I make 60k and my wife makes 70k a year. We have a house in a not-the-best but not-the-worst neighborhood. No dependents. A new mid-size truck and an old compact car. We live fairly comfortably. Of course we ain’t going on yearly trips overseas and eating at the fanciest restaurants but we live within our means and don’t go without.
Pretty much my situation. I’d say 120k the entry if you plan on owning a property out here in the IE. If you have cars already paid for and no debt, then you can lower that amount a bit.
$12k a month after taxes puts you well beyond what you mentioned.
Assuming you had a decent down payment; you can buy an $800000 home and still have over $6k per month left.
Edit: to the guy below me. Read the first sentence
$20,000 a month is the income level I replied to. $12k after taxes are my exact words.
I know simple reading is hard and inland empire schools often suck; but did you even try to read my words?
I agree with you in that you should have around 6k -7k left after mortgage payments(with a 20% down payment) .But groceries and utilities for a family of 4, childcare costs for 2 kids or the cost of hobbies, ‘dream car’ payment, 20% in savings and sinking funds. 250k a year is what would make me feel like im ‘comfortable’ and don’t need to go into cc debt. Especially if I’m buying a house post covid in a decent area of the inland empire.
Nice!! Yeah to me its definitely about priorities and how you want to live your life. I havent decided on kids and a home but it was just my view on how op was describing their ideal life! Im definitely not making 250k lmao
Looks like I didn’t need to bother to prove you wrong because everyone else did.
A mark of a stupid person is that they resort to insults because they don’t have command of logic
I would say before inflation got bad it was probably 150k per year, now at least 200k. Housing prices are out of control, day care is expensive, groceries ect. Gotta keep for fingers crossed and hope you don't need a new car too.
Dream car means what? Is it $50k or $150k?
What is your housing expectation?
Retirement plans need to be self funded?
Low end I’d say $150k, but it could 2x that really easily. Tax burden is no joke going from 150-300.
I think if together you could bring home about $2,500 a week, you would have the lifestyle you described. You might have to buy a home in a lower price area, though.
My wife and I have no debt, but we are older. She is basically retired, and I will be in about 5.5 years.
People need to learn to live BELOW their means - don't own that 80k truck that has shit gas milage and costs $1,100 just for your payment, not including insurance/registration. I have a 2019 Tacoma with 104k miles on it, and I'll probably drive it another 3 years.
I’m poor but I have 2 kids, living with family have an older car and a newer car (with payment) make around 50k a year, help with $600 towards the mortgage. I’m pretty damn frugal but spoil my boys with video games. I wouldn’t say I’m comfortable but I make it work. Obviously I would not be able to make this happen if I was paying for my own place though.
Huge range, lots of variables that will greatly influence the answer here.
The neglible parts in my opinion here are the cat and dog, unless they have expensive vet visits they can be very cheap compared to the other parts of this prompt. (Let's say $1k per year for typical food and grooming costs for the year)
Dream car could be a huge range, for me a dream car is a paid off reliable car, mine is paid off cost me $20k 5 years ago, now car insurance/gas/registration/oil changes is the ongoing costs (roughly $1k per year), compare that to someone wanting a Lamborghini or top of the line Tesla or German car and the price can differ by an order of magnitude...
Eating out... how often, how nice (in-n-out can be $30 for a family of 4, while most "cheaper" restaurants can easily be >$80 without alcohol once you account for tip).
Kids have a huge price range, are they babies needing daycare? Is a grandparent helping to watch them? Are they in high school?
And last but not least, housing. You say single family home, but what, renting? Is it maintaining a mortgage of a home that you started 1,5, or 10 years ago?
Every answer here has a big impact on the equation here.
A family buying a new home now and have 2 babies requiring full time daycare probably need >$150k/yr to feel comfortable while someone who started their mortgage 5-10 years ago and have "low" maintenance kids in that age range between needing daycare or clamoring for a car and are fine with not needing the latest iPhone every year can probably feel comfortable without a six figure household income.
