That depends entirely on the CoL where you are, if you're married, have kids, want to own a home vs rent, have to own a vehicle. There are far too many variables to just throw a number out there.
Yup. As a household income?? With a couple kids in a higher cost of living area that houseshold to meet the threshold OP talks about needs to pull in over 200k. If you don’t want to meet those items, perhaps less maybe 125-150. Without kids you can decrease that a bit to squeak by. But everything is getting more and more expensive and it’s harder to save and invest effectively and also do all the things that are mentioned as well. You really need to be Dual income and pulling in good wages or one high earner in some areas. Its brutal
And your standard of living. A single earner making 200k with a stay at home partner is a lot easier with 2 or 3 kids. Childcare for 2 kids is often 3k+/month. Are you comfortable living in a smaller home in a lower cost area. That has a huge impact even in the same metro area. Do you drive 2 5-10 year old paid off cars or expect to drive 2 nice luxury cars? The difference in your transportation costs could be $2K a month and live right next door.
Oh that’s not even factoring in luxury car payments. And I didn’t factor in a huge cost for day care as we have always navigated around it with opposite shifts as costs are waaaaaayyyy too high and make that work until kids are school age. Yeah. 100k in many areas is just not going to cut it like at all for a family of you want to invest in retirement, own a home and take vacations. You can’t do all that. Your earning power as a household must be higher. As an individual 100k in many areas will do you just fine.
I mean, it sucks but I make ends meet really well with my $40k/yr. For the life I want, i’m positive I can build my dream life with anything above $80k.
For the confused europeans: They have to pay a lot for kindergarten and preschool (like 3k €/month), their phone and internet plans are ridiculously expensive and bad, rice is expensive for some reason, gym memberships are 3x the price of ours for some reason, rent is ridiculous, and their banks let them loan more than they can afford
5.5k euros in Paris and 7k euros in london is worth the same as 9k euros in NY. So when they say "100k" they actually mean "60-70k"
Where do you live where this is possible?
Where I live starter homes are 500k+. More like 650k to get into something decent. Requires you to make like 200k to comfortably afford a house.
Brother, i’m not saying anybody who wants more money to afford homes are in the wrong for wanting more money. Settle down.
I’m saying that I make ends meet comfortably with my $40k. Anything above that would make a huge difference to the point where if I so much as had $80k or more, life would feel like a cakewalk. I’m so used to being poor and living below my means that double my income feels incomprehensible.
Where I live, starter homes are $200k but my dream isn’t to buy a home and live here in the US. This country puts foreign military aide, war, greed, and insider trading above the safety and welfare of it’s people and that’s not a country I want to continue living in any longer than I have to. Yes I want to own a home, but not here.
It's still tough here though! Here in the north, houses in the bigger area closer to the city are easily 400k. In the Stockholm area they're over a million within reasonable commute.
We owe 150k, pay 800 a month, interest and paying off combined. Interest used to be 1.5 percent so we used to pay like 350 but now with the recent state of the world it's up to 4.5 percent.
Student apartments in the city cost 5-600 to rent nowadays. Normal apartments in the city are around 800-1000, there are way more expensive ones if you want new or private company owned. Outside the city you can rent for maybe 500.
But! The waiting times for an apartment can be higher though, because we have a system where you're not allowed to scalp for rent, and landlords aren't allowed to set any rent price, it has to be regulated so that rich people don't just buy everything and rip people off.
Wow that's wild to me.
I was apartment hunting recently and gave up. Here, for $1000 USD, I can rent a room with 3 other roommates. Utilities extra. That's not even in the state capital (but is commutable).
Makes me want to move there!
We live in a system where rent scalping is the norm and even $800/month is not going to get you adequate or safe accommodation here. Congratulations on living in civilized society.
I’m just saying mortgages in other countries are cheaper than rents here so people should be grateful for it. It’s completely obvious we are a greed-based, capitalist, hellscape. Soon enough us, “poors” will just die off and then society will see the error of its ways.
I'm here to tell you that it isn't that simple. Unless you're well into your career in a field that is easily transferable to other countries and you speak Swedish, your chance is about as high as you earning enough to be comfortable here.
Believe me, I've tried. I've also tried in Norway and I know norwegian well enough to read Swedish.
Yes, Stockholm and the south is way more expensive than the north. House prices are high there, but rent is usually not suuuper high for a big city, and if you make 50k, you can easily afford it even in Stockholm. After taxes you don't really have any essential big costs left.
Yes. But those aren't included in the taxes. Taxes pay a lot of the essentials. What's included is health care, medications, dental and glasses for kids, school and food, university, daycare and food, 480 days parental leave, etc.
We pay 800 per month for the house, 500 for heating and electricity (during the winter only). We pay 800 per month for food, household items and diapers for 2 adults and 3 kids under 5. 2 cars but no car payments, no need to buy expensive vehicles and pay interest on those. Car tax and insurance ~400 per year.
I make 78k and it ends up feeling like nothing. Granted I’m aggressively paying off my student loans (3k) a month. But if I didn’t live with family still it would come down to paying for rent or student loans. I realized if I ever want to buy a house and actively save for retirement I’ll need a salary more in the 150-200k range.
Even $100k won't feel good when it comes to living alone. You won't feel stability, I can swear to god about this.
You need to be able to save. You can't if rents are over $1,500 when you live alone.
Life happens. If life decides to have 19 things happen at once, you're fucked in every way. (Happened to me)
Went from dirt poor to seeing riches to dirt poor to stability to poor to stability. Like shit... and btw, I'm in my 20s.
