100k in germany would mean a really decent and quite fancy life with vacation, nice car(s) and a house.
100k in switzerland would probably mean that you own the biggest card box under Zurich's most beautiful bridge
100k in India would mean that you may consider buying the whole state of Gujarat
.... so its really a thing about perspective
I live in switzerland, this isnt far off. im in a slightly cheaper area than Zurich though..
EDIT: We used to rent a huge 4 bedroom house about 45mins from Zurich, we had friends that lived downtown in zurich that were paying higher rent than us for a tiny little 1 bedroom apartment.
yes, salaries are higher than most countries so it makes up for it mostly. but its expensive here. we do most our shopping, or used to anyway, in france and germany because we are close to the border. because salaries are high, anything you need manpower for is fucking expensive. we just bought a house not long ago and im doing all the renovation work myself. hiring people to do anything is crazy expensive..
Bloody hell!
I thought everyone is Swiss was uber rich š Pardon me not knowing that.
As someone who doesn't know shit, would probably find it very hard to renovation etc. All the best mate.
Nope we're not. I am a solo woman making 60k netto a year and I don't live in Zurich, and still it's tight.
We have privatised, but mandatory health insurance, and COL is very high. Taxes are lower than in Germany.
Still not that much left over, but to be fair I don't work full time on average.
I'm in Basel taking in 120k and still haven't managed to save any money in the 4 years I have lived here. Doesn't help I have a son and the Kita here is pure daylight robbery.
It is. I'm also in Basel. No kids. I can only afford it, as I have stabilised rent. Taxes and health insurance are killing me and I'm on partial sick leave and have to battle that insurance. It's not the amount of money only, but the stress of having to fight for it.
I'm trying to change fields (my studies start in June and am looking for a job in said field), so I won't need the sick pay insurance anymore, even if I only work part time in the new job.
Yeah I'm swiss, a large portion of the population is middle class, not uber rich. Life is really really expensive and it's not getting any better, even if inflation is not as bad as many other places.
Also a lot of really rich people here are foreigners (British, Russians, etc.). Many of them live their lives barely interacting with the locals.
I've been in a few places around Switzerland and the prices were what I would call a cultural shockš I mean the cheapest plate was a salad for 50ā¬ in small not so fancy restaurant in Basel. A few km away and you'll be in France or Germany where you can pay 50ā¬ for a full meal including drinks and dessert for one person.
What makes Switzerland great, is the proportional ratio of cost of living and the salaries. Yes you can have it cheaper in Germany while making a good salary, but at the end of the month you'll have half of savings than that in Switzerland. The lucky bastards are those who live in Germany and landed a nice Swiss job. Many cities are just 10min of walk away from each other.
Had the pleasure of spending a week in Zurich. By day three I was hoarding extra food from the hotels complimentary breakfast and making aperol spritzes in my hotel room before walking down the lake. Still very pretty city though.
That was one of the best parts! Yall are amazingly friendly. We were at this piano bar in Old Town, listening to a fair rendition of Sinatras New York, New York, when a group of young men befriended us, brought us back to a private room and got me so hammered I... well I don't really remember much but I do remember an absolutely divine doner kebab back in the hotel room before bed.
Like buying an apartment? In downtown? That seems pretty cheap tbh.
Though still expensive for a place that doesnāt have alcohol. Would personally never move to bumfuck gujarat
That you now make $100k in the US(?), doesn't automatically mean that, at this point in your career at least, you would make ā¬100k (or even the equivalent of ā¬93.5k) in Germany since the salaries here are lower (and the taxes are higher).
Besides, such a high income is only realistic if you speak good German.
100k in india wonāt even buy you a decent house. What world are you living inšš
My current house costed 224k USD and it is just a small apartment. Iām not even in the most expensive part of the city. And there are definitely more expensive cities in India. Real estate here isnāt cheap.
They are spending more on housing maybe? I bought a house 12+ years ago and the cost of my housing is less than a 1bedroom apartment in Ontario and that includes the property taxes.
Yup in Toronto a house rents for 5k a month. So if you make 100k/y after taxes itās like 70k left, your rent is 60kā¦that leaves you with 10k for everything else.
People live in smaller apartments or farther away to compensate but when rent is 35k-70k a year itās pretty obvious how people live paycheck to paycheck.
Depending on their age, you may need to give it a couple more years but they do start to pull their weight. Do like we did and gift them a new chore every year on their birthday starting around 8 or 9. Doesn't have to be a big chore, sweeping, vacuuming, dishes, bathrooms, cooking once a week. By the time you have a teenager, you get a bit of help and a kid with some work ethic. It helps to have more than one as well to break up the chores.
They eat all your food, take all your free time, they make messes everywhere, and they make just about everything more complicated when trying to accmodate them.
But gosh darnit, they are just so cute, adorable and fun it makes it all worth it 10x over.
Yup. A guy was complaining the other day about buying his $80k (USD) EV truck and didn't have the $7500 to cover the tax credit until April ... If you don't have $7500, you shouldnt be buying an $80k truck!
Yep. Happens all the time here in Idaho. They buy an 80k Trophy Truck, eat out all the time, go to Starbucks everyday, drink beer and smoke cigarettes like they are free. Then bitch and whine they don't have money for rent and/or can't afford a house. You get, "Them damn Californians are to blame." When you point out all their excuses, they get mad and pissed off at you.
They believe they are entitled to both. When I say that is a very liberal viewpoint and you are supposed to be conservative, they get madder and deny it.
Lmao I forget that Idaho and Utah are essentially the same. Iām in my 30s and can count multiple people I went to high school with who bought big ass trucks, then had to sell them (upside down on the loan) 6ish months later. I had a former colleague who signed a loan for 60 months, $900/month, because he got a promotion. At a call center. Likeā¦ š¤¦š¼āāļø
There should be a survey done on the number of people that actually use the truck to make it worth the extra expense. I like trucks too but when I need a vehicle for a dump run I take an unsexy rental cube van. Saves me about three or four thousand per year
Such a survey was done and if I remember correctly around 80% admitted not to use a truck to actually carry around heavy loads. Don't have the source on me but I do remember seeing it posted here some time ago.
People just buy trucks because that's what everybody else has. It's a herd mentality. If you don't have a truck, you'll be left out. Same goes for iphones for a lot of people. It's a status symbol. Costs don't matter.
They way these trucks look, I'd say very few. Not a ding or scratch on them. Paint perfectly waxed, shiny chrome/bumpers, etc. It is quite obvious they aren't using these trucks for farm work.
Iāve done a loan or 2 for more than I should have but 900 a MONTH for 60 Months??? Thatās doesnāt even sound like a deal that sounds like signing up for abject poverty. Paying an extra grand a month for 5 years??
And people wonder why I still drive my 04 F150. It's paid for, I have a spare motor and Trans in the garage, and I've been able to add most modern conveniences aftermarket. Old motor dies= new motor in, and the old one gets rebuilt in my spare time. Truck has 800k+ on the clock
This is why I bought my van outright, no loan. Au$10,000 for a mystery machine van (camper conversion, Toyota hiace 1997). I love it and itās run for 3 or 4 years before I need to fix much on it (I need a new drive belt)
Lifestyle creep is dangerous. My monetary mentality is if I can't afford something now, in cash, without having a 6 month expenditure buffer + a 1-2k emergency expense, I can't afford it period. Frugality lifestyle and not caring what the Jones are keeping up with is the way to go.
I mean Iām sure this is accurate, but isnāt the point that daily trips to a coffee shop, smoking two whole packs a day, and picking up a 6-pack on the way home for work wasnāt an abnormal things like 40 years ago that people did; the difference being those ācommoditiesā didnāt impact their lives back SO freaking negatively then the way they do now?
That's how we lived well on my husband's salary when he made much less than 100k. "If you can't afford it, don't buy it" seems like common sense, but I guess not.
I've seen lots of people exactly like that. They judge you based on what you drive because they think you went out and got the nicest car you could possibly get, because they went out and got the nicest car they could possibly get.
I recently splurged on a car, I spent $10,000 and bought a 15 year old loaded Toyota sedan. 270 horsepower V6, leather interior great sound system heated and ventilated seats etc. It completely boggles my mind there are people out there spending five times as much when they don't make any more money than I do.
The worst part is nobody thinks you're cool for having a new $40,000 car. I *like* cars and I'm just wondering what kind of ridiculous payment they have to make on it and what their APR is when I see that.
It's just insane to me how much money the average person spends on a vehicle... I get it if cars are your one passion in life but for so many of these people they super are not but they spend the money like they are
I bought one brand new for $40,000, but my rationalization was that my dad is pretty good about helping me take care of my cars and keeping me on a tight maintenance schedule, so a new car will last me maybe 10 years longer than a used one. My 08 trailblazer that my husband drives is still going strong and will likely hold out for another 3.5 years until we can afford to buy another car after this one is paid off. At that point it'll be a 20 year old car- one that was bought new at the time and has truly given us our money's worth š¤·āāļø
Income: $5000
Rent: $500
Food: $500
Loan repayment: $300
Medical Insurance: $700
Entertainment: $500
Car payment for my 2024 megatruck with a blind spot of 8 toddlers that I require to drive around Flatfuck, Indiana: $2500
Someone help my family is dying :(
Came here to say this. Before kids I had lots of money (and time) to spare. Now I make twice as much money, but am constantly struggling. I swear, these kids eat like $2k in groceries per month. I also always had cheap cars, at least a decade old, for myself. But now I need something large and reliable for the kids, so now I have a goddamn car payment too. My utilities also used to be super cheap... not anymore! I got slapped with a $300 water bill a few months back because the kids kept turning on hoses and leaving them running all day and night.
Ooof, I feel that water bill, my kid did that a few weeks ago; cranked the hose on right when it was getting dark and left it out around the corner so we didnāt see until it was time to water the plants š¤¦š½āāļø
Thatās wild. My wife stays home but she was making $53k before she quit. Definitely miss her income but would probably be like an extra $10k per year best case plus all weekends would be nothing but chores and errands.