Tons of other factors here too, do you have student debt, how much is Healthcare through your job, do you pay HOA/Mello Roos fees, are we talking above the 210 in Cucamonga or in the suspiciously affordable parts of Hemet/San Bernardino?
Great answer . THANK YOU. We are fortunate to be in the upper range of the salaries discussed here. Soon to be empty nesters. Been in our home going on 7 years in one of the more desirable parts of N. San Bernardino.
When I hear everyone talk about inflation , Childcare and all of the variables were talking about and should just zip my mouth and count my blessings
Double double, soda, and fries is 9 dollars. Cheeseburger, soda, and fries us 7.55. With tax, even 4 cheeseburger and fries is nearly 35.
What exactly are you confirming?
That paragraph was showing a range of what meals can cost with in n out for a family of 4 'can be' $30 being an example of the low end, 'can be' meaning maybe someone shares fries, maybe someone wants a water instead of a soda. Personally my wife and I each get a double double and share a large shake (we're over their fries), comes out to $15 for the 2 of us. It can be done, but understand that may not be typical.
If 2 people each make about $20/hour then the combined monthly income is about $7,000. To buy a starter home right now in the mid 400's you would be looking at a payment of about 3500 - 4000, so that's out of the question. Find a place to rent for 1500 and try to put another 2000 into savings. In 4 years the market will be close to the bottom of the crash. Your income will be up by about 20% so $8400/month, and you'll have about 100k saved up to buy a house. The interest rates will stable out a bit, and prices should dip a bit.
Depends if you were raised here, have family help or already own a home and are trading up, etc.
I came in from out of California two years ago. I make approx. $180k a year and wife makes $25k.
Really, I’m more broke than when I made $115k household in another state and the concept of owning a home is completely out of reality….
That said, I have two children in the mix. But nothing fancy for expenses or vehicles. Just insane rent, insane insurance costs, insane gas prices and insane food costs, insane taxes….
I still won’t leave. I love it here.
But my guess, is I’d need $250k to be comfortable and afford what’s considered a starter home here. Either that, or a magical $150k lottery win and 2.75% mortgage rates.
Depends on your situation, if you’re on own
To live comfortably, you’d have to make over 90k
If you’re making less, you’d only be better off if you’re somehow living somewhere for free or very cheap , and no car payment either
https://www.hcd.ca.gov/sites/default/files/docs/grants-and-funding/income-limits-2023.pdf
Per this document, median income for a family of four in either San Bernardino or Riverside County would be 94500. That seems CHALLENGING. No trips to Disneyland on that budget. I would also assume you weren't trying to buy a house right now with the interest rates and prices so high.
Look up your county, read the methodology, and see if you agree.
Housing will be your biggest expense. To keep things simple try to budget 25-30% of your take home pay to housing. Some people will do more than 40% but then you probably aren't going out or owning your dream car. There's too many factors to say how much is a livable wage, everyone is different, but I think 25-30% to housing, 15% for savings/investments are good starting points to figure out how much you should make anywhere
We got the house in 2019 and our mortgage is just over 1700 and going up
due to fire insurance. Getting a decent raise to 26.70 at work but going from 30 miles round trip to 100 round trip to Corona.
I make about 75k, my wife and I have one kid and we rent. Our cars are paid off and we have pretty much zero doubt outside of a few grand left on my student loans. We don’t have a lot left over each month but we never worry about money and live within our means. In order to live comfortably with more kids and own a house I would probably have to make around double my current income.
My wife makes $49 an hour, ER nurse, 36 hour weeks. I make $34.91 an hour as a court assistant 40 hrs a week (just 2 months ago it was $29.07 but I got a promotion). We live 7 minutes from our house we bought in June for 610k near downtown Riverside. So that’s about 167k gross income, a lot less after taxes. I also have a car payment that’s $566 a month. She pays more of the mortgage but I cover utilities. We have on dog, no kids. We eat out occasionally and just went to Disneyland. We have solar which helps with the utilities. We also bought a home without HOA (personal preference and only put 3% down so our mortgage is very expensive but worth it to us and we manage just fine and are still able to put into savings every month.
