Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You are seriously trying to tell us that $20K a month in Manhattan is "middle class"
Let's just take off a round 25% for taxes... so $15K.
Even if your rent was $5,000 per month, you mean to tell me that if I "only" have 10K a month to spend I'm considered middle class?
Take half off the top for taxes and contractual savings. If you're paying 25% in total taxes, I want to meet your accountant.
For $5000 a month you'll get a nice one bedroom, but don't try to talk your family into moving into it. Try $10,000 a month for a 3 bedroom apartment in a decent area.
$20,000 / 2 = $10,000 disposable income
$10,000 - $10,000 rent = $0. There's your budget. Please indicate how you're going to divide it up among food, transportation, tuition, insurance, vacations, etc.
P.S. Private school tuition will cost you $3000 a month. Per kid. If your kid is both a genius and a member of a protected minority, he/she will get into one of the good public schools; otherwise, they won't. It's too bad, but that's just the way it is.
Last edited by Larry Siegel; 11-15-2014 at 07:08 PM..
Take half off the top for taxes and contractual savings. If you're paying 25% in total taxes, I want to meet your accountant.
For $5000 a month you'll get a nice one bedroom, but don't try to talk your family into moving into it. Try $10,000 a month for a 3 bedroom apartment in a decent area.
$20,000 / 2 = $10,000 disposable income
$10,000 - $10,000 rent = $0. There's your budget. Please indicate how you're going to divide it up among food, transportation, tuition, insurance, vacations, etc.
P.S. Private school tuition will cost you $3000 a month. Per kid. If your kid is both a genius and a member of a protected minority, he/she will get into one of the good public schools; otherwise, they won't. It's too bad, but that's just the way it is.
daycare can run 2-3k a month. 20k a month puts you easily in AMT territory so 40% federal , state and local taxes can be the min.
1.) Suze Orman's show is scripted most of the time, so it's most likely a fake caller with fake assets.
2.) New Jersey is very expensive. Middle class is $75,000 - $90,000 a year with two adults and two children in a household in a LOW/EFFICIENT cost of living area. But living in a high cost of living area like NJ, you want to times that by about two to equal the higher cost of living. So to be Middle class in NJ you want $150,000 - $180,000 a year with two adults and two children. If you aren't bringing in this amount a year, it will be difficult to rack up significant savings.
Since when is "a middle class standard of living" a necessity?
If they truly have trouble saving anything, they can quit eating out and downsize their housing to a 2-bedroom apartment or condo. A SFH (and the large amount of depreciating consumer items likely to occupy the space) is absolutely not a necessity and having 1 car for every adult and eating out is also not a necessity. Massages, vacations, etc. can be worthwhile if you can afford them, but if you can't save anything then you can't afford it - tough. Cry me a river.
If your kid is both a genius and a member of a protected minority, he/she will get into one of the good public schools; otherwise, they won't. It's too bad, but that's just the way it is.
I don't know why you claim that someone needs to be part of a protected minority to get into the top publics. Admissions are pretty much solely based on test scores.
Hello,
I am just curious, We live in the expensive state of New Jersey where trying to save a thousand dollars is a huge challenge. We were watching the Suzy Orman show with the " Can I afford it segment? " Caller after caller would ask if they could realistically afford a certain item and they would list all of there financial information to Suzy Orman. I could not believe the responses, people earning fifty thousand a year have close to a million in a 401k? Over eight hundred thousand in investments and they all have debt of over two hundred thousand!! My question is, are they telling the truth? How can anyone have these huge amounts of cash stashed??!! We earn over one hundred and have only ten thousand saved for retirement! Our property taxes are over ten thousand and the cost of living here is outrageous! No other debt except a mortgage too!
I don't have a million in my 401k, but I have never made more than about 52K in a year and I live in the high cost San Francisco Bay Area. At age 44, the total in the 401K and IRAs is over 300K. So in another 10 years, it's not out of the question that I'll have a million (although that's obviously far from a sure thing).
Primarily it's about THOUGHTFUL LIFESTYLE DESIGN. It generally involves thinking and planning in advance and not doing things the standard way. The standard way of doing things is designed to keep you in debt, broke, or, if you're lucky, nearly broke.
Things I did:
1. Be VERY modest in expectations for housing. I rented rooms in people's houses until age 35. Then I upgraded to a studio apt., NOT a 1BR. Still live in a studio.
2. Buy a used economy car and drive it until the wheels fall off. I bought mine when it was 4 years old and now it's 18 years old. Related issue is to keep your commute as short as possible. I wasn't always able to do this, but have been able to live a block away from my job for the last 6 years. I wish I had done this sooner.
3. Focused on adding money to 401k whenever possible, sometimes literally only adding a few bucks at a time.
Things I didn't do.
1. Have a kid. I'm gay, so this one was easy. At the very least, kids need to be planned and the financial consequences though about long in advance of their arrival. Nowadays, we have a 41% out of wedlock birth rate. No wonder so many people are broke.
3. No cable TV, no smart phone, no recreational shopping.
4. Didn't blow money on stuff like cigarettes, alcohol at bars & restaurants (occasional bottle of wine at home), recreational drugs, tattoos.
Things I screwed up:
1. Didn't get a decent paying job until age 26 because I was aimless in college.
2. Having student loan debt from a semester of graduate school that I never completed (waste of time and money).
3. Bought bank stocks in late 2007 & 2008 and sold them at a loss. I learned I am not good at picking individual stocks.
4. Switched from fund to fund in my 401k. Should have just bought a balanced fund like Vanguard Wellington or Income Fund of America (both of which I had in my plan) and left it alone.
I'd probably have 50K to 100K more if I had avoided #3 and #4.
Fun things I did:
--6 various international travel trips over the years, done with reasonable frugality, but not super frugal.
--Travel to the opposite coast to see family, usually once per year.
--Some eating out for lunch/dinner, but at modestly priced places (not McDonald's, but not expensive), and not every day (maybe 2X per week in a normal week).
daycare can run 2-3k a month. 20k a month puts you easily in AMT territory so 40% federal , state and local taxes can be the min.
You wouldn't be paying for daycare and private school at the same time on any given child. For each child, 3k per month on daycare OR private school tuition, but not both at the same time.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
