In your opinion, how much salary would a person need to make per year to life comfortably in DC?

[Anonymous]

No one is struggling at 200 unless you have massive debt you are paying off. Otherwise, you are doing something really, really wrong. Our HHi just hit the 220K mark and we feel like we struck gold. And we were doing just fine at 150.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is struggling at 200 unless you have massive debt you are paying off. Otherwise, you are doing something really, really wrong. Our HHi just hit the 220K mark and we feel like we struck gold. And we were doing just fine at 150.

We are aggressive savers. I admit if I just stopped saving, $200k would have been plenty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
We are aggressive savers. I admit if I just stopped saving, $200k would have been plenty.

You sound like an ass. Good luck in the soup line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We are aggressive savers. I admit if I just stopped saving, $200k would have been plenty.

You sound like an ass. Good luck in the soup line.

Won't be in the soup line because we are aggressive savers. That's the point. Duh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We are aggressive savers. I admit if I just stopped saving, $200k would have been plenty.

You sound like an ass. Good luck in the soup line.

Won't be in the soup line because we are aggressive savers. That's the point. Duh.

Good luck in the soup line, lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We are aggressive savers. I admit if I just stopped saving, $200k would have been plenty.

You sound like an ass. Good luck in the soup line.

Won't be in the soup line because we are aggressive savers. That's the point. Duh.

Good luck in the soup line, lol.

Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a young nanny living in DC. I make $36k. My boyfriend and I have an $80k income combined. I think you all are completely out of touch as to what "comfortable" means. I have enough to pay my bills including student loans, I eat out occasionally, we take a yearly vacation, and we have some left over to save. There have been times in my life where I had to choose do I want groceries or heat? I feel pretty damn comfortable now!

I think you are out of touch when it comes to savings. How much are you saving? How much are you paying in rent? I can't imagine you are saving enough for retirement. You must not have a car and no children.

We're 22. No I'm not saving a ton yet but it will come. I'm not out of touch. There are a lot of people who do just fine on less than $100k in this area I promise you. It's really very sad that so many of you have soooo much and still truly believe you need more to be happy/comfortable. To say that you need $300k or more is truly laughable. You're clearly doing it wrong.

I made 30K at 22 as well and my boyfriend (now husband) was in law school and made nothing/lived on student loans. We also felt like we were doing fine, and in truth we were for 22. We had enough to pay rent, eat, go on the kind of vacations that are fun at 22 (backpacking in Europe, hiking out West, etc.) I have no doubt that you feel you can make it in DC on your salaries because you can right now. But, you will not feel this comfortable if your income stays the same and your expenses go up, as they will inevitably as you age. Kids are expensive, requiring you to find a bigger apartment, buy more food, wash more clothes, etc. You will need to start saving for retirement, college, buy life insurance to protect your kids' futures, medical expenses will go up as you age (I didn't go to the doctor once between 20 and 30 and I am still relatively healthy now, but there have been more medical expenses in the last decade.) If you both work, there will be daycare to pay for, school lunches, summer camp (or summer daycare during elementary school), a bigger car, carseats, then booster seats, diapers, new shoes as they outgrow them every six months. There are expenses you haven't even thought of yet in your future. People definitely make it in DC on less than 100K, but most of them would not tell you that they can do it without a great deal of anxiety and would not describe themselves as "comfortable."

22 is a great age because the world seems full of endless possibilities and money doesn't seem to be an impediment to reaching them. Hang onto that. But, keep in the back of your mind that there are some different realities coming and you will also want to start laying the groundwork for how you are going to pay for your new responsibilities.

This pp is spot on! We have a HHI of 80 with 2 kids and everything adds up and it's often not things you think about. When budgeting for kids, you don't think that your cleaning supply budget goes up, your detergent budget goes up, your tp consumption goes up, your electricity budget goes up because you run the vacuum so much. When you budget diapers, you don't think about the kid getting a stomach bug and how you go through 5 times the number of diapers and all the extra costs with something so small. My kids don't go to the fancy preschool and it's still a lot more than we planned and it's been going up every year. I didn't realize that preschool adds more doctor visit co-pays, more laundry, all the fundraisers, etc.