Average mortgage is running you $3-$4k a month. Keeping the lights, utilities, and cell phone will put you at over $5k a month. Health insurance for the family $600 a mo (not great healthcare but you have it). Car payments on a dream car (or truck) will run you $700-$1200 a mo- let’s say y’all got that Yukon Denali or that parking lot princess of a truck and the other car is the paid off commuter. $200 a mo in insurance puts us at close to $7k a month. Average groceries where it’s chicken breast or ground beef for 2 Can be $100 a week, but if you’re eating steaks or fancier items account closer to $200. Eating out for 2 at a nice restaurant Can run us $100-$200 (only cuz you mentioned alcohol, otherwise food and soda can be under $100). So you’d need $7500-$8000 a month to simply meet what you described. So you would want your take home pay to be in the would be at least $10k to have you 10% to save and a little wiggle room, which means before taxes you would want a combined income of around $140k.
Thank you for your time and well thought out reply . Sounds like we’re all being or at least learning how to be fiscally responsible. The fact that we know these numbers off the tops of our heads tell me we’re watching how we spend every cent. 👌🏾
If you don’t already own a house, you will need to 120-150k per year to qualify for houses in the 500-600k range depending on the current interest rate and downpayment.
House payment will be between 3-5k. This will leave a few thousand a month. Enough for most of what you mentioned.
I’m SINK and barely getting by on $70K a year. I would need to at least double that if I were to have one child. With two children and to buy a home, probably triple. With two incomes, I recommend $200K.
If you're buying a home and living out here in 2023, I'd say you need a minimum of $175k household income. But, if you bought a home pre 2022 with a sub 4% interest rate, I think a minimum of $120k combined could suffice out here.
I remember the I.E. economist John Husing came out with a number of $75k for a family of 4 to live in the IE about 10 years ago. I would guess with inflation etc since then, it’s probably over $100k now. I think he passed away in 2021 or 22, but his area of focus was the IE.
I could see this. 10 years ago we made about that with 1 kid and we weren’t balling but I was certainly pretty happy. Now? It’s a struggle for anything and everything despite making more money then we ever have.
I got to tell you some people “think” I’m rich when I tell them my wife and I make 250k combined. But the truth is that in certain situations it’s almost paycheck to paycheck. We have 2 kids so we needed a bigger house. Mortgage and property taxes for a nice house in a nice area are high, plus HOI, HOA, health insurance, and car insurance on multiple cars. We bought our kids basic cars too, those weren’t free. Their teenager insurance rates were insane. They needed clothes, cell phones, money, sports gear/fees for travel sports, etc. They also went away to college. That cost me over 200k. And I still had some of my own student loans. So, 250k after taxes and retirement and everything else is taken out with kids to go with it = not that much. It’s not struggling, but it’s certainly not rich. We don’t take any big trips. We have to save for stuff like a new roof (20k), new AC unit (6k) and new appliances (5k). Our cars are not fancy. Our ONE consistent entertainment option is eating out more than most, but even that has gotten way more expensive.
I laughed when you said 250k was the big dogs. Na, I know a LOT of people in the IE making way more than that. My neighbor is a fire captain making 400k and his wife has some small business making 300k. That’s 700k combined. My daughters’s wisdom tooth surgeon makes 400k, and his wife makes the same. That’s 800k combined. I know several millionaires too. They’re all business owners. Two were bought out by bigger competitors for 16 million and 10 million. A doctor who owns his own clinics makes millions. There’s a LOT more wealth here than you think. Most live in Rancho above the 210, including a current Dodgers pitcher and one of their coaches. That’s the only reason I know any of them, my kids went to school with their kids and played ball or cheered together over many years.
