Life in Sac on $150K (Sacramento: buying, college, income)

[Archan]

El Dorado Hills is in El Dorado County.

Granite Bay is in Placer County.

You need to enter the county in the above website.

[shelato]

If you are making 150K a year, you are probably looking at Willhaggen, Willhaggen Estates, Sierra Oaks, Sierra Oaks Vista and Arden Oaks.

http://www.communities.saccounty.net/arden-arcade/docs/survey/map.pdf (broken link)

You might also look at the homes along the River in Shelfield Oaks, or behind Ancil Hoffman Park.

[18Montclair]

Well, that breaks down to a gross of $12,500 a month and after taxes(let's say 30%), your left with $8,750 a month.

If you decide to go all out and live in say Granite Bay, the census bureau says that the median monthly housing cost(Im assuming that's mortgage, insurance and utilities) in Granite Bay is $3,562. El Dorado Hills' median monthly is $3,208, Folsom's median monthly is $2,548.

So after housing is done if you choose a high brow part of town for housing, your left with about $5,000-$6,000 a month. Then you probably will have car payments. Let's say 2 at a conservative cost of $1,000 a month. That leaves you with $4,000-$5,000 a month. Say your putting 2 kids through private school. For arguments sake, Loretto is $15K a year and Jesuit is $11K a year. Say you have one kid at each school, that comes out to about $3,000 a month. One can quickly see how a seemingly large amount of money is whittled down to near nothing quite quickly.

You still have to eat, you still have to entertain yourself, you still have other bills to pay for.


Oh, and you still have to try and save money. LOL

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Rob98LS1

Wow, not trying to be mean or anything like that but if I made 150k per year I wouldn't even question what areas I could live in, especially in an area like Sacramento. Plain and simple you can afford to live wherever you want in placer, el dorado, or sacramento counties. And this will be comfortable living too. Spacious home, garage, new(er) cars, vacations, fine restaurants, high end groceries, boat for folsom or yaht, etc, etc.

I think you're overdoing it. It's really easy to outspend your income no matter how much you make.

[Rob98LS1]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

I think you're overdoing it. It's really easy to outspend your income no matter how much you make.

I'm sorry. Since I make no where near that amount of money and can live comfortably in the Sacramento region, I am only imagining what I could do with 8k a month. I'm pretty, pretty sure that I could own my own spacious home in a low crime community, shop at bel-air, own a 20k car, take a boat out on folsom lake, and take a vacation to tahoe every year with that income. If you can't, then my friend you are wasting it somewhere. But on the other hand if I was into lavish spending then I'm sure 8k may not cut it for some people, just saying it would for me and I am not a snob with my money.

[Archan]

It's kind of funny, I've made a lot of money compared to most, but the richest I've ever felt was when I just got out of college when all I had to worry about is buying a couple pitchers of beer. I used to look at making 100K as the magic number, but the more you make you just reset your goals to a higher number and compare your lifestyle to the people who make more than you do. I guess the old saying about wanting what you don't have holds true.

[wburg]

The secret to income and wealth isn't how much you make, it's how much you keep...there are plenty of people making $150K a year who are in a pretty bad financial sling because they spent like they were millionaires. Archan, you nailed the secret on the head: living like a college student is an important skill that many people forget in the race to accumulate piles of stuff.

[michcoop99]

Listen, I know you think making 150k is taking home 8k a month, but take my word for it, IT IS NOT. My husband and I literally make 150k a year combined and we do not take home 8k a month. After taxes, health insurance, a little in the 401K, it is less than that....

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by michcoop99

150k in Sac is very comfortable. However, a yaht is not going to happen - Sac isn't that cheap!!

Who said anything about a yacht, and yes, as far as California -and the rest of the West Coast is concerned- Sacto is cheap by comparison. It is even cheaper than Minneapolis and cheaper than Portland, ME., which, ironically, should be the other way around.

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Well, that breaks down to a gross of $12,500 a month and after taxes(let's say 30%), your left with $8,750 a month.

If you decide to go all out and live in say Granite Bay, the census bureau says that the median monthly housing cost(Im assuming that's mortgage, insurance and utilities) in Granite Bay is $3,562. El Dorado Hills' median monthly is $3,208, Folsom's median monthly is $2,548.

So after housing is done if you choose a high brow part of town for housing, your left with about $5,000-$6,000 a month. Then you probably will have car payments. Let's say 2 at a conservative cost of $1,000 a month. That leaves you with $4,000-$5,000 a month. Say your putting 2 kids through private school. For arguments sake, Loretto is $15K a year and Jesuit is $11K a year. Say you have one kid at each school, that comes out to about $3,000 a month. One can quickly see how a seemingly large amount of money is whittled down to near nothing quite quickly.

You still have to eat, you still have to entertain yourself, you still have other bills to pay for.

Your math is wrong. For one, the median monthly housing costs is just that -the middle. There are homes that are more expensive and homes that are cheaper. Without knowing the outliers, it is hard to judge if the median is closer to the expensive side, the cheaper, or truly in the middle.

You are also assuming two car payments. What if there was only one? Or none? Or five?

What if they don't have kids or they put them through public school? Why assume the private school route? I knew kids that went to Loretto whose parents made far less than $150 grand. They were definitely not keeping up with the Jones', but they were far from the poor house.

Yes, a large amount of money can wither down to nothing very quickly, but it all depends on one factor and one factor alone; your lifestyle. You are not going to be left with much if you buy a half-million dollar home, $50,000 car or two, buy all of your clothes at Nortdstroms full price, etc., etc.

I know a few couples in Sacto who make around $70,000 to $100,000 combined who own homes in decent neighborhoods, own new cars, nice furniture and electronics, vacation or go out of town on a regular basis, eat good food, etc. They live very comfortable lives and they do not live in Granite Bay, own 3,000 sq ft homes, drive a new Jaguar, or possess a $10,000 television.

[Archan]

I think it's all a matter of living within your means and being smart with your money. I made a very good living and instead of spending all my money keeping up with the neighbors I was smart. I drove a 5 Series BMW. It looked like I spent a lot, but I bought it used for $17,500. It was about 5 years old and had 60,000 miles on it. I'm still driving it. It has traveled with me from California to Boston and now Atlanta. It has about 195,000 miles on it now. It just makes me laugh when I see people that made a quarter of the money I was making, spending twice the money on their car than I paid for my car.