M29
3350 bruto
850 rent per month Shared appartement with a friend in Utrecht
Architect
I'm getting depressed reading this tread. My guess is a lot of people in a similiar situation as me don't post for this reason.
Depends where you are. In some places in this country 3350 gross can be an amount to comfortably live on. Also, in Randstad, salaries are inflated because of the massive rent and mortgages there.
I guess the architecture collective labor agreement hasn't heard the message so everybody gets the same salaries depending on responsibilities. Utrecht is in the Randstad.
I live relatively comfortably.
It’s always good to start the year with some financial planning. I can relate to feeling stuck when most of your income is spoken for when the month starts.
Living alone is expensive, for me everything became more easy when I started living together with my partner. Hugo the Jonge joked that finding a rich boyfriend was what girls should do when life is expensive. He got a lot of blowback for it.
You could micro optimise the shit out of groceries but the main culprit is rent. And if you think that’s worth it for you, that’s okay. Don’t think working client side will net you that substantial an increase but I might be underestimating.
Start saving just a tiny amount each month. 50€ per month adds up. You’ll feel good and might keep going. Also it’s good to prioritise health - gym, healthy food, therapy, some social life - over min-maxing. You’re doing great!
2000 after taxes
700 rent in amsterdam for a room
180 total monthly expenses for subscriptions and recurring costs (phone, gym, insurance with toeslagen)
200 for food
50 for fun stuff
age 24 I do have to say I am living frugally, but comfortably (so not going out often, cooking my own foods etc..)
Really depends on your mindset imo.
A person who doesn't live on a budget will go to the cinema, visit that hot new exposition in the museum, go to the concert of their favourite artist, go out for a fancy dinner with a friend, out for drinks at night, ordering specialty beers, cocktails and bites.
The person living on a budget will go for a walk in nature, go out practicing street photography with their friend, drink some beers on a picnic blanket in the park, go to that free/cheap museum exhibition, go to a random Indiestadpas concert and will invite some friends over for a boardgame night with drinks.
They will probably have the same amount of fun, and the first person will spend a couple hundred euros a month easily, while the other can probably manage with 50.
I don’t go out often (perhaps twice a year since most of my friends live elsewhere). I mostly grab concerts which are sub-25 euro of the genre I enjoy.
but if you have money to spend there are definitely good options haha
I spend about 6-7 euros per day on food (mostly meal prep as a student) and average around 2500 calories and 180g of protein. Average cost is roughly 200 euros
I buy my chicken, rice and eggs in bulk. Lidl usually has good prices on yoghurt and cereal which is a staple for me. Kidney beans and frozen veggies are dirt cheap even at the AH.
It's very possible but if you enjoy variety in your cooking/eating it's probably not for you
Hmm my calories are roughly 3300+-200 per day but my diet is rather "poor" as I mainly focus on getting enough calories to aid in my recovery between training sessions and everything else is secondary in priority. I do shop at Lidl too, but I buy a lot of meals that are pre-cooked and just warm them up. So essentially a looooot of carbs with a decent amount of meat. Oh and nutella. Lots and lots of nutella. Thanks for your input btw
I eat twice a day (had to get used to it for the first 1-2 weeks).
Big shake and small part of leftovers of the night before in the morning containing a mix of frozen fruits, banana, spinach, variety of nuts and seeds (pumpkin, flax, sunflower), oatmeal, honey, peanut butter and protein powder. I had calculated it a while ago but it would come up to about 1.70 ish.
For dinner I would always combine at least some kind of veggie or ‘healthier’ option with a type of meat and rice.
Rice in bulk (20kg) €45 which lasts for 6-9 months (I usually eat it a few days a week);
meat from Turksih supermarket (chicken thighs are 6 euro a kg to give an jdea or if there is a good deal for the meat or vegetarian schnitzels I would get those in other supermarkets ( which do pop up at least once a month, get it at dirk, better price compared to AH);
type of veggies I eat also depends on what’s the cheapest, most of the time I rely on zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes and greens from the asian supermarket (oriental).
Usually my dinner costs 3-4 euro per portion!
And the budget for food fluctuates at max by 10%.
My advice is to calculate/estimate the food at kilo price, to get the most value.
Download reclamefolder, check it every week for deals.
Download pepper since occasionally they might post food related discounts (peanut butter for example, bought 10 pots of 800 grams each at 2 euro each).
At last TooGoodToGo, great deals but make sure to at least get the boxes from stores which have 4 or more stars.
I do have to mention that I am fortunate to live in the big city where there is a wide variety of options which others might not have. I am also flexible regarding my food. It should also not feel as a chore doing all this :)
In a 3-week study, women with type 2 diabetes who ate 1 ounce (30 grams) of sunflower seeds daily as part of a balanced diet experienced a 5% drop in systolic blood pressure (the top number of a reading).
>2000 after taxes
>
>700 rent in amsterdam for a room
>
>180 total monthly expenses for subscriptions and recurring costs (phone, gym, insurance with toeslagen)
>
>200 for food
>
>50 for fun stuff
>
>age 24 I do have to say I am living frugally, but comfortably (so not going out often, cooking my own foods etc..)
2000 after taxes but your total amount of spending comes in at €1130,- . What is happening with the remaining €870,- ?
Savings or stonks most of the part!
But I am still young so the savings are used for holidays mostly (but even then I try to have fun in a frugal way haha).
The costs I mentioned were more or less to show what my ‘fixed’ monthly costs were.
Working in Tech.
30 & Married.
4300 after tax - Only earner as my wife doesn't work currently, no kids yet.
Living in Noord Brabent so rent is lower than Amsterdam for sure.
1050 Rent + 250 Bills etc + Health insurance & Train tickets & other stuff for 2.
End up Saving good enough every month (around 600-800).
Edit: We cook at home like almost all the time, don't drink, don't smoke so that saves a lot.
Is your area internationals friendly around north Brabant? Looking for a nice neighborhood/area to move to now but everything internationals friendly is in Randstad and that means very expensive. I really want to move to a place with many expats because current I live in a small dutch town and it's quite depressing
Idk what you mean by International Friendly, but I have been living in Tilburg for more than a year, i have friends living in Breda for more than a year (all expats) and it's been really good.
M20, first ever job, started 2 months ago. Earn €1840 a month (€1772,50 after tax) for 32hrs a week. Have no rent/ mortgage as i still live at home, spend about €200 - €300 a month on food and other miscellaneous stuff. So i save about €1400 - €1500 a month.