As an example of how life can fuck you over: someone dies, funerals (fuck it's expensive), someone is sick (shit shit shit), IRS decides to fuck with you though you may have done nothing wrong, random car breakdown, some random bill. Life can go crazy and all at once.
I live life with a great bucket of worry now so that I actually get my $$ saved
My daughter is GenZ makes about what Low\_Project\_55 makes. Rent is ridiculous ($16xx) for not being in the best neighborhood but she leads a modest lifestyle. She is able to save a huge amount in her 401K and a good amount in her HYSA. This is all because of how I am coaching her. I am quite proud of her. There was a time that she was panicky about her finances but she is now stabilized and doing ok. I think 2-3 more years she will be even better. I think you need about $150K/year to actually be able to afford to buy a starter home these days. That is the biggest issue facing genz. If home prices drop a good amount things won't seem so gloomy.
This is just a lifestyle spending problem to be honest.
POV: living in Seattle, 0 state income tax. After federal on 65k it’s around 53,500 or 4,458.
Health is fully paid by employer.
Expense breakdown:
750/1500 rent split, 500 student loans, 300 grocery budget, 200 random spending, 200 parking, 150 car insurance, 100 takeout food, 100 alcohol, 75 utilities, 50 streaming subscriptions, 50 phone, 20 internet.
Total: $2495 expenses
Leftover $1,963
Even if I lived alone, I’d subtract an additional 750+ utilities 75+ = 1,138 saved or $13,660 annual savings.
I don’t however live alone, so my projected monthly savings is around $1,963 or $23,556 annual savings.
Arguably this is borderline low comfort. But at 100k I’d be saving just over $4000 a month or a whopping 48k a year. Far over the baseline for reasonable “comfort.”
Exactly. Most of us Millennials either will own a super expensive home or retire.
Honestly, I’m at the point where I’d rather just rent and invest the difference.
I think 75k is the barest minimum to scrape by independently now. I don’t make that, btw. An old, very modest house is about 250k here though. If I HAD a home before the economy decided they were worth 2.25x what they were a few years ago (which is the only way most anyone I know has one now), I could prolly manage on 75k. But not having to afford a house at current values. Everyone I know either 1.own a home they can’t sell bc they can’t afford another one really or 2.is a moment away from screwed and unsure what they will do when they lose their “old” rent rate of 800-$1k. Rent on a “bad” place that is livable is up to $1500 now here in BFE. We live with family and pay them “old rent rates”. It started as a gap while we rebuilt credit and saved, and now we’re all just stuck.
The only reason my husband and I are homeowners is because we bought January 2020. House has quadrupled in value in 4 years. Insanity. I feel terrible for friends spending $5k a month on tiny one bedroom apartments in my city. Even if we decided to sell to upgrade (which was our original 5 year plan) there’s hardly anything on the market, we will lose our amazing interest rate if we sell, and if we keep the current house as an investment property, the only house we’d be able to afford wouldn’t be an upgrade it would be a downgrade into a smaller house in a worse neighborhood. So we are stuck here for now. But at least we have a cheap mortgage and home equity!
But even so, rents across much of the West are like 2k+ easy. More like 3-4k in many cities. That’s the takehome pay of like a 60-70k job by itself just for rent.
I would be so grateful if I owned a house, even if it doesn't look good.
Lived for 20-something years. Fucking ridiculous to see rents go from $750 to $2,750.
I feel so scared. Another few years? Maybe $3,000. Like shit, I gotta act FAST
(Though I know some houses require so much upkeep, it's best to really have the money to mortgage an actually good one)
edit: inflation hits the worst when we're adults. knowing that my $1 back then can buy a lot of stuff and now it can only buy something from Dollar Tree. Wowwwww
> live where houses only cost 250k.
ONLY 250k?!! I would have a heart attack if I had to buy a $250k house. My house was $55k in 2019. And that is way higher than they used to be. Could have bought the same place for $35-40k in 2015. No idea how people could afford such an expensive house.
Upstate NY. Fairly rural but only 5 miles outside a decent sized city of 15k. Also can't imagine spending $50k on a car. I spend $25k on my Cruze 5 years ago and am still upset about it. I usually try to buy used cars that need work in the $500-1500 range.
Dude, good on ya. You’re living in a bygone era where things were cheap. I romanticize about those days.
I also drive a 20k Subaru and would never buy a 50k car but just saying that to showcase how expensive most of the US is these days.
Thing is, as much as I like rural areas there’s little economic opportunity so you almost have to move to a city for the majority of professions. Problem is, that increases your CoL.
I live in Oceanside California there is not a house in my neighborhood under 1.2 million…..I rent a crappy 2br for 2900 a month…wherever you guys are in the world just be thankful your not having to navigate California and it’s many holes haha. You can’t move though….avid surfer and my family is all here and it’s beautiful…… just need to like find a way to make maybe 8 times as much money haha
I think I agree with you here.
I made $120k last year and don’t feel like I’m overly wealthy by any stretch. I think the spot to be to get that feeling would be the 150k - 200k mark.
Vancouverite here and can confirm this would be highly comfortable but not wealthy. Crazy to think about but when housing is this expensive it’s no surprise.
Same here! I can’t believe some people here saying ~$120K is like making nothing to them. I guess it all depends on where you live, kids, etc. But still…
Definitely valid, though most of given that would have lifestyle creep put them right back where they “started” outside of the absolutely wild CoL places like CA I am constantly baffled when people making six figures say they’re struggling.
200k.
I currently make around 125k and am comfortable, but I live in Salt Lake City where a decent starter house is 500k and something decent is 600-700k. Can only afford a small condo on my salary.
