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@sunny: Thanks! Big jump in responsibilities, changing employers = according change in pay. Nervous and excited at the same time!
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We make in the high range of your poll, and it's "enough" in the sense that we don't do without anything we need or the vast majority of things we want. But it's not enough for me to feel truly comfortable. I think if we made at least $25k more per year, I'd be a lot happier about our finances. It could easily happen if I decide to go into the private sector, but I like the work-life balance I have right now and I'm not sure the trade off of time for money is something I'm willing to do with a young child (and potentially another in a couple years). DH is pretty much maxed out salary-wise, except for COLA-type raises, so if we are to make more, it'll be up to me.
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@dagret: good luck! I'm sure you'll be great
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I live in an urban area in the Midwest. Right now we are mostly dependent on one salary, since I begin student teaching in a month. We can live comfortably making around $75,000 a year. We own our own home, as well as an income property (we live in a duplex), and have been able to upgrade the property as needed. We do not have children yet though. I think $100,000 a year will allow us to pay off student loans quicker, and allow us to travel a bit.
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It's so hard to define what is "enough." If my husband was making what we make combined, it would allow us to both have what we want (going out to eat, traveling some, and I would stay home). Realistically, we make enough, but things are tight with daycare for one and I'm not sure how we'll fund daycare for two, so it would be nice if we could make another $10k-$20k per year.
We live in an urban mid-south area. Currently, the only debt we have is our home, and when we bought it we stayed at a price that was far less than what we were approved for.
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I live in NY, so I guess standard of living plays into it too. I voted for 200k based on having 2 kids. I'm not even sure what our total income is now, since there were some changes in DH's job. I prob estimate we make about 150k and we'll have LO this winter. That's definitely enough for us but since we're talking ideal I of course rather go higher! I think it's possible given another 3-5 years assuming I get promoted.
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@septca: I agree with you, It's VERY geographical. Unless someone has moved around quite a bit, it's hard to understand how different the cost of living can be in different parts of the U.S.
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We're doing well right now and within ten years will be a lot better. However we have a mortgage, credit cards and student loans that aren't paid off.
@renee: THANK YOU for sharing that you have over $200K in student loan debt. So do we, and although I hear about student loan debt all the time, it's usually for people who owe around $50K. I know that is still a hardship, but it's comforting to know that I'm not the only one with such a huge amount of student loan debt.
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@cmomma17: seriously. If we didn't have school loans our current income would rock. (Also, relatedly, if we hadn't had school loans and had been able to save more and thus put down more on our house so our mortgage was lower-- that would rock too).
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Yep it's so variable. The only debt we have is our house and we would be just fine on 75k a year in the Midwest. We make more but our lifestyle hasn't changed much and won't for the foreseeable future so it will just keep increasing our savings. We will travel again when the kid(s) are old enough to enjoy it.
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@septca: DH and I are in the same boat as you. We do pretty well, especially for higher middle class standards, but we live in an area with a high cost of living, so our income feels average to low. We are limited to 2 kids max as a result, and even though, we fear not being able to have anywhere close to enough for their college and a comfortable retirement for us.
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To be totally honest, we'd be absolutely fine on $40k a year. We live pretty simply, don't have any debt, and don't really buy super expensive things or take extravagant vacations. We've been living comfortably on $30k a year for the past 3 and paid off $45k of student loans (due to an inheritance). Yes, our house is smaller than we'd like and not what I would have chosen, but it's paid for and it's ours. Yes, we could use better cars, but they're also paid for. We don't buy on credit. We don't take out loans. We just save up for stuff we want.
$75k would enable us to pretty much do whatever we want. Have another baby, travel, do some renovations. That would be freakin sweet. $100k would be kind of mind-blowing to me, but we have the potential to be making above that in 10 years as long as things go to plan.
We live in a city in the Midwest.