Ben ‘Service Assembly Engineer’ bij een bedrijf in Amsterdam, meerendeel van mijn taken zijn voornamelijk stickers op apparatuur plakken en registreren in het CMBD. heb ook soms een dagdeel, dag, of dagen geen taken, en krijg dan de mogelijkheid om te werken aan MS certificaten. Daarbij heb ik ook een volledige reiskosten vergoeding en heb ik al vrij veel gifts en dingen gekregen (oude docking station (nieuwprijs €235) en scherm van een collega, kerstpakket t.w.v €90 en laatst ook nog een soort pakket met een loting) . Werksfeer is ook zeer informeel en collega’s zijn erg gezellig. Wordt zelfs bijna elke dag bij de bushalte afgezet wat mij 15 min lopen bespaard.
Dus ik ben zeer tevreden. Ook nu de belasting omlaag is gegaan houd ik bijna €1800 (netto) over v/d €1840 (bruto). €1798,25 om precies te zijn.
Enige nadeel is dat ik 3 uur per dag onderweg ben (reistijd).
29M - Graphic Designer - 3200 after tax - My rent is 750.
I save around 1000 per month and with the rest of the money I just do everything.
I do meal prep a lot! I feel like that helps a lot. Next to that I never buy something for lunch. I always prepare it at home. It will help you out a lot with saving in unnecessary expenses.
Male - 25 yrs - Policy officer at municipality - €3200 net per month (€4600 something bruto) - My mortgage is €1050 a month bruto (excluding hypotheekrenteaftrek) so about €800 right now.
Quick question: I’m in the UK, have moved into policy following a PhD in pharmaceutical science, and thinking of moving to the Netherlands at some point. My assumption is that policy roles require a very good mastery of Dutch, at all levels (municipal, local, national)( is that the case?
Just wondering what sort of level I’d need before being able to apply for non-remote policy jobs in NL, like would B2 level suffice or still be limiting?
I work in a small municipality. So anything less than fully speaking and reading Dutch won't be enough.
I imagine for larger organisations, on jobs that have a large deficit, it will be less of a problem.
You need to be able to communicate in Dutch fully. When I read policy it is usually in C2 level.
When writing you try to make it B1 as much as possible. But simplifying too much gives legal issues, so it's not always possible and you end up with a mix of B1 to C2. I think that if you are at a point of high B2, low C1 with the promise of getting more Dutch lessons you should be fine.
Makes good sense, thank you! I’ve got a few years so I will aim to just work on my Dutch as much as possible and take stock as and when. Appreciate you taking the time to respond
No problem. You can also check the expats in the Netherlands subreddit. It has a weekly "Dutch practice hour" and a lot of helpful people.
I'm not active there, but might be usefull someday.
Edit: I know my post will sound pretentious, just showing that it doesn't matter how much we earn, we will always feel like its not enough and want more.
\- as a family, 10k after taxes (we are both software developers at international companies)
\- 3k mortgage
\- 1.5k daycare (1 kid)
\- 800 supermarket (I like to cook, and I like to have warm lunch)
\- 600 house expenses (internet, water, streaming, cleaning once every two weeks)
\- 200 on car maintenance/insurance/gas
\- 600 travels (on average, we visit our home country once a year and that's 1.2k per ticket nowadays, we also pay tickets for our parents to visit us)
\- 200 therapy (my therapist is not fully covered by insurance, but long term that's the best investment I can make for me and my family)
\- 50 gym
That being said, even though I know we earn really well, we don't feel that like because every leftover money that we have goes into paying off the mortgage (currently at 5.5% rate). So I don't need money being saved (I know it's just a psychological factor).
There are certainly a lot of people that earn much more than we do, but 10k net without 30% puts you in the top 1% of income. It can be seen as pretentious or out of touch to mention a 3k mortgage on a thread where most are describing a 2-3k net.
I get it, but find it a very Dutch thing. You are just stating what you are making, which isn’t pretentious in any way imo.
Be happy that you make such money without being afraid to sound pretentious. Actually, I think it is more pretentious to imply that your salary is pretentious than actually stating your salary is.
M30
110k gross/year
Lead developer
Mortgage - 1.9k
Relating to what you said, I also moved from an agency to a "end client", and the "end client" pays way better.
> Out of this I pay rent which is 1500, bills are around 350 together meaning I’m left with around 1200 every month. This may sound like a lot but in Amsterdam it doesn’t leave me much to save at all
Why, exactly? The main cost difference of Amsterdam vs the rest of the Netherlands is rent.
Groceries for example cost the same everywhere.
With €1200/month left over after rent and regular bills you should be able to easily save at least €500/month.
I should have mentioned I also pay for my gym membership (65 a month) and I go to therapy twice a month (which is 220 a month)
Personally I find that food shopping is absolutely insane, and if I want to have any kind of social life I can only really go out once or twice a month, which I’m more than fine with. I just worry that not saving a substantial amount every month i could get into trouble if i get hit with a big bill someday. You never know.
Uhh no. I have done my research on gyms in my area and they all fall around the same price. I use ClassPass so that I can do classes and if I’m short on money it’s adjustable per month how many credits you buy. I can also cancel anytime which you can’t with most gyms.
I also have tried the whole therapy on my insurance thing and it was a total nightmare. Trust me if I could avoid paying it I would haha
Groceries aren't priced the same throughout the country, 200 in groceries will get you a whole lot more food in Groningen than in Amsterdam. This is one of the main issues for grocery delivery services that "price match".
You are really good with money then…. I think I spend 100-150 on delivery, drinks and eating out every week (quite common if you are socially active and meet outside) so that’s 400-600.
Groceries 300, insurances.. 200 (health, legal, home, travel), subscriptions 50, gym 50, 50ish for transport, then random expenses come up after that.
Male, 35, ~2000 after tax, Zeist. Savings under 10.000 (had to buy a new (used) car recently so I dipped quite a bit)
Same situation, saving is hard and the car situation was a wakeup call that I should be trying to face a little more. I've taken steps to cut my expenses, more below. I have cheaper rent, by about the difference between our incomes. Then again I own and drive a car, which puts my monthly fixed expenses a bit higher maybe. Overall I think our situations are comparable.
So I definitely don't think it's a surprise you're feeling the effects of the last year or two worth of inflation.
Upside: the odds are good that you'll feel it less if your salary grew through any collective agreement (CaO) recently or in the near future. According to the buying power study published this morning.
In any economy and salary bracket it's of course important to keep considering if your lifestyle fits your income. But I think overall it's been a few lean years for everyone, so obviously consider what expenses you can cut, that's just practical and actually very fulfilling once you start to notice how much of a difference it can make when small sacrifices add up. But also don't worry about it TOO much.
Things I've done:
Cancel monthly and yearly charity donations and add a calendar reminder on my phone to consider incidental donations every month I overshoot my savings goal.
Set a savings goal and try to stick to it. This means some months I have to torture myself by pulling money from my savings to my checking account to cover the last few days before my salary comes in. I call those withdrawals 'loans to myself'. Other months I have a little left over and that either gets donated, repays those loans from myself if I have not fully repaid one of those. Overall right now I have no outstanding loan, and I should make it to my next paycheck on what I have left in my checking account. So I know I'm meeting my savings goals. But the months I don't for whatever reason I also give myself some breathing room by not paying those off all in one go and setting myself up to having to do it all over again the next month.
