Denver on 85K per year (family of 4) - thoughts? (Aguilar: insurance, mortgage)

[Wanderlust1978]

So I'm starting to think about relocation to the Denver area. Right now my family lives in California. Out here my wife and I combine to make right around 100K per year, but we have a unique situation that means we have no housing costs. Consequently, we've never really had much of a monthly budget.

That doesn't mean we're not good savers. We max out my 403B, our IRAs, pay down her student loans, and save a little in cash too. But we've never really needed to watch expenses that carefully in order to do it because our expenses are so low.

If we relocate to Denver, I don't think we'll be making as much. I'm thinking it could be around 85,000 combined in the beginning. She just works part time. We should have enough cash to put down 20% on a starter home in the 200,000 to 250,000 range, but obviously we'll have to cover the mortgage and associated costs (prop taxes, maintenance, etc).

We're a family of four with a 3 year old and a <1 year old. I'm interested in hearing from folks who live in Denver and have a similar income level. How do you feel financially? What's your budget look like? Do you feel comfortable or are you struggling to make it work? I appreciate hearing your stories and experiences.

[Count David]

jobs yet?

[Wanderlust1978]

We won't move until one of us has a position, most likely me. It would be logistically nearly impossible for both of us to secure something before the move. Given my wife's field, she's likely to work in a short-term/relief capacity initially while she looks for something permanent. We'd have a savings reserve to draw on in a transitional period if it was absolutely necessary.

[Count David]

Combined, my wife and I make between $100-$115K. We have 3 kids. Earlier this year, we bought a home for $262K. Our monthly bills are about $2500 (which is the higher end, sometimes they are as low as $2300), which includes the mortgage, utilities, insurance (auto/home/life), satellite, phones, etc. After those bills are paid, we have about $4K/mo to live on, save, etc. No debt besides the mortgage.

We've made it here on lower than $40K.

We're native Californians too. We moved here when I was 23 (I turn 31 in Nov). Community college dropout many times over.

[ArthurDaly]

Why do you want to move? Unless you are in a really really bad area (or place) I would very carefully weigh giving up a no cost living situation. Housing here is tricky - rents are very high and housing inventory is very low.

[ShampooBanana]

Originally Posted by Wanderlust1978

So I'm starting to think about relocation to the Denver area. Right now my family lives in California. Out here my wife and I combine to make right around 100K per year, but we have a unique situation that means we have no housing costs. Consequently, we've never really had much of a monthly budget.

That doesn't mean we're not good savers. We max out my 403B, our IRAs, pay down her student loans, and save a little in cash too. But we've never really needed to watch expenses that carefully in order to do it because our expenses are so low.

If we relocate to Denver, I don't think we'll be making as much. I'm thinking it could be around 85,000 combined in the beginning. She just works part time. We should have enough cash to put down 20% on a starter home in the 200,000 to 250,000 range, but obviously we'll have to cover the mortgage and associated costs (prop taxes, maintenance, etc).

We're a family of four with a 3 year old and a <1 year old. I'm interested in hearing from folks who live in Denver and have a similar income level. How do you feel financially? What's your budget look like? Do you feel comfortable or are you struggling to make it work? I appreciate hearing your stories and experiences.

It will be tough to find any housing in the $200-250k range here, at least not single family in a decent school district. That said, I was lucky enough to find a townhome in a great area near where I work for $235k when I moved here about 3 months ago. My wife and I just had a child (our first) and are making it by living fairly frugally on just my income (about $75k/yr). It can be done, and it seems like you've set yourself up to be able to do it by being pretty good with your money. I think $85k should be plenty to get it done.

[pharkonnen]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Combined, my wife and I make between $100-$115K. We have 3 kids. Earlier this year, we bought a home for $262K. Our monthly bills are about $2500 (which is the higher end, sometimes they are as low as $2300), which includes the mortgage, utilities, insurance (auto/home/life), satellite, phones, etc. After those bills are paid, we have about $4K/mo to live on, save, etc. No debt besides the mortgage.

