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re: Spinoff: How much does it cost to live a middle class life?
Posted on 5/12/15 at 5:00 am to the808bass
Posted on 5/12/15 at 5:00 am to the808bass
quote:
Tryna figure if this is a passive brag.
Do you think I am proud of that?? I am frustrated and confused... Not proud. I'd be more proud of living well, planning appropriately, and saving responsibly. I am not. I am aggressively trying to figure this out right now.
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Posted on 5/12/15 at 5:56 am to AUjim
Need to include tax in that estimation, both for the house and income tax. That's going to chop things down a lot.
And $400 is a terrible amount to save a month.
And $400 is a terrible amount to save a month.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 6:07 am to cokebottleag
quote:
And $400 is a terrible amount to save a month.
No. Not really. It is relative to what the income is. For someone making 60K a year, that is actually decent.
For someone making 150K per year, it is not enough.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 7:20 am to LanierSpots
This whole thread is bullshite.
The OP asked a question and all people have really talked about is what they make a year.
The OP asked a question and all people have really talked about is what they make a year.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 7:21 am to LanierSpots
quote:
No. Not really. It is relative to what the income is. For someone making 60K a year, that is actually decent.
Hell no it isn't. That amounts to saving less than ten percent of your income at 60k.
Even liberal financial advisers these days will tell you that you need to save at least 15 to 20 percent of your income if you don't want to struggle in retirement. Some recommend you put aside a fourth of your paycheck each month and live on the rest, no matter what that entails.
For $60k, that's $5000 per month gross. If you can't save at least $800 out of that, you are spending too much.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 7:24 am to tiger114
quote:
Thank you. This whole thread begs the question of "what is middle class?". I do not live lavishly. I drive a 10 year old car. Wife has a new one. We have a nice house, but those are our only major expenses. I made $250k last year and didn't save a dime beyond my 401k.
We have 3 kids that we try to provide what we can for, but no way in hell could I make a decent life for us on anything less than $150k. And it wouldn't be much on that.
Life is expensive these days.
ETA: just read through this thread. There are a lot of folks doing more with less than me. I just can't figure this out.
My wife used to say the same thing (for much less salary, but still more than enough to live comfortably). You would be surprised what you spend in food and little things every month. It adds up like you wouldn't believe. We have 1 kid, and haven't eaten out in 6 months. We still spend probably $120 a week on groceries, but we could definitely do much less; I like to cook, and I cook very well. When I was single I had it down to $50 a week. We got married 3 years out of college (2 for her) and were able to put 50k down on a house. We are building our savings back up every month, even with a baby. There are a bunch of tricks for budgeting that you need to start doing:
You don't need to necessarily have a strict budget for everything, but you need to know where your costs are going. Sit down with the wife and budget out every dime you spent last month. You will be shocked how much went to food and bullshite you didn't really need or think about at the time.
Your disposable income should be pulled out every month as cash. Put it in an envelope and leave your card at home. When you have a tangible bit of money, and you can watch it go, you don't spend it as much.
If you have a debit card, don't keep any money on it. Only move money when you are going to make a purchase. It helps with the tangible aspect as well.
Move money to savings every month FIRST. Do not touch your savings.
Save 5% every month, minimum. You want to start small if you aren't saving now. You can afford to part with $250 dollars a month, so start with that. Whatever is 5% or around that. You won't even notice it.
Pay off cars early. Houses are harder, but you should be able to do a car.
Your savings should be in a mutual fund or bond fund. I keep about half my savings (not counting retirement) in a reliable high yield bond fund that makes about a 6-7% dividend (yearly, of course). It's not much, but its money I didn't have at the beginning of the month. I don't plan for my savings to ride stocks; too much short term volatility unless they are for retirement.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 7:27 am to scrooster
quote:
Depends on the family, the region of the country in which they live, how many, etc.
I'd say $62-$65k bare minimum. Figure 50% goes to taxes. That's FICA, Federal, State, Property, Sales, Gas taxes, etc. It adds up.
You are actually left with around $31-$33k.
Family of four has to pay for insurance(s) x3 or x4, food, clothes, mortgage, car payment (if you are a dumb arse), incidentals, unexpecteds, entertainment (bare minimum), etc., on less than three grand a month.
That's cutting it very very close with little left over for emergencies, retirement, etc.
I actually agree with the old bird here. $65-75 is bare minimum, with a major medical emergency or sudden loss of a job life would get tough. I think a lot of people in this thread don't realize the the cost of raising 2 or more kids.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 7:42 am to cokebottleag
quote:
I keep about half my savings (not counting retirement) in a reliable high yield bond fund that makes about a 6-7% dividend (yearly, of course)
which one? I want to put money into something like that.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 7:47 am to WG_Dawg
USHYX. the ttm (12 month trailing) Yield is only 5.5% right now, it was better when I started a few years ago. Hadn't checked it again until now. Thanks Obama.
