From NYC to AZ: Is $72,000 A Good Salary in the Phoenix Area? (Mesa: to rent, neighborhoods)

[PNWGuy]

there's nothing wrong with debt, you just have to manage it properly, while living within your means. Ie don't overextend yourself.

[westcoastforme]

Originally Posted by EdJones

wow, that's impressive. I was not able to go both to college and grad school without student loans. actually, I had a full scholarship in college, so most of my student loans are from grad school.

But thanks for sharing your story. It is very inspiring in terms of knowing that with discipline one can live debt free.

Yes, being debt free is freedom! And make the move! You will enjoy Arizona more than New York. I live in Illinois and can't wait to leave here.

[mjd2k]

Originally Posted by Reedus

As others have said, it all depends on how responsible your are with money. I was raised with the mentality to abhor debt in all its forms. It has served me well through the years. I had a car payment with my first car for two years. Every car I have bought since then I have paid cash for. When me and my wife were married, we lived in a condo for the first 7 years while I went to school and worked full time. I graduated with $0.00 in student loan debt. Our rent was 600.00 per month, and what money we had left we banked. We made approximately 35k for those fisrt few years. Now that I have graduated, my salary is around the 70k mark and we live like kings even having 3 kids. How do we do it??? Debt free living. No credit card debt, no auto loans, no extravagant vacations. We bought our first house November of 2011 for 185k. We were able to put down 85k, giving us a 100k mortgage. After seeing the large chunk that banks take in interest for the first half of the life of the loan, we decided to throw all of or extra income at it until it was paid off and then when/if we decided to upgrade, we would pay cash for a house next round. So far, we have paid off 30k of our loan by tripling up on payments. Some might say that my lifestyle is a crappy way to go through life without enjoying, but once the mortgage is paid, that is ALOT of disposable income to start enjoying life without the stress of debt. Guess what I am trying to say is that 72k is a massive amount of money to live on if you have the discipline and can sacrifice

72k/year when you have a partner is darned good money! Alone its still darned good but with someone else sharing the bills, its huge.

Reedus, I agree with all you said EXCEPT where you mention you will have a large disposable income at the end of the house payments. Unless you are very disiplined, you wont spend that extra income on the good life. There will either be another payment to take its place, or you will invest it. Doubtful you will spend it on fun stuff. However, less debt creates a ton of options that you can use to improve your life. Just speaking from experience.

[dacubz]

72K is good in any area

[SpeedyAZ]

Originally Posted by Bondurant

Your 20% savings per year is also hypothetical. Most people cannot do that. At least not myself or anyone I know.

I do not live a life of luxury. I cannot spend money and lavish entertainment and vacations. Still, if I was making $72k, I could do a lot. Anyone that cannot live on $72k has the wrong priorities.

I realize 20% savings is hypothetical and not reasonable for everyone but I think once you make over a certain amount of money, contributing 20% of your income to savings isn't unreasonable at all. I've always been of the mindset that you put X % of income away before you do ANYTHING. If you learn to live on less, it's easier to not get into the habit of overextending yourself as you age and your income grows.

When I was making $50K/ year, I absolutely couldn't save 20% of my income simply because I had expenses that didn't allow for that percentage of savings but I still managed to save around 10% of each paycheck. As my income grew, I admit my expenses grew as well because I started living a bit better but my savings/investment contributions also grew.

As with anything in life, your mileage may vary.

[EdJones]

Originally Posted by westcoastforme

Yes, being debt free is freedom! And make the move! You will enjoy Arizona more than New York. I live in Illinois and can't wait to leave here.

The move is official. I have accepted the offer.

The only thing I don't like is that I will be relocating to AZ during the hottest time of the year

Originally Posted by mjd2k

72k/year when you have a partner is darned good money! Alone its still darned good but with someone else sharing the bills, its huge.

My SO is an RN. So I anticipate she'll have a fairly decent income as well. But our philosophy is to live on one salary - whichever is lower, and bank/invest the other to prepare for emergencies. You never know what will happen. Many people with two incomes make the mistake of buying/renting places based on a dual income. Then illness strikes or somebody looses a job and you cannot afford things anymore with the other salary

The way I see it, two incomes is nothing more than one income with a backup.

