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

[Anonymous]

We make 240k with about 40k in nanny/preschool costs. Honestly, if I could get rid of the nanny expenses, I'd be doing just fine. The extra $3,000+ a month would more than fund vacations, dinners out, etc.

My hope is that by the time the kids are 5 (3 years to go) my income will be in the $300k range, and the nanny expenses will drop in half, and then I'll be living quite well. People complaining they need $400k a year are just really very spoiled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We make 240k with about 40k in nanny/preschool costs. Honestly, if I could get rid of the nanny expenses, I'd be doing just fine. The extra $3,000+ a month would more than fund vacations, dinners out, etc.

My hope is that by the time the kids are 5 (3 years to go) my income will be in the $300k range, and the nanny expenses will drop in half, and then I'll be living quite well. People complaining they need $400k a year are just really very spoiled.

the difference is 2 kids in private school. w/o those tuitions $250k is just fine.

[Anonymous]

DC proper, NW in up and coming neighborhood $125,000 if you want to retire and have money to invest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC proper, NW in up and coming neighborhood $125,000 if you want to retire and have money to invest.

$125k ??? Hahahaha

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC proper, NW in up and coming neighborhood $125,000 if you want to retire and have money to invest.

$125k ??? Hahahaha

Also in DC in up and coming neighborhood and $125 would be very comfortable. Currently comfortable and happy on $90k with everything we need (including overseas vacations, eating out etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$250K for NW DC
-3 kids
-single income so minimal child care ($15K for preschool and camps combined)
-public school
-$500K mortgage on a 1 million dollar home (we save a LONG time for a down payment)
-2 vacations per year, about $3-4K each
-retirement savings
-college savings
-decent day-to-day lifestyle. Nothing high end but never pinching pennies and able to eat out several times per month, buy clothing as needed/wanted, pay for household repairs, take a long weekend once or twice a year, pay for our children's extracurricular activities, etc.

bwahahahahaha since when is $15k "minimal child care"? We live on a single income and "minimal child care" for us means that we pay for my three year olds school lunches. I haven't paid a penny in child care since my oldest was born 3.5 years ago. $15k a year is not minimal by any stretch.

Also, we do everything listed above (2 kids) on $90k per year. Sure, our mortgage is lower but all these people here saying they just need a little more than $250k are CRAZY!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Family of 4, living close in, owning a home, feel like you're saving for retirement, and enjoying life in a modest fashion....I'd say 250K.

nope

crazy crazy crazy. some super rich dumb people on this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends what you consider comfortable & if you need childcare or not... if you do, I'd say $300K.

We are at $220K:
We put $25K into 401Ks (plus match)
$12K into basic savings per year
Our mortgage is $25K a year
Prop tax is $6K a year
Nanny expenses are $36K a year
Cars cost $8K a year
Food, internet, etc is about $24K a year
Home upkeep: $5 to $10K a year
Income taxes is about $50K
Vacations: $5K
School: $11K

With $300K I could:
Max out both 401Ks (+10k)
Contribute substantially to 529 plans (+10k)
Afford more vacations a year (+5k)
Consider private school if necessary (+30K)
Have a maid (5K)

With that HHI, it is insane that you do not max out 401ks. Our HHI is $160k and we have maxed ours out from the start.

You could max yours out if you wanted to.

True... we are working on it. Some stuff is pretty fixed/cut already ... Our mortgage isnt absurd - its $2K a month. The nanny is needed cause we both work (and have been on waitlists for daycare). I have no cable. We neighbor lets us use his wifi. We shop at trader joes, etc.... But we have about $1.5M so far saved up so we are paying off the cars ($20K) from that and the extra $8K a year that gives us means we can max the 401K without changing our monthly cash flow. Still, an extra $80K a year would really make things comfy.

Are you saying that like it's the frugal choice?

[Anonymous]

We (our family) would need about $300k.

[Anonymous]

$500K would be just about right

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Family of 4, living close in, owning a home, feel like you're saving for retirement, and enjoying life in a modest fashion....I'd say 250K.

nope

Why "nope"? I don't get the posters accusing the "crazy" and "dumb" rich people of vastly overestimating what it takes to live comfortably in dc. Having a family means safety first which rules out anywhere but NW. If you want to own a home, the LOWER boundary is probably $750k. Child care expenses, medical bills, retirement, college savings....all add up.

Maybe living comfortably for some people means living in a 2 br apartment with minimal savings, in which case you can get by on 120k or whatever.

[Anonymous]

If you think you can live off $50K a year you are nuts. You can't save into a 401K....You must have an employer paid pension. I make $100K and can't even see straight. It isn't enough. I would say $200K. That way you can afford proper schooling for your kid and live in a neighborhood where you don't get shot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trust me, DCUM is not the best place to ask this question. Most of the people on here think you're poor if you make less than $100k. And that isn't true.

Agreed. DCUM is about 90% rich elitists who insist that they are middle class on $300K, when in reality, the middle class of the DC metro area is about $75-90K, which is about 150% of the national income of the middle class (roughly $50-65K). Since they consider themselves middle class with 400% of the income of the true middle class, you can expect to get a truly distorted view of the world and the answer to this question from this demographic.

I am an independent voter that leans left. I am a liberal in most of my views. $300 in DC is ABSOLUTELY MIDDLE CLASS. Sure they might be able to save, but ISN'T THAT WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO!! If you are making the wages you are talking there is NO WAY...NOT A WAY IN HELL, that you are saving enough for retirement unless you have an employer paid pension or no mortgage. I make 100K it is like slave wages here. So the people that make $10 an hour...IMAGINE how they are living. $300K is just another slave in DC. The house slave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC proper, NW in up and coming neighborhood $125,000 if you want to retire and have money to invest.

$125k ??? Hahahaha

The question was for "a person" meaning one person. If a single person cannot figure out how to live on $125,000 they really need help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trust me, DCUM is not the best place to ask this question. Most of the people on here think you're poor if you make less than $100k. And that isn't true.

Agreed. DCUM is about 90% rich elitists who insist that they are middle class on $300K, when in reality, the middle class of the DC metro area is about $75-90K, which is about 150% of the national income of the middle class (roughly $50-65K). Since they consider themselves middle class with 400% of the income of the true middle class, you can expect to get a truly distorted view of the world and the answer to this question from this demographic.

I am an independent voter that leans left. I am a liberal in most of my views. $300 in DC is ABSOLUTELY MIDDLE CLASS. Sure they might be able to save, but ISN'T THAT WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO!! If you are making the wages you are talking there is NO WAY...NOT A WAY IN HELL, that you are saving enough for retirement unless you have an employer paid pension or no mortgage. I make 100K it is like slave wages here. So the people that make $10 an hour...IMAGINE how they are living. $300K is just another slave in DC. The house slave.

This is ridiculous and just insulting to people who really are scraping by, not to mention descendants of slaves.