150k household of 1 is barely making it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP the fact that this is your budget is why you only earn $150K. You’re stupid. Take that $12K a year in gambling and vacation + cancel all but one streaming service = $2000 + stop ordering and eating out (you are eating dinner out or ordering essentially every night!) = $3600 + $2400 and only buy occasional clothes = $600 total = >$20K a year you could invest. Every year. After 5 years that’s a downpayment.

Or you could keep spending everything you earn and be on here in ten years still complaining about how life is so unfair and you can’t afford DC anymore.

STFU with this bullshit. For one person, $150K is something like top 5% of all full-time workers.

No, not anymore.

[Anonymous]

My family of four lives on around $150K a year. And let me tell you, it's a lot easier than when we lived on $110K a year.

Count your blessings and save more pennies.

[Anonymous]

How do you spend so much on Gambling? Do you always lose? Are you beatting on TEAM USA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's just say you have a $150k salary in DC:
- After taxes, your net pay is $98,826
- After rent ($2k p/month) you're at $74,826
- After Utility (~$110) & Wifi ($54.99) you're at $72,826
- After car & health insurance you're at $60,826
- After car payments, you're at $57,226
- after food $800 a month $47,626
- after ordering out $300 a month $44206
- after eating out(2x week) $240 a month $41326
- buying new clothes $200 a month $38926
- Nexflix, Hulu etc… $200 a month $36526
- vacation twice a year $3000. $33526
- gambling and entertainment. 6000yr $27526z
- miscellaneous. 500 month 6000 year.$21000
Tell me again how we are rich?????

Ok but now do it again with a salary of $70k (much more of the national average) and see where you get. The federal minimum wage barely buys you a dozen eggs these days. So yeah, $150k is rich. Gambling, eating out and vacations mean you have extra money to spend.

+1000
Also $200/month on Netflix, Hulu, etc? Pick one or two and spend only $25/month.

So many ways to save even more.

Savings:
$175 Netflix/hulu category
$300 ordering out
$240 eating out
-$50 add in another 50 to do those 2 categories at home
$100 Only spend $100/month on clothing
$500 vacation instead of $3000

and the list goes on. Lots of extras to cut from there. Also if single, then find friends and live in a townhouse/apartment where everyone has their own room/bathroom but share common areas. You could save another $500+ on rent

HBO+, peacock, Paramount, Hulu+(Live Tv, Disney+ no ads and ESPN+ no ads), YouTube no ads , Netflix, Apple TV, and of course Amazon prime.

Maid is $200 every month, she used to charge me $150, but went up to $200 for a two bedroom apartment.

[Anonymous]

Wow, that budget is the absolute definition of well off!

You can afford absolutely everything you need and want including safe comfortable housing, clothes, eating out, vacations, medical care... you can fund all your needs and wants, and STILL have money left over to save!

Congatulations!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's just say you have a $150k salary in DC:
- After taxes, your net pay is $98,826
- After rent ($2k p/month) you're at $74,826
- After Utility (~$110) & Wifi ($54.99) you're at $72,826
- After car & health insurance you're at $60,826
- After car payments, you're at $57,226
- after food $800 a month $47,626
- after ordering out $300 a month $44206
- after eating out(2x week) $240 a month $41326
- buying new clothes $200 a month $38926
- Nexflix, Hulu etc… $200 a month $36526
- vacation twice a year $3000. $33526
- gambling and entertainment. 6000yr $27526z
- miscellaneous. 500 month 6000 year.$21000
Tell me again how we are rich?????

All the bolder stuff are extras that launches you in UMC category. And your 200 bucks for clothes? It is excessive and should be covered under the miscellaneous category of $500 a month.

Maid is now $200, and so then $300 for just regular items.

[Anonymous]

We can all help you add many things you don't need into that list. I assume you have made this money at least 3-4 years.
The money you have left over could have been 3x'ed since 2020. You also could have cut back a lot of that unnecessary spending and 3x'd that.
You spend your time enjoying the money and not growing it.
A lot of eating and no gym? No wonder you need new clothes all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's just say you have a $150k salary in DC:
- After taxes, your net pay is $98,826
- After rent ($2k p/month) you're at $74,826
- After Utility (~$110) & Wifi ($54.99) you're at $72,826
- After car & health insurance you're at $60,826
- After car payments, you're at $57,226
- after food $800 a month $47,626
- after ordering out $300 a month $44206
- after eating out(2x week) $240 a month $41326
- buying new clothes $200 a month $38926
- Nexflix, Hulu etc… $200 a month $36526
- vacation twice a year $3000. $33526
- gambling and entertainment. 6000yr $27526z
- miscellaneous. 500 month 6000 year.$21000
Tell me again how we are rich?????

You are spending $1340 a month on food for one single person. You must be fat. Tell me how you are not a rich fat cat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP the fact that this is your budget is why you only earn $150K. You’re stupid. Take that $12K a year in gambling and vacation + cancel all but one streaming service = $2000 + stop ordering and eating out (you are eating dinner out or ordering essentially every night!) = $3600 + $2400 and only buy occasional clothes = $600 total = >$20K a year you could invest. Every year. After 5 years that’s a downpayment.

Or you could keep spending everything you earn and be on here in ten years still complaining about how life is so unfair and you can’t afford DC anymore.