We are leaving this city because we can't do it on 80 no matter how many coupons, cutbacks and things we go without! I think you have to have a HHI of at least 200.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a young nanny living in DC. I make $36k. My boyfriend and I have an $80k income combined. I think you all are completely out of touch as to what "comfortable" means. I have enough to pay my bills including student loans, I eat out occasionally, we take a yearly vacation, and we have some left over to save. There have been times in my life where I had to choose do I want groceries or heat? I feel pretty damn comfortable now!

I think you are out of touch when it comes to savings. How much are you saving? How much are you paying in rent? I can't imagine you are saving enough for retirement. You must not have a car and no children.

We're 22. No I'm not saving a ton yet but it will come. I'm not out of touch. There are a lot of people who do just fine on less than $100k in this area I promise you. It's really very sad that so many of you have soooo much and still truly believe you need more to be happy/comfortable. To say that you need $300k or more is truly laughable. You're clearly doing it wrong.

You're doing it wrong. I plan to retire at 55 with no debt and travel the world. That's doing it right.

I will have lived overseas 5-10 years by the time I retire, which is age 50. Will be debt free 10 years before then. What's your point and does that mean I'm doing it better than you? She's happy with her life. I made 26K a 22 (and I'm still in my 20s) and was happy as a peach. She could be making 360K in 10 years if she really wants to. It's great that she appreciates what she has today, thats the key to a rich life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love it: "Once I spend my money, there's just not much left!"

Median income in Dc is 60K which means many people around here are making well under 300K and doing more than scraping by.

Unreal.

Anybody making below median income in DC is living with his mom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it: "Once I spend my money, there's just not much left!"

Median income in Dc is 60K which means many people around here are making well under 300K and doing more than scraping by.

Unreal.

Anybody making below median income in DC is living with his mom.

Shit, I'd live my mom at any salary! You know how much money I could save? Hah!

[Anonymous]

Our household income is about $120k. We struggle mostly because of daycare and housing costs. We live in a much older, small home, but it's just so expensive to live comfortably here and we have little debt too, both cars are paid off, etc.

[Anonymous]

HHI $150K/yr and up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is struggling at 200 unless you have massive debt you are paying off. Otherwise, you are doing something really, really wrong. Our HHi just hit the 220K mark and we feel like we struck gold. And we were doing just fine at 150.

We make $170K and have 2 kids in preschool. We have a nice life, but no extra for savings (outside of 5% for retirement) or vacations and I keep to a pretty strict budget. We both just got raises to a total of $200K but are also having our 3rd child, so childcare/diapers/etc will cut into any extra salary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a young nanny living in DC. I make $36k. My boyfriend and I have an $80k income combined. I think you all are completely out of touch as to what "comfortable" means. I have enough to pay my bills including student loans, I eat out occasionally, we take a yearly vacation, and we have some left over to save. There have been times in my life where I had to choose do I want groceries or heat? I feel pretty damn comfortable now!

I think you are out of touch when it comes to savings. How much are you saving? How much are you paying in rent? I can't imagine you are saving enough for retirement. You must not have a car and no children.

We're 22. No I'm not saving a ton yet but it will come. I'm not out of touch. There are a lot of people who do just fine on less than $100k in this area I promise you. It's really very sad that so many of you have soooo much and still truly believe you need more to be happy/comfortable. To say that you need $300k or more is truly laughable. You're clearly doing it wrong.

You're doing it wrong. I plan to retire at 55 with no debt and travel the world. That's doing it right.

Most of the people I know at 55 are starting to have health issues (and this is even people who took care of themselves). It always amuses me when people say they are going to retire early and do all kinds of things. Pretty much arthritis and everything else can start at 50. It makes it a little harder to travel the world.

This is a debate that has no conclusion. Everyone has a different definition of "comfortable." But the truth of the matter is, not everyone makes a big salary, and it's not like it's merely a matter of choosing how much you want to make. Luck and circumstance is the biggest factor. No one likes to admit that, because everyone wants to think that they're self-made men/women. But a lot of people work hard, plan well and still do not end up making much money. So they manage.

Just do the best you can, save what you can, but don't bank on postponing your life until retirement. Try to live well now while still keeping an eye toward the future.

And these conversations about HHI are always exaggerated on here. Most people who make a high HHI think they couldn't live on less, but then stuff happens, they adjust and realize they can live on less.

[Anonymous]

what does HHI stand for?