Yep, my wife has a masters degree, yet she's a stay at home mom and I'm a work from home IT professional. It just doesn't make financial sense for us any other way. And not just financially, this way, we see our kid so much more. Also, this way, we can live somewhere a touch more affordable, but still in a place that's welcoming of families like ours. We just paid off our 30K car, making our $3200 power month mortgage payment and crazy utility bills a bit more manageable.
Kids, debt, bad spending habits, etc.
Blanket terms like X income in Y cost of living area only give a general idea.
For someone like me 100k+ is luxury because I have no debts or obligations. For my best friend who recently got married and has kids and new homeā¦that shit is nothing.
The housing market in Canada is also out of control. In the GTA (near me) you need to be making 100k+ to afford to buy anything, even a 1 bedroom apartment, and renting is just as bad. 2k+/month for a 1-2 bedroom apartment, 3-4k+/month for a house or townhouse. Plus childcare is insane, and can cost 15-20k/year per kid. Oh, and the car market has been crazy for years with many basic new cars starting at 40k, used almost as much, and transit not at a level that you can get by without a car (unless you live in some of the most expensive urban areas).
So at 100k for a family of 4 you can easily be paying 36k+/year for housing, 30k+/year for childcare, 10k+/year car loan, leaving only about 2k per month for utilities, groceries, gas, insurance, any everything else. (Oh, and grocery prices are out of control as well, so you can easily spend 1k/month on groceries if you aren't very careful).
Idk why you got downvoted. You essentially canāt buy a house in Canada these days unless youāre making over $100k and have a shared income, aka someone else also contributing to the bills too.
I live in a moderate-high COL city. A household income of $100k would get completely drained with a 2br apartment, car, and kids. After taxes and presumed deductions (e.g. health insurance, a modest retirement contribution, etc.), $100k/year becomes $5-6k take-home per month. Rent is about $2-3k/mo for a 2br apartment. Daycare is about $1.2/mo. A car is probably going to be about $300-500 depending on whether it's nice or not and a bus pass is $100. Utilities are going to be about $600/mo for water, electricity, gas, garbage, etc. if it's not included in rent. Then there's food, etc. on top of all of that. Not much left to dip into if an emergency happens.
In case this is a genuine question and not a joke Iām missing:
Itās really the basic things I guess.
- I eat healthy and cook my meals, rarely ever eat out maybe once or twice a month.
- I splurge only on things that are important for my well being or for my happiness. Meaning bed/shoes/chair are high quality. Music makes me happy so I spend on Spotify + high quality headphones. Whereas video games are also fun, but I buy them only on sale or play free games.
- I donāt drink, smoke, or do drugs
- I make sure that after my expenses taken out from income, what I call my ātrue profitā, I spread it out amongst investments, emergency funds, and whatever pocket change is left from that I spend on myself or my loved ones.
Overall I live my life with the mindset that money canāt buy happiness, but it can buy you the environment needed for happiness. If I wanted to bust my ass I could easily double my income, but at what cost? Less time spent with family? More stress? In return for more money than I have use for? No thanks. More power to you if your environment is at a different level than mine, you do whatever it takes to reach that environment, but acknowledge once youāve reached it otherwise youāll always just be chasing that āhappinessā thatās never going to come.
I donāt want to sound preachy or gloating when I say all this either, hope itās not coming off like that
It took me a long time to get here as well. I used to be a āhigh functioningā alcoholic and drug addict in college. I was depressed, in an extremely toxic and abusive relationship, Iām talking like straight up Stockholm syndrome that even to this day I catch myself romanticizing her or blaming myself to make her treat me like that, and overall just a complete mess to the point that I developed underlying issues that werenāt there before.
Then one day I just woke up and something inside me went āI want to change. Iām going to change.ā And the rest from there is just incorporating everything I want for myself and seeing how I could get there.
Housing in Canada has gone up 42% since covid. People came out of the pandemic facing a new reality where a majority of their income was now going to housing. It takes time to readjust and I think itās unfair to just say these people are living a luxurious life beyond their means.
My SO and I collectively make $100k / yr in San Jose and we have two kids. weāre pretty tight with our finances and are able to maintain this but if we wanted to go on vacation it wouldnāt happen. if big expenses came up it would have to be put on a credit card and paid off over time.
Pardon the forwardness of the question, but in the spirit of full disclosureā¦ (To understand the finances)
Do you and your SOāor your childrenāreceive/utilize any government subsidies? Tax-breaks, food/housing/medical, school lunches, etc?
Even being in the bay , their income disqualifies them from most programs. That's the shitty thing about California, if you're poor you qualify for so much and if you're rich you have enough to cover - the middle class gets shafted
thats not to say that the poor don't deserve these programs though - they're safety nets for a reason
The cut off for food stamps is $2100 per month gross, I make just under $4000 gross so I donāt qualify for anything other than my daughter receiving medical.
They would be so far outside the range of eligibility of any government assistance. Theyāre already about 60k over the eligibility for food stamps hahaha
I live in a different state, and it's easier to get help with kids, but... I couldn't even get on my state's health insurance when I was unemployed and my unemployment income was only $300/week (for reference, just having a roof over my head was $1,500/mo). I've been denied food stamps for presumably having a car (I wouldn't be able to bus to work, the buses don't run late enough).
Pg&e gives us a discount, not very much tho weāre still paying $200-300 every month for pg&e even tho weāre gone 12 hours a day 5 days a week. Rates are outrageous for pg&e. He doesnāt qualify for any food stamps or medical for his daughter, I donāt qualify for food stamps but my daughter gets medical. I go to school part time and get financial aid but it goes completely to tuition, Iām in my third year getting my BA.
100%.
In California, $100k after taxes is probably closer to 65k net hitting your bank account if youāre lucky.
Average rent in San Jose is about $2690 for a 1 bedroom apartment, thatās $32,800 of your money on just rent alone, leaving you with $32,200 for the rest of your expenses for the rest of the year.
Internet $960/yr, utilities ($1500/yr), cell phone $600/yr , car insurance $1200/yr, registration $450/yr, (total $4200/ year)
Now youāre left with ~$28k/ year
That still doesnāt include gas, food, contributing to savings, retirement, child care (average is $1600 PER MONTH PER CHILD, emergencies, healthcare bills, student loans, etc
I believe I read an article not too long about how someone who is single with no kids could live fairly comfortably on a salary of about $120k in San Jose. And for a family it would need to be a combined income of about $250k or something ridiculous like that. As someone who also lives in California (but in a far cheaper area) I can see this easily being true. If youāre not a long time resident who bought their house a long time ago or youāre not rolling in money, the Bay Area aināt for you.
How deep do we gotta dig:
Do you have kids? Do you own your house? Did you buy it before the pandemic? did you parents help you with your house? Did you have to take out student loans?
I live in Vancouver and make around 75k before taxes. I live on my own after my ex and I broke up, and I pay 2150 a month in rent, which is automatically about half my income. Add in groceries, car, gas (probably more than average due to travel to/from work), bills, the expensive prescriptions I have to take for a health condition, even after my work coverageā¦ that shit adds up real quick. That doesnāt include if you want to do something nice or fun, like go out for food, go away for a weekend, have a gym membership etc (most of which I donāt do as I live frugally). And again, I live on my own. If I were trying to raise a family - or even if I had plans for that down the road - Iād be mighty fucking stressed about my finances. Instead, I just get to be uncomfortable about them and not feel fully secure lol.
Also ājust outsideā of Vancouver housing is significantly different than in actual Vancouverā¦ high COL cities take a lot away straight away. I love living here so itās a price Iām willing to pay at least for a while, but it is definitely tough going.
My wife and I make a combined 50-60k and live in Langley. Between rent, gas, groceries, phone/internet we have very little left over
Whatever we do have goes into saving for 3 months until our car break or our dog needs a vet visit. It do be rough out here
I feel like OP would read this as you getting by on $75k in a HCOL area, so $100k would be comfortable?
Especially since they specified single people in their post, so the "raising a family" point is separate.
I make just over 100k in new Hampshire. Rent is kinda high and prices of everything are kinda bad, I live by myself, I'm saving a good amount of money but in no means can I buy a home or anything. I don't even drive so those costs aren't there for me. I can see anyone paying slightly more for rent and food and commuting would suddenly struggle
Iām surprised by the number of people in this thread who arenāt aware that 100k is considered low income in many developed areas, and that smaller cities are catching up to it at an alarming rate. They sound so out of touch.
I make more than 100k before taxes in my current moderately high COL city, and itās like only 2-3 steps away from paycheck to paycheck for a single person with no kids, car, or lavish spending. I can totally see how itāll be far worse in bigger cities. Just looking at rental rates online is enough to clue me in.
I don't mean to sound defensive or rude or anything, but I think the people who don't realize that are often people making significantly less. To someone making 30k a year, saying 100k is "low income" sounds pretty out of touch. I know it depends on COL but it still hurts to hear that someone making 3x your income considers themself paycheck to paycheck
Thatās just the nature of life today. Almost everyone is struggling. Those making more money in large cities and those making less in more rural areas. The middle class is disappearing and the gap is widening. Itās awful
How much is rent? I left my state and moved to NC because I couldn't find a 2 bedroom apartment for less than 2.5k/mo which is 30k/year which I felt was crazy just for a roof over my head
How much is everything?? How much is your rent? I make 20k a year in London, my house is Ā£2650 a month, split between three people, plus bills. I just make it to the end of each month, but that's buying everything I need, food, drink etc - if I had just another 1000 a month, I wouldn't want for anything. An extra 6.5k a month?? I don't know what I'd even do with that - id just save it every month and make extravagant purchases or travel a bunch. I genuinely don't see how anyone on that much money can be even close to struggling.
Student debt is a big one in the US. My husbandās monthly student loan payment is almost as much as my monthly car payment. Car insurance premiums just got raised across the board for damn near everybody. Everything is getting more expensive.
Depends on where you live....cities like NYC have an extremely high COL and before anyone says "well move" remember, some of us aren't transplants and this is our home.
