up in there.

But I dreamt pretty big when I was younger.. and my dreams collapsed when I really got into the real world and saw how much work I did for how little money I got. I say look for a job you love first. And let everything else fall into place. There aren't a lot of really fun, awesome $80k+ jobs out there. At least, not right away. Maybe when you're at a company a long long time.. but the ones that pay money right off the bat are harsh. In several ways.

Right now, I'm working extremely hard to build a house that costs less than $10k on a small acreage. And I've never been happier with anything else I dreamed about. A big house looks really nice--and it is. But those big houses are awful echo-y, and lonely, and they drain money and time and energy. Building one slowly over time, definitely is awesome and worth it. But.. You're talking very, very luxurious living. And aside from scoring an awesome rap solo, I don't really see that being a viable 'comfortable' budget.
 

Qre:us

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This is how I calculated the cost of living life the way I want to live it:
Housing: $2,000
Food: $540
Transportation: $620
Health Care: $1,000
Other Necessities: $2,000
Taxes: $840
Monthly Total: 7,000
Annual Total: 84,000
Where are your savings? Retirement funds? Investments? Unexpected expenses? Leisure spending?

Save. Save! Start as young as you can. And don't just save it in a piggy bank. Look into investing. Owning your own property is a good investment too, if you buy right. You don't need to live in it. Rent it out.

But, seriously, save. And except for big investments, that appreciate in value (like property), avoid having a debt.
 

FDG

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I'd say around 45-50k euros gross is a good salary for 2 people to live on (where I live now, western Germany).

Optogypsy, I gather you're talking about net salary, since you're not considering taxes?

Save. Save! Start as young as you can

Why, he's not saying he wants to retire early.

Moreover, property appreciating in value? Depends on where you live, in the last 20 years properties have taken some strong hits.
 

OptoGypsy

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FAR beyond comfortable. $1,000 for healthcare? You can get some pretty bad ass coverage for more than half of that.. Unless you have a family. $2,000 for housing? Maybe. If you live in a decent area of a large city. The food budget sounds luxurious. Transportation is very very luxurious there. $2000 for other necessities?!

At least you factored in taxes, which you will definitely pay at that bracket. I hope you're getting an amazing education for that salary level..

Just something to keep in mind though... More money, more problems. I don't just mean the money--I mean the commitments you make with that money. A house is a LOT of time and repairs. It takes active effort to maintain. The bigger the house, the more it is to heat it, cool it, care for it, and clean it. A nice car requires a lot of nice bills--and time. An $84,000 a year job usually requires a lot of personal time.. having a large house, a nice car, a time-demanding job.. you'll be pretty absorbed in your own financial situation with all of that. You'll probably end up needing that health care plan. You'll probably be spending that $2k on hired help to get things done occasionally. Or maybe you'll meet a nice person that'll help you with all of that. Who knows. And Gods forbid you lose your job somehow, and you have all of those commitments, with no savings plan set up in there.

But I dreamt pretty big when I was younger.. and my dreams collapsed when I really got into the real world and saw how much work I did for how little money I got. I say look for a job you love first. And let everything else fall into place. There aren't a lot of really fun, awesome $80k+ jobs out there. At least, not right away. Maybe when you're at a company a long long time.. but the ones that pay money right off the bat are harsh. In several ways.

Right now, I'm working extremely hard to build a house that costs less than $10k on a small acreage. And I've never been happier with anything else I dreamed about. A big house looks really nice--and it is. But those big houses are awful echo-y, and lonely, and they drain money and time and energy. Building one slowly over time, definitely is awesome and worth it. But.. You're talking very, very luxurious living. And aside from scoring an awesome rap solo, I don't really see that being a viable 'comfortable' budget.

I've decided to go for a Market Research Analyst, Salary: $60,000
Housing: Build my own place: 3 Bedrooms, Kitchen, 2 Bathrooms, Laundry Room, Home Entertainment room: Cost $360,000 Break that down to 30 years, Each year= 12,000 Each Month: $1,000
Food: $400
Transportation: Car: $290 Gas: $160 Total: $450
Health Care: $500
Fun(Clothing): $850
Investments: $500
Stock Market: $400
Other Necessities: $300
Taxes: $600
Monthly Total: $5,000
Annual Total: $60,000

I hope to Die before I retire, how far are you on the house?
 

FDG

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Just something to keep in mind though... More money, more problems. I don't just mean the money--I mean the commitments you make with that money. A house is a LOT of time and repairs. It takes active effort to maintain. The bigger the house, the more it is to heat it, cool it, care for it, and clean it. A nice car requires a lot of nice bills--and time. An $84,000 a year job usually requires a lot of personal time.. having a large house, a nice car, a time-demanding job.. you'll be pretty absorbed in your own financial situation with all of that. You'll probably end up needing that health care plan. You'll probably be spending that $2k on hired help to get things done occasionally. Or maybe you'll meet a nice person that'll help you with all of that. Who knows. And Gods forbid you lose your job somehow, and you have all of those commitments, with no savings plan set up in there.

That's some good advice. You may end up having a nice house, a nice car, but have no time to enjoy them.
 

kyuuei

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I've decided to go for a Market Research Analyst, Salary: $60,000
Housing: Build my own place: 3 Bedrooms, Kitchen, 2 Bathrooms, Laundry Room, Home Entertainment room: Cost $360,000 Break that down to 30 years, Each year= 12,000 Each Month: $1,000
Food: $400
Transportation: Car: $290 Gas: $160 Total: $450
Health Care: $500
Fun(Clothing): $850
Investments: $500
Stock Market: $400
Other Necessities: $300
Taxes: $600
Monthly Total: $5,000
Annual Total: $60,000

I hope to Die before I retire, how far are you on the house?

Far from done. And remember life comes in stages. You'll be in the college stage for a long while. That $60k salary doesn't come tomorrow.

Start out small. There are lots of resources for college students on investing their money, saving their money, and how to balance a school-style budget without going into debt. Investments mean more RIGHT NOW than they do years from now. A little bit of money right now does more work for you than lots of money at the age of 40/50 ever will. You'll start out much, much smaller.. Balancing scholarships with living costs, conserving money with meal plans, trying to buy a beater car, etc.

That's some good advice. You may end up having a nice house, a nice car, but have no time to enjoy them.

^ Precisely. It's no fun if you can't enjoy it.
 

93JC

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LOL, a lot of not knowing how much things cost in this thread. 12% tax rate? Interest-free mortgage? :laugh:
 

DiscoBiscuit

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For me by myself, 50K would get the job done.

I wouldn't consider myself comfortable (as I define it) until I was up to 100k.

Gotta love those Jacksonville property values!

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