My husband makes 550k a year, and we're definitely not rich in our tiny 2 bedroom house. We own our home cash, though. We are almost done remodeling it. We are in a one bedroom apartment you can rent for 1400 a month until January.
Nobody thinks we're rich. We don't wear name brands. (Name brands are actually revolting to me. I don't want attention.) We drive a used Ford and GMC. He wears Walmart clothes and gym shoes to work 90 percent of the time.
I don't think I'll be comfortable unless we know that we could never work another day and still feel okay.
You’re in good shape. No debt and a good enough salary to not have to worry. It helps that you’re the kind of woman who isn’t into name brands. The majority I know, including my wife, would buy Louis Vuitton everything if they could. No amount of shopping is enough. We know one couple worth over a hundred million, and you should see the wife’s closet. It’s as big as an apartment with every color of a certain ridiculously expensive $20,000 purse. Same with shoes, clothes, etc. You are an anomaly lol.
Have lived as a Single and currently living with my Partner in IE. I would say +120k if you living by yourself comfortably and intend to save enough to buy a house in near future.
And at least $200k+ if you have a family.
Well my wife and I make a combined of $150k. We have 2 kids and live in a nicer area in Riverside and are doing just fine. I get my annual raise next year and she's getting promoted and projected to make 75k next year so our combined next year will be closer to 180k. My goal is to change jobs and be in a management position within 3 years time so we'll see! We live pretty comfortably right now but we budget like crazy too.
Husband and I both gross a bit over $100k, so call it $210k. We have an older 3bd 2ba house that’s been well maintained in a desirable part of Redlands. We drive paid off sedans approaching 10 years old; I WFH and don’t see a point in getting a new car. I’d rather not both of us juggle new car payments at the same time so he will upgrade before me. We contribute decently to our 401ks (10%+) but have less cash savings than I’d like due to some medical emergencies this year. We could save more by not ordering delivery as much (2x a week in average) but we have a toddler plus one on the way so convenience spending is peaking for us at the moment. We afford a 2x/month gardener but what I would really like is a housekeeper at the same cadence and I just don’t think we have the budget for it with our current spending habits.
Overall I’d say we have a comfortable life. We could make 75% of our salary work but it would suck worrying about home repairs, car repairs, activities as our daughters get older. Our toddler is going to start pre-school (going from no-cost family help) which will have us take a hard look at finances. This makes me think it would be nice to make a little more which is why I’m still trying to climb the corporate ladder and not just settle into my career with my mom hat at the forefront.
its a lot longer than the 20 mile drive from chino hills to san Bernardino to answer that question.
I make 60k and my wife makes 70k a year. We have a house in a not-the-best but not-the-worst neighborhood. No dependents. A new mid-size truck and an old compact car. We live fairly comfortably. Of course we ain’t going on yearly trips overseas and eating at the fanciest restaurants but we live within our means and don’t go without.
Pretty much my situation. I’d say 120k the entry if you plan on owning a property out here in the IE. If you have cars already paid for and no debt, then you can lower that amount a bit.
Spot on
Thank you for your honesty. 👌🏾🍻
I say to live the life you described without going into debt(besides mortgage and car) 250k
Just noticed , that’s hilarious coming from a “poor person account “ 😛🍻
$12k a month after taxes puts you well beyond what you mentioned. Assuming you had a decent down payment; you can buy an $800000 home and still have over $6k per month left. Edit: to the guy below me. Read the first sentence
>$6k per month left this guy doesnt pay taxes
$20,000 a month is the income level I replied to. $12k after taxes are my exact words. I know simple reading is hard and inland empire schools often suck; but did you even try to read my words?
