$80,000 Gross Per Year - What Kind Of Lifestyle In Chicago? (2014, health insurance)

[VictoryIsMine1]

Originally Posted by JTE1969

What do you guys do 4 a living to earn $80k to $90K a year?

First of all, we don't spell "for" using the number "4".

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

LOL. No it isn't. The average salary for a manager is about $80k.

Yeah, five years of working in "finance" doesn't average over $200K. It certainly does in certain fields and specific jobs, but not overall for the industry. Not by any means. I'm in finance/accounting as well. There are so many different companies, sub-industries within greater finance and jobs out there that it's hard to pin them down as a whole just saying "finance". My company starts around $50K maybe? Don't even know. People at my level are around $100K or a bit more including bonus, and that's a manager with two levels below them. That seems fairly average compared to all my friends in the same industry.

[TheSunshineKid]

Strippers on Tuesday night. Jazz bar on Wednesday. John Hancock's Signature Room dinner Thursday. Friday bar crawl. Saturday gallivanting in Milwaukee. Sunday brunch at Birchwood.

Monday night is loser night - stay at home.

I kid.

In all seriousness, 80K is more than enough to live a "nice" life. Case in point my brother. Once out of college he was making 50K and was renting an apartment in Lake View, a block away from Belmont stop, for around $900 per month. One bedroom, kitchen, living area and dining with a very nice hallway connecting all sections. The rent did go up to $1000, but for the layout it was a steal. Was promoted a couple of times making low six figures by 28. He then relocated offices to NYC in the Upper West Side with a similar salary. He then visits back home saying if he'd be living "like a king" if he moved back to Chicago. 80K, if you don't spend foolishly and practice some restraint, can purchase you a more than decent enough living quality if you aren't expecting opulence.

[reppin_the_847]

I'm venting slightly here, but I will say that 80K would be incredible if it were Net Pay & not Gross Pay. Uncle Sam & landlords have a way of robbing us blind. Particularly in Chicago lol.

At least down in states like Texas & Florida you don't have a State Income tax.

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

Yeah, five years of working in "finance" doesn't average over $200K. It certainly does in certain fields and specific jobs, but not overall for the industry. Not by any means. I'm in finance/accounting as well. There are so many different companies, sub-industries within greater finance and jobs out there that it's hard to pin them down as a whole just saying "finance". My company starts around $50K maybe? Don't even know. People at my level are around $100K or a bit more including bonus, and that's a manager with two levels below them. That seems fairly average compared to all my friends in the same industry.

Agree 100%.

If you made $200k after five years with a four-year finance degree the country wouldn't have a single doctor.

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

I'm venting slightly here, but I will say that 80K would be incredible if it were Net Pay & not Gross Pay. Uncle Sam & landlords have a way of robbing us blind. Particularly in Chicago lol.

At least down in states like Texas & Florida you don't have a State Income tax.

Yeah but you have to live in Florida.

In all honesty true but you pay for it in other ways. At least in FL, lower wages overall.

[tommy_407]

Originally Posted by Runuova

A bouncer huh? The "bro" have it away!

Ahahaha yessir! An NJ bro expatriate bouncer all the way LoL

[nana053]

Originally Posted by Bluefox

Yeah but you have to live in Florida.

In all honesty true but you pay for it in other ways. At least in FL, lower wages overall.

Texas has the highest property taxes in the country. Texas also has higher than average sales taxes.

Texas property taxes among the nation's highest - Houston Chronicle

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/us...inds.html?_r=0

The Tax Foundation, a conservative-leaning research group, ranks Texas ninth-best on its State Business Tax Climate Index, largely because of the state’s lack of an income tax. On three of the foundation’s other major rankings — property taxes, sales taxes and corporate taxes — Texas ranks in the bottom 20 states.

n 2006, Texas lawmakers approved a tax reform package that lowered property taxes and created a new business franchise tax to help pay for it. The new tax has never generated as much revenue as projected and has been derided by businesses. This session, more than 90 bills were filed aimed at reforming the tax, including 9 proposing to repeal it entirely.

“It’s been a pretty onerous tax on small and medium-sized businesses,” said Talmadge Heflin, the director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative research and outreach organization. “I think there will be a continued effort to do away with it.”

Paradoxically, a chief complaint about the tax is that it does not operate more like an income tax. Businesses pay the franchise tax on gross receipts, leading to some having to pay it even in years when they make little or no profit.

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

Agree 100%.

If you made $200k after five years with a four-year finance degree the country wouldn't have a single doctor.

Well, some people do. It's the exception, not the rule. A good-school MBA working in asset management, hedge funds, private equity, private banking can make $200K after five years, though.

*Make* $200K, not *clear* it. The taxman takes almost half.

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by Larry Siegel

Well, some people do. It's the exception, not the rule. A good-school MBA working in asset management, hedge funds, private equity, private banking can make $200K after five years, though.

*Make* $200K, not *clear* it. The taxman takes almost half.

Yes, with an MBA from a good school in the right field at the right firm at the right time "can."

For now.