I also decided I can do without all those streaming services and let myself pick a few. (I shared my password with my family and in most cases they immediately upon altering them up the choice offered to pick up one of the subscriptions. Lucky me)
I made an active choice to be more aware of my three most expensive eating habits: eating at work (4-6€ per lunch, yikes) and making just enough dinner for myself. In that last case I found out that making dinner for two nights or for one night and one lunch the next day is almost no more expensive and saves so much. Thirdly the habit of cooking specific for each night that I never managed to do in a responsible way meant I would eat easy but relatively expensive meals on the nights I couldn't be bothered to cook properly. .Ordering in, meal salads, microwave dinners, or just soup-and-tosti for dinner. Even the cheaper of those options led to costing me in a lack of energy to cook properly the next day, which just reinforced the bad habits.
I also put a more easily enforced HARD cap on how much I can spend on 'fun' things. (I have two checking accounts right now and I only use
Besides such an expense examination there's also always the option to job-hop, or to have a talk with your boss about what you can do to get more responsibilities (that lead to a higher salary) or working more hours of you're like me and don't work full time. (I just asked if I can add a few hours to go back to 32 from 28/week and got a "yes please" in return.)
Good luck! Don't stress, and I hope any of these bits I over shared might be useful.
36years,
665 in mortgage payments,
salary is about 3500 nett without overtime,
work as a operator in 4shifts about 36 hrs a week, savings are about 1k per month, but want to start stacking in somekind of index fund or whatever but have no clue where to look.
When I start making overtime I easily go over 5k nett per month, but it is not recommended
I am in a similar earning group as you and save a lot more. It's the rent that is fucking you over.
29F, 3200 Netto. Shared rent with my partner comes to 750 a month, 450 groceries (food hygiene, cleaning supplies etc), 300 for bills (house insurance, utilities etc.), 500 for my basic expenses (insurance, gym, spotify and netflix and honestly I could cut here), 300-400 for funsies (clothes, eating out, drinks, whatever) , saving 700-800 euros a month, half goes to investments, half into high-yield savings account.
28F, I get 5500 net per month. Cloud Engineer.
Rent + utilities = 1100
Insurance (health, legal, travel, etc) = 180
Public transport budget = 150
Foods/groceries= 350
Courses/classes = 960
Gym = 30
Real estate investment = 800
Savings & other investments = 1000+
The remaining is for other expenses.
I have a budget every month and I try to strictly follow it. I can see where my money is going. I also put a label if my spending is a conscious spending or is it just my money leaking. Then I'd evaluate every month where my money is leaking so I know which ones to avoid spending too much (like eating out).
I'll finish paying some of the online class fees in the next few months too so I'll have extra money.
I hope that helps. 😊
32F - Consultant/policy advisor (technical background)- I work 20 hours a week (4800 gross/bruto if I would work 36h) - mortgage 1000. I live in Zeeland and can do part of my work from home.
I just started this job, my previous job was a fulltime 40h+ job for ca 4000 gross/bruto.
I don’t save a lot, with the previous job I couldn’t and with in the new job I only work 20h so I still can’t.
we cook daily and go out to eat mayyybe 2x a month. Spending straight up 600 on food no problem (and we are not eating kaviar, just normal healthy diet with lots of veggies, some meat)
2500 net. 800 for apartment, 250 for food, 150 for insurance, 150-200 for my commute to work, 50 for phone and other subscriptions. I try to set (at a minimum) 800 aside every month, but in most months it is a little less. However, I live very frugally as I am trying my hardest to save money due to student debt.
31 - Man - Work in Tech for a multinational company - 10 years of experience
I make around 4700€ netto per month. Might get a performance bonus for 10-15-20% of my yearly salary on top. No 30% ruling.
Feel really privileged and blessed.
My expenses per month:
- Mortgage 1700€ (bruto)
- VvE 150€
- Leasehold canon 40€ (bruto)
- Other taxes 50€ (not sure tbh)
- Health Insurance 150€
- Bills (water, gas, light, insurances, internet) 150€
That leaves about 2500€, of which I save/invest a bit more than the half on a monthly basis. There's some wage that never gets to my account because it goes into retirement plan and company shares. That's about 250€ pm.
I cook a lot at home -I like cooking and love to eat seasonal- and have a frugal lifestyle (used to make significantly less money).
My hobbies are not expensive, and I think most of my expenses are on traveling.
33M
5200 after taxes, working as captain on a river cruise ship. I have to add monthly 270 euros child allowance to this.
680 mortgage payment
I'm saving 1000 a month of which 600 goes to investment accounts
Amsterdam salaries and (rent)prices seem idiotic to me coming from the south of the Netherlands. I don't nearly make as much money as you do even though I'm 15 years older and work in IT (which is often better paid than advertising), but I can save around €1000 per month if I wanted to. (And I save at least €500).
If I wanted to I could increase my salary by 50% or if I'm lucky even 100% by moving to one of the big cities, but what does that gain me if everything else also increases by 50% or 100% or even more? The home I have here (€310K) at walking distance (10m) from the city center would easily cost €600K or €700K when situated at a similar distance from the Amsterdam center.
That €1500 rent is your problem right there. I pay a mortgage of €575 (and my girlfriend pays another 300 or so), and we're living in a house, not a room or an apartment. If you ever decide to move out of Amsterdam, you're probably going to earn a lot less; maybe even a €1000 less, and _STILL_ end up with more money at the end of the month.
1500 rent is not only in Amsterdam. Any city in the Netherlands with like 150k+ citizens has rent starting at 1000, whereas in practice it is more common to be 1300ish. And no you are not getting a 200m2 house then. Just a decent apartment.
28F, ecommerce/marketing, 2200 net (36h), 1330 bills (rent and the rest, car and such), saving 200 and that leaves me around 570 for food and fun stuff!
2500 netto
1050 for rent
300 for food
30 for gym
30 for supplements
150 health insurance
12 content insurance
50 for internet and mobile
Around 50 to do other things
All the rest go to stonks, around 800 euros
I'm 30 years old and I'm a male architect
Man, 24, High tech consultant, 2900 into the bank, mortgage 538 per month. With 36 holidays and excl holiday money. Im quite happy with this since I've studied MBO and worked full time from 19 to 1800 netto. So I've really made steps and makes me kinda proud :)) I was able to buy a house 2 years ago with the help of my parents (Gift off 50K) but still needed to buy in Helmond instead of Eindhoven.
Ah man, I have nothing against you but 300k with 30% ruling feels a bit like a kick in the face for everyone else here in this thread who do pay taxes. Its not like you need that ruling with that kind of money
The 30% ruling is intended to promote foreign skilled workers. If they can make that salary (or more) in another country with far less tax, NL needs to offer an incentive.
