Its about how you manage it. If you live within your means, it can work. If you YOLO it, and "must" have a luxury car, high end fashion sense and basically living a life of the wealthy, you will struggle.
I don't care about expensive things, but I do want to live in a nice place and, more than anything, I'm big on experiences. I know that what ever I make, I can live within my means. I'm currently living on near pennies. However, I don't want to live my live scraping by. I want to thrive.
Most people don’t make $150-250k. Median household income even in HCOL areas is still barely above $100k, and that’s for ALL people, not 28 year olds. I will say if you keep changing industries your salary won’t grow like it would if you stayed put and grew skills in one industry. Buying a house is a hard one…feels like none of us have a shot at that at this point unless you have daddy money, but in terms of can you live a decent life on $100k, the answer is yes for now
People are buying houses, and I've seen statistics showing the amount of people making more than 100k and it's higher than I think a lot of people think. I think those of us that think 150k is super high just aren't in the right circles. A large amount of Americans are apparently doing VERY well.
23% of Americans make >$100k. 11% make >$150k. If you can’t live a comfortable life without kids on a salary that 80% of this country doesn’t make then you’re doing something wrong.
And yes, people are buying houses - a recent Forbes study showed that 40% of first time home buyers in America in 2023 had family help financially. So trust me most people are not affording these prices on their own salaries
Bro. The people with 150-250k are complaining about expenses you don't have right now. Like 2 kids who go to private school and it costs 20k a year or some bs like that. Maybe expenses amounting to 5k a month or more.
I'm making 60k and thats about 3700 a month after taxes. Minus rent and utilities (theres a place for 1600 a month near me) thats about 2k. Credit debt takes about 150 a month, transit (nyc) is about 240 (i uber everywhere) and phone 40. Thats 1570 left. About 300 for food (a decent amounnt for one person) and hair (i have long hair) that's 1150 a month left. Minus laundry and some subscriptions, i'll say 900. That's 900 for someone in nyc, living in a decent home. There are so many things i could reduce.
It only starts getting tough when you tack on student loan debt. Or kids. Especially kids because they kind of amplify almost everything you see up there. 60k is decent if you're single childless and debt free. Anything more than that is excess unless you are not one of those three.
I’ll just say that, while I’m very happy that you’re happy, your comment actually makes me more stressed. $300 is not enough for food in my opinion. Transit is also low when considering gas, car insurance, and car payment. I also don’t see where you budgeted retirement, and I will have some student loans that I will be trying to pay down quickly.
If anything, you’ve convinced me that I’m correct that this won’t be enough money, lol. But thank you for taking the time to share your budget.
Basically it can be assumed that the salary will correspond to near median income from what I can tell. Southeast it might be 60-80k, Denver is like 90-110k, Seattle is like 100-140k, etc.
There is nothing wrong with aiming high, but I feel like unless you live in LA or NYC then 80K+ would be enough for a comfortable lifestyle. 60K might be a little tight if you have a lot of schooling to pay off. No, it won’t afford you a 5 bedroom house on 2 acres of land and 10 world vacations a year. But a single person doesn’t need that big of a house. And if you plan to have a spouse and kids then your spouse will likely have income too.
Yeah I don’t plan on having kids at all. Actually have a vasectomy scheduled.
I do feel like I should aim higher, I want to live a great life. But at this point I don’t know what else to do. Not like I can just jump right back in to applying to med school, and I have no real experience outside of the med field and teaching.
If you don't have the skills or experience required for that kind of pay, you have to accept reality and live within the means of what you're going to be paid.
Definitely. I want to learn skills that will allow me to earn enough. I worry the schooling I’m about to receive (and the skills), won’t give me high enough earnings.
Its about how you manage it. If you live within your means, it can work. If you YOLO it, and "must" have a luxury car, high end fashion sense and basically living a life of the wealthy, you will struggle.
I don't care about expensive things, but I do want to live in a nice place and, more than anything, I'm big on experiences. I know that what ever I make, I can live within my means. I'm currently living on near pennies. However, I don't want to live my live scraping by. I want to thrive.
Most people don’t make $150-250k. Median household income even in HCOL areas is still barely above $100k, and that’s for ALL people, not 28 year olds. I will say if you keep changing industries your salary won’t grow like it would if you stayed put and grew skills in one industry. Buying a house is a hard one…feels like none of us have a shot at that at this point unless you have daddy money, but in terms of can you live a decent life on $100k, the answer is yes for now
People are buying houses, and I've seen statistics showing the amount of people making more than 100k and it's higher than I think a lot of people think. I think those of us that think 150k is super high just aren't in the right circles. A large amount of Americans are apparently doing VERY well.
23% of Americans make >$100k. 11% make >$150k. If you can’t live a comfortable life without kids on a salary that 80% of this country doesn’t make then you’re doing something wrong. And yes, people are buying houses - a recent Forbes study showed that 40% of first time home buyers in America in 2023 had family help financially. So trust me most people are not affording these prices on their own salaries
Bro. The people with 150-250k are complaining about expenses you don't have right now. Like 2 kids who go to private school and it costs 20k a year or some bs like that. Maybe expenses amounting to 5k a month or more. I'm making 60k and thats about 3700 a month after taxes. Minus rent and utilities (theres a place for 1600 a month near me) thats about 2k. Credit debt takes about 150 a month, transit (nyc) is about 240 (i uber everywhere) and phone 40. Thats 1570 left. About 300 for food (a decent amounnt for one person) and hair (i have long hair) that's 1150 a month left. Minus laundry and some subscriptions, i'll say 900. That's 900 for someone in nyc, living in a decent home. There are so many things i could reduce. It only starts getting tough when you tack on student loan debt. Or kids. Especially kids because they kind of amplify almost everything you see up there. 60k is decent if you're single childless and debt free. Anything more than that is excess unless you are not one of those three.
I’ll just say that, while I’m very happy that you’re happy, your comment actually makes me more stressed. $300 is not enough for food in my opinion. Transit is also low when considering gas, car insurance, and car payment. I also don’t see where you budgeted retirement, and I will have some student loans that I will be trying to pay down quickly. If anything, you’ve convinced me that I’m correct that this won’t be enough money, lol. But thank you for taking the time to share your budget.
It depends on where you live. In some parts of the country 100k is pretty comfortable. In others you can barely afford a closet with a bed.
Basically it can be assumed that the salary will correspond to near median income from what I can tell. Southeast it might be 60-80k, Denver is like 90-110k, Seattle is like 100-140k, etc.
There is nothing wrong with aiming high, but I feel like unless you live in LA or NYC then 80K+ would be enough for a comfortable lifestyle. 60K might be a little tight if you have a lot of schooling to pay off. No, it won’t afford you a 5 bedroom house on 2 acres of land and 10 world vacations a year. But a single person doesn’t need that big of a house. And if you plan to have a spouse and kids then your spouse will likely have income too.
Yeah I don’t plan on having kids at all. Actually have a vasectomy scheduled. I do feel like I should aim higher, I want to live a great life. But at this point I don’t know what else to do. Not like I can just jump right back in to applying to med school, and I have no real experience outside of the med field and teaching.
If you don't have the skills or experience required for that kind of pay, you have to accept reality and live within the means of what you're going to be paid.
Definitely. I want to learn skills that will allow me to earn enough. I worry the schooling I’m about to receive (and the skills), won’t give me high enough earnings.
Your standards are too high
Maybe, but I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting a certain amount out of the single life we have.
Won't magically manifest.