LINK
I'm sure the ballers on the money forum would laugh their asses off at me, but I really don't have time to cruise around for a better fund, and this one is reliable and solid enough for a know-nothing like me. It's money I didn't have before and its better than sticking it in a savings account making .00001%.
LINK
I'm sure the ballers on the money forum would laugh their asses off at me, but I really don't have time to cruise around for a better fund, and this one is reliable and solid enough for a know-nothing like me. It's money I didn't have before and its better than sticking it in a savings account making .00001%.
This post was edited on 5/12/15 at 7:50 am
Posted on 5/12/15 at 7:52 am to Person of interest
quote:
I think a lot of people in this thread don't realize the the cost of raising 2 or more kids.
My wife and I do. That's why we don't want children.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 8:13 am to tiger114
quote:
I am frustrated and confused... Not proud. I'd be more proud of living well, planning appropriately, and saving responsibly. I am not. I am aggressively trying to figure this out right now.
I get it. I remember when I made my first big jump in earnings and the bills seemed to expand to match the increase in earnings (which after taxes didn't seem to be nearly as much as it should be).
Good luck!
Posted on 5/12/15 at 8:34 am to OMLandshark
quote:
Seriously. Where the hell can you find insurance for that price unless your company has a hell of a deal.
Farm Bureau. very few tickets. I actually looked at a bill last night after this thread and it looks like we moved up a hair to $82. my wife pays her bills and I pay mine, so I haven't kept up with it as much
Posted on 5/12/15 at 8:38 am to the808bass
quote:
I get it. I remember when I made my first big jump in earnings and the bills seemed to expand to match the increase in earnings (which after taxes didn't seem to be nearly as much as it should be
this last year was the first time of being in my current tax bracket. bricks were shat when I saw my W2 in January.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 8:45 am to 3nOut
I keep hoping living semi-responsibly will pay off at some point. I'm currently unconvinced.
And I really wish public schools didn't suck so I could save the second house payment I make to my kids' schools.
And I really wish public schools didn't suck so I could save the second house payment I make to my kids' schools.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 8:50 am to 3nOut
Needed your money for climate research brah. Sorry
Posted on 5/12/15 at 8:59 am to cokebottleag
quote:
Needed your money for climate research brah. Sorry
interesting thread on the politics board about the idea of getting to direct where your taxes go. EPA and CC research would not be high on my list.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 10:31 am to AUjim
Posted on 5/12/15 at 5:45 pm to AUjim
quote:
Rent/Mortgage-1000
Groceries-600
Gas-500
Daycare-1100 (2 kids)
Car 1-300
Car 2-300
Insurance-125
Cable-75
Internet-50
Savings-400
Phones-150
How are you going to get insurance for two cars plus health care for four people for only $125? Also, even if you pay for insurance, there's still a lot of medical bills you'll have to pay out of pocket, so you need to list something for that. And then of course there's dental insurance and expense, which usually carries high deductibles or co-pays even you have insurance. Dentistry and orthodontics for kids will be expensive, not to mention if you want any kind of decent dental care for yourself and your wife.
Also, you have no clothing expense listed. You're going to be buying clothes a lot if you have two kids and a wife.
$500 a month for gas seems a little high. If you assume roughly $3-4 a gallon and roughly 20 miles per gallon, you're talking about driving about 2,500-3,300 miles a month. Even for two cars, that's a little high. Nationwide, I would guess the average is less than 1,000 miles per month per car, and maybe significantly less.
I don't see any listing for entertainment, other than cable and internet (and phones?), but you're going to spend money on going out to eat, taking kids to ball games, etc. And that's not even to mention a big trip to Disneyworld or somewhere every year.
You're also probably going to want to buy the kids presents for birthdays, Christmas, etc. That can cost quite a bit, even when you spread them out in monthly amounts.
Obviously, areas differ in housing costs, but $1000 a month doesn't buy or rent you very much these days, especially not to keep a family of four in a middle class lifestyle.
Your budget doesn't seem realistic for a middle class family of four.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 7:54 pm to Nuts4LSU
I don't disagree with you. I figured the health insurance and retirement stuff is typically off of gross-without getting too hung up on a technicality, this is kinda the point.
Also, not a single person has pointed out the accidental oversight of utilities......thats another 200 bucks per month.
Also, not a single person has pointed out the accidental oversight of utilities......thats another 200 bucks per month.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 9:27 pm to PrivatePublic
quote:
you need to save at least 15 to 20 percent of your income
Which is it? 15 or 20?
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