We've made it here on lower than $40K.

We're native Californians too. We moved here when I was 23 (I turn 31 in Nov). Community college dropout many times over.

I have a question,

My SO and I make about the same amount of combined income as you (literally 100-115k depending on bonuses etc) but our take-home pay isn't nearly as much as you. I assume it's because of having kids or ? Just browsing through here and noticed this - really gobsmacked. Take-home of ~6300/m would be great (we take home abt 5k depending). The govt takes too damn much :S

[Count David]

Originally Posted by pharkonnen

I have a question,

My SO and I make about the same amount of combined income as you (literally 100-115k depending on bonuses etc) but our take-home pay isn't nearly as much as you. I assume it's because of having kids or ? Just browsing through here and noticed this - really gobsmacked. Take-home of ~6300/m would be great (we take home abt 5k depending). The govt takes too damn much :S

It could be because of the kids. Whatever we did on our W4's made it to where I get more take-home, and my wife gets about $160/less every two weeks (we have identical salaries). We've also never had a year without a tax refund.

[JohnnyDenver]

Originally Posted by Wanderlust1978

So I'm starting to think about relocation to the Denver area. Right now my family lives in California. Out here my wife and I combine to make right around 100K per year, but we have a unique situation that means we have no housing costs. Consequently, we've never really had much of a monthly budget.

That doesn't mean we're not good savers. We max out my 403B, our IRAs, pay down her student loans, and save a little in cash too. But we've never really needed to watch expenses that carefully in order to do it because our expenses are so low.

If we relocate to Denver, I don't think we'll be making as much. I'm thinking it could be around 85,000 combined in the beginning. She just works part time. We should have enough cash to put down 20% on a starter home in the 200,000 to 250,000 range, but obviously we'll have to cover the mortgage and associated costs (prop taxes, maintenance, etc).

We're a family of four with a 3 year old and a <1 year old. I'm interested in hearing from folks who live in Denver and have a similar income level. How do you feel financially? What's your budget look like? Do you feel comfortable or are you struggling to make it work? I appreciate hearing your stories and experiences.

Making 100k per year and no cost housing . . . . and now factor in housing costs, day care, and other expenses you probably don't have in SD . . . . sounds like you have the Life of Riley where you are . . . why give up all that to move to Eastern California or New California as several call it.

As others have mentioned, cost if living here is high . . . you would be lucky to find a starter house (3/2) for that amount unless you were way east of the city and that would be a suck ass commute into Denver.

[MissTerri]

Originally Posted by Wanderlust1978

So I'm starting to think about relocation to the Denver area. Right now my family lives in California. Out here my wife and I combine to make right around 100K per year, but we have a unique situation that means we have no housing costs. Consequently, we've never really had much of a monthly budget.

That doesn't mean we're not good savers. We max out my 403B, our IRAs, pay down her student loans, and save a little in cash too. But we've never really needed to watch expenses that carefully in order to do it because our expenses are so low.

If we relocate to Denver, I don't think we'll be making as much. I'm thinking it could be around 85,000 combined in the beginning. She just works part time. We should have enough cash to put down 20% on a starter home in the 200,000 to 250,000 range, but obviously we'll have to cover the mortgage and associated costs (prop taxes, maintenance, etc).

We're a family of four with a 3 year old and a <1 year old. I'm interested in hearing from folks who live in Denver and have a similar income level. How do you feel financially? What's your budget look like? Do you feel comfortable or are you struggling to make it work? I appreciate hearing your stories and experiences.

My advice would be to start trying to live off of 85K per year now. Put anything you make above that directly into a savings account. Don't forget to factor in taxes and also put that money into savings. Then add $1500 per month to savings to account for your future mortgage. This doesn't account for things like utilities or repairs, factor those in too if you'd like. Then just live within those means and see how it goes. In the end you'll not only have a better idea of how to budget and live within your means, you'll also have a substantially larger amount of money in savings making a move in the future that much easier.