Money alone isn’t going to make me happy. Yeah, it removes a lot of one type of stress. But it can also be a trap. Like, I’m doing solidly okay in my job, but it’s enough that I can’t easily quit and start over in a different career, even though I stopped caring about this one a decade ago. And a high-paying job can come with a lot of other stressors, things that keep you working harder and longer hours than you otherwise would.
$100k would probably seem pretty good for a long time, given where I currently live. If I had to live in NYC, I’d probably say more like $500k.
Enough that I’m not completely broke before my next paycheck.
Seriously, that’s all it would take for me to be happy, a little bit of disposable income.
The inflation isn’t “fake” and it’s not a result of greed. The greed has always been there, during periods of hyperinflation and during periods of stability.
The thing that changed is the competition, which naturally counterbalances the greed, has been reduced during the pandemic.
The day I got signed on for 120k was the day all my financial anxieties went away. I’m not rich by any means. My rent is still stupid high. My bills never stop coming in. But I can finally afford furniture. I can finally afford to visit my family when I want to. I don’t worry about min-maxing at the grocery store. I’m not “happy” but it’s the closest I’ve ever been
Congratulations! I’m surviving but without furniture lol.
I’ve got a little bit of disposable income, but just had to go out of network for a surgery because my insurance is weak.
I don’t really have financial worries either though. What’s weird is I make just under $50k now, but the most I ever made was $110k, and at that time I had financial stress. Now is the first time I’ve ever gotten off the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle.
But my financial success currently stops at furniture, so I know exactly what you’re saying. I’ve got a futon, a 5x7 rug, a table, a dining chair, and an armchair. The futon and the rug are the only ones I paid for; the rest was free from craigslist. I carried that damn furniture for miles. Well I had a vehicle for the armchair.
Next thing, after my savings recovers from the surgery, is a 7x9 rug to fill the other half of my main living space, so I can cut down on the creaking boards. Then padding for under the rugs. Then finally another dining chair so I can invite someone over for dinner.
Being able to walk into a store and drop 50 dollars on something on rare occasion without having to have a panic attack and spend the day before doing in depth financial analysis and math, I cant imagine how much healthier my life would be without that stress.
I remember a time when someone making “six figures” was extremely wealthy. Now six figures just seems to be the baseline for even having a chance at tackling home ownership in suburban areas. 120k is probably ideal. I don’t likely need more than that and it should be enough to pay for a comfortable lifestyle.
I make $115k per year, my wife makes another $20k or so, we have one kid, a tiny house in a slightly sketch part of our Midwestern city that I bought a decade ago when it was almost cheap, and both our cars are paid off… and we’re treading water financially. I don’t know how anybody my age is affording big houses and new cars, unless it’s just by snowballing debt at an alarming pace. I’m already underfunding my 401k just to maintain some liquidity.
There was a questionable article written with that number not long ago. It’s completely bullshit though.
I’ll use my own experience as an example: I got approved for a mortgage of 125k (which is fairly low for my area, but there are still options) with the understanding that I’d be getting a house with a few issues that I can work on. My 30 year mortgage rate if I had managed to buy a house at that time would have been around 700 a month. If you double those numbers to 250k, 1400 a month and you earn 4x that amount your annual salary needs to be just under 70k.
Just for reference, there are a significant number of homes for sale for 250k or less, and I live in one of the top 10 most populated cities in the country.
$140k per year is enough to afford a mortgage on a $500k house. You’d have to make crazy money to buy a house outright on a year’s salary, so nobody evaluates it that way.
I’m sorry but this can’t be correct. I live within 30 minutes of two minor cities with plenty to do and me and my wife combined make around 100k. We live comfortably and have 50k in the bank in addition to retirement. We also have one kid. This is highly dependent on where you live. I am not saying the cost of housing,etc is not a problem but some of these numbers need to be put in context.
I applied for several West Coast positions and was not even interviewed for them. I applied for literally over 300 positions in my field all over the country and got no offers, so at least for the near future, I have to conclude I’m unhirable. Most companies I applied to do not offer relocation assistance, so even if I was hirable then they would pick a West Coast local instead.
Hmm… Sounds like a “you gotta know someone” kind of thing. Are there any networking or trade events that could help? When was the last time you looked for an event?
I think I’m okay. So far I guess. I’m in my first job after grad school and am almost there a year. I was hired at 58,000 but they did an adjustment because retention was so poor and now I make 69,000.
When I was younger I always thought 70k would be the number I would be totally fine with but adjusted for inflation 70k then was a lot more than now.
I had been making about 10k a year before now working fast food while in school. It was a weird feeling for me because I was so happy to pretty much meet my “goal”. I thought I would feel so rich after that jump. I have no lifestyle inflation because I live in the same place and drive the same shitty 500 dollar car I have for years.
But for some reason I feel just as poor as I always felt and it feels like nothing changed and it’s not going as far as I thought it would. I thought it would be life changing. And it is I suppose but not like I thought.
I feel bad complaining when it’s a privilege and many people make worse. Even I made less until recently. The entire system is just fucked and I feel bad for anyone who makes less than me because I still feel pressure and I don’t even really have anything.
Sorry if this makes me sound like a piece of shit I’m not trying to come off this way
All good; I’m usually on your side of this interaction.
But for some reason I feel just as poor as I always felt and it feels like nothing changed and it’s not going as far as I thought it would.
I mean I made 15k a year doing fast food before I went back to school, and even that was hugely important for me to get my mental health in order. I can’t go back now though; too much has changed, and I need to focus on grad school.
I feel bad complaining when it’s a privilege and many people make worse.
Don’t. It sucks that we have to work at all. You always have a right to vent and be an emotional human no matter how safe your situation actually is relative to others.
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