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I think I can sacrifice by renting out the place and moving to a three bedroom apt in the city,which tend to be cheaper but may not be too safe.
I tried having a second job,and for three years now I did. But the more I worked,the more the feds took. I'm also on the hook for back taxes but I don't start paying that until February.($15,000 mostly penalties and late fees). My pre tax pay every month is $8000 but after taxes and health insurance it comes to about $5,000.
My employer offers a 401k with no employer match,which is why I didn't even bother.
For $350 a month car payment I'm only driving a Kia,not a fancy car by any stretch. I bought it used with 20,000 miles on it. That's was last Sept,now it has 76,000 miles on it.
I guess I'm realizing as I type that the biggest money pit for me IS the car.
So far this year I've spent about $3,000 in repairs,not including regular maintainence and oil changes.
$3,000 in repairs on a car you got with 20,000 miles on it? that's insane. you could have a brand new honda civic or fit for around $350/month, and not have had those repairs.
understand the no match - but you should still be saving in a ROTH or a standard IRA
your federal and state taxes sound too high too. are you deducting your mortgage interest and taxes? claiming 3 dependents? child tax credit? 13,300 should be right around the base fed taxes on 97 k single with3 kids not deducting anything.
i agree, but she owes $15K in back taxes which she said she's starting to pay off.
I am not paying for any luxuries,such as hair and nails.
I'm not even in credit card debt,its only $180 a month.
Student loan is only $55 a month.
Personally,I don't know of anyone in Nj who is able to save making that amount.
I know plenty of nurses who are working 3 jobs to make ends meet.
1500 dollars is actually cheap,considering the area. Rent for a 4 bedroom is usually 1300 even in Newark. The places that have cheap rent are Camden and Trenton,where rents are 950 for a 4 bedroom. Hmmm,no thanks. Cheap rent and safe area don't go hand in hand in Nj.
I work all around Nj,so a train isn't an option. The type of work I'm in requires a car.
When I looked through craigslist classifieds a lot of the jobs now required a car,including some warehouse jobs.
Maybe the people who were able to save on $40,000 were from other states?
Most of the people I know who make that amount live in the" ghetto"
$180/month on a credit card is debt...even if it's small. is that the minimum payment? that could be a balance of around $10,000 depending on interest rate.
and if you have to drive that much for work, you should be able to write off mileage on your taxes.
I'm not so sure.
If rents weren't so high I would be able to save.
If tolls weren't so high,or better yet not there at all,I would be able to save.
If I wasn't taxed to death by the feds,I would be able to save.
If it isn't a NJ problem,why the hell are many Nj residents moving to other states?
NJ still grew, it's just growing more slowly. so why is NJ still growing?
your monthly "rent" is $1500/month. that's not that expensive.
what tolls are you 100% forced to pay? alternate routes could be less expensive for you.
how are you being taxed to death? the feds take approximately 20-25% of your income, likely less given the deductions you qualify for.
I always find these threads interesting. I support a family of 5 on a salary that is under $100k a year. Given, I live in South Jersey, but the costs aren't that radically different considering I own a home. I think people just let their finances slip away from them and don't take the time to actually budget, set priorities and take control. It really isn't rocket science.
Several years ago my wife and I combined made significantly more than we do now. I was over $100k and her income was small (in the $25k range), but it was just the two of us and one kid living on $125k+ a year. We were bad with money. While we did some smart things like paying down student loans, not racking up credit cards, investing in a 401k and setting money aside for our son, we also did a lot of dumb things by treating virtually everything left over after we paid our bills as disposable income. Day care wasn't an issue as my MIL took care of our son for free while my wife worked.
Move forward a couple years from there (after a transfer to and then back from TX which left us being renters) and we were expecting child number 2. My wife's mother could no longer watch our son fulltime and with a second child on the way, we decided the best course of action was for my wife to become a SAHM. Instant loss of $25k a year in income, but it was balanced out by our savings on day care.
Move forward a little more from there and we decide to move in with my inlaws in order to accelerate our savings to buy a home again. The day after we move in, I get laid off. Two weeks after that, we find out my wife is pregnant. We manage to limp along balancing things out, but relied heavily on our credit cards and exhausted our meager savings. I finally got a job 5 months later, but was making 25% less then I was before.
The big advantage was that we were in a position to get everything straightened out and clean the slate a little. We ditched the luxury cars for more regular transportation (went with one car for a while), paid off the credit cards, started saving money, etc. Within 1 year we were able to buy a home again and through prudent budgeting and prioritization we are able to support a family of 5 on less than $100k a year, own a home, two cars in the driveway, premium cable, smartphones, etc. One of the big keys for us was that we never jumped into anything without thinking it through and always planned out the expense.
For instance, we built an emergency fund by paying for any new expense we were taking on for 6 months before we took it on. For the 6 months before we bought the house, we paid a "mortage, taxes, insurance, utilities, etc." into savings. For the 6 months before we bought a second car we paid an estimated "payment, insurance and gas" into savings. Before switching from regular phones to smartphones we paid the increased costs into savings, etc.
Doing the above not only allowed us to increase our savings, but it also let us really get a feel for how we could handle the added obligation. It was nice to know that we could handle the extra $450 a month in costs for the second car before it was sitting in our driveway. It also provided a cooling off period where we really thought about whether or not we needed/wanted whatever it was we were buying.
I understand my situation is a little different and I had the opportunity to do a reset and learn from my past mistakes, but I absolutely refuse to believe that people with a $100k salary and no kids are "struggling". One thing my experience taught me is that there is no such thing as an income problem, there are only spending problems. Thankfully spending problems are actually easier to remedy no matter how much your mind tells you they aren't.
Ok,while once again I am not making excuses most people commenting on here are married,and some only have one child.
Once again,I don't drive a luxury car,its a Kia.
I live in a small home. Don't eat out.
I think I'm actually working too much,because that amount includes overtime and a second job. If I didn't work so much my net would be 45,000.
NJ still grew, it's just growing more slowly. so why is NJ still growing?
your monthly "rent" is $1500/month. that's not that expensive.
what tolls are you 100% forced to pay? alternate routes could be less expensive for you.
how are you being taxed to death? the feds take approximately 20-25% of your income, likely less given the deductions you qualify for.
while tolls are optional there really is one only way to get to my job in Central nj from south jersey and that is the NJT.
Otherwise,while I would save on tolls,gas would be more expensive.
I don't qualify for many things because I'm over 75,000. The child tax credit being one of them.
But even if the feds only took 25% of my income there still os state taxes.
she's been told this ad nauseum, and the response is something like "i guess i'll have to grocery shop in PA" or "i guess i'll have to move to the ghetto".
I understand,didn't you see where I said I would call Comcast and Dish network?
Besides,what's wrong with grocery shopping in Pa? Many people in south Jersey do it.
Many people with my income live in Newark,Camden,Trenton. Its just that the low income earners outnumber the middle class in those areas.
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