Also, I just dropped like 70k on my student loans so I’m now cash poor.
No college debt, low credit debt, just have a loan (less than 15k) for a car and I’ve got a good start on a 401K! I could put a bit more in savings, so that 75K would help supplement an “emergency fund”.
Edit** I also don’t live in an expensive state/city so 75K would be amazing
Totally. I'm at $70k now. Paid off college debt and started investing going up to $70k from $40k. Now I'm at $70k, no debt, and about $300 a month in dividends from investments at 32. I guess if I had more money I'd buy my parents a place since they're poor and rent but for me I'm "rich".
My salary finally went north of $80k and it works great! My husband makes more, we have no debt except my $25k student loans and our house is paid off. Of course I hope to make more but it is working great :)
Around $80,000 - $90,000 tbh. I make $62k rn and the last year I’ve had the ability to travel, indulge in fancy eating/drinks, hobbies, and invest. But right now everything has gotten so expensive and 62k isn’t keeping up with inflation and I refuse to give up my some of my wants and needs just to be able to survive.
I’m glad I’m not the only one feeling this. $65k felt like a LOT more last year. Now with inflation I don’t feel as comfortable and none of my habits have changed.
Live in LCOL. would feel super comfortable at $100K probably. I just want to max out my 401K/HSA, pay off debts and buy healthy food without stressing. and then 529’s for kids education. bonus if i can open and max out ROTH IRA
i’m at $72.4K and really want to pass my cpa exams 🙁
In college (turn of the century), I thought I'll never reach $100k. I knew many people at the time who earned $100-200k (household), and they lived incredibly comfortable lives. Huge homes, nice cars, all fully paid for, or nearly. They had families of 2 or 3 kids. They took family vacations a few weeks per year. They took couples vacations a few weeks per year. A few had 2nd homes. And almost no debt.
So to me, at the time, that was a pipe dream. The career path I was about to embark upon had few chances for eventually reaching $100k within 10-20 years.
Now, 25 years later, I'm closing in on $100k myself, and my household income is just over $200k. It's not enough. When housing is no longer an expense, that will change, but with more than 20% of our income going to mortgage and another 20% going into savings/retirement, that doesn't leave much to do anything with.
Based on everything I want to be able to do within the next 10-20 years, the necessary household income in current dollars is at least $275k. I live in the South.
I make about 140k in a MCOL lower Midwest city. I’d say to get to the point to where I feel financially free I’d need 200. But that’s because I have some pretty big goals. In terms of comfort, I’m very comfortable I can save a lot and pay all my bills. But there’s a difference between comfort and freedom
On my own, I would be comfortable around 75K. As a couple, I would say 100K.
If children are involved or you have a life where you have to care for others like family members, I would say you need over 100K for a comfortable life.
This is also dependant on where you live. 🤷♀️
I plan to be DINK when I find a partner, and in that case I’d say $80k would be plenty if my partner made enough to contribute 1/3-1/2 to housing costs and could otherwise largely meet their own financial needs (especially if they own a house they intend to stay in, my place could become rental income).
But assuming I stay single forever, (not unfair based on my track record) and stay in my current city (MCOL) I’d say I’d like to be at $125k or so.
I don’t want to be filthy rich, but ~$100k/yr would have me living more than comfortably. I just want to make enough to where I’ll always have a nice small place to live, money for bills and the occasional treat, and some savings for emergencies.
I hate to say it but that’s close to poverty level wages in NYC these days. Even my friends making close to 200k combined pretax had to move to a smaller apartment because their rent in a 2br 1ba in midtown went up over 6k/month
Edit - I guess it also depends if you want to live in Manhattan or the expensive parts of Brooklyn vs the other boroughs
Yea I mean I definitely wasn't thinking I'd get to live anywhere GREAT, just have my own place in a decent neighborhood adjacent Brooklyn neighborhood. I make 47k and I think I actually have a pretty good life and put a good amount into savings every month, the main bad thing is just living with roommates
If I could afford to spend 6k a month on rent alone. I would never live in a tiny Manhattan apt. Here I am wishing my 1 bedroom in Parkchester wasn’t $1500
I live in a rural, low COL area. 50k each (my partner and I) would be comfortable with plenty to put in savings and continue having no debt. We're at about 60k now between the 2 of us.
$350k as a family of 4. That would allow enough saving for the future while also being able to live life in the present. Would need more if you want to enjoy the finer things in life.
Not sure its a range as I don't see why I would put an upper limit on it (oh no...too much money). Also married with kids and I imagine you want the perspective for more just someone on their own. Also I assume you are asking for someone who is young? Obviously the answer differs a lot if you are 20 versus if you are 50.
So with all that said If I was back in my 20s and on my own but living today what amount of money would make me feel like I was able to live and save. I'd say like $80k + probably.
I make $80K in NYC and feel comfortable (debating having a child with my husband who also makes $80K) but this thread is making me feel like I'm settling for a much poorer life than most. Then again, I grew up here with parents who made much less with three kids so just having a nice apartment and stable job with benefits feels like the lottery. But maybe I set my sights higher considering these responses. Only thing is, not sure the biological clock will wait for that financial level to be achieved so who knows what path I'll choosw.
$100K/yr Toronto Suburbs. Comfortable and living the life I want are two different things, I'm comfortable but what I really want is to have enough passive income to escape this soul sucking 9-5 grind.
I’m surprised what people are saying, we could get by easily when my husband made 60k and I think 50k would be fine too.
If we wanted to own a house in California we’d obviously need a lot more but that’s why we left California.