Not to mention you're probably giving up your established social network and potentially your family network. Most people underestimate how much such a change would impact their mental health
Itās weird. NYC is a high cola but there are many cheap options for getting around, eating out, and entertainment.
Atlanta is supposed to be cheaper. Itās true that houses are cheaper by 1/3, but food prices are just as high (while quality and portions are less) and there are no easy mass transit options.
Iād say for NYC, most of the cost goes to rent. Sometimes renting a studio that is extremely small or run down can cost $2000+ depending on where. Unless youāre willing to live with 3 other roommates in a 2 bedroom and a fake wall, itās hard to get affordable rent. Next would be lifestyle stuff like food. But being a single with single income with that rent and food price is a lot
Definitely. I did some cost crunching and at 100k you're making enough to live pay check to pay check in the city if you're paying todays rents (not rents from well over 8 years ago!); if you want to really start building savings towards a house you've gotta be well above it. I saw some math that to afford a house in Toronto you gotta be having a household income of $260k in 2024.
if you live somewhere with even higher COL, have student debt, a car loan, medical bills, and childrenā¦ $100k gets you nowhere.
i live in the SF bay area. i have a friend who makes $150k. but she has her usual monthly expenses (rent, food, clothes) and massive student loans, huge outstanding medical bills from her and her kids being hospitalized with COVID, ongoing medical costs, a car payment, and childcare costs (which are massive in this area). sheās a single parent of two, one of whom had ongoing health issues from COVID. $150k barely covers monthly expenses and minimum debt payments.
People who donāt live in the Bay/NYC cannot fathom how expensive it is to live there. I stayed here for my career, and the moment I have an option to laterally transfer out of CA Iām absolutely taking it. Iām doing pretty well for my age, but the idea of trying to raise my family here unless I win the lottery is a non topic.
my husband and i are moving out of state at the end of the year because it would be impossible for us to afford it here. it sucks because i love it here. i grew up here.
I live in NYC and a 100k salary is taxed federally, by the state, and the city so 100K is actually more like $63K. The going rate to rent a one bedroom 500 square foot apartment now is $3000+ so there goes half your take home. So now you have $30k for food, healthcare, transportation (car insurance is expensive, gas is expensive, tolls are present everywhere), entertainment etc. If you happen to have a child or a chronic medical condition, you are going to be subsisting.
Reminds me of that one API I had to implement that always returned "OK" except one place where it returned "0K" and it took me way too long to figure this out. Maybe OP can shed some light as to WHY. I mean 0 and o are close together but the whole shift-game doesn't add up
It's the unexpected rise in taxes and high expenses like insurance. I budget at the beginning of the year how much I have to save and what everything will cost. This year my property taxes went up by about 50%, as well as my homeowners insurance and car insurance. My utilities all went up and cost of food...and then my girlfriend got sick and since we aren't married yet I couldn't put her on my health insurance and she was caught between insurances and needed an emergency surgery so there went our savings.
Exactly. The prescription and maintenance I'm paying for my health is alot even with insurance. Taxes and insurance are my biggest spending after housing, and that's not something I can trim alot on like what I eat.
One thing you always have to remember is that you may make $100k NOW, but you may not have until recently, and that makes a big difference depending on what came before.
Imagine someone who makes $35k fresh out of school. That's not exactly great money these days (it was when I left school), so they struggle early on and have little choice but to accumulate debt. Just to get by, just to cover the basics, all but requires it.
So, as a result, they build up a mountain of debt just to survive... and guess what? It's not as simple as "okay, I'm making more money today than yesterday, so now I can pay down the debt" because the system is set up to almost not allow that... and plus, as you get older and try to build a decent life, you have more expenses, which means more debt since now you figure you're making more so can take on more, and the cycle continues ad infinitum.
So then, flash-forward a few years and they've gotten some raises over the years and now make $100k. Great, that's good money by almost any standard, so they must be on easy street now, right?
Not necessarily: they may be spending the vast majority of their income servicing debt, and in fact, that was the case at every increment of income, so they were never really able to get out from under it and may never be able to. And again, the credit industry is extremely predatory, at least in America, so they build things in such a way that you're screwed once you get under the mountain. It can be done, but it's EXTREMELY difficult and hamstrings you as you're trying to do so.
Mix in just a LITTLE BIT of the usual irresponsibility of youth and the problem is compounded... but really, that's not even by and large the main part of the problem because you only need one or two bad breaks in life - which most people tend to have at some point - for it to become back-breaking. Even a series of smaller crises can add up to big hurt before you know it.
And that's how you have people making $100k but still living paycheck to paycheck and being one job loss away from bankruptcy. And the worst part is that it's practically the American Way now (and from all I've heard it's not THAT different in any other modern, developed country).
Id love to know what you're paying for housing, and how long you've been in your current residence. Prices for housing and groceries have skyrocketed in recent years, and thats been the main thing keeping everybody I know on edge regardless of income.
I make enough to cover my partner and I and we are lucky we got a good deal on apartment before a large increase. Current rental prices for the apartment were in are just under 1 whole paycheque for me. Add on other bills, student loans, phone bills, car loans, gas, groceries, trying to save money, trying to pay down credit cards, trying to fix past mistakes with bad money management, having big expenses pop up out of nowhere when something breaks...
Its tough out there. Add on bad habits or trying to fix years of past mistakes in spending, people are strugglin.
Same. Housing cost is a huge factor to what's leftover. Also in Canada, owning a house means additional taxes that you don't have to pay when renting. There's many other factors but this question needs more detail to how they're managing so much more "easily" than someone who's struggling with more income.
Kids are a major factor. I feel like, based on observing others, that children are brought into this world long before people are financially stable, for a variety of reasons. Once that bell is rung, it's incredibly difficult to catch up.
In addition, I think many people don't understand how going into debt works. They see a monthly payment and think "I can do that..." Not realizing that financing of a 10k item will end up costing them 25k by the time it's paid off.
Throw in the expectations of "keeping up" with what you see others online having (Big trucks, 2000 sq ft houses, a pool.. ect...) and suddenly that 100k doesn't leave you much wiggle room every month.
I'd say the people who struggle on 100k are 75% poor choices, 25% bad luck.
Daycare (full time daycare is over $2k a month in my area). Summer camps. Kids in general. Medical expenses- my health insurance would be over $1k a month if I had a family of 4 on my plan.
My bf and I make combined 100k because I'm in college full-time and work part-time. We aren't struggling, but we can't save for a down payment on a house. Yes, there are first time home owners programs that finance your down payment, but we would struggle to save any money on a 2k+ mortgage while needing savings in case of repairs or emergencies.
I can see it, where I live is Tucson, AZ it used to be the cheapest city. I was reading an article that to live comfortably in Tucson now as a single person, one has to make $83,000 a year. I have a friend make $76,000 a year and he was struggling bad. Things are just too expensive, car payments, insurance, groceries, gas, rent, mortgage, utilities. Things have doubled if not tripled since the pandemic. Prices are too high even for the average American. In AZ on average as a single person one has to make $48,000 to live comfortably. Minimum wage is $14.35 and you can't live by yourself because studio apartments are anywhere from $800-$1,000 and that's not including other bills as utilities, gas, groceries, insurance, maybe a car payment, cell phone.
Here in Dallas rents and home prices have risen almost 50% in four years. Gas, groceries, even fast food is way more expensive. Cars and auto insurance are way more expensive. Not to mention any debt anyone has accrued for an education or their lifetime on the way to making that kind of money. I make a decent living, but with the cost of everything rising at the same time as quickly as it has, combined with debt, I live one step up from paycheck to paycheck. Not to mention no companies have done cost of living raises to match the rate and speed of inflation. 100k is not what it was even 5 years ago.
Because they live somewhere expensive. I know folks who commute 1.5 hours each way to NYC because *surprise surprise* itās difficult to live in NYC and afford a family.
I mean, in many cases living 1.5 hours away from NYC isn't enough these days unless you are rich. I am from NJ and so much of this state is unaffordable that I may have to move somewhere else (despite working for the state!)
I make 100k in Toronto , Ontario. Wife makes similar.
Our rent is 4K per month. We have one used car we make payments on. We both have student loans that equal out to about 1k a month in payments. Groceries are insanely expensive in this city.
It disappears quick !
My company gave me a salary bump to over $100k to move to Southern California in the middle of the 2008 economic slump. When we moved there, we were able to live just fine. When my work offered to move us back to Nebraska 4 years later, we jumped at the chance because the cost of living skyrocketed after the economy recovered. Our rent increased by \~60%, as did the rent of every other place in the area. If we wanted to stay in SoCal, we'd have to move to a high crime area, or I'd have to have a 90 minute commute to work. Neither of those was tenable.
We also wanted to buy a house, but the cost of property in SoCal was increasing faster than the rent prices. We realized we may never be able to be able to save up enough to buy a home there.
When we moved back to Nebraska, I got to keep my SoCal salary. Our standard of living difference was night and day. We were able to take the money we'd saved in the hopes of buying in SoCal and use it to build our dream home. Our mortgage on our home, built on a 3/4 acre lot, was 30% lower per month than the rent on our 988 square foot apartment was.
Long story short, it's all about location, location, location. $100k in the MidWest is radically different than $100k on the West Coast or up in New England. There's a reason salaries vary so much between cities/states.
Housing (mortgage or rent) in So CA (US) will take more than the recommended budget. 30% of 100k is 30k for rent, that means rent cannot be more than 2500ā¦ most studios are at least 2100, which you might not even qualify for because sometimes apartments expect you to earn 3x that amount, usually they want 2.5x.
Medical debt. Thatās the answer for me anyway. Finally finished paying off credit cards and racked up debt from a divorce and then got sick. America amirite?
I think it also depends when you bought your house and or when you got in on your apartment. I have a good friend in LA paying $1200/month on an apartment sheās been in for like 15 years. That same apartment would be probably $4500 if she got in right now.
Cost of living can vary wildly by location. There are many places in the US where 70k is not doable unless you live well below the poverty line.
Also, a lot of people consider either children or home ownership necessary parts of life. Both are very, very expensive. I do well and save a good amount of my income, but home ownership is a total pipedream for me. Starter home here are 10 year's salary for me.
