How much is enough?

Pekka · July 21, 2003, 08:05

How big of an income would make you happy? Well not happy, but that you settle for?

If you have family, then you are the only one bringing money in, how much is enough?

You live alone, how much now?

Give the real salary (what you'd like) and then please calculate how much you get after income tax.

How much is enough, to make you live so that you aren't poor, but is enough? What about how much, so you can 'live large', but be realistic.. not 'kazillion trillion dollars' please. I'm looking for realistic figures here.

Skanky Burns · July 21, 2003, 08:07

More than I earn now.

EDIT: And an appropriate quote as I posted that.

Quote:

It's pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness; poverty and wealth
have both failed.
-- Kim Hubbard

red_jon · July 21, 2003, 08:12

I'll only be happy when I have enough to buy Cuba and declare myself Emperor.

General Ludd · July 21, 2003, 08:19

Just enough to get by would be nice... but more is always welcome. If it gets to be too much, I could always give it away.

DaShi · July 21, 2003, 08:21

There's never enough.

Rogan Josh · July 21, 2003, 08:24

I would be happy with about $200k p.a. after tax.
Right now, I get about $120k.

Pekka · July 21, 2003, 08:27

Figures people.. we need some figures!

Rogan Josh, you get $120k? Nice! What do you do?

DanielXY · July 21, 2003, 08:36

Right now I live of 550,-/month (after taxes). You can live ok from that. I cant really complain, its enough for housing, food, clothes, pc, various communication bills, 4times a week cinema/bar/clubbing, etc.
And I got still some leftover for buying special stuff life furniture or the like....

Hm, but I guess it doesnt hurt to have some extra, so I would shoot for 1k/month (after taxes)
I could afford a car from such a salary ... but do I really need one? Wouldn`t I rather want to have more freetime instead of a car? Hmmm ...

I dont plan to get maried, but in that case I would say the needed salary would rise to at least 2,5k I guess

Rogan Josh · July 21, 2003, 08:49

Pekka: Sorry, that figure is misleading. It includes my wife's salary too, because it all just goes into one big pot. I alone make slighty more than half that.

Daniel: Even when I was a student I couldn't have lived off $550 a month ($6600 p.a.), and there is no way I could live off $12k p.a. now. My rent alone is more than that!

Cruddy · July 21, 2003, 08:55

In terms of money, it's kind of hard to figure...

The assets I would like are;

Self contained computer/electronics lab

Self contained metalshop/garage.

Testing range

Own sattellite uplink

Private airstrip

Compared to my present circumstances (disabled on state benefits) it's an absurd fantary - but we all need to dream.

DanielXY · July 21, 2003, 09:03

@ Rogan Josh

Its not that I cant waste money, if I want to.

Im just good at adapting to many diffrent situations.
I had for some time a little business running (for about 2,5 years). At that time I wasted about 30k/year.
Later the business broke down (damn competition

). I was a bit in trouble for a few month, so I lived from 300,- in a 4month time-frame (ok no payment for rent needed at that time

) ) . Compared to that 550,-/m is comfortable.
My apartment costs me 240,-/m. I think its too expensive and Im looking for a cheaper one.

Ok you got a wife and stuff, so you are probably right that such a cheap life-style is out for you

PLATO · July 21, 2003, 09:09

It takes $100-120K per year to keep my family of 4 going in our middle class life style. Could make it on$75K if we had to (Housing being a major part of the expense). 10 years ago it took a whole lot less.

VJ · July 21, 2003, 09:14

Quote:

There's never enough.

Pretty much so.

Quote:

How big of an income would make you happy? Well not happy, but that you settle for?

Rough estimate: € 10^6 / month.

rah · July 21, 2003, 09:21

The borderline for me was when I finally stopped living paycheck to paycheck.

DanielXY · July 21, 2003, 09:26

Hm is 100k not rather considered upper-class? I thought the average income per household in the US was something like 30-35k, which would make that the middle-class. Or am I mistaken?

