Hello all.
I like this sideways action just below the ATH, it helps the moving averages going up, and isn't too stressful.
I know many here are from the US, and from many sources I'm reading about I get the impression the cost of living there, at least in big cities, is crazy. With people earning 100K$ saying they're poor, must live with parents etc. And women asked about the income of potential mates in the street saying below 200K or 300K they won't talk to you.
Yet I see the average salary in the US is 60K. And even looking at jobs offerings in the US, in my field where I make about that salary in France (estimated, because there are a lot of taxes and contributions between what my company pays and what I get at the other end...), I don't see offers that high, maybe 80K, with a lot of responsibilites, experience, a long list of tasks...
How do people get to earn 200K in a salaried job, are they all managers of big teams, or stars in their fields ? Sometimes I come across people on youtube earning crazy amounts while seeming to be very dumb (not talking about selling their bodies or being influencers either), it's a bit frustrating.
Okay a lot of couples in a major city each have a job. So you may see 200k getting tossed around as if it is one person while it is a couple.
A home in New York City is a million dollars . Not a great home just a standad type of home.
The home I grew up in is valued at 1.2 million.
If you buy it and rent one of the two parts of it. you get 3k in rent.
if you put 200k down the mortgage is 1 million. just the interest on that is 70k minus the rent of 36k and you owe 34k on just the interest. At least 16k to lower the mortage.
so 50 k from your joint 200k. your taxes on that money 200k is around 60 k drops you to 140k pull the 50k for mortgage is 90k
so you are at 90k.. you and partner. both take subway to work about 3k
down to 87k. 2 cell phones are more than 1000 a year. down to 86k
you have to insure the house to have the mortgage. at least 4k down to 82k
no car occasionally uber and rental a thousand maybe two thousand.
down to 80k
So you are a pair of homebodies. Not many restaurants not much delivery. You cook a lot.
Food for two mostly cooked in home in NYC is close to 10k.
You are down to 70k
You have the net no cable no landline just the net maybe two streams you are at 1 k.
69k
you have good jobs one has good medical you pay partial say 6k for insurance with decent coverage.
you are down to 63k.
now at 63k a year it seems okay. but there is property tax around 10k
53k.
No clothes allowance. If you have professional jobs you will spend on clothes and shoes. At least 5k a year.
brings us to 48k minus 7k power bill and gas for cooking and heat gives you 41k
seems like enough.
but I tossed out starbucks for two which could be 20 a day or 7k. many couples do this.
so the 41k is 34k
I tossed out uber eats and restaurants which would bump you from 10k to 20k easy
you would be down to 24k
I tossed out owning a car or leasing a car and the car insurance. say 8k for the lease and the insurance
down to 16k
And say you do cable and the streaming 2k more is 14k
So a couple earning 200k that is healthy with both working should be 14k to 40k plus left over
But house repair and maintenance is 2k
so the loose spenders have 12k extra
the careful spenders have 38k extra.
What did I forget how bout vacations
what else the people above are healthy and no kids.
So 200k to buy a home that has rental income and 200k in paid jobs only works well with good health and no kids.
most two family homes in NYC is ‘safe’ neighborhoods are 1 million plus.
.2mil in NYC is simply not worth it. In the last year's article, there are 340K millionaires in NYC
. This number should definitely go up a bit this year. Earning .2mil for the household feels really like a servant class, definitely not middle class quality of living.
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