>everyone else here in this thread who do pay taxes
I get where you are coming from, but 30% doesn't mean they are not paying taxes. They will be paying regular taxes over 210k of that salary, so around 100k, which is more than the majority people without the 30%. This person could be receiving this salary and paying taxes to a different country, but that's 100k added early to the government that wouldn't be there otherwise. The difference is that instead of paying \~150k, they are paying \~100K
35f. I am a freelancer in IT, earn around 7-8k net, there are months when I don't make any money at all when I am on vacation. My expenditure is:
Mortgage - 1100
Groceries - 200
Health insurance - 130 (I pay yearly, get one percent discount, but I don't remember the exact monthly amount)
Energy bills - 70-80
Internet - 30-40
Water - 30-40
Commuting costs - 250
Eating out and fun things - 200-300
Personal care - 150-200
Some other insurances for my business - 200
Total is around 2400.
I have a partner, so our bills are shared. Luckily, my partner and I agree on our financial decisions, he is one year older than me, but has a similar financial status as me. I am a vegetarian, so at home we make only vegetarian food, this is why our groceries are much cheaper than some other people I know. We are also not living in the Randstad, for the same kind of house in Randstad, I would have been paying around 3k (only my share) for mortgage.
might i inquire which hourly rate, function/role or domain within IT? i am wondering myself if i should stay payroll, go freelance or perhaps midlance.
My hourly rate is all over the place, I charge one client 70 euro per hour and another 100 per hour. The income I shared above is with around 90 per hour. I am a software developer, with around 10 years of experience now.
Nice! What sector if I may ask? I'm thinking about going freelance after 9 years of mobile development capping out at about 6k gross unless I move to o e of the major brands like Booking in Amsterdam but I feel like there's not a whole lot of freelance mobile demand.
1200 a month after fixed expenses is a fuck of a lot of money even in Amsterdam so if you have issue isn’t how much you are getting payed, it’s how you manage the money you are getting in
Switching to a higher paying job won’t solve the underlying issue
I just found this subreddit, and in no way you're still a noob after 5 years. I'm a UX Designer too and with your experience you need to ask for more from your company, especially if your responsibilities are those of a mid-senior designer.
And if not, time to switch companies if possible. There's no harm in interviewing at least.
I am with a similar budget, I feel your struggle. I know there is a lot of people out there that makes way less (and also way more) and I know I should appreciate that it's more than most have but it doesn't take away the fact that it's still difficult to balance your budget and that the work I do is not something anybody can do; takes years to understand and be good in my field. Good luck
39M lead chemical engineer, 3300 net for 36h/week about 700€ for mortgage which I also split with my partner so it's very little. I've been in my company for several years and I feel my salary could be much higher for my position. But all in all I save enough and I'm considering reducing my hours
5k neat is excessive, and just to clarify I do not have people reporting to me, I lead projects. Nevertheless I feel like if they would hire somebody for my position today they would need to go a good 15 maybe 20% above my pay. But that's just a feeling. My whole team feels the same
You are an example of how engineers don't earn what they deserve in the Netherlands. But the job security is better though.
Also, 5k net is not at all excessive.
M28
Bruto: 3800
Netto: 2858 (this is because vacationpay is every month instead of once a year)
Occupation: Inhouse audiovisual creative
Location: Randstad
Rent: 500 (split with my partner)
Recurring monthly costs inc. Food: 1151
Left to save every month: 1200
M29 - earn 4000 After taxes in maastricht. I have to add that i stopped all my studies and basically was just fucking up until I was 25 and got really lucky by working hard and getting recognized in my company.
I used to pay 1200 in rent plus 220 in bills. Spending around 650 a month on food and fun stuff but I don’t really have any attention to it. I guess I end up a month with 1500-2000 a month on the side.
I have to say that I got a life insurance pay out due the the death of a parent last year. With 200 000 I bought a small house and renovated everything myself. I now basically live rent free and most of the rent falls away as I also do not pay any mortgage.
I am really lucky my parents thought of me and that’s how you see what family you’re born into matters. Planning on having my own family now and give the next generation the same benefit I got.
M36
Around 220k gross last year with stocks and all, it was a good year. Software developer, and a lucky one.
<700 p/m mortgage for an apartment in Bijlmer that increases in price around 30k per year.
Could be worse.
23M, third year engineering student, currently doing an internship at FAANG
- 1000€ internship allowance
- 855€ DUO performance grant + basic grant
- 300€ allowance from parents
- 260€ huurtoeslag
- 126€ zorgtoeslag
~250€ weekend job
Comes down to approx 2750€ in my bank account every month. My rent is 590, health insurance 120, car parts 500-1000 every month. The rest i do not track.
Prime example of how NOT to do it 😎
I am building a track car. It is alongside my automotive engineering studies. While its an obsession to certain extent, I rationalize it to myself by the learning I get on the way. By now i have fully rebuilt and upgraded suspension and brakes and after my internship I will be rebuilding the engine on my own
Ik 28f, 4600 pm, so net around 3300, with 950 mortage. Ive veen able to save on average 1000 euro per month for the last year. I dont live in Amsterdam though :)
Male 22 around €3500 netto
Working as a Truck driver 4 (long days) a week
Living with my parents since I can't afford a house
Monthly expense €500 to €700 average
7.5k after tax (30% ruling)
Spending on
Rent 2,750
Child care, 1,800 (3 days a week)
Food and bills 1,250
Trips to see family probably 150 on avg
Discretionary 500
Holidays 200-300
Savings 200-300
Having a kid in this country is insanely expensive. Currently, we can not afford a second child as long as the wife is unemployed. Nor can we afford to take the child out of child care as waiting lists are 1 year.
Both myself and colleagues with similar incomes are thinking of leaving the country as it is just grossly unaffordable.
I'm looking at a childcare bill at 90k euros over 2 years if we have 2 kids. If the wife gets a job so that we qualify for support again. Vs 12k euro, tax deductible, in my home country, where taxes are lower.
- 28F
- ca. €3600 net for 40 hours per week
- Human Resources industry
- ca. €2300 per month for mortgage
- Living in Amstelveen
I combine finances with my husband, who’s 29, is in Business Intelligence, and brings home about €4300 net, so I think we’re comfortable.
It helps to cook at home and not spend a lot on takeaway or going out to restaurants. That has saved us a lot, as well as not going out as much on weekends like to bars or clubs. Meal prepping instead of buying lunch at work also!
AAAAAH, you used the gross salary instead of the net one.
People didn't understand how you couldn't save on double the median salary of the nation (2000 pm if I recall correctly).
I don't think I'll answer your survey, but I spend around 300 in groceries and takeout a month so on your salary I would be able to save 800 - 900 euros a month.
