Ha, it didn't take me long after posting my July expenses to develop some serious thoughts on the matter.
Having been with my employer for three years, I make a good amount of money. $80,000/yr, my anonymous friends, to be exact. Given the high cost of living here, I'd say my adjusted income is more like $50-$60k. For example, my rent is $1375- and that's only MY share of the apartment! Total rent for the one bedroom apt is $2700, and we had to put up a wall to make a second bedroom! See how crazy it is?
But what's really crazy, is that my nice salary barely supports ME. Just one person- ME. Families of four+ can live off of this salary, but I still manage to spend more than I make (as you can see from this month). I don't have to pay for childcare, extra clothes/food, health care, I don't have car payments (although I do chip in for the BF's gas), and I while my rent would probably cover a decent mortgage, I don't have to pay condo fees/taxes, etc. So where does all of my money go? Well, some months it goes into clothes for my professional work wardrobe (July was an anomoly... hmmm), but mostly it's been going towards travel expenses. Granted, if I had a family to care for, I wouldn't be flying out of town every weekend, so I guess that makes up for part of it. But what this exercise has done is given me a lot of respect for the families out there that have to budget on less money than what I have, and still make sure there is some leftover for the future. Although, without making unfair assumptions, it's possible that a lot of families living beyond their means and are incurring debt to make ends meet. No surprise that money in America is tight.
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4 comments:
Sexy! doesn't it feel good to blurt out your salary to anonymous people? haha...
that, alone, was one of my favorite parts of starting a PF blog ;) and you know what? i'm gonna blurt it again and see how good it feels - $75k w/ quarterly bonus of 2k....YUP, still feels great!
Just pray that certain friends don't see it - i made that mistake once, and that was enough. thank goodness i didn't tell him about my blog!
now i just have to deal with "come on man, you can afford it! what's the big deal?" everytime i say no to doing something i really don't care for. retard.
Yeah J, I hear ya on that one... my friends don't know exactly how much I make, but they know that I'm well-compensated for my long hours, and I think that I'm unfairly taken advantage of sometimes, especially when it comes to their wedding costs. For example, the bridesmaids have no problem letting me pay for the whole shower myself! Hey guys, I want to SAVE my money!
Also, thanks for your help with the save-o-meter code, I just haven't had a chance to fool around with it yet. Once it's up and running, I'll blow you away! :P
Congratulations, that is an incredible salary - though I know it certainly comes with being in i-Banking! And you seem to be having a great time spending it on lots of trips! To put things in perspective (if you haven't read my blog) - I make $33K per year living in San Diego (which is not as pricey as NYC but it isn't exactly cheap like the midwest, either) and am expecting a $5K bonus at the end of the year. (I work at a small asset management firm, very entry-level position.)
Glad you got the promotion! 3 years as an analyst and now an associate, congrats. I've heard ALL about the i-Banking world from lots of my friends in NYC. At least you seem to be enjoying it - especially the compensation! ;)
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