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

[Anonymous]

Household income.

[Anonymous]

150k is comfortable for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

But obviously you have some extra money, or I imagine you wouldn't feel comfortable adding a third child, I presume.

At 150k, we had a boat, car, and house payment. We paid for one child's preschool, saved a little each month, paid off some debt, ate out, and went on one vacation a year. Some fun purchases, too. All in addition to 401K and healthcare contributions.

If we hadn't lost 40k on an underwater house and occasionally lived above our means (frovoulous purchase) admittedly, we would have had no debt to pay off and would have been totally fine. As it is, we weren't too bad.

At any rate, what you describe is not struggling at all. It's perfectly comfortable. I really can't imagine how you don't have enough to save unless your pre-k and mortgage costs are astronomical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

But obviously you have some extra money, or I imagine you wouldn't feel comfortable adding a third child, I presume.

At 150k, we had a boat, car, and house payment. We paid for one child's preschool, saved a little each month, paid off some debt, ate out, and went on one vacation a year. Some fun purchases, too. All in addition to 401K and healthcare contributions.

If we hadn't lost 40k on an underwater house and occasionally lived above our means (frovoulous purchase) admittedly, we would have had no debt to pay off and would have been totally fine. As it is, we weren't too bad.

At any rate, what you describe is not struggling at all. It's perfectly comfortable. I really can't imagine how you don't have enough to save unless your pre-k and mortgage costs are astronomical.

Our take home is approx $9000 a month. Expenses are:
$2400 mortgage ($2100 is mortgage and $300 is a repayment of a loan to our 401K for the down payment)
$2150 tuition
$800 student loans
$500 utilities/internet
$1000 food (includes all eating out)
$650 shopping (CVS & Target/activities/clothing)
$200 charity
$300 weekly house cleaning (cheaper than marriage counseling!)
$300 gas/parking/car insurance for 2 cars - no car payments
$100 life insurance
$100 medical (drs/prescriptions)
$30 gym membership
$250 saving for a minivan

So while we certainly dont have any extravagant expenses, the money does go very quickly and there is not much left over at the end of the month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

But obviously you have some extra money, or I imagine you wouldn't feel comfortable adding a third child, I presume.

At 150k, we had a boat, car, and house payment. We paid for one child's preschool, saved a little each month, paid off some debt, ate out, and went on one vacation a year. Some fun purchases, too. All in addition to 401K and healthcare contributions.

If we hadn't lost 40k on an underwater house and occasionally lived above our means (frovoulous purchase) admittedly, we would have had no debt to pay off and would have been totally fine. As it is, we weren't too bad.

At any rate, what you describe is not struggling at all. It's perfectly comfortable. I really can't imagine how you don't have enough to save unless your pre-k and mortgage costs are astronomical.

Our take home is approx $9000 a month. Expenses are:
$2400 mortgage ($2100 is mortgage and $300 is a repayment of a loan to our 401K for the down payment)
$2150 tuition
$800 student loans
$500 utilities/internet
$1000 food (includes all eating out)
$650 shopping (CVS & Target/activities/clothing)
$200 charity
$300 weekly house cleaning (cheaper than marriage counseling!)
$300 gas/parking/car insurance for 2 cars - no car payments
$100 life insurance
$100 medical (drs/prescriptions)
$30 gym membership
$250 saving for a minivan

So while we certainly dont have any extravagant expenses, the money does go very quickly and there is not much left over at the end of the month.

To be clear, I am absolutely not complaining or saying that we are struggling bc we are not, but we do spend all of our income in a non-frivolous way and certainly could not afford a boat or car payments and have little wiggle room for vacations, other than to see family.

[Anonymous]

$1000 in food? What do you people eat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$1000 in food? What do you people eat?