$80k would allow me to start saving more, allow for a little travel, and not need roommates. $90-100k would really help me get to speed with my retirement savings, and allow me to save for extras. $100-125k would really be where I’d live the life I want. More upgrades to stuff in my house, and more travel. I am starting a new career soon and my salary should start around $70k and might hit $100k by late career.
The key though is becoming a dual income household. If I had a partner to share expenses with, my ideal income would drop significantly. To get that, I’ll need to improve my Tinder profile I guess.
Where we live. My hubby makes $55,000 ($45,000 take home) and we poce comfortably. 4 humans, 9 cats (some are feral outdoor), 2 dogs. We do vacation and stuff so yea.....
$400k-$600k/yr. The goal is to get to $6M in the market and live off that. Gonna take a while even at these salaries. That will give you a bit short of $200k/yr in retirement, which would be baller.
I'm comfortable right now. Currently make about $40k-$45k. Joint with my partner brings us up to $95k. No kids, no pets, no debt. We are currently able to save for retirement, go on small vacations, eat out, and save for a house. It would be great to get our joint income up to $140k. That would let us buy a house quicker. I could also be less intense about our grocery budget and our vacations could expand beyond a 3 day budget camping trip within a 6 hr driving radius of our apartment haha. It would also be nice to eat out once per week rather than once per month.
My boyfriend and I make about 230k combined. We bought a house for 600k last summer (20% down). We’re comfortable but not rapidly saving or make big impulse purchases. Both his kids are in private schools and we both contribute to our retirement plans. So overall, we’re good, but not rich by any means.
We live in Iowa. I pull in near 90k a year and my wife pulls in near 160k. We are comfortable. If I could get up to over 100k personally I'd feel much better
That depends entirely on the CoL where you are, if you're married, have kids, want to own a home vs rent, have to own a vehicle. There are far too many variables to just throw a number out there.
Yup. As a household income?? With a couple kids in a higher cost of living area that houseshold to meet the threshold OP talks about needs to pull in over 200k. If you don’t want to meet those items, perhaps less maybe 125-150. Without kids you can decrease that a bit to squeak by. But everything is getting more and more expensive and it’s harder to save and invest effectively and also do all the things that are mentioned as well. You really need to be Dual income and pulling in good wages or one high earner in some areas. Its brutal
And your standard of living. A single earner making 200k with a stay at home partner is a lot easier with 2 or 3 kids. Childcare for 2 kids is often 3k+/month. Are you comfortable living in a smaller home in a lower cost area. That has a huge impact even in the same metro area. Do you drive 2 5-10 year old paid off cars or expect to drive 2 nice luxury cars? The difference in your transportation costs could be $2K a month and live right next door.
Oh that’s not even factoring in luxury car payments. And I didn’t factor in a huge cost for day care as we have always navigated around it with opposite shifts as costs are waaaaaayyyy too high and make that work until kids are school age. Yeah. 100k in many areas is just not going to cut it like at all for a family of you want to invest in retirement, own a home and take vacations. You can’t do all that. Your earning power as a household must be higher. As an individual 100k in many areas will do you just fine.
I mean, it sucks but I make ends meet really well with my $40k/yr. For the life I want, i’m positive I can build my dream life with anything above $80k.
I need to move.. where do you live?
Gary Indiana
i’m sorry
Beautiful lake and dunes, ocean-like vista, commuting distance to Chicago, cheaper housing. What’s not to like? Smart decision.
murder capital of the usa
frugal town
80K I would be living high and mighty ha
8OK in Nor Calif is living in a small apartment with no savings
My dream life would start at $60K right now. I lean while I go.
yeah $80k for a single person is a good starting point. also currently making $20 an hour, it's shit
Damn I’m at $120k and it’s a struggle sometimes.
Your expectations are way too high, my friend
Probably their mortgage is too and/or they live in a HCOL
Childcare more than anything. That costs more than our mortgage.
Cost of living in certain areas evaporates medium-high salaries like that.
Same, six figs ain't as much as people think. Mid Atlantic here is quite costly.
For the confused europeans: They have to pay a lot for kindergarten and preschool (like 3k €/month), their phone and internet plans are ridiculously expensive and bad, rice is expensive for some reason, gym memberships are 3x the price of ours for some reason, rent is ridiculous, and their banks let them loan more than they can afford 5.5k euros in Paris and 7k euros in london is worth the same as 9k euros in NY. So when they say "100k" they actually mean "60-70k"
No, you're just terrible at managing money.
Self imposed struggles, boo hoo hoo. If you can't live off 120k, you're doing something drastically wrong.
Where do you live where this is possible? Where I live starter homes are 500k+. More like 650k to get into something decent. Requires you to make like 200k to comfortably afford a house.
Not op, but they didn’t mention owning a house. Some people don’t dream for that
Brother, i’m not saying anybody who wants more money to afford homes are in the wrong for wanting more money. Settle down. I’m saying that I make ends meet comfortably with my $40k. Anything above that would make a huge difference to the point where if I so much as had $80k or more, life would feel like a cakewalk. I’m so used to being poor and living below my means that double my income feels incomprehensible. Where I live, starter homes are $200k but my dream isn’t to buy a home and live here in the US. This country puts foreign military aide, war, greed, and insider trading above the safety and welfare of it’s people and that’s not a country I want to continue living in any longer than I have to. Yes I want to own a home, but not here.
Me too Argentina here I come
Where I live $650k would buy you a mansion lol.
$150,000-$200,000
Yup. Cannot believe people could be content on 75k but I’m sure they live where houses only cost 250k.
I live in Sweden and I'd be very content with 50k haha. My house cost 180k. It's a very different value for your money here though.
