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due to our delightful upper middle class discussion, I realize it's not about income it's about what's outgoing. That said, what percent of your $ is left over every month.
Take out:
mortgage
car
life/car insurance
student loans
529
retirement
utilities
groceries
lunches/dinners
due to our delightful upper middle class discussion, I realize it's not about income it's about what's outgoing. That said, what percent of your $ is left over every month.
Take out:
mortgage
car
life/car insurance
student loans
529
retirement
utilities
groceries
lunches/dinners
I have about 32% left over for whatever
I don't really agree with your premise if you're relating economic class to left over spending money at the end of the month. You can have 2 families making 200K a year..one has each parent driving a Mercedes, the other each is driving Hyundai. They are both upper middle class but one has much less many left over at the end of the month.
If you mean by "it" generally financial well being, than yes, it is about what you have left over at the end of the month. Although I would consider retirement the same as savings.
Ummm.. well.. since I am self employed it's hard to do it by month, but annually, I have about 55% for whatever. I probably spend about 20% of that on non-business related travel (most of my travel is business related). The rest is banked/invested.
Most people have health insurance co-pays. I pay all my health insurance, plus a disability policy.
also add
child care
commutation
clothing
and you should see what some people pay for dry cleaning each month. WOW!!
A very important percentage is what people put away in savings each month which would be accessible in case of layoff, illness.
you're not umc if you're rolling quarters between checks no matter what you earn. discretionary leftovers is a pretty good gauge IMO
Quote:
Originally Posted by dman72
I don't really agree with your premise if you're relating economic class to left over spending money at the end of the month. You can have 2 families making 200K a year..one has each parent driving a Mercedes, the other each is driving Hyundai. They are both upper middle class but one has much less many left over at the end of the month.
If you mean by "it" generally financial well being, than yes, it is about what you have left over at the end of the month. Although I would consider retirement the same as savings.
I think there's a big difference between a nurse or a union guy making $80k-$100k, and a VP or doctor earning $200k-$300k. That's the difference between middle and upper-middle class. One income bracket likely has 10x the disposable income and 10x the assets of the other, even though income is only ~2x more.
I'm assuming you started this thread based off this. Now a better way to look at it is, what kind of lifestyle does $200k buy you vs $100k on LI after basic COL/nut is covered. That will tell you upper-middle class vs middle class.
The $200k+ upper-middle class earner likely owns a home in an area like Garden City (just throwing an example), drives a $50k luxury auto, has a portfolio/retirement nest egg and disposable income at 5-10x that of the $100k earner. The $100k earner probably lives in an area like East Meadow, drives a Toyota, has a fraction of the disposable income and portfolio of the $200k+ earner.
I cant calculate that because for me it changes every month based on my job. Lunches/dinners especially - because sometimes we do client lunches at work (the firm picks up the tab) or sometimes my husband and I go out to eat 2x in a week, and sometimes the next month we will eat home cooked meals for almost every day and weekends.
I only know that I have about 40% left over after my major debts are paid off every month (which includes mortgage/cell phones/auto/loans, etc). I use a credit card to pay for almost everything because I get Rewards points so all my costs for gas, groceries, clothing, social expenses go on that which I pay in full the following month. So some months I can stick as much as $500/month into savings and other months only $50. So it depends.
I use Mint.com for my budgeting expenses - its really a great app, I have it on my phone and iPad and it keeps me on track with spending. I highly recommend it - its so user friendly!
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