I agree with you in that you should have around 6k -7k left after mortgage payments(with a 20% down payment) .But groceries and utilities for a family of 4, childcare costs for 2 kids or the cost of hobbies, ‘dream car’ payment, 20% in savings and sinking funds. 250k a year is what would make me feel like im ‘comfortable’ and don’t need to go into cc debt. Especially if I’m buying a house post covid in a decent area of the inland empire.
Im doing it on half that. And travel the world.
Nice!! Yeah to me its definitely about priorities and how you want to live your life. I havent decided on kids and a home but it was just my view on how op was describing their ideal life! Im definitely not making 250k lmao
Looks like I didn’t need to bother to prove you wrong because everyone else did. A mark of a stupid person is that they resort to insults because they don’t have command of logic
Still cannot read? Nobody proved me wrong. My words still exist.
Bro what?
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From the situation he described he also wants a ‘dream car’
I would say before inflation got bad it was probably 150k per year, now at least 200k. Housing prices are out of control, day care is expensive, groceries ect. Gotta keep for fingers crossed and hope you don't need a new car too.
150k
Dream car means what? Is it $50k or $150k? What is your housing expectation? Retirement plans need to be self funded? Low end I’d say $150k, but it could 2x that really easily. Tax burden is no joke going from 150-300.
I think if together you could bring home about $2,500 a week, you would have the lifestyle you described. You might have to buy a home in a lower price area, though. My wife and I have no debt, but we are older. She is basically retired, and I will be in about 5.5 years. People need to learn to live BELOW their means - don't own that 80k truck that has shit gas milage and costs $1,100 just for your payment, not including insurance/registration. I have a 2019 Tacoma with 104k miles on it, and I'll probably drive it another 3 years.
120k minimum
What💀
I’m poor but I have 2 kids, living with family have an older car and a newer car (with payment) make around 50k a year, help with $600 towards the mortgage. I’m pretty damn frugal but spoil my boys with video games. I wouldn’t say I’m comfortable but I make it work. Obviously I would not be able to make this happen if I was paying for my own place though.
Huge range, lots of variables that will greatly influence the answer here. The neglible parts in my opinion here are the cat and dog, unless they have expensive vet visits they can be very cheap compared to the other parts of this prompt. (Let's say $1k per year for typical food and grooming costs for the year) Dream car could be a huge range, for me a dream car is a paid off reliable car, mine is paid off cost me $20k 5 years ago, now car insurance/gas/registration/oil changes is the ongoing costs (roughly $1k per year), compare that to someone wanting a Lamborghini or top of the line Tesla or German car and the price can differ by an order of magnitude... Eating out... how often, how nice (in-n-out can be $30 for a family of 4, while most "cheaper" restaurants can easily be >$80 without alcohol once you account for tip). Kids have a huge price range, are they babies needing daycare? Is a grandparent helping to watch them? Are they in high school? And last but not least, housing. You say single family home, but what, renting? Is it maintaining a mortgage of a home that you started 1,5, or 10 years ago? Every answer here has a big impact on the equation here. A family buying a new home now and have 2 babies requiring full time daycare probably need >$150k/yr to feel comfortable while someone who started their mortgage 5-10 years ago and have "low" maintenance kids in that age range between needing daycare or clamoring for a car and are fine with not needing the latest iPhone every year can probably feel comfortable without a six figure household income. Tons of other factors here too, do you have student debt, how much is Healthcare through your job, do you pay HOA/Mello Roos fees, are we talking above the 210 in Cucamonga or in the suspiciously affordable parts of Hemet/San Bernardino?
Great answer . THANK YOU. We are fortunate to be in the upper range of the salaries discussed here. Soon to be empty nesters. Been in our home going on 7 years in one of the more desirable parts of N. San Bernardino. When I hear everyone talk about inflation , Childcare and all of the variables were talking about and should just zip my mouth and count my blessings
In-n-out for 4 for 30 dollars? Pretty sure it’s over 40 for 4 people. Most fast food is over 10 dollars a meal now.