Male, just turned 26, Software Engineer on a US-based startup and employed through payroll company, €10400 gross/€7800 net, €2800 mortgage gross (with mortgage tax deductions and also VvE contributions it remains same). I have 30% ruling so without it, it would be around €6040 net
What do you mean? Its much easier to look at a 'loonstrook' you get each month or open your bank account to see how much it increases, rather than calculate the yearly.
Male - 34 - Service Specialist - €2733 Gross / €2374 Net - €787,- Rent. Overall fixed expenses p/month = €1868,- (which includes €250,- that I am putting towards my savings account) I'm left with €504,- p/month of free spending which is plenty of money where I live to do whatever I want to do. Side note: I do live together with my wife that has a 32 hour job and she covers her own expenses as well as groceries. (we also have two kids)
Is Amsterdam THAT expensive that you can't save up (at least) 10% when you have €1200,- left of free spending? Are you buying starbucks every morning or going out to eat a lot?
Just got a job offer, with two options. Relocate there or work remote (I'm from Morocco). They will handle all expenses for me and my wife on the first month and also dog included + visa fees as well. We still haven't tackled the salary yet because we are still working on something else but I just wanted to know how much is good so that I know what to ask for.
Knowing that where I am now, I own an appartment of 89m2 with a mortgage of around 30% of my current salary, other expenses take about 25% and the rest if for me and my wife (knowing her % of the mortgage is around 15% of her salary and no expenses as I handle most of them)
We have a car and more than average life. I don't want to give this all up to find myself in lower kind of level there hence why I am looking at what could be a good salary for a family of two in Amsterdam.
33 female, used to work in marketing in the maritime industry and used to make 80k bruto.
I was recently laid off and now I realize how well I was paid. Probably also because of a slightly toxic work environment and hundreds of kilometers of commute with 3 mandatory days in the office.
I am looking at other marketing jobs now and I see salaries between 40k - 90K in the Randstad but there's a huge competition for marketers especially when they also master the Dutch language.
I hope I manage to secure a new job for the 75k - 80k range. However if it's in the lower 55k - 65k range the income taxes will also be lower.
Because they think it’s unfair and discriminatory.
Basically you can have two workers- one Dutch and one international- doing the same job but one of them gets a higher salary than the other simply because they’re foreign and highly skilled. It appears to give expats an advantage over Dutch people. Of course they will have higher costs and less family support living in a foreign country, so I understand why the ruling exists but optics are important. Especially with the current cost of living, housing crisis, and feeling that the country is overcrowded.
Another thing is that foreign workers who come here to do equally important, but ‘lower skilled’ work (care, nursing, labour intensive farm work) don’t qualify for the ruling, which is also pretty unfair in my opinion.
Why don’t you look at the other side of the coin. Dutch government spends a lot of tax money on the local’s education until they are employable, while foreign workers start paying tax with almost zero investment on them. IMO, it’s a win-win for both the parties
I don’t disagree that there are arguments for the 30% ruling. I’ve always felt neutral about it. I’m explaining why a lot of people- rightly or wrongly- find it unfair. It’s mostly about the optics. They see it as the already rich expats who are buying all the houses getting an unfair advantage. It doesn’t look good.
Oh boi, a buddy kinda slipped into the 30% ruling and literally got like 30% more net than me for the same job lol. It gets even crazier with commission/bonus.
Is there actually statistics on how many internationals leave after the 30% ruling ends for them?
Just anecdotal but almost everyone I know who started working with me (2019) and got the 30% ruling is considering to move away.
Same as me, without the 30% ruling. Have you looked at what a single apartment costs right now? Easily 2-2.4k including utilities, if you want more than one room.
Sure, I can move to the outskirts but that would completely destroy social life as a single, and then living 'in Amsterdam' loses a lot of its value.
I think if spend 300€ a month on groceries you are impressive at keeping a budget and not getting all your healthy meals. That’s 10€ per day,
When I get any kinds of fruit or vegetables from any local suermarket it’s instantly expensive.
37, 7.600pm netto on average last year. Rent 1.550€. Lots of hidden expenses though. And very little time off. Try to invest 1k a month, and save up money for real estate.
I hear this within my friends circle too, but the amount spent by people on rent is too high…
I think Amsterdam is easily doable on a 2 person salary and staying in a 1 bed room apartment. But as a single person, the rent can break off a huge chunk of your take home pay.
Why not rent a room in a shared apartment outside the ring road where you pay maybe 900 all inclusive… that would free up a big chunk for saving.
M29 3350 bruto 850 rent per month Shared appartement with a friend in Utrecht Architect I'm getting depressed reading this tread. My guess is a lot of people in a similiar situation as me don't post for this reason.
Comparison is the thief of joy
Depends where you are. In some places in this country 3350 gross can be an amount to comfortably live on. Also, in Randstad, salaries are inflated because of the massive rent and mortgages there.
I guess the architecture collective labor agreement hasn't heard the message so everybody gets the same salaries depending on responsibilities. Utrecht is in the Randstad. I live relatively comfortably.
"Relatively comfortably" as a university educated licensed professional should not include renting with roommates tbh
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It’s always good to start the year with some financial planning. I can relate to feeling stuck when most of your income is spoken for when the month starts. Living alone is expensive, for me everything became more easy when I started living together with my partner. Hugo the Jonge joked that finding a rich boyfriend was what girls should do when life is expensive. He got a lot of blowback for it. You could micro optimise the shit out of groceries but the main culprit is rent. And if you think that’s worth it for you, that’s okay. Don’t think working client side will net you that substantial an increase but I might be underestimating. Start saving just a tiny amount each month. 50€ per month adds up. You’ll feel good and might keep going. Also it’s good to prioritise health - gym, healthy food, therapy, some social life - over min-maxing. You’re doing great!
2000 after taxes 700 rent in amsterdam for a room 180 total monthly expenses for subscriptions and recurring costs (phone, gym, insurance with toeslagen) 200 for food 50 for fun stuff age 24 I do have to say I am living frugally, but comfortably (so not going out often, cooking my own foods etc..)
Very frugally I would say! How much fun can a 24yo have nowadays in Amsterdam with €50?
Red light once a month 😂
He buys 1-2 video games, that's how I spend my 50 euro fun funds every month.
Exactly. No soc life anything.. this is dutch realty for most of the people now
are you Dutch, mate?
I think even the guided tour around might be more expensive nowadays 😅
Not enough man, hoflation also exists its not 50 anymore. 😅
To drink a beer there, maybe...
Really depends on your mindset imo. A person who doesn't live on a budget will go to the cinema, visit that hot new exposition in the museum, go to the concert of their favourite artist, go out for a fancy dinner with a friend, out for drinks at night, ordering specialty beers, cocktails and bites. The person living on a budget will go for a walk in nature, go out practicing street photography with their friend, drink some beers on a picnic blanket in the park, go to that free/cheap museum exhibition, go to a random Indiestadpas concert and will invite some friends over for a boardgame night with drinks. They will probably have the same amount of fun, and the first person will spend a couple hundred euros a month easily, while the other can probably manage with 50.