We entertain regularly, though rarely eat out and we have dietary restrictions that cause food to be more expensive generally. It also includes most household products. Based on DCUM threads, it seems to be average or slightly above average.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Our take home is approx $9000 a month. Expenses are:
$2400 mortgage ($2100 is mortgage and $300 is a repayment of a loan to our 401K for the down payment)
$2150 tuition
$800 student loans
$500 utilities/internet
$1000 food (includes all eating out)
$650 shopping (CVS & Target/activities/clothing)
$200 charity
$300 weekly house cleaning (cheaper than marriage counseling!)
$300 gas/parking/car insurance for 2 cars - no car payments
$100 life insurance
$100 medical (drs/prescriptions)
$30 gym membership
$250 saving for a minivan

So while we certainly dont have any extravagant expenses, the money does go very quickly and there is not much left over at the end of the month.

$9000 is a lot of take home pay.

Mortgage- ok
Tuition- that's your choice
Student loans- ok
Utilities- ok
Food- that's your choice. Families of 7 spend less than that.
Shopping- that's your choice. This is not a necessary expense
Charity- that's your choice. I'm not saying it's good or bad but it's your choice
Housecleaning- that is how you choose to spend your money. That's your choice
Parking/gas- ok
Life insurance- ok
Medical- ok
Gym- that's your choice. That is how you choose to spend your money. It's not a requirement but it's nice to have
Saving for minivan- Ok. But that's still your choice.

There are a lot of things you choose to spend your money on. So yes, money goes quickly when you choose to spend it. And you still have $220 left over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Our take home is approx $9000 a month. Expenses are:
$2400 mortgage ($2100 is mortgage and $300 is a repayment of a loan to our 401K for the down payment)
$2150 tuition
$800 student loans
$500 utilities/internet
$1000 food (includes all eating out)
$650 shopping (CVS & Target/activities/clothing)
$200 charity
$300 weekly house cleaning (cheaper than marriage counseling!)
$300 gas/parking/car insurance for 2 cars - no car payments
$100 life insurance
$100 medical (drs/prescriptions)
$30 gym membership
$250 saving for a minivan

So while we certainly dont have any extravagant expenses, the money does go very quickly and there is not much left over at the end of the month.

$9000 is a lot of take home pay.

Mortgage- ok
Tuition- that's your choice
Student loans- ok
Utilities- ok
Food- that's your choice. Families of 7 spend less than that.
Shopping- that's your choice. This is not a necessary expense
Charity- that's your choice. I'm not saying it's good or bad but it's your choice
Housecleaning- that is how you choose to spend your money. That's your choice
Parking/gas- ok
Life insurance- ok
Medical- ok
Gym- that's your choice. That is how you choose to spend your money. It's not a requirement but it's nice to have
Saving for minivan- Ok. But that's still your choice.

There are a lot of things you choose to spend your money on. So yes, money goes quickly when you choose to spend it. And you still have $220 left over.

Tuition is childcare for 2, so if we want to maintain income, its not so much of a choice and certainly not an extravagant one.

I do agree that these are all choices, but many of them are "relatively" frugal choices.

[Anonymous]

250k would be comfortable on a 2 + 2. DC is very expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what does HHI stand for?

Hirschman Herfindahl Index. Its a measure of market power in imperfectly competitive markets. Everyone here who has been citing their income for the last 11 pages misunderstood the purpose of this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what does HHI stand for?

Hirschman Herfindahl Index. Its a measure of market power in imperfectly competitive markets. Everyone here who has been citing their income for the last 11 pages misunderstood the purpose of this thread.

The Herfindahl Index has nothing to do with this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what does HHI stand for?

Hirschman Herfindahl Index. Its a measure of market power in imperfectly competitive markets. Everyone here who has been citing their income for the last 11 pages misunderstood the purpose of this thread.

The Herfindahl Index has nothing to do with this thread.

(?_?)

[Anonymous]

Aaaand coffee out the nose. Though I did brew it at home to be frugal. We have an HHI of about 100k for a family of 4. We're doing fine, live in a townhouse in (gasp!!) Annandale a couple of toyotas in the parking lot, lots of cheap but healthy meals- we are doing better than so many people, I can't help but be grateful. When I'm not paying for childcare I will feel filthy rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what does HHI stand for?

Hirschman Herfindahl Index. Its a measure of market power in imperfectly competitive markets. Everyone here who has been citing their income for the last 11 pages misunderstood the purpose of this thread.

The Herfindahl Index has nothing to do with this thread.

Your joke detector is broken.