Originally Posted by dacubz

72K is good in any area

You mean in any area of the country or any area of AZ?

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by EdJones

You mean in any area of the country or any area of AZ?

I don't necessarily agree that $72k is "good" anywhere, but a lot will depend on where you work. As others mentioned, the valley is deceivingly large, so where you work is going to dictate where you live to some extent. Do you know where your office will be?

[Xica_da_Silva]

You'll be fine.

The fact that you're obviously so concerned and are already thinking about long-term goals and financial planning tells me everything I need to know to make this judgment.

Welcome to Phoenix!

A couple of suggestions: You can partake of Scottsdale night-life etc. without living there easily enough. You may want to consider renting for a while somewhere in Central Phoenix, or maybe even check out the Historic Districts or downtown apartments close to the light rail. The Biltmore area is quite nice, too (and even closer to the nicer bits of Scottsdale), but probably a bit pricier. I live in the Coronado Historic District and it takes me just about 15 minutes to get to Scottsdale using surface streets(mostly due to traffic lights). If I want to go to Tempe or the airport, they're both super-close. Since your SO is an RN, as you've probably discovered already we've got some decent hospitals here in Central Phoenix- Good Sam is a level 1 trauma facility (and a teaching hospital) and there's St. Joe's, too...both with excellent reputations. Your SO may want to consider trying to get on board with Banner as a traveling RN so she can suss out the various facilities' nursing units; Banner has a large presence throughout the valley. There's also a lovely Mayo Clinic up close to the 101 in North Scottsdale- I know from personal experience that they've got a terrific staff. Just some extra food for thought.

Best wishes!

[SpeedyAZ]

Originally Posted by EdJones

The move is official. I have accepted the offer.

The only thing I don't like is that I will be relocating to AZ during the hottest time of the year



My SO is an RN. So I anticipate she'll have a fairly decent income as well. But our philosophy is to live on one salary - whichever is lower, and bank/invest the other to prepare for emergencies. You never know what will happen. Many people with two incomes make the mistake of buying/renting places based on a dual income. Then illness strikes or somebody looses a job and you cannot afford things anymore with the other salary

The way I see it, two incomes is nothing more than one income with a backup.



You mean in any area of the country or any area of AZ?

The Valley is always in need of competent RN's but many jobs at the top hospitals are pretty competitive anymore. I'd highly suggest she apply to the Mayo in Scottsdale- by far the best Medical Center in the Southwest. I wouldn't mess around with Banner Baywood from experience with friends who are BSN's that have worked there before. The Mayo is definitely that place your SO wants to apply if she has some experience under her belt.

[CheyDee]

Originally Posted by Xica_da_Silva

You'll be fine.

The fact that you're obviously so concerned and are already thinking about long-term goals and financial planning tells me everything I need to know to make this judgment.

Welcome to Phoenix!

A couple of suggestions: You can partake of Scottsdale night-life etc. without living there easily enough. You may want to consider renting for a while somewhere in Central Phoenix, or maybe even check out the Historic Districts or downtown apartments close to the light rail. The Biltmore area is quite nice, too (and even closer to the nicer bits of Scottsdale), but probably a bit pricier. I live in the Coronado Historic District and it takes me just about 15 minutes to get to Scottsdale using surface streets(mostly due to traffic lights). If I want to go to Tempe or the airport, they're both super-close. Since your SO is an RN, as you've probably discovered already we've got some decent hospitals here in Central Phoenix- Good Sam is a level 1 trauma facility (and a teaching hospital) and there's St. Joe's, too...both with excellent reputations. Your SO may want to consider trying to get on board with Banner as a traveling RN so she can suss out the various facilities' nursing units; Banner has a large presence throughout the valley. There's also a lovely Mayo Clinic up close to the 101 in North Scottsdale- I know from personal experience that they've got a terrific staff. Just some extra food for thought.

Best wishes!

I disagree. There is no reason to move all the way out to central PHX when you already know you're working in Mesa. It's one thing to make the drive if/when there's something you want to do, but a mandatory five day a week round-trip for work would get old real fast, particularly when there are many nice neighborhoods closer to work.

Originally Posted by EdJones

The move is official. I have accepted the offer.

The only thing I don't like is that I will be relocating to AZ during the hottest time of the year

Congratulations and welcome.