Anonymous wrote:These numbers are annoying.
I’ll answer truthfully. 31%
I got this number from glancing at my bank statement. I took the full amount of my PITI that’s automatically paid to my mortgage company and divided it by the amount that’s direct deposited into my account. Things like health insurance and retirement contributions are automatically deducted from that amount. I could easily have tried to make this ratio look better by using gross salary or excluding insurance from the mortgage payment but that’s an exercise in stupidity. The amount direct deposited in my account is realistically what I have access to each month.
Anonymous wrote:Wow, did all of you buy 20 years ago? We have a reasonably priced house, make $250k, and are at 18% of gross which fits in our budget very comfortably.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I know GROSS is what everyone looks at, but I think looking at NET is what you should be looking at if budgeting on a month to month basis. We NET $15K a month, mortgage + taxes and insurance is right at $5K. Our GROSS is probably closer to $30K but we max 401K plus catch up contributions, and we withhold "0".
Net though is highly dependent on personal choices as you kind of implied. My net changes a lot based on things like health, education and retirement accounts, tax issues, etc.
Gross in my opinion is far more easily comparable across households. For me PITI is 21% of gross.
In addition to this, about 30% of my compensation is either deferred or paid an irregular intervals, and so it doesn't factor into monthly cashflow, and we don't take it into account when figuring how much we can incur in monthly expenses. I know what our gross is, but it's a huge hassle to figure out net monthly income.
Yes but I think the majority of people have a pretty predictable monthly NET. I know what ours is from Jan-April, that's usually when DH maxes out the social security portion of his pay and his paycheck increases about by about $1000-$1200 a month for the rest of the year. He gets an annual bonus paid in March, but I don't include that in our budget. We just put as much of that away as possible.
On the other hand, if your DH maxes out his Social Security taxes in April, he's probably making about $500,000, which means you can afford even a very expensive mortgage.
I wasn't arguing what we could or could not afford in a mortgage. Don't turn this into THAT conversation, as there are plenty of those already. Also your math is incorrect. His salary is gross $311K not $500K, he pays into social security THROUGH April. Right around May is when his paycheck increases due to maxing that portion out.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I know GROSS is what everyone looks at, but I think looking at NET is what you should be looking at if budgeting on a month to month basis. We NET $15K a month, mortgage + taxes and insurance is right at $5K. Our GROSS is probably closer to $30K but we max 401K plus catch up contributions, and we withhold "0".
Net though is highly dependent on personal choices as you kind of implied. My net changes a lot based on things like health, education and retirement accounts, tax issues, etc.
Gross in my opinion is far more easily comparable across households. For me PITI is 21% of gross.
In addition to this, about 30% of my compensation is either deferred or paid an irregular intervals, and so it doesn't factor into monthly cashflow, and we don't take it into account when figuring how much we can incur in monthly expenses. I know what our gross is, but it's a huge hassle to figure out net monthly income.
Yes but I think the majority of people have a pretty predictable monthly NET. I know what ours is from Jan-April, that's usually when DH maxes out the social security portion of his pay and his paycheck increases about by about $1000-$1200 a month for the rest of the year. He gets an annual bonus paid in March, but I don't include that in our budget. We just put as much of that away as possible.
On the other hand, if your DH maxes out his Social Security taxes in April, he's probably making about $500,000, which means you can afford even a very expensive mortgage.
Anonymous wrote:PITI 16% of gross income
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I know GROSS is what everyone looks at, but I think looking at NET is what you should be looking at if budgeting on a month to month basis. We NET $15K a month, mortgage + taxes and insurance is right at $5K. Our GROSS is probably closer to $30K but we max 401K plus catch up contributions, and we withhold "0".
Net though is highly dependent on personal choices as you kind of implied. My net changes a lot based on things like health, education and retirement accounts, tax issues, etc.
Gross in my opinion is far more easily comparable across households. For me PITI is 21% of gross.
In addition to this, about 30% of my compensation is either deferred or paid an irregular intervals, and so it doesn't factor into monthly cashflow, and we don't take it into account when figuring how much we can incur in monthly expenses. I know what our gross is, but it's a huge hassle to figure out net monthly income.
Yes but I think the majority of people have a pretty predictable monthly NET. I know what ours is from Jan-April, that's usually when DH maxes out the social security portion of his pay and his paycheck increases about by about $1000-$1200 a month for the rest of the year. He gets an annual bonus paid in March, but I don't include that in our budget. We just put as much of that away as possible.
On the other hand, if your DH maxes out his Social Security taxes in April, he's probably making about $500,000, which means you can afford even a very expensive mortgage.