FrustratedPoet · July 21, 2003, 09:27

/me quickly taps some numbers into an online currency converter

I'm on a pitiful £12,000 (US$19k) right now, which is clearly too little. I need to find myself a better job, but the market is pretty depressed right now. And that isn't even taking into account the fact that I'm a good-for-nothing imbecile.

I would have no complaints if my salary topped out at £35,000 (US$55k) in, let's say, 12 years time (plus whatever the hell inflation adds to that over the years). That'd suit me fine. Plenty to raise a kid on and live without fear of being cast from our home.

More would be nice of course, but I'd rather have a less money, less stress and less hours than more of all three.

MikeH · July 21, 2003, 09:28

I'd like enough to think about being able to buy a flat but that's unrealistic in the current climate.

PLATO · July 21, 2003, 09:31

Quote:

Originally posted by DanielXY
Hm is 100k not rather considered upper-class? I thought the average income per household in the US was something like 30-35k, which would make that the middle-class. Or am I mistaken?

I wish! While average income may be in the range you describe, I can guarantee you I don't live an upper class life style. I think the middle class has the traditional 3 subdivisions: lower,middle, and upper. I probably fall in the upper middle class range. Definately not upper class. Those guys live about 10 miles down the road. I live in a subdivision with around 1000 homes in it. My place is a little over 2900 sq. ft. We have two late model cars and some cool electronic gadgets. We usually take a fairly nice vacation once a year. Upper class? No. But a pretty nice middle class life.

DanielXY · July 21, 2003, 09:42

Hm, dunno. But from what you describe, its maybe a wise move to check if you are not paying way to much for housing. Maybe you can get a similar one for a cheaper price? Just a guess, otoh its of course possible that your whole town is a ripp off when it comes to housing prices

PLATO · July 21, 2003, 09:48

Quote:

Originally posted by DanielXY
Hm, dunno. But from what you describe, its maybe a wise move to check if you are not paying way to much for housing. Maybe you can get a similar one for a cheaper price? Just a guess, otoh its of course possible that your whole town is a ripp off when it comes to housing prices

There is no doubt that my whole town is a rip off wrt housing prices. I live in a fairly wealthy county just south of a large city. A "bedroom" community, if you will. I just happened to grow up here before the boom. But, almost no crime and great schools are worth the cost when you have a couple of kids your trying to give the better life to.

Provost Harrison · July 21, 2003, 12:58

Just enough to scrape by. I like to scrape with a Lexus and a luxury penthouse suite

Seriously though, considerably more than I am on now, and in theory I should have the background and experience to command it. I current earn £12.5k per annum but I am grossly underpaid for the work I do. I have a few other jobs in the pipeline which should pay close to £20k if they come off in the near future (I have a telephone interview tomorrow, stuff like that). How much would I be content with? In my current situation, £40k would do quite nicely in an equivalent part of the country. In another area...more...with a family...more again...

Japher · July 21, 2003, 13:04

Depends... what's the Lotto at this week? 25 Mill? That should do

GePap · July 21, 2003, 13:08

With 150K after taxes I would probably be able to afford anything I ever wanted materialy, though to make that much, I might not be able to do the one things I really want to, which is to travel.

Also, tie that number with inflation...by the time I am making any significant money, the pot will porbaly have gone up to 200k.

Sava · July 21, 2003, 13:10

An infinite amount of resources would be ideal for Sava.

loinburger · July 21, 2003, 13:11

I make do at about $11,000 a year (after taxes), if that went down by much then I'd have to find a cheaper apartment. I'm living hand-to-mouth, though, so I'd like to be making more ($15,000 after taxes would be nice) so that I can start adding to my savings. (I'm making ends meet, but if disaster strikes, e.g. if my car is totalled or something, then I'm moderately ****ed.)

PLATO · July 21, 2003, 13:13

Quote:

Originally posted by GePap
With 150K after taxes I would probably be able to afford anything I ever wanted materialy, though to make that much, I might not be able to do the one things I really want to, which is to travel.

Also, tie that number with inflation...by the time I am making any significant money, the pot will porbaly have gone up to 200k.

The time invested in earning that kind of money is huge. I sometimes wonder if a 7-3 production job, a nice double wide, and new boat wouldn't make me happier....

Nah!