How would you spend 180K/year of salary dollars while living in NYC? (apartment, rental)

[Cara_319]

A 23-year-old political consultant making $65K and her sister, a 28-year-old product developer making $115K living in Brooklyn show us what everything in their life costs.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCNTs9tyJ6M

How would you go about spending 180k/year in NYC?

[prospectheightsresident]

Shoot, after federal, state, and local taxes, how much is actually left? Granted, these two are better off than most in NYC (I can't play the video at the moment), but that won't stretch as far as some may think. Not if you want a decent quality of life. If I was making that money in NYC, I'd love well below my means in order to save for the future. But I don't want to love well below my means making that money :d

[nybklyn]

If one did not start from some struggling and simply starts making 60k or 100k salary, I am pretty sure they don’t know how to manage their money wisely. For example, an individual started working at McDonald as a cashier makes $9 an hour with bills to pay and barely have anything left at the end of month would know where to get the same or similar product for under $5 instead of paying $20 or $50. As the individual slowly making progress, he or she would appreciate more with making let’s say $60k or 100k a year.

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by nybklyn

If one did not start from some struggling and simply starts making 60k or 100k salary, I am pretty sure they don’t know how to manage their money wisely. For example, an individual started working at McDonald as a cashier makes $9 an hour with bills to pay and barely have anything left at the end of month would know where to get the same or similar product for under $5 instead of paying $20 or $50. As the individual slowly making progress, he or she would appreciate more with making let’s say $60k or 100k a year.

Perhaps. But I believe that if you're unwise with your money while earning $9 an hour, you're going to be unwise earning $100k a year, regardless of when you started to earn the latter salary. I'm not saying that responsible people earning $9 an hour have it easy; hell, far from the case. But you can be stupid with your money still earning $9 an hour, to include having a $100 a month cell phone bill, buying the most expensive phones, expensive sneakers, etc. The people I know who were reckless with their money when earning minimum wage didn't change when they started earning more. No, they remained reckless, albeit with more money.

[jad2k]

Originally Posted by nybklyn

If one did not start from some struggling and simply starts making 60k or 100k salary, I am pretty sure they don’t know how to manage their money wisely. For example, an individual started working at McDonald as a cashier makes $9 an hour with bills to pay and barely have anything left at the end of month would know where to get the same or similar product for under $5 instead of paying $20 or $50. As the individual slowly making progress, he or she would appreciate more with making let’s say $60k or 100k a year.

Um, no. This is not true at all. If true, why do so many lotto winners end up blowing through all of their money?

The ability to manage money has nothing to do with how much you make. It has to do with thoughtfulness towards money. Does one set a monthly budget? Does one “balance their checkbook?” Does one rack up massive credit card bills and only pay off the minimum? Does one make an effort to save money for emergencies? One can be horrible at those things at any income level.

[Mr.Retired]

These two sisters are brilliant.
The video was insightful. They love each other and work well as a team.
A combined $180,000 shaving off $30,000 for taxes set aside $36,000 for rent and another $4,000 for utilities and upkeep.
Set aside $ 20,000 for medical and a cool $90,000 total pocket change. You girls are on your way to owning your own home
within 5 years. I suggest at least a 3 family. 1 apartment per sister and 1 rental income. If home ownership is not your cup
of tea then a duplex condo sounds like a possible investment. If you are happy with the status quo pump the extra pocket change into a 401K......... Nice work.

[Cinema Cat]

Originally Posted by Cara_319

A 23-year-old political consultant making $65K and her sister, a 28-year-old product developer ...

Political consultant? Product developer? It's amazing, all the useless, do-nothing "jobs" out there. Reminds me of the final segment of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. (For those who get the reference.)

[Cara_319]

Originally Posted by Cinema Cat

Political consultant? Product developer? It's amazing, all the useless, do-nothing "jobs" out there. Reminds me of the final segment of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. (For those who get the reference.)

It's actually the employer who gets to determine whether a particular job is needed/useful, not random people on the internet.

[jad2k]

Originally Posted by Cinema Cat

Political consultant? Product developer? It's amazing, all the useless, do-nothing "jobs" out there. Reminds me of the final segment of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. (For those who get the reference.)

Spoken from a place of ignorance...You think these jobs are useless? Do you even know what is involved in these roles and what they are responsible for to assume they are useless? For example, product developers are the ones responsible for bringing new products to market. These are things you consume every day. Like that moisturizer/shampoo/soap/cereal/candy bar (or pretty much any CPG or any consumed product for that matter) you’re using? The development of it has to do with what you think is a so-called “useless” product developer. They are the reason why so many choices exist for consumers.

[Cara_319]

Originally Posted by Mr.Retired

These two sisters are brilliant.
The video was insightful. They love each other and work well as a team.
A combined $180,000 shaving off $30,000 for taxes set aside $36,000 for rent and another $4,000 for utilities and upkeep.
Set aside $ 20,000 for medical and a cool $90,000 total pocket change. You girls are on your way to owning your own home
within 5 years. I suggest at least a 3 family. 1 apartment per sister and 1 rental income. If home ownership is not your cup
of tea then a duplex condo sounds like a possible investment. If you are happy with the status quo pump the extra pocket change into a 401K......... Nice work.

Savings should really be their primary goal. Since neither of them has any student loans, they should be saving at least 30% of their income.