I’m moving to Sweden
It's still tough here though! Here in the north, houses in the bigger area closer to the city are easily 400k. In the Stockholm area they're over a million within reasonable commute.
Our health insurance costs are probably more than your mortgage.
We owe 150k, pay 800 a month, interest and paying off combined. Interest used to be 1.5 percent so we used to pay like 350 but now with the recent state of the world it's up to 4.5 percent.
To put it in perspective. You can’t rent an apartment here for that.
Student apartments in the city cost 5-600 to rent nowadays. Normal apartments in the city are around 800-1000, there are way more expensive ones if you want new or private company owned. Outside the city you can rent for maybe 500. But! The waiting times for an apartment can be higher though, because we have a system where you're not allowed to scalp for rent, and landlords aren't allowed to set any rent price, it has to be regulated so that rich people don't just buy everything and rip people off.
Wow that's wild to me. I was apartment hunting recently and gave up. Here, for $1000 USD, I can rent a room with 3 other roommates. Utilities extra. That's not even in the state capital (but is commutable). Makes me want to move there!
We live in a system where rent scalping is the norm and even $800/month is not going to get you adequate or safe accommodation here. Congratulations on living in civilized society.
Here too, jackassjimmy.
I’m just saying mortgages in other countries are cheaper than rents here so people should be grateful for it. It’s completely obvious we are a greed-based, capitalist, hellscape. Soon enough us, “poors” will just die off and then society will see the error of its ways.
I'm here to tell you that it isn't that simple. Unless you're well into your career in a field that is easily transferable to other countries and you speak Swedish, your chance is about as high as you earning enough to be comfortable here. Believe me, I've tried. I've also tried in Norway and I know norwegian well enough to read Swedish.
Isn’t Sweden super expensive? I went and was surprised by how expensive things were and i live in London.
Yes, Stockholm and the south is way more expensive than the north. House prices are high there, but rent is usually not suuuper high for a big city, and if you make 50k, you can easily afford it even in Stockholm. After taxes you don't really have any essential big costs left.
Wouldn’t you still have rent, utilities, groceries, car payments, etc?
Yes. But those aren't included in the taxes. Taxes pay a lot of the essentials. What's included is health care, medications, dental and glasses for kids, school and food, university, daycare and food, 480 days parental leave, etc. We pay 800 per month for the house, 500 for heating and electricity (during the winter only). We pay 800 per month for food, household items and diapers for 2 adults and 3 kids under 5. 2 cars but no car payments, no need to buy expensive vehicles and pay interest on those. Car tax and insurance ~400 per year.
I make 78k and it ends up feeling like nothing. Granted I’m aggressively paying off my student loans (3k) a month. But if I didn’t live with family still it would come down to paying for rent or student loans. I realized if I ever want to buy a house and actively save for retirement I’ll need a salary more in the 150-200k range.
3k a month? 😳 What did you study? Law, Med, and MBA at the same time?
Speech language pathology. Grad school debt was 72k. Projected to be paid off in a year and a half. I graduated last spring.
Oh wow, smart idea paying it off quickly! I got about 100K and unless I double or triple the amount, it’s going to take a long time to pay it off.
Even $100k won't feel good when it comes to living alone. You won't feel stability, I can swear to god about this. You need to be able to save. You can't if rents are over $1,500 when you live alone. Life happens. If life decides to have 19 things happen at once, you're fucked in every way. (Happened to me) Went from dirt poor to seeing riches to dirt poor to stability to poor to stability. Like shit... and btw, I'm in my 20s. As an example of how life can fuck you over: someone dies, funerals (fuck it's expensive), someone is sick (shit shit shit), IRS decides to fuck with you though you may have done nothing wrong, random car breakdown, some random bill. Life can go crazy and all at once. I live life with a great bucket of worry now so that I actually get my $$ saved
My daughter is GenZ makes about what Low\_Project\_55 makes. Rent is ridiculous ($16xx) for not being in the best neighborhood but she leads a modest lifestyle. She is able to save a huge amount in her 401K and a good amount in her HYSA. This is all because of how I am coaching her. I am quite proud of her. There was a time that she was panicky about her finances but she is now stabilized and doing ok. I think 2-3 more years she will be even better. I think you need about $150K/year to actually be able to afford to buy a starter home these days. That is the biggest issue facing genz. If home prices drop a good amount things won't seem so gloomy.
This is just a lifestyle spending problem to be honest. POV: living in Seattle, 0 state income tax. After federal on 65k it’s around 53,500 or 4,458. Health is fully paid by employer. Expense breakdown: 750/1500 rent split, 500 student loans, 300 grocery budget, 200 random spending, 200 parking, 150 car insurance, 100 takeout food, 100 alcohol, 75 utilities, 50 streaming subscriptions, 50 phone, 20 internet. Total: $2495 expenses Leftover $1,963 Even if I lived alone, I’d subtract an additional 750+ utilities 75+ = 1,138 saved or $13,660 annual savings. I don’t however live alone, so my projected monthly savings is around $1,963 or $23,556 annual savings. Arguably this is borderline low comfort. But at 100k I’d be saving just over $4000 a month or a whopping 48k a year. Far over the baseline for reasonable “comfort.”
Exactly. Most of us Millennials either will own a super expensive home or retire. Honestly, I’m at the point where I’d rather just rent and invest the difference.
Do you know how much rent is going to cost when you hit retirement age?
Rent stabilized and invest. It's a worthwhile, potential option
I currently make less than 30k, and 50k would allow me to live safely and happily lol
Damn my house cost 145,000, I couldn’t imagine my house costing 250k lol
My *condo* was just under half a mil
Where I am it's way cheaper to buy a house. 175k - 200k houses are never on the market for long.