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I'm in Mass. As a family, we would need at least 200k have the lifestyle desired (current expenses, retirement savings, and general savings). To live and save comfortably for things and future college (without having to worry about retirement) 125k. And at a bare minimum to just live with minimal savings and no retirement saving, 100k. (All pre tax figures)
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Totally geographically dependent. I was surprised that your poll stops at $200k bc truthfully, to live the life I'd want, we would need to make more than that. So to me, that number is on the low end of 'making enough money' but I guess to a lot of people, it's crazy high! Just depends on where you live
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We make a decent amount, but it never seems like enough to live comfortably. We don't have any debt besides our mortgage, but we're still paying back my FIL $1k a month for a loan (down payment for our home). I think once we pay back FIL I will feel better about our financial situation.
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we live in a high cost area (suburbs of dc) so my threshold was pretty high.
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@looch: Very good point. My dad is too expensive for the companies he's applying for. They're interested until they find out how much he used to make, despite him being willing to take a significant cut (he's unemployed right now). I will never make as much as he does, but it does make me aware that when I hit a certain pay level, I become more apt to be cut and less likely to be hired at any point below it.
And to answer the question, we'd be just fine (very comfortable, really) on what we are making now if we didn't have one (and then someday 2) daycare payments to make, but to have my Volvo station wagon and my vacations? 20k more would be super.
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@Trailmix: I actually thought about that but I talked myself out of it. Isn't that funny? To me $2000,000 seemed like so much. But, I get the geographical issues and just the life style differences. I don't come from money, so I almost don't even know how to imagine what I would do with money outside of the basics. It never occurred to me that in my 'ideal' life I could afford a house-cleaner. Not that I wouldn't want one, just that is how far from reality it is for me- I didn't even think of it on a pretend poll answer!
I need to raise the bar in my imagination! -
For our location, 150K would be perfect for us and we should be there in the next 10 years. (unless I stop working and then we will probably stay about where we are now, which is okay because we save on daycare costs.) I would love to pay off all our bills/student loans/debt and the amount we make now would be plenty to live comfortably on.
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@lizzywiz: I think that the geographical issue is pretty big actually. There is a big difference between places where you can get a 3 bedroom house and with large property for $200k and others where that gets you next to nothing. The price of housing alone is so variable. With some people paying well over 30% of their income to it in some parts of the country, it can make a huge difference.
I appreciate your poll though.
ETA: To actually answer. We're cool right now, but DH in particular will not always make his income, so I continue to work on my career and job prospects.
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@Trailmix: I agree, I'd like to see answers with higher categories. 200,000; 250,000; 300,000; 350,000; 400,000, 450,000, 500,000 and then I guess we can say >500,000
You know, I read recently that in Manhattan, you have to make over 750,000 a year to be considered out of middle class.
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@lizzywiz: I used to think 200k was a lot too, but then realize how fast things add up! Here's how I came up with 200k for what would be "enough".
Maxed out 401k and Roth: 46k/year
Vacations: 10k/year
day care: 12k/year
college fund: 5k/year
Mortgage/taxes: 30k/year
Utilities/health, car, house,insurance/etc: 16k/year
Misc spending for the house/clothing/food: 12k/year
Car payment 6k/year
~137k after taxes, 30% taxes = 196k, or about 200k a year. -
@Anagram: @Trailmix: I think it will be very skewed now, since so many people have already voted, but I added the additional categories.
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@PurplePumps: you are amazing if you can spend only 1000 a month on house/clothing/all food, toiletries, hair cuts, stuff for LO, going out to dinner or for activities/holidays/birthdays in your ideal life.
I must be a crazy spender because in my ideal life, I'm prettttty sure I'd be spending way more than 1000/month. But also I live in an expensive area, soo. =)
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@PurplePumps: excellent breakdown. And for perspective, my mortgage and my daycare are each under $7,000 a year. Granted, small house in less than desirable setting, but still urban and on a 1/3 acre. Can you believe the difference in our costs?!
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I voted 100k, we would be very comfortable. Pay off all debt (basically just DH's student loans), have two cars, reach our dream of adopting, have a nice home and be able to visit DH's family yearly and ideally take a nice family vacation every couple years.