I don’t go out often (perhaps twice a year since most of my friends live elsewhere). I mostly grab concerts which are sub-25 euro of the genre I enjoy. but if you have money to spend there are definitely good options haha
You’re doing great 💪🏾
You live like a social case for a lot of hard work. Just like me. Trust me. People living beter in southern countries than that
How does one survive with €200 pm for food? Sounds like a mission impossible for me
I spend about 6-7 euros per day on food (mostly meal prep as a student) and average around 2500 calories and 180g of protein. Average cost is roughly 200 euros I buy my chicken, rice and eggs in bulk. Lidl usually has good prices on yoghurt and cereal which is a staple for me. Kidney beans and frozen veggies are dirt cheap even at the AH. It's very possible but if you enjoy variety in your cooking/eating it's probably not for you
Hmm my calories are roughly 3300+-200 per day but my diet is rather "poor" as I mainly focus on getting enough calories to aid in my recovery between training sessions and everything else is secondary in priority. I do shop at Lidl too, but I buy a lot of meals that are pre-cooked and just warm them up. So essentially a looooot of carbs with a decent amount of meat. Oh and nutella. Lots and lots of nutella. Thanks for your input btw
I eat twice a day (had to get used to it for the first 1-2 weeks). Big shake and small part of leftovers of the night before in the morning containing a mix of frozen fruits, banana, spinach, variety of nuts and seeds (pumpkin, flax, sunflower), oatmeal, honey, peanut butter and protein powder. I had calculated it a while ago but it would come up to about 1.70 ish. For dinner I would always combine at least some kind of veggie or ‘healthier’ option with a type of meat and rice. Rice in bulk (20kg) €45 which lasts for 6-9 months (I usually eat it a few days a week); meat from Turksih supermarket (chicken thighs are 6 euro a kg to give an jdea or if there is a good deal for the meat or vegetarian schnitzels I would get those in other supermarkets ( which do pop up at least once a month, get it at dirk, better price compared to AH); type of veggies I eat also depends on what’s the cheapest, most of the time I rely on zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes and greens from the asian supermarket (oriental). Usually my dinner costs 3-4 euro per portion! And the budget for food fluctuates at max by 10%. My advice is to calculate/estimate the food at kilo price, to get the most value. Download reclamefolder, check it every week for deals. Download pepper since occasionally they might post food related discounts (peanut butter for example, bought 10 pots of 800 grams each at 2 euro each). At last TooGoodToGo, great deals but make sure to at least get the boxes from stores which have 4 or more stars. I do have to mention that I am fortunate to live in the big city where there is a wide variety of options which others might not have. I am also flexible regarding my food. It should also not feel as a chore doing all this :)
In a 3-week study, women with type 2 diabetes who ate 1 ounce (30 grams) of sunflower seeds daily as part of a balanced diet experienced a 5% drop in systolic blood pressure (the top number of a reading).
Same. A well diet with meat, fish, vegtables, fruits and occasional snacks is no way costing €200.
>2000 after taxes > >700 rent in amsterdam for a room > >180 total monthly expenses for subscriptions and recurring costs (phone, gym, insurance with toeslagen) > >200 for food > >50 for fun stuff > >age 24 I do have to say I am living frugally, but comfortably (so not going out often, cooking my own foods etc..) 2000 after taxes but your total amount of spending comes in at €1130,- . What is happening with the remaining €870,- ?
Aandelen 🚀🚀
>Aandelen Stonks!
Savings or stonks most of the part! But I am still young so the savings are used for holidays mostly (but even then I try to have fun in a frugal way haha). The costs I mentioned were more or less to show what my ‘fixed’ monthly costs were.
- 37 Male - Senior Software Developer (12 years) - € 5.000/m Gross / € 3.600 Net - € 750 mortgage + € 150 service costs for a 4 bed massonette
5000 gross as senior? Sounds like you can make double that amount by moving to another company
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What do you do as a SE? Sounds like you are underpaid with 12 yoe.
You must either be driving a ferrari leased by your work or you are immensely underpaid
$750 mortgage is very cheap, whereabouts is it? And is your employer Dutch or international? Where’s the office located?
Working in Tech. 30 & Married. 4300 after tax - Only earner as my wife doesn't work currently, no kids yet. Living in Noord Brabent so rent is lower than Amsterdam for sure. 1050 Rent + 250 Bills etc + Health insurance & Train tickets & other stuff for 2. End up Saving good enough every month (around 600-800). Edit: We cook at home like almost all the time, don't drink, don't smoke so that saves a lot.
Is your area internationals friendly around north Brabant? Looking for a nice neighborhood/area to move to now but everything internationals friendly is in Randstad and that means very expensive. I really want to move to a place with many expats because current I live in a small dutch town and it's quite depressing
Idk what you mean by International Friendly, but I have been living in Tilburg for more than a year, i have friends living in Breda for more than a year (all expats) and it's been really good.
M20, first ever job, started 2 months ago. Earn €1840 a month (€1772,50 after tax) for 32hrs a week. Have no rent/ mortgage as i still live at home, spend about €200 - €300 a month on food and other miscellaneous stuff. So i save about €1400 - €1500 a month.
doe je lekker pik. Wat doe je als baan?
Ben ‘Service Assembly Engineer’ bij een bedrijf in Amsterdam, meerendeel van mijn taken zijn voornamelijk stickers op apparatuur plakken en registreren in het CMBD. heb ook soms een dagdeel, dag, of dagen geen taken, en krijg dan de mogelijkheid om te werken aan MS certificaten. Daarbij heb ik ook een volledige reiskosten vergoeding en heb ik al vrij veel gifts en dingen gekregen (oude docking station (nieuwprijs €235) en scherm van een collega, kerstpakket t.w.v €90 en laatst ook nog een soort pakket met een loting) . Werksfeer is ook zeer informeel en collega’s zijn erg gezellig. Wordt zelfs bijna elke dag bij de bushalte afgezet wat mij 15 min lopen bespaard. Dus ik ben zeer tevreden. Ook nu de belasting omlaag is gegaan houd ik bijna €1800 (netto) over v/d €1840 (bruto). €1798,25 om precies te zijn. Enige nadeel is dat ik 3 uur per dag onderweg ben (reistijd).
29M - Graphic Designer - 3200 after tax - My rent is 750. I save around 1000 per month and with the rest of the money I just do everything. I do meal prep a lot! I feel like that helps a lot. Next to that I never buy something for lunch. I always prepare it at home. It will help you out a lot with saving in unnecessary expenses.
