<p>Actually my family doesn’t use any government subsidies, my mother is way to proud for that. She would be homeless before she would ever take a handout. We do quite well on what she makes, we even have private insurance via Empire BCBS. We simply don’t live beyond our means.</p>
<p>Yes, it is possible. Many people are doing it and doing it with even less. </p>
<p>We live in a NYC suburb. My son found it difficult to live here on $40K a year. He wanted his own apartment in a safe area, a car, and a girlfriend. Two out of three, he could afford. Wanted to go out for entertainment and take a course or two. Found that very difficult to do. He moved upstate where he is finding it much more affordable.</p>
<p>However, had he settled for a room, rather than an apartment, taken public transportation, found a girlfriend who was thrifty, it could have been doable with room to spare. He also was careless about food purchases, eating out way too often when he should have been packing his lunch, careful about buying sodas, coffee, snacks, etc.</p>
<p>I’m sure people can do it-- lots of them! In 2007 in the US, the median US HOUSEHOLD income BEFORE TAX is only $50k. </p>
<p>But I’m wondering about your budget: </p>
<p>1000 - mortgage— where does hypothetical person live? it’s so location dependent. Also, don’t forget about house insurance, property taxes, house maintenance/repairs. Where we reside, about 50% of post-tax income goes into housing costs.</p>
<p>$10,000 to take two vacations per year ----wow, this seems very high to me, given the income. We highly value travel, and make much more, but do not spend $5000 per each person on a vacation. Where is hypothetical person going twice a year? </p>
<p>Health insurance? dental care? </p>
<p>I’d also add up the supposed ‘incidentals’ to see if it comes close to your estimate-- how many coffees, dinners out, new clothes etc. etc. per month? I think this is a place where people greatly underestimate how much they spend over the course of a month (and how much they earn, relatively speaking-- hence the debt they get into).</p>
<p>double post</p>
<p>I sure hope so! That’s the average starting salary for finance majors at my school, and I wasn’t planning on moving in with my mom any time soon.</p>
<p>I’m quite sure we spend less than $50,000 per year (not including our kids’ college tuition bills)</p>
<p>Monthly Expenses
1100 - mortgage (only 4 more years to pay on this)
600- car, gas, and insurance (including insuring four people…no car payments)
300 - groceries
200 - oil (heating)
100 - electricity
30 - wall phone…basic service only
130 - cell phone, DSL, long distance service (includes 3 cell lines)
200 - miscellaneous expenses (no accidents…we have a "rainy day bank account for that)
$500 credit card payments</p>
<p>Total $3160 out of the $4166 (1/12 of that $50K)</p>
<p>Any extra goes to paying for loans for college. NO $10,000 vacation allowance. I have to say…that is a bit extravagant for someone who is on a “budget”. Our whole family went to London on far less than $10,000 several years ago. Where would ONE person be going that would cost $5000 per trip…twice yearly?</p>
<p>Total Monthly = $3100
Yearly = $37200</p>
<p>There would be $2500 allocated towards anything else</p>
<p>$10,000 to take two vacations per year.</p>
<p>I support myself and my husband on less than 50K per year, after taxes. We live in Houston, we don’t have kids, we rent, we’re paying off student loans, the cars are paid off, we both rely heavily on public transportation, and our major expenses are rent, utilities, insurance, and incidentals due to medical, veterinary, and automotive issues that crop up. We have enough money left over to go to a few friends’ weddings per year, and we go out to eat with friends every Friday, but there is no way that we have enough money to go on 10K worth of vacations every year-- spending 20% of one’s income on vacations is really pretty excessive, unless you’re retired and have no other expenses. We’re saving for a down payment on a house. We have a strict budget, and having to use nearly a third of our monthly net on student loans is stressful, but we live comfortably.</p>
<p>If it weren’t doable, over 75% of the American population would be screwed.</p>
<p>Ive never even been on a vacation. Neither has my mom and she is 55, neither have her parents and they are 75 and 80.</p>
<p>retiremenr!!! why there is no mention for retirement saving here? it is not too early to start saving for retirement.</p>
<p>of course one person could live very comfortably with 50K after tax.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s… kind of sad. As much as I appreciate people working hard, not taking a vacation seems a bit silly. Oh well.</p>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>$800 a month on shopping and misc.? Man, that’s not bad!</p>
<p>Perhaps you can help the OP budget in that vacation on a limited budget, Dad II…</p>
<p>Perhaps the OP would take half of that $10K per year vacation budget and use it for a retirement account…a very good start.</p>