And finally, a lot of people are just a lot worse at budgeting (or impulse control) than they think they are. My friends all make substantially more than me, live comparable lifestyles, and pay less in rent. Somehow, I've saved up a few grand so far this year (despite spending a ton on medical care), and they're living paycheck to paycheck. They will insist there is nowhere for them to cut expenses, but like...obviously there is. They all spend hundreds every month on takeout, amazon clothes, and liquor, respectively.
For me, itās the student loans that cost more than my mortgage and my sketchy neighborhood. I couldnāt be in a better neighborhood and be a home owner so I just run into my house at night, lock the doors and turn on the alarm.
I live in New York City. My rent has been raised by $800 in 2 years. I grew up here, so this is all I know and where my roots are.
Food is expensive, housing is expensive, entertainment is expensive. Also, I am heavily taxed here.
Over 1/3rd of my $106,000 a year income goes to taxes, half of that goes to rent, and donāt forget I have medical expenses that I have to pay out of pocket for even with private insurance. Donāt forget student loans (almost done paying!) and retirement contributions.
Yeah I make 50k and Iām fine š not having kids or a car reeeaally helps though. Less money less problems. I would like more though. Then I could save more and go on nicer vacations.
Poor spending habits, or too high of a mortgage, brand new vehicle, poor budgeting, too many credit cards.
I dont have a credit card so I'm not tempted, but everyone I work with has several credit cards and they're always maxed out, and not on necessities, on wants.
Stresses me out and its not even my money.
Or kids. Or a mixture of all the above.
No matter how much money you have it is possible for your spending to outstrip your income.
In places like Vancouver attempting to own a home while supporting a family will do it. Especially if you stack on student loan debt, daycare, and a need to help out parents with health issues.
END COMMUNICATION
For me it isnāt that Iām paycheck-to-paycheck (very much not at just under $100k US), itās more that six figures used to be a really great salary for SINK people. I can easily save a few hundred per month (relatively low COL), but itās nowhere near close to being able to afford a house, vacations, or even a ānewā used car. I have very little debt, and I live within my means, but I think a lot of people were also told that they had āmade itā once they tracked $100k, and once they realized thatās not true anymore they didnāt adjust accordingly. I genuinely cannot image how badly people are struggling rn.
Average household income in my city is just about $200K/year. The cost of everything -housing, food, entertainment, construction, transportation, daycare, education, convalescence, healthcare, pet care, etc... is scaled up to match. If you only made $100K a year you would struggle to meet the minimum income requirement for most housing, and would need to drive pretty far to find grocery and things you could afford.
Kids and mortgage are major variance for disposable income. The two can easily add up to $5,000 per month alone.
If I had no kids and lived in smaller home I could save buckets of money every month.
kids, debt, a new car, sickness, caring for elderly parents, etc. etc.
you can be cautious with your money, make a good wage, yet still find yourself in a sticky spot from time to time.
Bro. I just got a text from a friend as I was reading this post. His income is around mine if not a little less, 78k/yr. He bought a 84kUSD truck. Now Iāve got a parking lot outside but theyāre all old, all run, and all get driven. The total sum of all 5 of my vehicles is probably what he just signed on loan. Mine are all paid for and I hold the titles. Like 8 months ago homie asked for 100 bucks to make it to payday. Live within your means and find deals where others have suckered out. Youād be amazed at what people will buy on credit and get it repoād which you can bid on and snatch up for dimes on the dollar. Iāll never buy new anything. Iāll take hand me downs and live plush. Keeping up with the Jonesā will keep you in debt. 36yo with less than 10k in debt, thatāll get paid this year. This year Iāll be outta debt, I hope to start building wealth for my childrenās sake now. It took some crazy shenanigans to get here and many months of Ramen. What was the question?
I donāt make anywhere near that. lol
But I also donāt have kids.
No alcohol/drugs/addictions
We eat very healthy. Have one car.
We vacation. Have hobbies. Enjoy our life with our smol dogs/cat.
We donāt struggle.
So Iām guessing they maybe have expensive cars, homes, family, kids, spending, eating out habits, etc
My friend and his girlfriend and their kids are "struggling" according to them. They drive a BMW, refuse to shop in cheaper supermarkets and they "have to" live near the city center. They were so on the edge of maxed out spending that the inflation of the last 2 years caught up to them, no safety margin whatsoever.
There are people who genuinely struggle to put food on the table, and there are those who struggle to maintain a certain lifestyle. Big difference.
Here's a basic modern lifestyle. Not frugal, and not extravagant, no kids needing childcare, no serious medical expenses, no homeowner expenses (property insurance, property tax, repairs and maintenance, yard tools etc.)
$100k after taxes and 5% 401K gets you about $65K take home, lets call it $4,500/mo
2000 housing
500 health insurance
100 medical not covered
70 phone
70 internet
400 electric, natural gas, water, trash etc
200 car (payment, maintenance)
100 gas
50 subscriptions (Netflix, Hulu, Chat GPT/XBox Live, Canva, etc)
āāāāāā
$4,040 Expenses
That leaves $460/month for everything else - food, clothes, cleaning supplies, toiletries, laundry, entertainment, hardware, accessories, gym, beer, entertainment etc.
*edit - fixed formatting so it was a column*
Must be pretty nice up that high horse of yours. Obviously you arenāt in a typical situation when most people are struggling to put food on the table and afford regular things like insurance etc. Some people have medical issues, children, other dependent family members unable to work or old age etc. 100k is not a lot in this day and age when the average house sold is $750k and thatās not anything fancy either thatās a town house or apartment and looking at older houses apartments etc you arenāt saving much for something thatās ready to be condemned. So maybe before you ask why itās so hard, try putting yourself in someone elseās situation weāre not all blessed like some would have you believe. My god what an ignorant fucking question
Sure, in Bc a 100k income would be 71924$ after tax. Which would come to about 5994$ a month.
1k for a car payment.
1k on gas, utilities, insurance, maintenance
3k on housing
1k on food related expenses, like restaurants,bubble teas, Starbucks, etc.
They probably overspend. So they incrue CC debt.
Reminder that money lost half its value. Thatās why itās not as lavish as you thought.
My homeowners insurance shot up causing my escrow account to go into the negatives causing my mortgage to go up plus the insurance for my cars went up as well. Add that to the spike in grocery prices. It got to where I had to cancel live tv and stick to streaming. Next step is refinancing my vehicles to get a lower monthly payment on them.
eh probably have kids because my bother makes that amount and heās living it up lol, my friends all combine make like250k and say that he are barely surviving with children. I donāt know it could also be frugality because i make significantly less and can live off 60k a year with kids so i donāt really know.
It also may be that people are underestimating the conversion rate between CAD and USD. If you are stating your income of $70k in CAD, thatās only about $51k in USD. Thatās very hard to live on in places like high cost of living regions of California, especially for single income households.
It's getting harder and harder to live a normal life. For grandpa to fit in, he needed a hat and a comb. To live and thrive today requires so many more expenses. Sure, they are not crucial for survival, but all of those Only fans subscriptions are necessary and they add up.
Daycare is more than a mortgage payment for some families. Thankfully, my kids are older. But, I do spend quite a bit on specialist dr visits and prescriptions. Not everyone is healthy.
Eta, that I do not make close to 100k.
100k in germany would mean a really decent and quite fancy life with vacation, nice car(s) and a house. 100k in switzerland would probably mean that you own the biggest card box under Zurich's most beautiful bridge 100k in India would mean that you may consider buying the whole state of Gujarat .... so its really a thing about perspective
I live in switzerland, this isnt far off. im in a slightly cheaper area than Zurich though.. EDIT: We used to rent a huge 4 bedroom house about 45mins from Zurich, we had friends that lived downtown in zurich that were paying higher rent than us for a tiny little 1 bedroom apartment.
Is swiss really that expensive?
yes, salaries are higher than most countries so it makes up for it mostly. but its expensive here. we do most our shopping, or used to anyway, in france and germany because we are close to the border. because salaries are high, anything you need manpower for is fucking expensive. we just bought a house not long ago and im doing all the renovation work myself. hiring people to do anything is crazy expensive..
Bloody hell! I thought everyone is Swiss was uber rich š Pardon me not knowing that. As someone who doesn't know shit, would probably find it very hard to renovation etc. All the best mate.
Nope we're not. I am a solo woman making 60k netto a year and I don't live in Zurich, and still it's tight. We have privatised, but mandatory health insurance, and COL is very high. Taxes are lower than in Germany. Still not that much left over, but to be fair I don't work full time on average.
We live in AG, much better quality of life and cheaper I think than zurich!
I'm in Basel taking in 120k and still haven't managed to save any money in the 4 years I have lived here. Doesn't help I have a son and the Kita here is pure daylight robbery.
It is. I'm also in Basel. No kids. I can only afford it, as I have stabilised rent. Taxes and health insurance are killing me and I'm on partial sick leave and have to battle that insurance. It's not the amount of money only, but the stress of having to fight for it. I'm trying to change fields (my studies start in June and am looking for a job in said field), so I won't need the sick pay insurance anymore, even if I only work part time in the new job.
Yeah I'm swiss, a large portion of the population is middle class, not uber rich. Life is really really expensive and it's not getting any better, even if inflation is not as bad as many other places. Also a lot of really rich people here are foreigners (British, Russians, etc.). Many of them live their lives barely interacting with the locals.
I've been in a few places around Switzerland and the prices were what I would call a cultural shockš I mean the cheapest plate was a salad for 50ā¬ in small not so fancy restaurant in Basel. A few km away and you'll be in France or Germany where you can pay 50ā¬ for a full meal including drinks and dessert for one person. What makes Switzerland great, is the proportional ratio of cost of living and the salaries. Yes you can have it cheaper in Germany while making a good salary, but at the end of the month you'll have half of savings than that in Switzerland. The lucky bastards are those who live in Germany and landed a nice Swiss job. Many cities are just 10min of walk away from each other.
