how much of my paycheck should I save each month? (apartment, rental)

[safina1]

20% or more?

how do you make a decision whether a rental is affordable or not? I have been looking for studios but I am not sure how much I have to keep on the side for emergencies or savings.

Any advice would be very appreciated as I need to make a quick decision. I found a place in a nice neighborhood in a prewar building but I am hesitant to apply. The rent would be about 38% of my net income.

[SeventhFloor]

Originally Posted by safina1

20% or more?

how do you make a decision whether a rental is affordable or not? I have been looking for studios but I am not sure how much I have to keep on the side for emergencies or savings.

Any advice would be very appreciated as I need to make a quick decision. I found a place in a nice neighborhood in a prewar building but I am hesitant to apply. The rent would be about 38% of my net income.

If you want some good financial advice, hit up our NYC financial guru mathjak. I have nothing else to say.

[pierrepont7731]

Originally Posted by safina1

20% or more?

how do you make a decision whether a rental is affordable or not? I have been looking for studios but I am not sure how much I have to keep on the side for emergencies or savings.

Any advice would be very appreciated as I need to make a quick decision. I found a place in a nice neighborhood in a prewar building but I am hesitant to apply. The rent would be about 38% of my net income.

The general rule in NYC is that your rent shouldn't be any more than 30% of your gross income. For example, my rent is $1600. Based on that, I should be earning at least $64,000. Keep in mind that some landlords decide to set the gross salary higher than 40x the rent. With that said, the only way to know how much you need to save is to see what your monthly expenses are like currently.

Doing a quick run down of my expenses with rent, I know that they easily are around $3300 a month. I have monies taken out of my check before I see a dime for retirement so keep that in mind. Whatever is left over, I put away into savings.

I always use Susie Orman's standards of having an emergency savings, several months of savings in case you are unemployed, etc. and put away as much in retirement as possible.

I allocate the following expenses:

Rent: $1600
Student loans: ~$300
Food ~$800 (I buy organic hence the cost)
Transportation - $250 - 300
Electric: ~$60
Verizon: ~$150
Spotify, Hulu, etc.: ~$70

I didn't include things like clothing, etc. but you get the idea. These fluctuate and are all estimates.

[Hollowplayer2]

I put whatever amount i have left into mutual fund every month.

[OyCrumbler]

I put 10% into scratch-offs.

Pro-tip: you can get them for pennies on the dollar if you buy them used

[Cida]

Looks like you never came back, but I'm not sure how answerable this question is without knowing how much you earn.

In general, the way to figure out if a rental is affordable is by judging it against your income. That 38% would be reasonable these days. In general, the way to figure out if a rental is reasonable is by looking at a ton of them.

[safina1]

Originally Posted by Cida

Looks like you never came back, but I'm not sure how answerable this question is without knowing how much you earn.

In general, the way to figure out if a rental is affordable is by judging it against your income. That 38% would be reasonable these days. In general, the way to figure out if a rental is reasonable is by looking at a ton of them.

I am here, Cida! I am reading all the replies. At this point, I am not sure if the broker is playing games or what.
He took the apt off the market today, I got panicked and sent him a text, asking if I can submit an application, and he said yes. Immediately, he sent me an email with the required documents. I have a feeling that he took it off the market because it has been on streeteasy for about 20 days which doesn't look good. I thought someone put in an application. Now, I am thinking that he wanted to put it back as a new listing with a reduced price or something. I don't really know how this works.

To answer your question, let us say, if I take home about $4200 a month, how much should I spend on rent ? I also help my mother from time to time with her medical expenses. So I set aside about $4000- $5000 a year for her.

[bxlover]

Originally Posted by safina1

I am here, Cida! I am reading all the replies. At this point, I am not sure if the broker is playing games or what.
He took the apt off the market today, I got panicked and sent him a text, asking if I can submit an application, and he said yes. Immediately, he sent me an email with the required documents. I have a feeling that he took it off the market because it has been on streeteasy for about 20 days which doesn't look good. I thought someone put in an application. Now, I am thinking that he wanted to put it back as a new listing with a reduced price or something. I don't really know how this works.

To answer your question, let us say, if I take home about $4200 a month, how much should I spend on rent ? I also help my mother from time to time with her medical expenses. So I set aside about $4000- $5000 a year for her.

I put away 16 percent of my salary to 401k. I save like 100 a pay check from net and dont use credit cards unless nescesary. Plus put every 5.00 bill in a jar. And change in a jar at the end of year that is an other 3,000 for vacations.

[bxlover]

https://clark.com/personal-finance-c...-52-week-money also dont forget, every single five dollar bill you have put in a jar as well that is another few thousand dollars.

[Krb212]

Save whatever you can. There will always be other unforeseen costs (transportation, entertainment, take out food, apartment items, toiletries, clothing, laundry, phone and WiFi bills, heat, air conditioning, gas/electric)