STFU with this bullshit. For one person, $150K is something like top 5% of all full-time workers.

No, not anymore.

+1 it’s not even top 10% in 2022.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do people really need to buy $200 worth of clothes every month? I think I shop maybe once every 2 years for clothes.

Same here. Buy classics and wear them till that have holes.

I do spent a lot on my pets…so never want to shame people into what they spend there money on after the essentials to make them happy, but you gotta stay within your means. Clothes (and furniture) are not as important to me as cats 🐱

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have a spending problem, not an earnings problem.

I raise a family of five on that.

+1 who needs a car and car payments in DC. Take the metro or bus like the rest of us. It’s not Idaho. Great. Just saved you 12k in your spendy budget

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP the fact that this is your budget is why you only earn $150K. You’re stupid. Take that $12K a year in gambling and vacation + cancel all but one streaming service = $2000 + stop ordering and eating out (you are eating dinner out or ordering essentially every night!) = $3600 + $2400 and only buy occasional clothes = $600 total = >$20K a year you could invest. Every year. After 5 years that’s a downpayment.

Or you could keep spending everything you earn and be on here in ten years still complaining about how life is so unfair and you can’t afford DC anymore.

STFU with this bullshit. For one person, $150K is something like top 5% of all full-time workers.

No, not anymore.

+1 it’s not even top 10% in 2022.

OK, my numbers were a little bit off - according to this site, $150K is in the 91st percentile for all workers and the 89th percentile for all full-time workers.

https://dqydj.com/income-percentile-calculator/

Still, it's absurd for PP to demean the OP by saying they "only earn $150K" because they're "stupid." For reference, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median income for an attorney (I know this board loves its attorneys) is $135K. For software engineers, it's $121K. For veterinarians, it's $100K. You get the point. So saying that someone who makes more than probably 60% of all lawyers is failing, is both condescending and factually inaccurate.

https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes231011.htm

[Anonymous]

Fixed it for you.

Here is what your budget needs to be:


Let's just say you have a $150k salary in DC:

You should not be paying over 50k on taxes- it should be more like 35k in taxes- maximize/research your deductions

Now you have 115k

Next thing to pay is yourself. You need to be investing 20-25k a year into retirement on this salary.

Now you have 90k

rent - no you should own at that salary. Save more immediately and buy soon. Then half that housing payment will go towards equity. $2k p/month)

Now you have 66k

Health insurance/copays- this should not be more 6k a year for one person if your employer subsidizes

Now you have 60k

Utilities and WiFi - yes 165 a month is pretty reasonable if it includes your cell

Now you have 58k

- car- you truly don’t need one being one person living in a city with good public transportation. With your rent payment, you must live somewhere walkable and on bus lines. Not having a car will save you about 4-5k a year on car payments, insurance, maintenance, and gas. Use zip car when necessary. Maybe 100 a month max in public transport.

Now you have 57k

Food/ You can eat meat, organic, and afford groceries at Whole Foods for one person at 600 a month not 800. Shop at Trader Joe’s and spend even less a month.

Now you have 50k

Your ordering out AND eating out needs to be cut back to 400 a month which is PLENTY for one person. Do takeout no more than once or twice a week and eat out once a week.

Now you have 45k

I can see clothes costing 200 a month IF you are including dry cleaning and you have a job where you must dress to impress

Now you have 43k

Streaming should be 75-100 a month. Geez- start sharing accounts and use only two-three

Now you have 42k

vacation twice a year $3000. Okay if each vacay is 1500

Now you have 39k

- gambling and entertainment. Should be 1200 per year- 100 a month. You are wasting so much on this! Get lawn tix at concerts, go to free comedy shows, go to matinee movies and sneak in candy/drink

Now you have 38k
-
miscellaneous- no misc allowed. this should go to your emergency savings fund until you have six months living expenses saved. 500 month until you have 25 saved in this.

Now you have 32k - all of which should get put into additional investments- down payment fund for house (Roth IRA/high yield savings)

You are ridiculous feeling poor being one human on your salary. You can save half of it and live a very nice life. I live on barely more than that with a family of three and save 35-45k a year.

[Anonymous]

$800 per month for 1 person???
We’re a family of 4 and spend that.

Then eating out AND ordering out? Why spend so much on food???

Also when I lived in DC proper very few people had car payments. You either metro and uber or have used cars. Between the awful roads and car jackings wtf would you have a new car?

Gambling an entertainment?

This person isn’t good with money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's just say you have a $150k salary in DC:
- After taxes, your net pay is $98,826
- After rent ($2k p/month) you're at $74,826
- After Utility (~$110) & Wifi ($54.99) you're at $72,826
- After car & health insurance you're at $60,826
- After car payments, you're at $57,226
- after food $800 a month $47,626
- after ordering out $300 a month $44206
- after eating out(2x week) $240 a month $41326
- buying new clothes $200 a month $38926
- Nexflix, Hulu etc… $200 a month $36526
- vacation twice a year $3000. $33526
- gambling and entertainment. 6000yr $27526z
- miscellaneous. 500 month 6000 year.$21000
Tell me again how we are rich?????

wasting so much money. how can one person spend 1350 per month (16000 per year) and another 16000 a year on vacation, entertainment?? That's 32000 right there. it's not your earning, it's your spending dummy.

This is the answer.

A fool and their money will soon be parted.