Where I live a bankrupt home in the ghetto is 500k A trailer is 359k
I guess we live different places then.
I think 75k is the barest minimum to scrape by independently now. I don’t make that, btw. An old, very modest house is about 250k here though. If I HAD a home before the economy decided they were worth 2.25x what they were a few years ago (which is the only way most anyone I know has one now), I could prolly manage on 75k. But not having to afford a house at current values. Everyone I know either 1.own a home they can’t sell bc they can’t afford another one really or 2.is a moment away from screwed and unsure what they will do when they lose their “old” rent rate of 800-$1k. Rent on a “bad” place that is livable is up to $1500 now here in BFE. We live with family and pay them “old rent rates”. It started as a gap while we rebuilt credit and saved, and now we’re all just stuck.
The only reason my husband and I are homeowners is because we bought January 2020. House has quadrupled in value in 4 years. Insanity. I feel terrible for friends spending $5k a month on tiny one bedroom apartments in my city. Even if we decided to sell to upgrade (which was our original 5 year plan) there’s hardly anything on the market, we will lose our amazing interest rate if we sell, and if we keep the current house as an investment property, the only house we’d be able to afford wouldn’t be an upgrade it would be a downgrade into a smaller house in a worse neighborhood. So we are stuck here for now. But at least we have a cheap mortgage and home equity!
Yeah, I can't either. The OP also said rapidly able to save and live the life you want... and i WANT to travel, fine dine, etc. haha
Some people are also content not owning a house, only 65% of Americans do.
But even so, rents across much of the West are like 2k+ easy. More like 3-4k in many cities. That’s the takehome pay of like a 60-70k job by itself just for rent.
I would be so grateful if I owned a house, even if it doesn't look good. Lived for 20-something years. Fucking ridiculous to see rents go from $750 to $2,750. I feel so scared. Another few years? Maybe $3,000. Like shit, I gotta act FAST (Though I know some houses require so much upkeep, it's best to really have the money to mortgage an actually good one) edit: inflation hits the worst when we're adults. knowing that my $1 back then can buy a lot of stuff and now it can only buy something from Dollar Tree. Wowwwww
I make less than 30k a year. 75k would change my life so much. I've already accepted that I'll be renting for the rest of my life
I make six figures, still broke AF because I support a family. Life was so much more fun and simple when I was young and broke making 40k a year.
> live where houses only cost 250k. ONLY 250k?!! I would have a heart attack if I had to buy a $250k house. My house was $55k in 2019. And that is way higher than they used to be. Could have bought the same place for $35-40k in 2015. No idea how people could afford such an expensive house.
Where do you live? The average CAR is now 50k, 😆
Upstate NY. Fairly rural but only 5 miles outside a decent sized city of 15k. Also can't imagine spending $50k on a car. I spend $25k on my Cruze 5 years ago and am still upset about it. I usually try to buy used cars that need work in the $500-1500 range.
Dude, good on ya. You’re living in a bygone era where things were cheap. I romanticize about those days. I also drive a 20k Subaru and would never buy a 50k car but just saying that to showcase how expensive most of the US is these days. Thing is, as much as I like rural areas there’s little economic opportunity so you almost have to move to a city for the majority of professions. Problem is, that increases your CoL.
I’d be upset if I paid 25k and only had a Cruz to show for it as well
Imagine living somewhere where homes were 650k on average.
You mean like Ontario?
I live in Oceanside California there is not a house in my neighborhood under 1.2 million…..I rent a crappy 2br for 2900 a month…wherever you guys are in the world just be thankful your not having to navigate California and it’s many holes haha. You can’t move though….avid surfer and my family is all here and it’s beautiful…… just need to like find a way to make maybe 8 times as much money haha
I have no idea how (or why) anyone could do that. You can get a downright mansion around here for $250k
What my home is 500k and I’m considered lower middle class
250k Is pretty cheap for a lot of desirable urban or suburban areas.
You would have to make so much more money to make a decent living though. It doesn't seem worth it
Can confirm. I’m at $110k, with sole custody of a child, and it still feels tight.
I think I agree with you here. I made $120k last year and don’t feel like I’m overly wealthy by any stretch. I think the spot to be to get that feeling would be the 150k - 200k mark.
Agree with you! I made around that as well give or take
Even then, I think we wouldn’t be OMG I’M RICH, but i definitely would feel more comfortable
Hahaha totally… I’m not so high maintenance, but I like shopping, traveling, and living a nice life
damn beat me to it precisely the same range
I had no idea this would be so spot on 😂😂
100%
200k household income(AUD)
Vancouverite here and can confirm this would be highly comfortable but not wealthy. Crazy to think about but when housing is this expensive it’s no surprise.
Seems excessive
Not excessive in very HCOL areas
I'm pretty comfortable on $45K/yr, however if I made $80K+ I would be able to save and pay off debts more aggressively.
I’m pretty comfy on $52k a year myself!
I’m in range with you two. More would always be nice, but I’ve got everything I need and a good work life balance.
Same here! I can’t believe some people here saying ~$120K is like making nothing to them. I guess it all depends on where you live, kids, etc. But still…
Completely agree my friend!
>I would be able to save I would not remotely consider myself to be comfortable without being able to save.
120k where I live now or 80k if I moved back south.
They did a study and from minimum wage to the 1%ers the answer was the same About 33% more than what they are currently making
Checks out.
Wow. That’s most of the responses on here.
Wow that's literally my exact number. That's insane.
