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Pardon my lack of compassion but my $30k salary looks like this...
Housing $18,000
Car & Insurance - $490 (5880)
Food for a family of 3 - $400 (4800)
Internet $85 (1020)
Utilities $250 per month average (3k)
-$2,700 annually. Thank god for the EITC and child support to cover daycare, gas, clothing and shoes.
I would happily jump to pay half my salary in taxes and have $1300 a month to pay for extras.
What are you complaining about? You have a decent size house (4 or 5 bedrooms, if I recall) on acreage, and a seven passenger SUV; that's pretty damn good for 30k/year, on a purportedly high COL area. At 30k/year, I could only swing a tiny one-bedroom apartment and an old coupe.
It's easy to whine about conditions but when your making 160k and complaining (twitter guy is NOT by they way) it's a joke. Scraping by means sack lunch's, driving 10yr old cars and public schools for the kids. His income as a % of housing is great, far better than the guy living with co-renters bringing home 28k. They left out his budget expenses because he has none or the guy doesn't exist at all.
What are you complaining about? You have a decent size house (4 or 5 bedrooms, if I recall) on acreage, and a seven passenger SUV; that's pretty damn good for 30k/year, on a purportedly high COL area. At 30k/year, I could only swing a tiny one-bedroom apartment and an old coupe.
Only because I am fortunate and have budgeted well over the last two decades. I certainly would not live in a 5 bedroom house if I had not jumped in to the real estate market at the age of 20.
I am also wearing 14 year old jeans today and shoes my ex husband bought me in 2007.
My point still stands though. What are single moms on low income supposed to do?
Granted, but neither is a great situation. Btw, I didn't see you account for taxes.
The point isn't that 160k isn't a lot of money, but that it isn't a lot for silicon valley where everything costs much more.
I do not pay much in taxes at all. I live in one of the most expensive states, so really I get where everything is more money. But the guy with an income of $160k is not getting any sympathy from me and my $30k income.
It's easy to whine about conditions but when your making 160k and complaining (twitter guy is NOT by they way) it's a joke. Scraping by means sack lunch's, driving 10yr old cars and public schools for the kids. His income as a % of housing is great, far better than the guy living with co-renters bringing home 28k. They left out his budget expenses because he has none or the guy doesn't exist at all.
I get places like SF can be expensive but geez, if you can't make 160K work you have problems.
Having lived in SF for almost two decades, I have a fair idea of what works and does not work in the long term survival plan for folks in this city.
We come across these similar stories all the time : google developer, 170k, renter, barely able to make ends meet. Look next at this group of individuals. Young, unworldly despite eating at a Burmese restaurant twice a month, unwise from lack of life experiences, unstreetwise from a life of tech immersion and as is often the case a bit more reserved and less aggressive than young adults their same age. All does not auger well for grafting for costsaving, for getting a weekend job, basically doing anything to tough it out.
Not in SF. Truly amazing at the number of helpless and hopeless souls who gripe all day , as way of group think , same shock stories of rent and not able to get by , with always the big 6 figure salary tale to tell. They come two a penny, and seemingly more so in the past 10 years.
Interestingly enough, I worked last year as a consultant on a software project in downtown SF. There, among all the typical tech types mentioned above , were two temp contractors, non college and infinitely more streetwise than many their same age at the company. In fact, their level of common sense and ability to see through a problem was enough to make some Stanford grads there,look really stupid. These same non college workers , could manage to live quite nicely in the city on a fraction of the salary of most. Could negotiate and cajole their way to a manageable rent. Even cut back on unnecessary spending. No obligatory visits to Wholefoods to purchase their overpriced food etc. Incidentally, these two contractors at the end of the project, just really made the Stanford grads look really stupid : I sat in meetings where in the middle of a problem, invariably the grads would be dumbfounded while a non college worker made them look just run rings around them.
This sums up two main types in the city. The clueless and detached from reality overpaid tech geek whose survival skills are appalling and the gritty city dweller who is proactive and is is far better equipped for multi tasking in life.
My point was the poster I was responding to was using this Twitter employee's gross pay to figure his budget.
It has nothing to do with other folks not also paying taxes. I would have thought that was obvious, but...
My point was, when we said people making $120,000 in smaller cities can have a good life, we are talking about before taxes gross pay too...
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