I think it will be attainable; once I become a nurse.
Oh and we live in the midwest. DH is from NY and if we ever move back east, then I would increase that number.
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Just to give a geographical counterpoint, daycare costs for ONE child are at least $20,000 per year where I live. We pay more than that and I have a friend who pays $55k for a nanny.
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@hilsy85: same!
We live comfortably right now with one child. And have planned for more children. Increase in income would go largely toward more savings/retirement/etc. Our current lifestyle wouldn't change much.
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@lizzywiz: Wow daycare under $7000 a year? Is it full time? And a mortgage under $7000 a year? That's amazing!
Our daycare is $22,000 a year. Sounds like a lot when I type it out, but it's actually the cheapest daycare in my town and to be frank, it's not that great. I'd like LO to go to Montessori when she's a bit older but that's even more $ so I will probably keep her in a cheaper option.
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I can't re-vote, but brutal honesty? $500k.
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I can't revote either.
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I live in MA and we'd need maybe...$50-100k+ more? Daycare here is among the most expensive in the country, and of course housing is a significant expense too. We live a nice lifestyle now, but not what I would consider extravagant. And we're moving to a new house that will be much more expensive.
I love the house we're buying, but around here if you're not a millionaire you can either have a convenient location, or a nice house. We chose the nice house. But we're pretty far out of Boston. To live where either DH or I work and have a similarly nice house would be $1.5-2 million. Plus $3k/month for daycare for one kid. So I guess to move towns and have better commutes we'd need a LOT more money.
To be a little bit more comfortable in our new house, have 2 kids, two college funds, occasional vacations and dog walker and cleaning services, I'd feel comfortable with maybe $50k more.
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$100k would be enough for us, we could pay down our mortgage faster and it would give us more of a financial cushion. We do ok as is but with a second baby in the mix it's going to get tighter.
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@Anagram: I live in the American Southwest. Not a particularly desirable city but still lots of pluses. We have a VA loan, which helps, and refinanced when the rates went down, but housing isn't too bad to begin with: average $200,000.
Daycare- yup, that is full time, preschool curriculum, plus 2 meals and a snack. I got it for a steal because it's location is out of the way, but it is licensed with the highest level of rating available in the city. I CANNOT imagine daycare costing $20,,000. But, our wages are below national average, too, so there you go. -
@Anagram: Yeah we go to the "cheaper" daycare in our area (but I actually really like it) and it's ~$16k for one child/year.
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@Anagram: both daycare/housing for us is more than 7k/year but not by too much... but you have to take into consideration that we're making considerably less income, so while those numbers seem low to you - our housing is still 25% of our income, daycare is about 15% (for late toddler age, infant age would be 22%). When daycare and housing alone has already encompassed nearly 50% of our income - and that doesn't include other necessities like car, gas, utilities, insurance, etc... the price differences really don't add up.
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@PurplePumps: yup. I'm in MA too. So expensive. Great breakdown. I just realized we are spending $16k a year on daycare. Yikes! Seems like less monthly.
We are doing ok but to be comfortable I'd like to be at the higher end of the poll with or house/cars/savings/travel/student debt. Etc etc etc
@ShootingStar: yep! Just saw your post. We love our new house but are 45 minutes away from Boston now!!
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@Anagram: We don't have a LO yet, but I just put it in there as an estimate in the ideal world. We generally spend about $400/month on food now, so I don't know how much that will change. Neither of us shop much (I go on little sprees every now and then, but not too often) and the rest is for house updates and little things, so I guess this number would be even bigger with a LO
@lizzywiz: wow, I cannot even fathom a mortgage for 7k a year. My property taxes alone are a little over 9k.
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@hellobeeboston: 16k a year!?
Along with not accounting for buying things for a child and underestimating daycare, now i feel like I'd need even more than 200k to be really comfortable. -
@PurplePumps: We pay $1325/month which works out to $15,900/year. And like I said, it's the cheaper center in the area.
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