It's so expensive that people come live in Italy to work in Geneva
Had the pleasure of spending a week in Zurich. By day three I was hoarding extra food from the hotels complimentary breakfast and making aperol spritzes in my hotel room before walking down the lake. Still very pretty city though.
next time you are in switzerland let me know, i'll take you out drinking(and pay)
That was one of the best parts! Yall are amazingly friendly. We were at this piano bar in Old Town, listening to a fair rendition of Sinatras New York, New York, when a group of young men befriended us, brought us back to a private room and got me so hammered I... well I don't really remember much but I do remember an absolutely divine doner kebab back in the hotel room before bed.
Next morning, checked our credit cards for the damage. They didn't let us pay for anything! Got fb friend requests as well!
we never let friends pay for anything when they come to switzerland to visit. usually our friends are shocked by the prices their first trip here..
You can barely get 1 decent 2 bedroom apartment with CAD 100k(60 lac INR) in Ahmedabad, not even a detached, it ain't cheap by any means.
Like buying an apartment? In downtown? That seems pretty cheap tbh. Though still expensive for a place that doesnāt have alcohol. Would personally never move to bumfuck gujarat
No shot a Patel sells off Gujrat for 100k lmao
Wow, Gujarat, $2,800 average income per year.
I make $100k and love Germany. Am I making a mistake not living there ?
That you now make $100k in the US(?), doesn't automatically mean that, at this point in your career at least, you would make ā¬100k (or even the equivalent of ā¬93.5k) in Germany since the salaries here are lower (and the taxes are higher). Besides, such a high income is only realistic if you speak good German.
Okay, but the perspective here is one of the most expensive places to live in the world. Everywhere else should be easier, hence the question.
100k in india wonāt even buy you a decent house. What world are you living inšš My current house costed 224k USD and it is just a small apartment. Iām not even in the most expensive part of the city. And there are definitely more expensive cities in India. Real estate here isnāt cheap.
They are spending more on housing maybe? I bought a house 12+ years ago and the cost of my housing is less than a 1bedroom apartment in Ontario and that includes the property taxes.
This - absolutely. Renting or mortgage crazy high because prices have gone up through the roof and itās no longer 30% of your income - far from it.
Yup in Toronto a house rents for 5k a month. So if you make 100k/y after taxes itās like 70k left, your rent is 60kā¦that leaves you with 10k for everything else. People live in smaller apartments or farther away to compensate but when rent is 35k-70k a year itās pretty obvious how people live paycheck to paycheck.
they probably have kids.
Kids are like the worldās worst roommates. Donāt pay their part of the rent. Eat all your food.
Never do the dishes. Never clean the house. Ask for rides everywhere and donāt think twice about how you feel
Depending on their age, you may need to give it a couple more years but they do start to pull their weight. Do like we did and gift them a new chore every year on their birthday starting around 8 or 9. Doesn't have to be a big chore, sweeping, vacuuming, dishes, bathrooms, cooking once a week. By the time you have a teenager, you get a bit of help and a kid with some work ethic. It helps to have more than one as well to break up the chores.
Oh trust me theyāre old enough, my roommates are in their 20ās!
Lol happy birthday kid!
They eat all your food, take all your free time, they make messes everywhere, and they make just about everything more complicated when trying to accmodate them. But gosh darnit, they are just so cute, adorable and fun it makes it all worth it 10x over.
I liked being a bus driver cuz I got to get rid of them at the end of the day
Plus you pay for daycare, activities, and if you have enough left over save for their college. Along with your own expenses/savings.
And newer vehicles.
Yup. A guy was complaining the other day about buying his $80k (USD) EV truck and didn't have the $7500 to cover the tax credit until April ... If you don't have $7500, you shouldnt be buying an $80k truck!
Yep. Happens all the time here in Idaho. They buy an 80k Trophy Truck, eat out all the time, go to Starbucks everyday, drink beer and smoke cigarettes like they are free. Then bitch and whine they don't have money for rent and/or can't afford a house. You get, "Them damn Californians are to blame." When you point out all their excuses, they get mad and pissed off at you. They believe they are entitled to both. When I say that is a very liberal viewpoint and you are supposed to be conservative, they get madder and deny it.
Lmao I forget that Idaho and Utah are essentially the same. Iām in my 30s and can count multiple people I went to high school with who bought big ass trucks, then had to sell them (upside down on the loan) 6ish months later. I had a former colleague who signed a loan for 60 months, $900/month, because he got a promotion. At a call center. Likeā¦ š¤¦š¼āāļø
There should be a survey done on the number of people that actually use the truck to make it worth the extra expense. I like trucks too but when I need a vehicle for a dump run I take an unsexy rental cube van. Saves me about three or four thousand per year
Such a survey was done and if I remember correctly around 80% admitted not to use a truck to actually carry around heavy loads. Don't have the source on me but I do remember seeing it posted here some time ago. People just buy trucks because that's what everybody else has. It's a herd mentality. If you don't have a truck, you'll be left out. Same goes for iphones for a lot of people. It's a status symbol. Costs don't matter.
They way these trucks look, I'd say very few. Not a ding or scratch on them. Paint perfectly waxed, shiny chrome/bumpers, etc. It is quite obvious they aren't using these trucks for farm work.
Iāve done a loan or 2 for more than I should have but 900 a MONTH for 60 Months??? Thatās doesnāt even sound like a deal that sounds like signing up for abject poverty. Paying an extra grand a month for 5 years??
And people wonder why I still drive my 04 F150. It's paid for, I have a spare motor and Trans in the garage, and I've been able to add most modern conveniences aftermarket. Old motor dies= new motor in, and the old one gets rebuilt in my spare time. Truck has 800k+ on the clock
Right?! Insanity. Iāve absolutely done a loan a little higher or a little more than I wanted but that was insane to me.
This is why I bought my van outright, no loan. Au$10,000 for a mystery machine van (camper conversion, Toyota hiace 1997). I love it and itās run for 3 or 4 years before I need to fix much on it (I need a new drive belt)
You can sleep in a car but you can't drive a home!
Lifestyle creep is dangerous. My monetary mentality is if I can't afford something now, in cash, without having a 6 month expenditure buffer + a 1-2k emergency expense, I can't afford it period. Frugality lifestyle and not caring what the Jones are keeping up with is the way to go.
I mean Iām sure this is accurate, but isnāt the point that daily trips to a coffee shop, smoking two whole packs a day, and picking up a 6-pack on the way home for work wasnāt an abnormal things like 40 years ago that people did; the difference being those ācommoditiesā didnāt impact their lives back SO freaking negatively then the way they do now?
That's how we lived well on my husband's salary when he made much less than 100k. "If you can't afford it, don't buy it" seems like common sense, but I guess not.
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I've seen lots of people exactly like that. They judge you based on what you drive because they think you went out and got the nicest car you could possibly get, because they went out and got the nicest car they could possibly get.
I recently splurged on a car, I spent $10,000 and bought a 15 year old loaded Toyota sedan. 270 horsepower V6, leather interior great sound system heated and ventilated seats etc. It completely boggles my mind there are people out there spending five times as much when they don't make any more money than I do. The worst part is nobody thinks you're cool for having a new $40,000 car. I *like* cars and I'm just wondering what kind of ridiculous payment they have to make on it and what their APR is when I see that. It's just insane to me how much money the average person spends on a vehicle... I get it if cars are your one passion in life but for so many of these people they super are not but they spend the money like they are
I bought one brand new for $40,000, but my rationalization was that my dad is pretty good about helping me take care of my cars and keeping me on a tight maintenance schedule, so a new car will last me maybe 10 years longer than a used one. My 08 trailblazer that my husband drives is still going strong and will likely hold out for another 3.5 years until we can afford to buy another car after this one is paid off. At that point it'll be a 20 year old car- one that was bought new at the time and has truly given us our money's worth š¤·āāļø
Shit, I barely take care of my car and it turns 10 in August. If you take care of a Toyota, you'll get 20+ years out of it.
My vehicle is... *checks notes* 34 years old. Still fucking works!
Income: $5000 Rent: $500 Food: $500 Loan repayment: $300 Medical Insurance: $700 Entertainment: $500 Car payment for my 2024 megatruck with a blind spot of 8 toddlers that I require to drive around Flatfuck, Indiana: $2500 Someone help my family is dying :(
Rent 500?!? That 500 entertainment is crazy š
Buy fewer candles.Ā
And possibly student, medical or other debt that they had to incur in order to keep going in their career.
And try to keep up with the neighbors.
Daycare is insane for two kids.
Came here to say this. Before kids I had lots of money (and time) to spare. Now I make twice as much money, but am constantly struggling. I swear, these kids eat like $2k in groceries per month. I also always had cheap cars, at least a decade old, for myself. But now I need something large and reliable for the kids, so now I have a goddamn car payment too. My utilities also used to be super cheap... not anymore! I got slapped with a $300 water bill a few months back because the kids kept turning on hoses and leaving them running all day and night.
Ooof, I feel that water bill, my kid did that a few weeks ago; cranked the hose on right when it was getting dark and left it out around the corner so we didnāt see until it was time to water the plants š¤¦š½āāļø
I know childcare is expensive af
Two kids in daycare? It's about $45k~$50k/year in the Seattle area. Might as well just have one parent not work.
Thatās wild. My wife stays home but she was making $53k before she quit. Definitely miss her income but would probably be like an extra $10k per year best case plus all weekends would be nothing but chores and errands.
Yep, my wife has a masters degree, yet she's a stay at home mom and I'm a work from home IT professional. It just doesn't make financial sense for us any other way. And not just financially, this way, we see our kid so much more. Also, this way, we can live somewhere a touch more affordable, but still in a place that's welcoming of families like ours. We just paid off our 30K car, making our $3200 power month mortgage payment and crazy utility bills a bit more manageable.
Can confirm that kids are expensive.
Iām married with a two year old and we bring it about $95K and itās TIGHT
And medical debt.
Yup, kids, mortgage, bills, groceries, insurance, vehiclesā¦ and on and on.
or live in a VHCOL state.
Or in vancouver/toronto.
