Middle Class lifestyle?

[aragx6]

To be single, live in a fun neighborhood and keep your car, I think you need at least 40k. Without a car you can do it for less.

[long101]

Originally Posted by coldwine

I paid more to the feds in straight-up income taxes last year than $30,000, and to be honest? I would challenge anyone here to a battle of "Whose Life Is More Stressful". People earning >$100,000 a year are almost always owned by their jobs.

Id accept. haha

Ive been on both parts of the spectrum. In 2007 I made right around that # and in 2008 I will make just over half of that. Did I work a lot to bring in that kind of income? Yes, but it was obviously my choice. I would much rather have work related stress then the stress of having to worry if your check is going to pay for the bills. And everyone has stress at work (yes, some more then others) it doesnt matter if you make 30k or 100k

[EEstudent]

I posed a similar question a while back ... you can search for it under Chicago Threads posted by me (dont ask me where to click i still am figuring this stuff out)

But I believe that when i asked the question one individual had said that you should make 3-4 times your rent, depending on a with or without a car.

hope that helped!

[lincolnparker]

That rule only applies within certain amount of income. Obviously if your rent is 1000, you need to make at least 3000 a month to cover taxes, health insurance, ss, medicare, groceries, car, gas, insurance, entertainment and all that good stuff. And i suspect that at the end of the day, you wont have much left to save.

However, if your rent is 5000 a month (yes. my neighbor, a stock broker, across the street pays that much on rent), you dont need to make 15000 a month to live comfortably. 12000 would suffice i'd imagine

Originally Posted by EEstudent

But I believe that when i asked the question one individual had said that you should make 3-4 times your rent, depending on a with or without a car.

hope that helped!