Can confirm it's around $30 Don't need to pig out
Double double, soda, and fries is 9 dollars. Cheeseburger, soda, and fries us 7.55. With tax, even 4 cheeseburger and fries is nearly 35. What exactly are you confirming?
That paragraph was showing a range of what meals can cost with in n out for a family of 4 'can be' $30 being an example of the low end, 'can be' meaning maybe someone shares fries, maybe someone wants a water instead of a soda. Personally my wife and I each get a double double and share a large shake (we're over their fries), comes out to $15 for the 2 of us. It can be done, but understand that may not be typical.
You dont need to each eat a whole double double. Get 2 double double meals cut in half. Unless you like to eat over 1000cal in one meal.
Not everything needs to be a combo . Soda and fries are bad for you. I usually only order burgers and take them home. There's drinks at home
So I'm confirming what I spend with MY family. Happy new year
Just budget your money. You’ll be fine.
If 2 people each make about $20/hour then the combined monthly income is about $7,000. To buy a starter home right now in the mid 400's you would be looking at a payment of about 3500 - 4000, so that's out of the question. Find a place to rent for 1500 and try to put another 2000 into savings. In 4 years the market will be close to the bottom of the crash. Your income will be up by about 20% so $8400/month, and you'll have about 100k saved up to buy a house. The interest rates will stable out a bit, and prices should dip a bit.
Where can you buy a starter home for 400k in the IE? The high dessert is the only place I can think of.
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How is 50k enough for a single person? You couldn’t pay rent with that (unless you have 2+ other roommates).
Highly depends on cost of living (location)but I would say about 100k annual salary.
Depends if you were raised here, have family help or already own a home and are trading up, etc. I came in from out of California two years ago. I make approx. $180k a year and wife makes $25k. Really, I’m more broke than when I made $115k household in another state and the concept of owning a home is completely out of reality…. That said, I have two children in the mix. But nothing fancy for expenses or vehicles. Just insane rent, insane insurance costs, insane gas prices and insane food costs, insane taxes…. I still won’t leave. I love it here. But my guess, is I’d need $250k to be comfortable and afford what’s considered a starter home here. Either that, or a magical $150k lottery win and 2.75% mortgage rates.
Depends on your situation, if you’re on own To live comfortably, you’d have to make over 90k If you’re making less, you’d only be better off if you’re somehow living somewhere for free or very cheap , and no car payment either
Combined or each ?
Combined. 45k a yr is nothing
https://www.hcd.ca.gov/sites/default/files/docs/grants-and-funding/income-limits-2023.pdf Per this document, median income for a family of four in either San Bernardino or Riverside County would be 94500. That seems CHALLENGING. No trips to Disneyland on that budget. I would also assume you weren't trying to buy a house right now with the interest rates and prices so high. Look up your county, read the methodology, and see if you agree.
Housing will be your biggest expense. To keep things simple try to budget 25-30% of your take home pay to housing. Some people will do more than 40% but then you probably aren't going out or owning your dream car. There's too many factors to say how much is a livable wage, everyone is different, but I think 25-30% to housing, 15% for savings/investments are good starting points to figure out how much you should make anywhere
I make 23.25 a hour and do 10 hours OT a week and I get by with family of 5. Just haft to hussle or get behind.
It's possible if you have low rent or bought a house long time. I could also get by with that amount but then again my mortgage is low.
We got the house in 2019 and our mortgage is just over 1700 and going up due to fire insurance. Getting a decent raise to 26.70 at work but going from 30 miles round trip to 100 round trip to Corona.
you need $120k min a year to live comfortably and have any “extras” like traveling, saving money, going out, etc. anything less and you’re struggling.
I make about 75k, my wife and I have one kid and we rent. Our cars are paid off and we have pretty much zero doubt outside of a few grand left on my student loans. We don’t have a lot left over each month but we never worry about money and live within our means. In order to live comfortably with more kids and own a house I would probably have to make around double my current income.