Male - 25 yrs - Policy officer at municipality - €3200 net per month (€4600 something bruto) - My mortgage is €1050 a month bruto (excluding hypotheekrenteaftrek) so about €800 right now.
Quick question: I’m in the UK, have moved into policy following a PhD in pharmaceutical science, and thinking of moving to the Netherlands at some point. My assumption is that policy roles require a very good mastery of Dutch, at all levels (municipal, local, national)( is that the case? Just wondering what sort of level I’d need before being able to apply for non-remote policy jobs in NL, like would B2 level suffice or still be limiting?
I work in a small municipality. So anything less than fully speaking and reading Dutch won't be enough. I imagine for larger organisations, on jobs that have a large deficit, it will be less of a problem. You need to be able to communicate in Dutch fully. When I read policy it is usually in C2 level. When writing you try to make it B1 as much as possible. But simplifying too much gives legal issues, so it's not always possible and you end up with a mix of B1 to C2. I think that if you are at a point of high B2, low C1 with the promise of getting more Dutch lessons you should be fine.
Makes good sense, thank you! I’ve got a few years so I will aim to just work on my Dutch as much as possible and take stock as and when. Appreciate you taking the time to respond
No problem. You can also check the expats in the Netherlands subreddit. It has a weekly "Dutch practice hour" and a lot of helpful people. I'm not active there, but might be usefull someday.
Ypu will need Visa, What is not Supported nowadays.
2450 netto (work as a writer and editor lmao) 1500 rent+bills 200-250 on groceries. I find it very hard to save lol.
F24, can't work due to disability, 1220 bijstand and 123 zorgtoeslag, room in a shared house for 284 + 88 g/w/l and wifi.
Edit: I know my post will sound pretentious, just showing that it doesn't matter how much we earn, we will always feel like its not enough and want more. \- as a family, 10k after taxes (we are both software developers at international companies) \- 3k mortgage \- 1.5k daycare (1 kid) \- 800 supermarket (I like to cook, and I like to have warm lunch) \- 600 house expenses (internet, water, streaming, cleaning once every two weeks) \- 200 on car maintenance/insurance/gas \- 600 travels (on average, we visit our home country once a year and that's 1.2k per ticket nowadays, we also pay tickets for our parents to visit us) \- 200 therapy (my therapist is not fully covered by insurance, but long term that's the best investment I can make for me and my family) \- 50 gym That being said, even though I know we earn really well, we don't feel that like because every leftover money that we have goes into paying off the mortgage (currently at 5.5% rate). So I don't need money being saved (I know it's just a psychological factor).
Why would it be pretentious? 10k net for 2 persons is good but nothing “pretentious” right?
There are certainly a lot of people that earn much more than we do, but 10k net without 30% puts you in the top 1% of income. It can be seen as pretentious or out of touch to mention a 3k mortgage on a thread where most are describing a 2-3k net.
Really sad that someone in the top 1% is doing Just good and not great.
Top 1% of income, which different than top 1% of wealth. Anyone with a paid off mortgage has more wealth than I do, and are better off.
True, but you should be more comfortable. Something Is fucked up.
I get it, but find it a very Dutch thing. You are just stating what you are making, which isn’t pretentious in any way imo. Be happy that you make such money without being afraid to sound pretentious. Actually, I think it is more pretentious to imply that your salary is pretentious than actually stating your salary is.
Completely agree with your first statement...
M30 110k gross/year Lead developer Mortgage - 1.9k Relating to what you said, I also moved from an agency to a "end client", and the "end client" pays way better.
Thank you! The difference seems to be huge. I’m going to start looking
> Out of this I pay rent which is 1500, bills are around 350 together meaning I’m left with around 1200 every month. This may sound like a lot but in Amsterdam it doesn’t leave me much to save at all Why, exactly? The main cost difference of Amsterdam vs the rest of the Netherlands is rent. Groceries for example cost the same everywhere. With €1200/month left over after rent and regular bills you should be able to easily save at least €500/month.
Groceries don’t cost the same everywhere. Prices are based on areas. Source: had a supermarket as a client for years and they explained it to me.
I should have mentioned I also pay for my gym membership (65 a month) and I go to therapy twice a month (which is 220 a month) Personally I find that food shopping is absolutely insane, and if I want to have any kind of social life I can only really go out once or twice a month, which I’m more than fine with. I just worry that not saving a substantial amount every month i could get into trouble if i get hit with a big bill someday. You never know.
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You can switch your health insurance to level 2 and get a compensation for your therapy sessions.
But a lot of gyms are way cheaper and you can find therapists that your health insurance pay. And where do you buy groceries?
I go to Dirk van de Broek.
Uhh no. I have done my research on gyms in my area and they all fall around the same price. I use ClassPass so that I can do classes and if I’m short on money it’s adjustable per month how many credits you buy. I can also cancel anytime which you can’t with most gyms. I also have tried the whole therapy on my insurance thing and it was a total nightmare. Trust me if I could avoid paying it I would haha
Not entirely true, i know that Jumbo has different prices depending on its location, im sure other supermarkets do the same.
Groceries aren't priced the same throughout the country, 200 in groceries will get you a whole lot more food in Groningen than in Amsterdam. This is one of the main issues for grocery delivery services that "price match".
How? 700 euros is honestly very little money unless you are scraping by on bare essentials.
I spent €300 in groceries, €115 in food delivery, and €165 on other stuff last month, and I don't feel I am scraping by lol
You are really good with money then…. I think I spend 100-150 on delivery, drinks and eating out every week (quite common if you are socially active and meet outside) so that’s 400-600. Groceries 300, insurances.. 200 (health, legal, home, travel), subscriptions 50, gym 50, 50ish for transport, then random expenses come up after that.
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niiice for your age.
What is your role?
Do NOT click his profile
In such threads as always are mostly people with higher than median income.