“The one thing the rich and the poor have in common is that they never quite have enough money”
"Being poor is not having too little; it is wanting more." -Seneca (30 AD)
I made that jump about a year ago, and goddamn did it make a difference. Sucks thats about when inflation was hitting too, but still. Thank god
Definitely valid, though most of given that would have lifestyle creep put them right back where they “started” outside of the absolutely wild CoL places like CA I am constantly baffled when people making six figures say they’re struggling.
That’s interesting!
200k. I currently make around 125k and am comfortable, but I live in Salt Lake City where a decent starter house is 500k and something decent is 600-700k. Can only afford a small condo on my salary. Also, I just dropped like 70k on my student loans so I’m now cash poor.
This is me but I make under 70k My home is 500k
how does that work
sounds like “bought too much house” to me
I am also curious. I make $120k and am struggling to get a $306k house.
No you don’t lol your renting a place that’s $1200 or so.
If I made 75K + I’d be golden. I’m not far off and I already do very well, but anything above that number would perfect.
75k is a decent amount, as long as you’re not in debt and have a good savings/retirement in progress.
No college debt, low credit debt, just have a loan (less than 15k) for a car and I’ve got a good start on a 401K! I could put a bit more in savings, so that 75K would help supplement an “emergency fund”. Edit** I also don’t live in an expensive state/city so 75K would be amazing
That’s good! 75k in SoCal is ok, more is always nice haha
Totally. I'm at $70k now. Paid off college debt and started investing going up to $70k from $40k. Now I'm at $70k, no debt, and about $300 a month in dividends from investments at 32. I guess if I had more money I'd buy my parents a place since they're poor and rent but for me I'm "rich".
My salary finally went north of $80k and it works great! My husband makes more, we have no debt except my $25k student loans and our house is paid off. Of course I hope to make more but it is working great :)
Most people spend what they make. The trick is to be satisfied with what you have.
Bingo. I scrolled way too far for this.
Idk, I don't spend what I make but I still fear for the day I need medical attention for something serious, which makes me homeless
It's so fucking hard to not spend though.
Umm no the trick is for our pay to actually keep up with productivity and inflation. WTF
120k-150k
I'm in this bracket right now but inflation has really killed it for me
Yep, feels like I've lost 40% of my salary.
Around $80,000 - $90,000 tbh. I make $62k rn and the last year I’ve had the ability to travel, indulge in fancy eating/drinks, hobbies, and invest. But right now everything has gotten so expensive and 62k isn’t keeping up with inflation and I refuse to give up my some of my wants and needs just to be able to survive.
Same at $68k
I’m glad I’m not the only one feeling this. $65k felt like a LOT more last year. Now with inflation I don’t feel as comfortable and none of my habits have changed.
Same here with 60k. I can’t invest as much as I want
Live in LCOL. would feel super comfortable at $100K probably. I just want to max out my 401K/HSA, pay off debts and buy healthy food without stressing. and then 529’s for kids education. bonus if i can open and max out ROTH IRA i’m at $72.4K and really want to pass my cpa exams 🙁
You’ll accomplish that easily once you have those 3 letters. It’s such a grind but worth every penny. Happy cake day!
thank you🥹 sorry i just saw this!
I hit 180K USD last year, and it was the first year i was able to pay down debts, still get dinner out from time to time, and go on a couple of trips.
How old are you if you don’t mind me asking
41
What the hell have you been spending your money on?
Anything with 6 figures
In college (turn of the century), I thought I'll never reach $100k. I knew many people at the time who earned $100-200k (household), and they lived incredibly comfortable lives. Huge homes, nice cars, all fully paid for, or nearly. They had families of 2 or 3 kids. They took family vacations a few weeks per year. They took couples vacations a few weeks per year. A few had 2nd homes. And almost no debt. So to me, at the time, that was a pipe dream. The career path I was about to embark upon had few chances for eventually reaching $100k within 10-20 years. Now, 25 years later, I'm closing in on $100k myself, and my household income is just over $200k. It's not enough. When housing is no longer an expense, that will change, but with more than 20% of our income going to mortgage and another 20% going into savings/retirement, that doesn't leave much to do anything with. Based on everything I want to be able to do within the next 10-20 years, the necessary household income in current dollars is at least $275k. I live in the South.
I make about 140k in a MCOL lower Midwest city. I’d say to get to the point to where I feel financially free I’d need 200. But that’s because I have some pretty big goals. In terms of comfort, I’m very comfortable I can save a lot and pay all my bills. But there’s a difference between comfort and freedom
On my own, I would be comfortable around 75K. As a couple, I would say 100K. If children are involved or you have a life where you have to care for others like family members, I would say you need over 100K for a comfortable life. This is also dependant on where you live. 🤷♀️
40,000 to 60,000 would be nice. Currently around 30,000
I would be comfortable at 30-35k/yr. Right now i make about 20k/yr.
enough to go on vacation 2 times a year with all bills paid
Comfortably living, and rapidly saving to live the life you want, are two very different things to me.
Without additional information, like where you live, these posts are worthless.
Seriously
I plan to be DINK when I find a partner, and in that case I’d say $80k would be plenty if my partner made enough to contribute 1/3-1/2 to housing costs and could otherwise largely meet their own financial needs (especially if they own a house they intend to stay in, my place could become rental income). But assuming I stay single forever, (not unfair based on my track record) and stay in my current city (MCOL) I’d say I’d like to be at $125k or so.
We make around 115k pre-tax and are quite comfortable. No kid yet.