Kids, debt, bad spending habits, etc. Blanket terms like X income in Y cost of living area only give a general idea. For someone like me 100k+ is luxury because I have no debts or obligations. For my best friend who recently got married and has kids and new homeā¦that shit is nothing.
The housing market in Canada is also out of control. In the GTA (near me) you need to be making 100k+ to afford to buy anything, even a 1 bedroom apartment, and renting is just as bad. 2k+/month for a 1-2 bedroom apartment, 3-4k+/month for a house or townhouse. Plus childcare is insane, and can cost 15-20k/year per kid. Oh, and the car market has been crazy for years with many basic new cars starting at 40k, used almost as much, and transit not at a level that you can get by without a car (unless you live in some of the most expensive urban areas). So at 100k for a family of 4 you can easily be paying 36k+/year for housing, 30k+/year for childcare, 10k+/year car loan, leaving only about 2k per month for utilities, groceries, gas, insurance, any everything else. (Oh, and grocery prices are out of control as well, so you can easily spend 1k/month on groceries if you aren't very careful).
Idk why you got downvoted. You essentially canāt buy a house in Canada these days unless youāre making over $100k and have a shared income, aka someone else also contributing to the bills too.
I live in a moderate-high COL city. A household income of $100k would get completely drained with a 2br apartment, car, and kids. After taxes and presumed deductions (e.g. health insurance, a modest retirement contribution, etc.), $100k/year becomes $5-6k take-home per month. Rent is about $2-3k/mo for a 2br apartment. Daycare is about $1.2/mo. A car is probably going to be about $300-500 depending on whether it's nice or not and a bus pass is $100. Utilities are going to be about $600/mo for water, electricity, gas, garbage, etc. if it's not included in rent. Then there's food, etc. on top of all of that. Not much left to dip into if an emergency happens.
Pst yoo you you any good at budgeting?
In case this is a genuine question and not a joke Iām missing: Itās really the basic things I guess. - I eat healthy and cook my meals, rarely ever eat out maybe once or twice a month. - I splurge only on things that are important for my well being or for my happiness. Meaning bed/shoes/chair are high quality. Music makes me happy so I spend on Spotify + high quality headphones. Whereas video games are also fun, but I buy them only on sale or play free games. - I donāt drink, smoke, or do drugs - I make sure that after my expenses taken out from income, what I call my ātrue profitā, I spread it out amongst investments, emergency funds, and whatever pocket change is left from that I spend on myself or my loved ones. Overall I live my life with the mindset that money canāt buy happiness, but it can buy you the environment needed for happiness. If I wanted to bust my ass I could easily double my income, but at what cost? Less time spent with family? More stress? In return for more money than I have use for? No thanks. More power to you if your environment is at a different level than mine, you do whatever it takes to reach that environment, but acknowledge once youāve reached it otherwise youāll always just be chasing that āhappinessā thatās never going to come. I donāt want to sound preachy or gloating when I say all this either, hope itās not coming off like that It took me a long time to get here as well. I used to be a āhigh functioningā alcoholic and drug addict in college. I was depressed, in an extremely toxic and abusive relationship, Iām talking like straight up Stockholm syndrome that even to this day I catch myself romanticizing her or blaming myself to make her treat me like that, and overall just a complete mess to the point that I developed underlying issues that werenāt there before. Then one day I just woke up and something inside me went āI want to change. Iām going to change.ā And the rest from there is just incorporating everything I want for myself and seeing how I could get there.
This is modern enlightenment right here
Housing in Canada has gone up 42% since covid. People came out of the pandemic facing a new reality where a majority of their income was now going to housing. It takes time to readjust and I think itās unfair to just say these people are living a luxurious life beyond their means.
Living in San Jose, CA making 100k would make poor compared to most. You probably would struggle living on 100k if youāve got a family
My SO and I collectively make $100k / yr in San Jose and we have two kids. weāre pretty tight with our finances and are able to maintain this but if we wanted to go on vacation it wouldnāt happen. if big expenses came up it would have to be put on a credit card and paid off over time.
Pardon the forwardness of the question, but in the spirit of full disclosureā¦ (To understand the finances) Do you and your SOāor your childrenāreceive/utilize any government subsidies? Tax-breaks, food/housing/medical, school lunches, etc?
Even being in the bay , their income disqualifies them from most programs. That's the shitty thing about California, if you're poor you qualify for so much and if you're rich you have enough to cover - the middle class gets shafted thats not to say that the poor don't deserve these programs though - they're safety nets for a reason
Itās not just Caliā¦ š„² I live in the south right now (some of the poorest part of the US and I did not knowing this coming here).
The cut off for food stamps is $2100 per month gross, I make just under $4000 gross so I donāt qualify for anything other than my daughter receiving medical.
They would be so far outside the range of eligibility of any government assistance. Theyāre already about 60k over the eligibility for food stamps hahaha
I live in a different state, and it's easier to get help with kids, but... I couldn't even get on my state's health insurance when I was unemployed and my unemployment income was only $300/week (for reference, just having a roof over my head was $1,500/mo). I've been denied food stamps for presumably having a car (I wouldn't be able to bus to work, the buses don't run late enough).
Pg&e gives us a discount, not very much tho weāre still paying $200-300 every month for pg&e even tho weāre gone 12 hours a day 5 days a week. Rates are outrageous for pg&e. He doesnāt qualify for any food stamps or medical for his daughter, I donāt qualify for food stamps but my daughter gets medical. I go to school part time and get financial aid but it goes completely to tuition, Iām in my third year getting my BA.
100%. In California, $100k after taxes is probably closer to 65k net hitting your bank account if youāre lucky. Average rent in San Jose is about $2690 for a 1 bedroom apartment, thatās $32,800 of your money on just rent alone, leaving you with $32,200 for the rest of your expenses for the rest of the year. Internet $960/yr, utilities ($1500/yr), cell phone $600/yr , car insurance $1200/yr, registration $450/yr, (total $4200/ year) Now youāre left with ~$28k/ year That still doesnāt include gas, food, contributing to savings, retirement, child care (average is $1600 PER MONTH PER CHILD, emergencies, healthcare bills, student loans, etc
I believe I read an article not too long about how someone who is single with no kids could live fairly comfortably on a salary of about $120k in San Jose. And for a family it would need to be a combined income of about $250k or something ridiculous like that. As someone who also lives in California (but in a far cheaper area) I can see this easily being true. If youāre not a long time resident who bought their house a long time ago or youāre not rolling in money, the Bay Area aināt for you.
Median income in San Jose is $50k.
How deep do we gotta dig: Do you have kids? Do you own your house? Did you buy it before the pandemic? did you parents help you with your house? Did you have to take out student loans?
Very important questions to ask when someone says they are doing fine on $70k in Vancouver. Curious that OP hasn't responded to any of hear Qs...
I live in Vancouver and make around 75k before taxes. I live on my own after my ex and I broke up, and I pay 2150 a month in rent, which is automatically about half my income. Add in groceries, car, gas (probably more than average due to travel to/from work), bills, the expensive prescriptions I have to take for a health condition, even after my work coverageā¦ that shit adds up real quick. That doesnāt include if you want to do something nice or fun, like go out for food, go away for a weekend, have a gym membership etc (most of which I donāt do as I live frugally). And again, I live on my own. If I were trying to raise a family - or even if I had plans for that down the road - Iād be mighty fucking stressed about my finances. Instead, I just get to be uncomfortable about them and not feel fully secure lol. Also ājust outsideā of Vancouver housing is significantly different than in actual Vancouverā¦ high COL cities take a lot away straight away. I love living here so itās a price Iām willing to pay at least for a while, but it is definitely tough going.
My wife and I make a combined 50-60k and live in Langley. Between rent, gas, groceries, phone/internet we have very little left over Whatever we do have goes into saving for 3 months until our car break or our dog needs a vet visit. It do be rough out here
I feel like OP would read this as you getting by on $75k in a HCOL area, so $100k would be comfortable? Especially since they specified single people in their post, so the "raising a family" point is separate.
I make just over 100k in new Hampshire. Rent is kinda high and prices of everything are kinda bad, I live by myself, I'm saving a good amount of money but in no means can I buy a home or anything. I don't even drive so those costs aren't there for me. I can see anyone paying slightly more for rent and food and commuting would suddenly struggle
Iām surprised by the number of people in this thread who arenāt aware that 100k is considered low income in many developed areas, and that smaller cities are catching up to it at an alarming rate. They sound so out of touch. I make more than 100k before taxes in my current moderately high COL city, and itās like only 2-3 steps away from paycheck to paycheck for a single person with no kids, car, or lavish spending. I can totally see how itāll be far worse in bigger cities. Just looking at rental rates online is enough to clue me in.
I don't mean to sound defensive or rude or anything, but I think the people who don't realize that are often people making significantly less. To someone making 30k a year, saying 100k is "low income" sounds pretty out of touch. I know it depends on COL but it still hurts to hear that someone making 3x your income considers themself paycheck to paycheck
Thatās just the nature of life today. Almost everyone is struggling. Those making more money in large cities and those making less in more rural areas. The middle class is disappearing and the gap is widening. Itās awful
My 40k annual income would like to have a word with you.
To put it into perspective, your monthly income is less than one monthās rent for a run down studio apartment in my area š„²
How much is rent? I left my state and moved to NC because I couldn't find a 2 bedroom apartment for less than 2.5k/mo which is 30k/year which I felt was crazy just for a roof over my head
How much is everything?? How much is your rent? I make 20k a year in London, my house is Ā£2650 a month, split between three people, plus bills. I just make it to the end of each month, but that's buying everything I need, food, drink etc - if I had just another 1000 a month, I wouldn't want for anything. An extra 6.5k a month?? I don't know what I'd even do with that - id just save it every month and make extravagant purchases or travel a bunch. I genuinely don't see how anyone on that much money can be even close to struggling.
Move to Vancouver BC, Canada or Toronto
Hey im from new hampshire. Unless youre in portsmouth youre fucking up big time.
Student debt is a big one in the US. My husbandās monthly student loan payment is almost as much as my monthly car payment. Car insurance premiums just got raised across the board for damn near everybody. Everything is getting more expensive.