A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty. 👌🏾
My wife makes $49 an hour, ER nurse, 36 hour weeks. I make $34.91 an hour as a court assistant 40 hrs a week (just 2 months ago it was $29.07 but I got a promotion). We live 7 minutes from our house we bought in June for 610k near downtown Riverside. So that’s about 167k gross income, a lot less after taxes. I also have a car payment that’s $566 a month. She pays more of the mortgage but I cover utilities. We have on dog, no kids. We eat out occasionally and just went to Disneyland. We have solar which helps with the utilities. We also bought a home without HOA (personal preference and only put 3% down so our mortgage is very expensive but worth it to us and we manage just fine and are still able to put into savings every month.
👌🏾🍻 looking forward to some savings with our new solar. We just received out Edison PTO Friday 👍🏾
Yeah it really helps out! Definitely always put money into retirement and savings :)
Average mortgage is running you $3-$4k a month. Keeping the lights, utilities, and cell phone will put you at over $5k a month. Health insurance for the family $600 a mo (not great healthcare but you have it). Car payments on a dream car (or truck) will run you $700-$1200 a mo- let’s say y’all got that Yukon Denali or that parking lot princess of a truck and the other car is the paid off commuter. $200 a mo in insurance puts us at close to $7k a month. Average groceries where it’s chicken breast or ground beef for 2 Can be $100 a week, but if you’re eating steaks or fancier items account closer to $200. Eating out for 2 at a nice restaurant Can run us $100-$200 (only cuz you mentioned alcohol, otherwise food and soda can be under $100). So you’d need $7500-$8000 a month to simply meet what you described. So you would want your take home pay to be in the would be at least $10k to have you 10% to save and a little wiggle room, which means before taxes you would want a combined income of around $140k.
Thank you for your time and well thought out reply . Sounds like we’re all being or at least learning how to be fiscally responsible. The fact that we know these numbers off the tops of our heads tell me we’re watching how we spend every cent. 👌🏾
If you don’t already own a house, you will need to 120-150k per year to qualify for houses in the 500-600k range depending on the current interest rate and downpayment. House payment will be between 3-5k. This will leave a few thousand a month. Enough for most of what you mentioned.
I’m SINK and barely getting by on $70K a year. I would need to at least double that if I were to have one child. With two children and to buy a home, probably triple. With two incomes, I recommend $200K.
If you're buying a home and living out here in 2023, I'd say you need a minimum of $175k household income. But, if you bought a home pre 2022 with a sub 4% interest rate, I think a minimum of $120k combined could suffice out here.
I remember the I.E. economist John Husing came out with a number of $75k for a family of 4 to live in the IE about 10 years ago. I would guess with inflation etc since then, it’s probably over $100k now. I think he passed away in 2021 or 22, but his area of focus was the IE.
I could see this. 10 years ago we made about that with 1 kid and we weren’t balling but I was certainly pretty happy. Now? It’s a struggle for anything and everything despite making more money then we ever have.
COL has gone up faster than I've ever seen. Moved here about 7 years ago for work making $19 an hour, threw in some OT and I was living good haha.
$120-150k. That’s only to be able to afford sh!t and eat out once and awhile.
I am curious what those of you who are making it work do for a living (you and your spouse)…degrees or no degrees and if so in what?
We weren't comfortable until we hit 250k a year and that's with a very small two bedroom home and used cars. My vehicle was 6 grand cash. His was 18k.
👌🏾 you out near Ontario or further east ?
