S/O- could you live off of $60,000 a year? *edited with another question*
I keep hearing people say that's a lot of money, but it's actually not. Not when you're paying out of pocket for your children's educations & health insurance, plus what insurance doesn't cover. $60,000 doesn't stretch far at all.
Starting point $60,000
Our monthly bills are roughly $3,000 a month, and we don't have a mortgage, rent or car payment. That averages $36,000 a year.
That leaves you with $24,000 a year, or $2,000 a month for food, clothing, necessities & savings.
So say you spend $700 a month in food for a family of 4. $8,400 is what just food equals out to, leaving you with $17,600 a year, & $1,466 a month to divide into 3 college educations, clothes, shoes, savings, toiletries & "fun".
It just doesn't go far.
******* What, to you, is a necessity? I'm seeing many comments about a "lifestyle" being too expensive for what you're making, and wants being considered as priorities. So, what to you is necessary?
To me:
College education is a priority for my children. TOP priority. We will pay 100% of it (Unless they get a scholarship). I very strongly believe that it's our responsibility as parents to provide that for them, and that they should not have to start out their adult lives in debt.
Retirement planning is a top priority, as well, especially being self employed. I very strongly believe that we should not become burdens, financially, to our children. We also can't count on social security, medicare, etc., still being here once we reach retirement age so we plan accordingly.
Savings is a top priority, also. IMO, it's insanely moronic not to have money put aside for emergencies and such. You never know when your car will break down, a pipe will bust in your home, you'll have to take off of work for a significant amount of time due to injury, sickness, layoff, death in the family, etc.. You just never know, and it's best to be prepared. It's a good rule of thumb to have at least 3 months worth of living expenses saved at all times.
Anyhoo, these are the things that *I* feel are necessities, and our responsibilities. To others, they may seem like "wants", but to us they are not.
Considering that's about $20,000 more a year than we already live on i'd say yes, yes we could easily live on $60,000 a year, in fact we'd LOVE to have that extra money. With that extra $20,000 a year we could afford to start buying a house and not have to scrimp so much.
Oh the things we could do with an extra $20,000 a year.
When hubby and I were both E5s in the Army we made that much if not a bit more. We lived very well! However we do/did not have to pay for medical.
You need to first take off for taxes/soc sec/ medicaid etc. THEN take off your monthly bills. We were at 25% tax rate for 2010. So you have to take off this first, and then all the rest.
For more than a year we lived on about 40k a year before taxes. We were paying out of pcket health isurance that had a deducitble. We had a car payment, mortgage a toddler and I was pregnant. Our mothly obligations were about $2200 with health insurance. That left us about $800 a month for groceries, gas, diapers etc. We were living check to check, kind of. My husband got a significant promotion with a significant raise about a year later that included benefits.
and what "generation" are you?
- Cake.Lady
on Apr. 19, 2012 at 12:21 PM