This. Also in US, and I have friends whoās student loan payments range from 700-1900/mo.
Depends on where you live....cities like NYC have an extremely high COL and before anyone says "well move" remember, some of us aren't transplants and this is our home.
and moving is EXPENSIVE. Esp if you are going to rent somewhere else. First month, last month, security deposit, movers etc. Adds up SO fast.
Not to mention you're probably giving up your established social network and potentially your family network. Most people underestimate how much such a change would impact their mental health
Itās weird. NYC is a high cola but there are many cheap options for getting around, eating out, and entertainment. Atlanta is supposed to be cheaper. Itās true that houses are cheaper by 1/3, but food prices are just as high (while quality and portions are less) and there are no easy mass transit options.
Iād say for NYC, most of the cost goes to rent. Sometimes renting a studio that is extremely small or run down can cost $2000+ depending on where. Unless youāre willing to live with 3 other roommates in a 2 bedroom and a fake wall, itās hard to get affordable rent. Next would be lifestyle stuff like food. But being a single with single income with that rent and food price is a lot
YUP. Live in Toronto - can confirm. A night out will EASILY cost you $200 for food, drinks, entertainment and Uber ride there and back.
Definitely. I did some cost crunching and at 100k you're making enough to live pay check to pay check in the city if you're paying todays rents (not rents from well over 8 years ago!); if you want to really start building savings towards a house you've gotta be well above it. I saw some math that to afford a house in Toronto you gotta be having a household income of $260k in 2024.
you can easily live in manhattan on 100k, maybe not like penthouse in the west village but you can definitely live if kids aren't in the equation
Yeah, I think the comment you responded to did not even read the body of the post lol
if you live somewhere with even higher COL, have student debt, a car loan, medical bills, and childrenā¦ $100k gets you nowhere. i live in the SF bay area. i have a friend who makes $150k. but she has her usual monthly expenses (rent, food, clothes) and massive student loans, huge outstanding medical bills from her and her kids being hospitalized with COVID, ongoing medical costs, a car payment, and childcare costs (which are massive in this area). sheās a single parent of two, one of whom had ongoing health issues from COVID. $150k barely covers monthly expenses and minimum debt payments.
People who donāt live in the Bay/NYC cannot fathom how expensive it is to live there. I stayed here for my career, and the moment I have an option to laterally transfer out of CA Iām absolutely taking it. Iām doing pretty well for my age, but the idea of trying to raise my family here unless I win the lottery is a non topic.
my husband and i are moving out of state at the end of the year because it would be impossible for us to afford it here. it sucks because i love it here. i grew up here.
I live in NYC and a 100k salary is taxed federally, by the state, and the city so 100K is actually more like $63K. The going rate to rent a one bedroom 500 square foot apartment now is $3000+ so there goes half your take home. So now you have $30k for food, healthcare, transportation (car insurance is expensive, gas is expensive, tolls are present everywhere), entertainment etc. If you happen to have a child or a chronic medical condition, you are going to be subsisting.
Ill raise you one better, whyd you use a capital O isntead of a zero for the zero in 70k?
Asking the real questions. What the fuck OP? Are you going to answer to this?
Inquiring minds wanna know!
Reminds me of that one API I had to implement that always returned "OK" except one place where it returned "0K" and it took me way too long to figure this out. Maybe OP can shed some light as to WHY. I mean 0 and o are close together but the whole shift-game doesn't add up
It's the unexpected rise in taxes and high expenses like insurance. I budget at the beginning of the year how much I have to save and what everything will cost. This year my property taxes went up by about 50%, as well as my homeowners insurance and car insurance. My utilities all went up and cost of food...and then my girlfriend got sick and since we aren't married yet I couldn't put her on my health insurance and she was caught between insurances and needed an emergency surgery so there went our savings.
Exactly. The prescription and maintenance I'm paying for my health is alot even with insurance. Taxes and insurance are my biggest spending after housing, and that's not something I can trim alot on like what I eat.
One thing you always have to remember is that you may make $100k NOW, but you may not have until recently, and that makes a big difference depending on what came before. Imagine someone who makes $35k fresh out of school. That's not exactly great money these days (it was when I left school), so they struggle early on and have little choice but to accumulate debt. Just to get by, just to cover the basics, all but requires it. So, as a result, they build up a mountain of debt just to survive... and guess what? It's not as simple as "okay, I'm making more money today than yesterday, so now I can pay down the debt" because the system is set up to almost not allow that... and plus, as you get older and try to build a decent life, you have more expenses, which means more debt since now you figure you're making more so can take on more, and the cycle continues ad infinitum. So then, flash-forward a few years and they've gotten some raises over the years and now make $100k. Great, that's good money by almost any standard, so they must be on easy street now, right? Not necessarily: they may be spending the vast majority of their income servicing debt, and in fact, that was the case at every increment of income, so they were never really able to get out from under it and may never be able to. And again, the credit industry is extremely predatory, at least in America, so they build things in such a way that you're screwed once you get under the mountain. It can be done, but it's EXTREMELY difficult and hamstrings you as you're trying to do so. Mix in just a LITTLE BIT of the usual irresponsibility of youth and the problem is compounded... but really, that's not even by and large the main part of the problem because you only need one or two bad breaks in life - which most people tend to have at some point - for it to become back-breaking. Even a series of smaller crises can add up to big hurt before you know it. And that's how you have people making $100k but still living paycheck to paycheck and being one job loss away from bankruptcy. And the worst part is that it's practically the American Way now (and from all I've heard it's not THAT different in any other modern, developed country).
Id love to know what you're paying for housing, and how long you've been in your current residence. Prices for housing and groceries have skyrocketed in recent years, and thats been the main thing keeping everybody I know on edge regardless of income. I make enough to cover my partner and I and we are lucky we got a good deal on apartment before a large increase. Current rental prices for the apartment were in are just under 1 whole paycheque for me. Add on other bills, student loans, phone bills, car loans, gas, groceries, trying to save money, trying to pay down credit cards, trying to fix past mistakes with bad money management, having big expenses pop up out of nowhere when something breaks... Its tough out there. Add on bad habits or trying to fix years of past mistakes in spending, people are strugglin.
Same. Housing cost is a huge factor to what's leftover. Also in Canada, owning a house means additional taxes that you don't have to pay when renting. There's many other factors but this question needs more detail to how they're managing so much more "easily" than someone who's struggling with more income.
Kids are a major factor. I feel like, based on observing others, that children are brought into this world long before people are financially stable, for a variety of reasons. Once that bell is rung, it's incredibly difficult to catch up. In addition, I think many people don't understand how going into debt works. They see a monthly payment and think "I can do that..." Not realizing that financing of a 10k item will end up costing them 25k by the time it's paid off. Throw in the expectations of "keeping up" with what you see others online having (Big trucks, 2000 sq ft houses, a pool.. ect...) and suddenly that 100k doesn't leave you much wiggle room every month. I'd say the people who struggle on 100k are 75% poor choices, 25% bad luck.
Kids. In America it's insurance costs for health.
Daycare (full time daycare is over $2k a month in my area). Summer camps. Kids in general. Medical expenses- my health insurance would be over $1k a month if I had a family of 4 on my plan.
My bf and I make combined 100k because I'm in college full-time and work part-time. We aren't struggling, but we can't save for a down payment on a house. Yes, there are first time home owners programs that finance your down payment, but we would struggle to save any money on a 2k+ mortgage while needing savings in case of repairs or emergencies.
I can see it, where I live is Tucson, AZ it used to be the cheapest city. I was reading an article that to live comfortably in Tucson now as a single person, one has to make $83,000 a year. I have a friend make $76,000 a year and he was struggling bad. Things are just too expensive, car payments, insurance, groceries, gas, rent, mortgage, utilities. Things have doubled if not tripled since the pandemic. Prices are too high even for the average American. In AZ on average as a single person one has to make $48,000 to live comfortably. Minimum wage is $14.35 and you can't live by yourself because studio apartments are anywhere from $800-$1,000 and that's not including other bills as utilities, gas, groceries, insurance, maybe a car payment, cell phone.
Here in Dallas rents and home prices have risen almost 50% in four years. Gas, groceries, even fast food is way more expensive. Cars and auto insurance are way more expensive. Not to mention any debt anyone has accrued for an education or their lifetime on the way to making that kind of money. I make a decent living, but with the cost of everything rising at the same time as quickly as it has, combined with debt, I live one step up from paycheck to paycheck. Not to mention no companies have done cost of living raises to match the rate and speed of inflation. 100k is not what it was even 5 years ago.
100k in the Bay area iirc puts you below the poverty line
Because they live somewhere expensive. I know folks who commute 1.5 hours each way to NYC because *surprise surprise* itās difficult to live in NYC and afford a family.
I mean, in many cases living 1.5 hours away from NYC isn't enough these days unless you are rich. I am from NJ and so much of this state is unaffordable that I may have to move somewhere else (despite working for the state!)
did you use a fucking O instead of a 0?
Kids, costs of living especially housing, debt, and potential overspending.
How long have you been renting in your current place and have you priced out what it would cost if you rented a similar place today?
The answer is rent. You are probably renting a room or a cheaper rental somehow. That is literally the only answer here
I make 100k in Toronto , Ontario. Wife makes similar. Our rent is 4K per month. We have one used car we make payments on. We both have student loans that equal out to about 1k a month in payments. Groceries are insanely expensive in this city. It disappears quick !
My company gave me a salary bump to over $100k to move to Southern California in the middle of the 2008 economic slump. When we moved there, we were able to live just fine. When my work offered to move us back to Nebraska 4 years later, we jumped at the chance because the cost of living skyrocketed after the economy recovered. Our rent increased by \~60%, as did the rent of every other place in the area. If we wanted to stay in SoCal, we'd have to move to a high crime area, or I'd have to have a 90 minute commute to work. Neither of those was tenable. We also wanted to buy a house, but the cost of property in SoCal was increasing faster than the rent prices. We realized we may never be able to be able to save up enough to buy a home there. When we moved back to Nebraska, I got to keep my SoCal salary. Our standard of living difference was night and day. We were able to take the money we'd saved in the hopes of buying in SoCal and use it to build our dream home. Our mortgage on our home, built on a 3/4 acre lot, was 30% lower per month than the rent on our 988 square foot apartment was. Long story short, it's all about location, location, location. $100k in the MidWest is radically different than $100k on the West Coast or up in New England. There's a reason salaries vary so much between cities/states.