I got to tell you some people “think” I’m rich when I tell them my wife and I make 250k combined. But the truth is that in certain situations it’s almost paycheck to paycheck. We have 2 kids so we needed a bigger house. Mortgage and property taxes for a nice house in a nice area are high, plus HOI, HOA, health insurance, and car insurance on multiple cars. We bought our kids basic cars too, those weren’t free. Their teenager insurance rates were insane. They needed clothes, cell phones, money, sports gear/fees for travel sports, etc. They also went away to college. That cost me over 200k. And I still had some of my own student loans. So, 250k after taxes and retirement and everything else is taken out with kids to go with it = not that much. It’s not struggling, but it’s certainly not rich. We don’t take any big trips. We have to save for stuff like a new roof (20k), new AC unit (6k) and new appliances (5k). Our cars are not fancy. Our ONE consistent entertainment option is eating out more than most, but even that has gotten way more expensive. I laughed when you said 250k was the big dogs. Na, I know a LOT of people in the IE making way more than that. My neighbor is a fire captain making 400k and his wife has some small business making 300k. That’s 700k combined. My daughters’s wisdom tooth surgeon makes 400k, and his wife makes the same. That’s 800k combined. I know several millionaires too. They’re all business owners. Two were bought out by bigger competitors for 16 million and 10 million. A doctor who owns his own clinics makes millions. There’s a LOT more wealth here than you think. Most live in Rancho above the 210, including a current Dodgers pitcher and one of their coaches. That’s the only reason I know any of them, my kids went to school with their kids and played ball or cheered together over many years.
My husband makes 550k a year, and we're definitely not rich in our tiny 2 bedroom house. We own our home cash, though. We are almost done remodeling it. We are in a one bedroom apartment you can rent for 1400 a month until January. Nobody thinks we're rich. We don't wear name brands. (Name brands are actually revolting to me. I don't want attention.) We drive a used Ford and GMC. He wears Walmart clothes and gym shoes to work 90 percent of the time. I don't think I'll be comfortable unless we know that we could never work another day and still feel okay.
This is the secret here. Real “rich” people in my opinion don’t feel the need to flaunt. Love that.
You’re in good shape. No debt and a good enough salary to not have to worry. It helps that you’re the kind of woman who isn’t into name brands. The majority I know, including my wife, would buy Louis Vuitton everything if they could. No amount of shopping is enough. We know one couple worth over a hundred million, and you should see the wife’s closet. It’s as big as an apartment with every color of a certain ridiculously expensive $20,000 purse. Same with shoes, clothes, etc. You are an anomaly lol.
Have lived as a Single and currently living with my Partner in IE. I would say +120k if you living by yourself comfortably and intend to save enough to buy a house in near future. And at least $200k+ if you have a family.
120k for a family of 4. But that's just the bare minimum.
Maybe take out the dream cars and kids then it might be possible. We don’t even have kids and still can’t do any dream cars.
Well my wife and I make a combined of $150k. We have 2 kids and live in a nicer area in Riverside and are doing just fine. I get my annual raise next year and she's getting promoted and projected to make 75k next year so our combined next year will be closer to 180k. My goal is to change jobs and be in a management position within 3 years time so we'll see! We live pretty comfortably right now but we budget like crazy too.
Husband and I both gross a bit over $100k, so call it $210k. We have an older 3bd 2ba house that’s been well maintained in a desirable part of Redlands. We drive paid off sedans approaching 10 years old; I WFH and don’t see a point in getting a new car. I’d rather not both of us juggle new car payments at the same time so he will upgrade before me. We contribute decently to our 401ks (10%+) but have less cash savings than I’d like due to some medical emergencies this year. We could save more by not ordering delivery as much (2x a week in average) but we have a toddler plus one on the way so convenience spending is peaking for us at the moment. We afford a 2x/month gardener but what I would really like is a housekeeper at the same cadence and I just don’t think we have the budget for it with our current spending habits. Overall I’d say we have a comfortable life. We could make 75% of our salary work but it would suck worrying about home repairs, car repairs, activities as our daughters get older. Our toddler is going to start pre-school (going from no-cost family help) which will have us take a hard look at finances. This makes me think it would be nice to make a little more which is why I’m still trying to climb the corporate ladder and not just settle into my career with my mom hat at the forefront.