<p>When I did my figures, I used only expenses for living…(since OP didn’t include taxes, I didn’t include retirement either…it’s not money <em>I</em> have at my disposal).</p>
<p>If I had to pick between a swanky vacation and retirement savings…I’d pick the retirement savings. </p>
<p>Some folks on this forum seem to be able to do it all…pay college tuition, save for retirement AND go on these vacations…not this family</p>
<p>thumper1,</p>
<p>The thing is… one can travel for a lot less than $10K for TWO trips… Depending on where one travels to, it’s possible to have a nice, comfortable, enjoyable trip for a whole lot less than $5K. It’s by no means a zero-sum situation as far as traveling and saving goes when it’s $10K put aside.</p>
<p>But what about the $150 for nat gas, $100 for electricity, $300 for groceries (for one person?!), $100 for a cell phone, and $800 for “miscellaneous?” You could trim a lot of fat there.</p>
<p>I pay around $75/month for gas and electricity (thank you, CFLs!), $200 for groceries (thank you, Trader Joe’s!), and $60 for my iPhone (my little toy), and maybe $150 for the miscellaneous stuff? Maybe $200 if I’m splurging.</p>
<p>I don’t live large, but still, I could see the OP trimming at least $500 out of the current monthly budget without impacting lifestyle.</p>
<p>UCLAri…I FULLY agree with you. Some of my FAMILY expenses per month (four people) are LESS than what this OP is planning to spend for ONE person. Agreed…lots of fat.</p>
<p>But the $10K vacation allowance REALLY jumps out as largess.</p>
<p>thumper1,</p>
<p>True. But I mean… those trips to Tahiti via private jet do get pricey! ;)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’d pick swanky vacation over retirement savings, especially after the 2008 crash and Madoff. My husband was dead serious when he said let’s not contribute to 401K anymore.</p>
<p>Regarding vacation, people in my office have been to Hawaii recently on a $400 budget(room+air). At least, that is one thing nice about recession, prices are more affordable.</p>
<p>We are the masters of cheap vacations to great destinations. We don’t go anywhere without frequent flyer miles!</p>
<p>Medical insurance, copays, dental, vision expenses – those eat up 10% of our income right there. If the OP has a professional position, assume $$ for wardrobe and dry cleaning. I have siblings living in the Atlanta area. OP will pay through the wazoo for gas and insurance, as well as a reliable car. Public transportation is not great.</p>
<p>We are spending as much on the college meal plan for S1 as we did for all four of us for the first eight months of this year ($5k). We run about $425/mo. for groceries and we’re not exactly starving. :(</p>
<p>DH and I saved almost 50% of our income in the 18 months before he went back to grad school. We were making $40k gross between the two of us and were just out of school. We tried to get rid of every bill we possibly could, sold one of the cars and threw $$ in the 401(k) accounts. That discipline has served us well ever since.</p>
<p>I have two retired friends both who live well - one has a golf club membership and both do extensive traveling. They each live on less than 50,000 a year. They both probably have their housing paid for though.</p>
<p>Beprepn, they are probably getting social security + retirement/savings/pension check. They can make up to ~$15,000 a year with a part-time job. That is definitely a nice living.</p>
<p>$10,000 a year is definitely a lot for vacation. Most people rarely spend more than $3000 per year on vacation. $100 cell phone bill? Mine is rarely over $70 per month.</p>
<p>Depending on location, one needs to make at least $37,000 to $50,000 to live on their own successfully.</p>
<p>$10,000 a year is definitely a lot for one person to vacation. </p>
<p>We had the pleasure to have one over $10K trip around 2000. It involved multiple stops in China. DD had taken a $4K trip once. But most of our vacations cost 3K or less for two or more people. </p>
<p>Ever since we got married, we have been funding our 401K accounts to the max allowed. Recently, we have also started to fully funding our roth IRA accounts too. We see saving for retirement with a higher priority than funding children’s education.</p>
<p>To be able to fund retirement accounts, kids’ school bills and some limited fun time for ourself, we live very very conservetively. Taking T1’s format:</p>
<p>Monthly Expenses
1400 - mortgage (includes all tax and insuarnce)
1000 - D’s school bill
250- car, gas, and insurance (no car payments, car pool to save gas, do all routine maintaning works by myself, not allowing children to have licences to keep insurance low, walk to if possible)
300 - groceries
250 - natural gas/electricity (average)
80 - water
20 - VoIP (unlimited call to China)
75 - basic cable + high speed internet (7 mb)
50 - cell phone (includes 3 cell lines)
don’t have any credit card dets. </p>
<p>so, I think one person should be able to live very comfortably with 50K.</p>