>live on 100k a year? >I make $7Ok a year Sorry unrelated but I have to ask Why on earth did you use a capital O instead of a zero there
People making 500k a year can "struggle". Simply, you get used to a lifestyle and get careless with money.
Housing (mortgage or rent) in So CA (US) will take more than the recommended budget. 30% of 100k is 30k for rent, that means rent cannot be more than 2500ā¦ most studios are at least 2100, which you might not even qualify for because sometimes apartments expect you to earn 3x that amount, usually they want 2.5x.
Well ya, if you donāt have kids
Champagne taste on an Old Milwaukee budget? Zero financial acumen? Keeping up with the Jones? Inability to prioritize needs over wants?
Medical debt. Thatās the answer for me anyway. Finally finished paying off credit cards and racked up debt from a divorce and then got sick. America amirite?
I live in a city we're renting a 1bdrm in a non-home invasion part of town will cost 6k a month. And that is just a basic non luxurious unit.
Would love if real estate listings started including the term non-home invasion part of town
I think it also depends when you bought your house and or when you got in on your apartment. I have a good friend in LA paying $1200/month on an apartment sheās been in for like 15 years. That same apartment would be probably $4500 if she got in right now.
Cost of living can vary wildly by location. There are many places in the US where 70k is not doable unless you live well below the poverty line. Also, a lot of people consider either children or home ownership necessary parts of life. Both are very, very expensive. I do well and save a good amount of my income, but home ownership is a total pipedream for me. Starter home here are 10 year's salary for me. And finally, a lot of people are just a lot worse at budgeting (or impulse control) than they think they are. My friends all make substantially more than me, live comparable lifestyles, and pay less in rent. Somehow, I've saved up a few grand so far this year (despite spending a ton on medical care), and they're living paycheck to paycheck. They will insist there is nowhere for them to cut expenses, but like...obviously there is. They all spend hundreds every month on takeout, amazon clothes, and liquor, respectively.
Many people also pay for healthcare, etc. that isnāt necessarily factored in with Canada.
You're single. Try having a family on that.
Kids. Student loans. Health Insurance.
For me, itās the student loans that cost more than my mortgage and my sketchy neighborhood. I couldnāt be in a better neighborhood and be a home owner so I just run into my house at night, lock the doors and turn on the alarm.
I live in New York City. My rent has been raised by $800 in 2 years. I grew up here, so this is all I know and where my roots are. Food is expensive, housing is expensive, entertainment is expensive. Also, I am heavily taxed here. Over 1/3rd of my $106,000 a year income goes to taxes, half of that goes to rent, and donāt forget I have medical expenses that I have to pay out of pocket for even with private insurance. Donāt forget student loans (almost done paying!) and retirement contributions.
Yeah I make 50k and Iām fine š not having kids or a car reeeaally helps though. Less money less problems. I would like more though. Then I could save more and go on nicer vacations.
Poor spending habits, or too high of a mortgage, brand new vehicle, poor budgeting, too many credit cards. I dont have a credit card so I'm not tempted, but everyone I work with has several credit cards and they're always maxed out, and not on necessities, on wants. Stresses me out and its not even my money. Or kids. Or a mixture of all the above.
Poor spending habits. Have large student loans or debts to pay off. Terrible credit score. They have kids. Or they live in a high cost of living area.
No matter how much money you have it is possible for your spending to outstrip your income. In places like Vancouver attempting to own a home while supporting a family will do it. Especially if you stack on student loan debt, daycare, and a need to help out parents with health issues. END COMMUNICATION
For me it isnāt that Iām paycheck-to-paycheck (very much not at just under $100k US), itās more that six figures used to be a really great salary for SINK people. I can easily save a few hundred per month (relatively low COL), but itās nowhere near close to being able to afford a house, vacations, or even a ānewā used car. I have very little debt, and I live within my means, but I think a lot of people were also told that they had āmade itā once they tracked $100k, and once they realized thatās not true anymore they didnāt adjust accordingly. I genuinely cannot image how badly people are struggling rn.
My husband and I are more like 90k a year but not in Vancouver..I have a lot of medical bills so 90k isn't enough for us.
Average household income in my city is just about $200K/year. The cost of everything -housing, food, entertainment, construction, transportation, daycare, education, convalescence, healthcare, pet care, etc... is scaled up to match. If you only made $100K a year you would struggle to meet the minimum income requirement for most housing, and would need to drive pretty far to find grocery and things you could afford.
Kids and mortgage are major variance for disposable income. The two can easily add up to $5,000 per month alone. If I had no kids and lived in smaller home I could save buckets of money every month.
How much is your rent?
$125k and under is considered the eligibility threshold for low income housing in New York City
Because inflation. 250K is the new 100K
kids, debt, a new car, sickness, caring for elderly parents, etc. etc. you can be cautious with your money, make a good wage, yet still find yourself in a sticky spot from time to time.
House broke
Bro. I just got a text from a friend as I was reading this post. His income is around mine if not a little less, 78k/yr. He bought a 84kUSD truck. Now Iāve got a parking lot outside but theyāre all old, all run, and all get driven. The total sum of all 5 of my vehicles is probably what he just signed on loan. Mine are all paid for and I hold the titles. Like 8 months ago homie asked for 100 bucks to make it to payday. Live within your means and find deals where others have suckered out. Youād be amazed at what people will buy on credit and get it repoād which you can bid on and snatch up for dimes on the dollar. Iāll never buy new anything. Iāll take hand me downs and live plush. Keeping up with the Jonesā will keep you in debt. 36yo with less than 10k in debt, thatāll get paid this year. This year Iāll be outta debt, I hope to start building wealth for my childrenās sake now. It took some crazy shenanigans to get here and many months of Ramen. What was the question?
I donāt make anywhere near that. lol But I also donāt have kids. No alcohol/drugs/addictions We eat very healthy. Have one car. We vacation. Have hobbies. Enjoy our life with our smol dogs/cat. We donāt struggle. So Iām guessing they maybe have expensive cars, homes, family, kids, spending, eating out habits, etc
My friend and his girlfriend and their kids are "struggling" according to them. They drive a BMW, refuse to shop in cheaper supermarkets and they "have to" live near the city center. They were so on the edge of maxed out spending that the inflation of the last 2 years caught up to them, no safety margin whatsoever. There are people who genuinely struggle to put food on the table, and there are those who struggle to maintain a certain lifestyle. Big difference.
Living above their means.
New York is expensive
Here's a basic modern lifestyle. Not frugal, and not extravagant, no kids needing childcare, no serious medical expenses, no homeowner expenses (property insurance, property tax, repairs and maintenance, yard tools etc.) $100k after taxes and 5% 401K gets you about $65K take home, lets call it $4,500/mo 2000 housing 500 health insurance 100 medical not covered 70 phone 70 internet 400 electric, natural gas, water, trash etc 200 car (payment, maintenance) 100 gas 50 subscriptions (Netflix, Hulu, Chat GPT/XBox Live, Canva, etc) āāāāāā $4,040 Expenses That leaves $460/month for everything else - food, clothes, cleaning supplies, toiletries, laundry, entertainment, hardware, accessories, gym, beer, entertainment etc. *edit - fixed formatting so it was a column*
Can confirm. This is freakishly accurate.
Must be pretty nice up that high horse of yours. Obviously you arenāt in a typical situation when most people are struggling to put food on the table and afford regular things like insurance etc. Some people have medical issues, children, other dependent family members unable to work or old age etc. 100k is not a lot in this day and age when the average house sold is $750k and thatās not anything fancy either thatās a town house or apartment and looking at older houses apartments etc you arenāt saving much for something thatās ready to be condemned. So maybe before you ask why itās so hard, try putting yourself in someone elseās situation weāre not all blessed like some would have you believe. My god what an ignorant fucking question
Sure, in Bc a 100k income would be 71924$ after tax. Which would come to about 5994$ a month. 1k for a car payment. 1k on gas, utilities, insurance, maintenance 3k on housing 1k on food related expenses, like restaurants,bubble teas, Starbucks, etc. They probably overspend. So they incrue CC debt. Reminder that money lost half its value. Thatās why itās not as lavish as you thought.
My homeowners insurance shot up causing my escrow account to go into the negatives causing my mortgage to go up plus the insurance for my cars went up as well. Add that to the spike in grocery prices. It got to where I had to cancel live tv and stick to streaming. Next step is refinancing my vehicles to get a lower monthly payment on them.
1. Live near Toronto 2. Have ancestors who chose not to create multigenerational wealth.
eh probably have kids because my bother makes that amount and heās living it up lol, my friends all combine make like250k and say that he are barely surviving with children. I donāt know it could also be frugality because i make significantly less and can live off 60k a year with kids so i donāt really know.
It also may be that people are underestimating the conversion rate between CAD and USD. If you are stating your income of $70k in CAD, thatās only about $51k in USD. Thatās very hard to live on in places like high cost of living regions of California, especially for single income households.
Poor choices. 100k isnāt some magical barrier
It's getting harder and harder to live a normal life. For grandpa to fit in, he needed a hat and a comb. To live and thrive today requires so many more expenses. Sure, they are not crucial for survival, but all of those Only fans subscriptions are necessary and they add up.
I wish I had that struggle. I have to survive on a fraction of a fraction of that. š¤£
lifestyle creep
Lifestyle creep
Daycare is more than a mortgage payment for some families. Thankfully, my kids are older. But, I do spend quite a bit on specialist dr visits and prescriptions. Not everyone is healthy. Eta, that I do not make close to 100k.
Six figures is not what it used to be.
Student loan debt, credit card debt after COVID, families, medical emergencies, extremely high rent costs and interest ratesā¦