• partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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    16 days ago

    My point is that $160k is enough for anybody. That much per person would give any household a very comfortable lifestyle even in a HCOL area.

    $160k/year is way low to live a “very comfortable lifestyle”, even more so especially in a HCOL area.

    Lets use NYC as an example of a HCOL area. Here’s what that looks like for take-home pay:

    source

    Since we can assume he’s fully retired and not working, he wouldn’t be paying FICA so that would be $514 more in his pocket a money, but that still means only $4,906 in his pocket afterward from this calculation. In truth, he’d be taxed slighly lower because he’d be paying capital gains taxes instead of income taxes, but that’s perhaps a 6% difference from the example calculation shown here. However, we’re really working with your other metric that being “anybody”. Lets call it $5,000/month to make it easy.

    So a person needs to house themselves. Lets look at NYC rents. Here’s median prices:

    And here’s some specifics from a few places in the city:

    source

    So looking at the cheapest of the 3 listed here, the small 1 br 1 bath place in the East Village will set you back about $3100/month. Of our $5,000, we now have just $1900/month for every other living necessities including food, transportation, clothing, and the big budget killer we haven’t talked about yet…health insurance/healthcare. All of this also assumes a person would be single. If they have children a 1br apartment isn’t going to cut it, and the costs for raising children are also a large increase in monthly money burn.

    $160k/year is way low for: “That much per person would give any household a very comfortable lifestyle even in a HCOL area.”

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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        16 days ago

        First, thank you for pointing out I made a mistake. I didn’t see the calculator broke it into twice a month paychecks.

        Take home for one month for $160k/year would be: $8,784

        I’ll correct my post, but $160k/year is still way too low to meet your “That much per person would give any household a very comfortable lifestyle even in a HCOL area.”

        • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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          16 days ago

          You’re taking out too much tax. Closer to $9,300.

          A household of two adults would have $320k gross annually, so twice that.

          Also, I’m comfortably supporting two adults in a HCOL area, with a mortgage and high medical bills, for under $125k annually.

          • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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            16 days ago

            You’re taking out too much tax. Closer to $9,300.

            [Citation needed]

            I cited my source for the taxation in my post above as well as the rate. Feel free to cite yours for discussion.

              • naught@sh.itjust.works
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                16 days ago

                I’m just thinking about the “take home” figure! 160k doesn’t stretch as far as I thought it did when I was a kid

                • tomkatt@lemmy.world
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                  16 days ago

                  I thought $40k was more than enough when I was a kid. But that was when you could buy a house for $30k to $50k. By the time I hit my 20s, inflation already had homes at closer to $100k, and the cost of everything much higher than when I was a kid.

                  When I was growing up I didn’t know anyone making more than $50k, most made less, and they were doing fine, owning homes, etc. $160k was wealthy.

              • tomkatt@lemmy.world
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                16 days ago

                Because you can’t work forever. Burnout, aging, illness, etc. Life happens. Or do you plan to live paycheck to paycheck into your 70s?

                • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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                  16 days ago

                  Again, that’s separate from living expenses. In my personal example, I am maxing out my retirement accounts, but those amounts are not counted as part of my family’s annual cost of living.

          • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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            16 days ago

            A household of two adults would have $320k gross annually, so twice that.

            You don’t think that’s moving the goalpost just a bit by doubling the number of earners?

            Also, I’m comfortably supporting two adults in a HCOL area, with a mortgage and high medical bills, for under $125k annually.

            I’d be interested to hear how you’re accomplishing that. At a minimum, can I ask what your housing costs are?

            • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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              16 days ago

              I changed nothing about my original comment. I said per person, not household.

              Mortgage payment is currently $5,500 / mo. Note that this is not an income of $125k annually, but net expenses as recorded over the past few years.