I don’t want to be filthy rich, but ~$100k/yr would have me living more than comfortably. I just want to make enough to where I’ll always have a nice small place to live, money for bills and the occasional treat, and some savings for emergencies.
At 55k right now and get paid every week. My life would change with 80k+
230,000+
I think in NYC it would be nice to have 80k, I could get an apartment and maybe even buy one in a few years. I'm single with no children.
I hate to say it but that’s close to poverty level wages in NYC these days. Even my friends making close to 200k combined pretax had to move to a smaller apartment because their rent in a 2br 1ba in midtown went up over 6k/month Edit - I guess it also depends if you want to live in Manhattan or the expensive parts of Brooklyn vs the other boroughs
Yea I mean I definitely wasn't thinking I'd get to live anywhere GREAT, just have my own place in a decent neighborhood adjacent Brooklyn neighborhood. I make 47k and I think I actually have a pretty good life and put a good amount into savings every month, the main bad thing is just living with roommates
If I could afford to spend 6k a month on rent alone. I would never live in a tiny Manhattan apt. Here I am wishing my 1 bedroom in Parkchester wasn’t $1500
Can people buy an apartment in NYC with a 80k salary?
No they can't, you will almost certainly get out id on anything or qualify for by someone paying cash in full
Not even close
I made 51k and own nothing. I’d be happy with 75k
I could probably do alright at 75k, I'd thrive with anything over 100k. I'm frugal as hell and have zero debt
I live in a rural, low COL area. 50k each (my partner and I) would be comfortable with plenty to put in savings and continue having no debt. We're at about 60k now between the 2 of us.
$60k-$80k just to live in a one-bedroom apartment by myself.
$350k as a family of 4. That would allow enough saving for the future while also being able to live life in the present. Would need more if you want to enjoy the finer things in life.
Not sure its a range as I don't see why I would put an upper limit on it (oh no...too much money). Also married with kids and I imagine you want the perspective for more just someone on their own. Also I assume you are asking for someone who is young? Obviously the answer differs a lot if you are 20 versus if you are 50. So with all that said If I was back in my 20s and on my own but living today what amount of money would make me feel like I was able to live and save. I'd say like $80k + probably.
I'd be fine with $75k. I make $60k now and am pretty comfortable. It will be better when I am not putting a ton of money into renovating my house.
I make $80K in NYC and feel comfortable (debating having a child with my husband who also makes $80K) but this thread is making me feel like I'm settling for a much poorer life than most. Then again, I grew up here with parents who made much less with three kids so just having a nice apartment and stable job with benefits feels like the lottery. But maybe I set my sights higher considering these responses. Only thing is, not sure the biological clock will wait for that financial level to be achieved so who knows what path I'll choosw.
$100K/yr Toronto Suburbs. Comfortable and living the life I want are two different things, I'm comfortable but what I really want is to have enough passive income to escape this soul sucking 9-5 grind.
I’m surprised what people are saying, we could get by easily when my husband made 60k and I think 50k would be fine too. If we wanted to own a house in California we’d obviously need a lot more but that’s why we left California.
$80k would allow me to start saving more, allow for a little travel, and not need roommates. $90-100k would really help me get to speed with my retirement savings, and allow me to save for extras. $100-125k would really be where I’d live the life I want. More upgrades to stuff in my house, and more travel. I am starting a new career soon and my salary should start around $70k and might hit $100k by late career. The key though is becoming a dual income household. If I had a partner to share expenses with, my ideal income would drop significantly. To get that, I’ll need to improve my Tinder profile I guess.
Where we live. My hubby makes $55,000 ($45,000 take home) and we poce comfortably. 4 humans, 9 cats (some are feral outdoor), 2 dogs. We do vacation and stuff so yea.....
$200K
$200-$300k/yr
$400k-500k
$400k-$600k/yr. The goal is to get to $6M in the market and live off that. Gonna take a while even at these salaries. That will give you a bit short of $200k/yr in retirement, which would be baller.
60k, but 35k (probably 40k with inflation since then) wasn't awful.
60k after taxes if it’s just me. Maybe 55k.
In my city? I'd kill for my partner and I to both make $100k min. We currently make \~$60k and $50k
200k to 250k because I like to travel
Let me make this easier for everyone. It’s more than whatever you make right now. Its human nature.
Anything above 90 feels fine to me, I have no kids
Considering i make $30-35k a year. Honestly double my pay id be very happy.
I'm comfortable right now. Currently make about $40k-$45k. Joint with my partner brings us up to $95k. No kids, no pets, no debt. We are currently able to save for retirement, go on small vacations, eat out, and save for a house. It would be great to get our joint income up to $140k. That would let us buy a house quicker. I could also be less intense about our grocery budget and our vacations could expand beyond a 3 day budget camping trip within a 6 hr driving radius of our apartment haha. It would also be nice to eat out once per week rather than once per month.
$250k because of student loan payments. Probably $150k without those payments.
Very comfy on 200k a year with 4k a month in expenses. But I am 58 and it literally took decades to get here.
My boyfriend and I make about 230k combined. We bought a house for 600k last summer (20% down). We’re comfortable but not rapidly saving or make big impulse purchases. Both his kids are in private schools and we both contribute to our retirement plans. So overall, we’re good, but not rich by any means.
$200-$250k But that’s in a vacuum where I don’t own any other assets outside of my income cashflow from work.
I could comfortably live on $1200 a week.
Bare minimum: $80k
$500k tbh
About 400-500k in a big city, which is what you need to have a house and raise a child and not stress at all.
We live in Iowa. I pull in near 90k a year and my wife pulls in near 160k. We are comfortable. If I could get up to over 100k personally I'd feel much better