Save 30k A Year (Reston, Manassas: to rent, insurance, condo)

[Mishra100]

Easy question, but hard answer. I live in Louisville currently and try to save up to 30k a year off of my salary. I don't quite make it but that's basically my goal.

I have the opportunity to take a job located in Ashburn, VA and Reston, VA. From all the research of cost of living, I don't think it will be much of a raise. But it will be a title/opportunity increase.

I'm a single male (long term g/f that lives with me) that is frugal-very frugal. My life style looks like this, and I don't expect it to change at all until I can reach my goal:

* 2000 Honda Civic, 150k miles
* Ranch Style Home, 1,200 sq ft. on top, but probably 800 downstairs. 950 a month on a 15 year loan. (already paying more into principal than interest... very good stuff)
* Dinners range from chicken noodle soup / Chicken dinner / Taco Bell (cheapest I can) / Five guys. Maybe a sit down restaurant every now and then
* 0-1 Cheap Vacations a year
* Entertainment from cheap projects on the house, video games, board games with friends, going for walks/exercising
* Almost 0 shopping for things like clothes / random crap / electronics

Hardest thing in this equation is housing... I won't be able to find the nice little ranch in VA. Sterling looks good in term of real middle class housing, but they sure don't have middle class housing prices. I'm probably going to have to condo it up to reach my goal (very sad about this).

What salary will I have to make in order to reach this goal you think while maintaining my life style?

[Teebyrd86]

Originally Posted by Mishra100

Easy question, but hard answer. I live in Louisville currently and try to save up to 30k a year off of my salary. I don't quite make it but that's basically my goal.

I have the opportunity to take a job located in Ashburn, VA and Reston, VA. From all the research of cost of living, I don't think it will be much of a raise. But it will be a title/opportunity increase.

I'm a single male (long term g/f that lives with me) that is frugal-very frugal. My life style looks like this, and I don't expect it to change at all until I can reach my goal:

* 2000 Honda Civic, 150k miles
* Ranch Style Home, 1,200 sq ft. on top, but probably 800 downstairs. 950 a month on a 15 year loan. (already paying more into principal than interest... very good stuff)
* Dinners range from chicken noodle soup / Chicken dinner / Taco Bell (cheapest I can) / Five guys. Maybe a sit down restaurant every now and then
* 0-1 Cheap Vacations a year
* Entertainment from cheap projects on the house, video games, board games with friends, going for walks/exercising
* Almost 0 shopping for things like clothes / random crap / electronics

Hardest thing in this equation is housing... I won't be able to find the nice little ranch in VA. Sterling looks good in term of real middle class housing, but they sure don't have middle class housing prices. I'm probably going to have to condo it up to reach my goal (very sad about this).

What salary will I have to make in order to reach this goal you think while maintaining my life style?

A couple of questions.. Will the girlfriend be working and contributing too? How do you feel about a commute? You *could* probably afford a small house in Warrenton, Purceville, Manassas or Leesburg.

[Mishra100]

Originally Posted by Teebyrd86

A couple of questions.. Will the girlfriend be working and contributing too? How do you feel about a commute? You *could* probably afford a small house in Warrenton, Purceville, Manassas or Leesburg.

Thanks for replying. I'm not counting her as a contributor because of her massive student loan debt. She needs to save every dime to pay that.

Leesburg wasn't too bad from what I could tell but it still seemed like a really expensive place. Desirable commute is 30 min or less. I could deal with 45 or less; anything closer to an hour on the norm is not desirable.

[HokieFan]

Guestimating - you would most likely not want a yearly salary less than $70k. Your housing cost is going to almost double, at least.

[Teebyrd86]

Originally Posted by HokieFan

Guestimating - you would most likely not want a yearly salary less than $70k. Your housing cost is going to almost double, at least.

Nah.. I make 63k a year, have a car payment, some other debts and my rent has been $1250 since moving here (I made less not too long ago). So I am guessing with what he saying his lifestyle is like he could get by with 40-50k a year with a one bedroom condo.

[CaliTerp07]

I would imagine you will spend $2k per month just to rent a place and pay standard bills. If you're okay with a condo, you could probably shave a couple hundred a month off of that. Add another $500 per month for food, gas, insurance, and a couple thousand a year for entertainment or travel, and you're looking at ~$30,000 a year in just living expenses. You also want to save $30,000, so now you need $60,000 after taxes. Assuming a 30% tax rate:

$60,000/(0.7) = $86,000ish

Remember that gas will cost more here, a trip to the grocery store will likely cost more here, and insurance on your vehicle will change (I don't know which direction).

This is probably a little conservative--but you can fiddle with the numbers and figure out something more accurate.

[CaliTerp07]

Originally Posted by Teebyrd86

Nah.. I make 63k a year, have a car payment, some other debts and my rent has been $1250 since moving here (I made less not too long ago). So I am guessing with what he saying his lifestyle is like he could get by with 40-50k a year with a one bedroom condo.

While saving $30k per year? I don't think you can live on $10k.

[Teebyrd86]

Originally Posted by CaliTerp07

While saving $30k per year? I don't think you can live on $10k.

didnt realize he still wanted to save 30k a year when he moves here.. I thought he mentioned that to give us an idea that he has money saved up for extra expenses of nova.. oops

[EdwardA]

Originally Posted by CaliTerp07

I would imagine you will spend $2k per month just to rent a place and pay standard bills. If you're okay with a condo, you could probably shave a couple hundred a month off of that. Add another $500 per month for food, gas, insurance, and a couple thousand a year for entertainment or travel, and you're looking at ~$30,000 a year in just living expenses. You also want to save $30,000, so now you need $60,000 after taxes. Assuming a 30% tax rate:

$60,000/(0.7) = $86,000ish

Remember that gas will cost more here, a trip to the grocery store will likely cost more here, and insurance on your vehicle will change (I don't know which direction).

This is probably a little conservative--but you can fiddle with the numbers and figure out something more accurate.

Unless there is something going on in Louisville, his insurance will undoubtedly go up. I moved from Rochester, NY with a similar vehicle and it more than doubled. Granted it's rated for PG County but I can't imagine Northern Virginia is much cheaper. Just as much traffic maybe more.

I agree with your number BTW. If he want's to save 30K a year and maintain the same lifestyle in terms of sq. footage he'll need to make at least the mid 80s. Also as his income rises his marginal tax rate will increase and since he's single without kids he'll be taxed at the highest rate for his income.

[CaliTerp07]

Originally Posted by EdwardA

Unless there is something going on in Louisville, his insurance will undoubtedly go up. I moved from Rochester, NY with a similar vehicle and it more than doubled. Granted it's rated for PG County but I can't imagine Northern Virginia is much cheaper. Just as much traffic maybe more.

For some reason NoVA is often cheaper for insurance than Maryland (most of the time, at least). My insurance dropped moving from College Park to Crystal City after graduation. I have no idea what it's like in Louisville.