Anonymous
Post 07/25/2017 10:23     Subject: Re:I Live Comfortably on Less than $70K After-Tax in DC Area
Anonymous wrote:OP, you're ridiculous- living on $70k post-tax should be easy for someone who doesn't have children. Heck I lived comfortably on a lot less here when I was single.

I still don't understand everyone else crying poor, though. We have a HHI of $200k with two kids and are still comfortable.


Yeah but most people want you to acknowledge that you're rich not just "comfortable"
Anonymous
Post 07/25/2017 10:18     Subject: Re:I Live Comfortably on Less than $70K After-Tax in DC Area
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP here, and my carpool just honked. I'll catch up later.


How far do you live from work? You're not getting picked up for carpool until 8:45?

Sounds like the life. What time do you come home?

I don't think you recognize your privilege. Making $80K+ as a single person isn't the norm either.

OP here.....if you MUST know, we work from 10 to 6 (flextime), but this morning one of us had a 9:30 meeting so we left earlier.

Also, as far as my "privilege," I do recognize it. I said I live very comfortably, which is why I posted - is counter to all these people saying &80k is poor. (And they're saying that for a single person.)


But you don't make $80K. You make more, which gives you a buffer even if you aren't spending it. And you're not trying to support a family on it, which most people are. You're not countering anything.

10 - 6, nice schedule for someone making $100K+. Lunch break?
Anonymous
Post 07/25/2017 10:17     Subject: I Live Comfortably on Less than $70K After-Tax in DC Area
Anonymous wrote:We all have children. Because we are on a site called DC Urbanmoms.

x 1000
Try living on that 70k after tax with two kids in daycare and see if you are still crowing about being "comfortable."

In other words, STFU childless people.
Anonymous
Post 07/25/2017 10:15     Subject: Re:I Live Comfortably on Less than $70K After-Tax in DC Area
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP here, and my carpool just honked. I'll catch up later.


How far do you live from work? You're not getting picked up for carpool until 8:45?

Sounds like the life. What time do you come home?

I don't think you recognize your privilege. Making $80K+ as a single person isn't the norm either.

OP here.....if you MUST know, we work from 10 to 6 (flextime), but this morning one of us had a 9:30 meeting so we left earlier.

Also, as far as my "privilege," I do recognize it. I said I live very comfortably, which is why I posted - is counter to all these people saying &80k is poor. (And they're saying that for a single person.)
Anonymous
Post 07/25/2017 09:55     Subject: Re:I Live Comfortably on Less than $70K After-Tax in DC Area
Anonymous wrote:Fairfax County. Bleh. Enough said.
Yes, it's cheaper here because we don't need rat exterminators and home security systems.
Anonymous
Post 07/25/2017 09:52     Subject: I Live Comfortably on Less than $70K After-Tax in DC Area
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP, you're single. That's really the end of the conversation. It's a completely different ballgame with children. That's why people can't relate to you.

But that certainly refutes all the people who keep clamoring that $80k is poor, even for a single person. That's the underlying point of her post.


Very often, the conversations are NOT about after tax / retirement income.

$80k doesn't really end up as much after taking out taxes and retirement. Let's make sure we're comparing apples to apples.
Anonymous
Post 07/25/2017 09:52     Subject: I Live Comfortably on Less than $70K After-Tax in DC Area
We do the same and we have kids! We are very comfortable living inside the beltway. We live in a good school district so we don't pay tuition, we don't have a lot of debt, we don't have a maid or lawn service either. But we eat out a lot and go on nice vacations. I don't get why people are struggling.
Anonymous
Post 07/25/2017 09:49     Subject: I Live Comfortably on Less than $70K After-Tax in DC Area
Anonymous wrote:OP, you're single. That's really the end of the conversation. It's a completely different ballgame with children. That's why people can't relate to you.

But that certainly refutes all the people who keep clamoring that $80k is poor, even for a single person. That's the underlying point of her post.
Anonymous
Post 07/25/2017 09:48     Subject: Re:I Live Comfortably on Less than $70K After-Tax in DC Area
Anonymous wrote:Fairfax County. Bleh. Enough said.

Snob.
Anonymous
Post 07/25/2017 09:47     Subject: I Live Comfortably on Less than $70K After-Tax in DC Area
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The people screaming "YOU"D BE POOR IF YOU HAD KIDS!" are still wrong. The median HHI in DC is 75k, which by definition includes 2 children. Once again, it's really just a question of most people on this forum not wanting to live the way most people are actually living in the area.

Absolutely true. I know a guy with a SAH wife and a small baby, and he earns around $80k. They're at the beach right now, in a rental, for the week.


Laughing at this. Is this something to OOOHHH AHHHH omg over?

And out comes the DCUM snobs....

The point is that going to the beach for a week is a middle-class type of vacation, and apparently a young family with a HHI of $80k can do it. Nothing to ooooohhhhh and ahhhhh over, granted, by that certainly isn't how poor people live. You all need to stop saying $80k is poor.
Anonymous
Post 07/25/2017 09:47     Subject: I Live Comfortably on Less than $70K After-Tax in DC Area
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I've never understood it either OP. We make $200K and have more money than we know what do with.


This is so true. We have one kid and net annual salary is about $135,000 (this does not include about $35k a year in automatic retirement withholdings), so about $11,300 a month. This is so much more then we need to live comfortably that I don't bother budgeting for individual expenses, but as a general breakdown:

1. $3,300 a month mortgage/PITI.
2. $600 a month childcare.
3. $3,000 a month for everything else. Basically, pretty much everything goes on the credit card, and the monthly bill averages to around $3,000 a month.

So that's $6,900 a month in expenses, I'll round that up to $7,000. That gives us about $4,300 a month extra, which I add to "the pile".



Side eye at that


So lets assume for some reason I am lying about that $600 and am really paying $2,000 a month for childcare for some super posh before/after care. That just reduces the amount going into the pile every month.
Anonymous
Post 07/25/2017 09:43     Subject: I Live Comfortably on Less than $70K After-Tax in DC Area
I'm sure you do live comfortably as a single person. Your after tax earnings probably mean you earn over $100k per year pre-tax / retirement.

I would send you a medal for your achievements, but haven't worked that expense into my budget.
Anonymous
Post 07/25/2017 09:42     Subject: I Live Comfortably on Less than $70K After-Tax in DC Area
OP, you're single. That's really the end of the conversation. It's a completely different ballgame with children. That's why people can't relate to you.
Anonymous
Post 07/25/2017 09:31     Subject: Re:I Live Comfortably on Less than $70K After-Tax in DC Area
Fairfax County. Bleh. Enough said.
Anonymous
Post 07/25/2017 09:27     Subject: I Live Comfortably on Less than $70K After-Tax in DC Area
Anonymous wrote:OP spends $250 a year, YEAR!, on vacations.
Sad life. That's not even a hotel room for one night.

That was a monthly rate, so it's $3000. That could be a trip to Europe or a cruise. Not so sad.