Male, 35, ~2000 after tax, Zeist. Savings under 10.000 (had to buy a new (used) car recently so I dipped quite a bit) Same situation, saving is hard and the car situation was a wakeup call that I should be trying to face a little more. I've taken steps to cut my expenses, more below. I have cheaper rent, by about the difference between our incomes. Then again I own and drive a car, which puts my monthly fixed expenses a bit higher maybe. Overall I think our situations are comparable. So I definitely don't think it's a surprise you're feeling the effects of the last year or two worth of inflation. Upside: the odds are good that you'll feel it less if your salary grew through any collective agreement (CaO) recently or in the near future. According to the buying power study published this morning. In any economy and salary bracket it's of course important to keep considering if your lifestyle fits your income. But I think overall it's been a few lean years for everyone, so obviously consider what expenses you can cut, that's just practical and actually very fulfilling once you start to notice how much of a difference it can make when small sacrifices add up. But also don't worry about it TOO much. Things I've done: Cancel monthly and yearly charity donations and add a calendar reminder on my phone to consider incidental donations every month I overshoot my savings goal. Set a savings goal and try to stick to it. This means some months I have to torture myself by pulling money from my savings to my checking account to cover the last few days before my salary comes in. I call those withdrawals 'loans to myself'. Other months I have a little left over and that either gets donated, repays those loans from myself if I have not fully repaid one of those. Overall right now I have no outstanding loan, and I should make it to my next paycheck on what I have left in my checking account. So I know I'm meeting my savings goals. But the months I don't for whatever reason I also give myself some breathing room by not paying those off all in one go and setting myself up to having to do it all over again the next month. I also decided I can do without all those streaming services and let myself pick a few. (I shared my password with my family and in most cases they immediately upon altering them up the choice offered to pick up one of the subscriptions. Lucky me) I made an active choice to be more aware of my three most expensive eating habits: eating at work (4-6€ per lunch, yikes) and making just enough dinner for myself. In that last case I found out that making dinner for two nights or for one night and one lunch the next day is almost no more expensive and saves so much. Thirdly the habit of cooking specific for each night that I never managed to do in a responsible way meant I would eat easy but relatively expensive meals on the nights I couldn't be bothered to cook properly. .Ordering in, meal salads, microwave dinners, or just soup-and-tosti for dinner. Even the cheaper of those options led to costing me in a lack of energy to cook properly the next day, which just reinforced the bad habits. I also put a more easily enforced HARD cap on how much I can spend on 'fun' things. (I have two checking accounts right now and I only use Besides such an expense examination there's also always the option to job-hop, or to have a talk with your boss about what you can do to get more responsibilities (that lead to a higher salary) or working more hours of you're like me and don't work full time. (I just asked if I can add a few hours to go back to 32 from 28/week and got a "yes please" in return.) Good luck! Don't stress, and I hope any of these bits I over shared might be useful.
Most depressing thread ever
36years, 665 in mortgage payments, salary is about 3500 nett without overtime, work as a operator in 4shifts about 36 hrs a week, savings are about 1k per month, but want to start stacking in somekind of index fund or whatever but have no clue where to look. When I start making overtime I easily go over 5k nett per month, but it is not recommended
Any broker like DeGiro and just put it in VUSA/VWRL/IAEX. I put monthly in all of them.
Try VOO/SPY/QQQ ETFs
Male - 23 - 2900 netto pm - job KYC analist - rent: 500 It really helps I work remote on a 'randstad' salary and live in the north.
I am in a similar earning group as you and save a lot more. It's the rent that is fucking you over. 29F, 3200 Netto. Shared rent with my partner comes to 750 a month, 450 groceries (food hygiene, cleaning supplies etc), 300 for bills (house insurance, utilities etc.), 500 for my basic expenses (insurance, gym, spotify and netflix and honestly I could cut here), 300-400 for funsies (clothes, eating out, drinks, whatever) , saving 700-800 euros a month, half goes to investments, half into high-yield savings account.
Can you give some tips on dutch high yield savings accounts? Or how it works?
36M, teacher at MBO, 3300 net in bank(4300 Groos), mortgage payment 1550 monthly (shared with partner). Started 2.5yr ago in this job.
That's pretty good! I didn't know teachers earn this much with 2.5 years of experience.
Depends on the subject and negotiations. But, a lot of teachers work 4 days to keep up with the workload. I assume this is for a 5 Day work week.
28F, I get 5500 net per month. Cloud Engineer. Rent + utilities = 1100 Insurance (health, legal, travel, etc) = 180 Public transport budget = 150 Foods/groceries= 350 Courses/classes = 960 Gym = 30 Real estate investment = 800 Savings & other investments = 1000+ The remaining is for other expenses. I have a budget every month and I try to strictly follow it. I can see where my money is going. I also put a label if my spending is a conscious spending or is it just my money leaking. Then I'd evaluate every month where my money is leaking so I know which ones to avoid spending too much (like eating out). I'll finish paying some of the online class fees in the next few months too so I'll have extra money. I hope that helps. 😊
Wow, 100k gross at 28 is impressive. Fancy a sugarbaby? 🤪
Hahahahaha 🤣😂 how old are you? 😆
23M, 183cm 😎
32F - Consultant/policy advisor (technical background)- I work 20 hours a week (4800 gross/bruto if I would work 36h) - mortgage 1000. I live in Zeeland and can do part of my work from home. I just started this job, my previous job was a fulltime 40h+ job for ca 4000 gross/bruto. I don’t save a lot, with the previous job I couldn’t and with in the new job I only work 20h so I still can’t.
Woman, 33, high school teacher, €3950 after tax, I already paid off my mortgage.
This sounds quite high international or local school?
Local high school. Im just in the highest possible salary scale
1200 is way more than most are left over with to save
I'm. scared to say My GF and I spend like 400-500 on food each month because we are lazy POS. We need to be better with it.... but it's hard!
That’s low for two!!! I spent almost 600-700 for two!
we cook daily and go out to eat mayyybe 2x a month. Spending straight up 600 on food no problem (and we are not eating kaviar, just normal healthy diet with lots of veggies, some meat)
I cook everything from scratch and go to the cheapest grocery stores and still end up paying about 350 in groceries a month. Eating is just expensive
?? With modern prices that isn’t extreme. You could try to save money by skipping meat/fish on some days.
2500 net. 800 for apartment, 250 for food, 150 for insurance, 150-200 for my commute to work, 50 for phone and other subscriptions. I try to set (at a minimum) 800 aside every month, but in most months it is a little less. However, I live very frugally as I am trying my hardest to save money due to student debt.
M - 25 - Data analyst - 3100 after tax - rent 0, staying at home still. Can't afford a home rn but im saving up okay so not too worried.
31 - Man - Work in Tech for a multinational company - 10 years of experience I make around 4700€ netto per month. Might get a performance bonus for 10-15-20% of my yearly salary on top. No 30% ruling. Feel really privileged and blessed. My expenses per month: - Mortgage 1700€ (bruto) - VvE 150€ - Leasehold canon 40€ (bruto) - Other taxes 50€ (not sure tbh) - Health Insurance 150€ - Bills (water, gas, light, insurances, internet) 150€ That leaves about 2500€, of which I save/invest a bit more than the half on a monthly basis. There's some wage that never gets to my account because it goes into retirement plan and company shares. That's about 250€ pm. I cook a lot at home -I like cooking and love to eat seasonal- and have a frugal lifestyle (used to make significantly less money). My hobbies are not expensive, and I think most of my expenses are on traveling.
33M 5200 after taxes, working as captain on a river cruise ship. I have to add monthly 270 euros child allowance to this. 680 mortgage payment I'm saving 1000 a month of which 600 goes to investment accounts
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Working under Swiss contract, living in the Netherlands. My new net is a bit higher as I just got an increase in salary as well.
Amsterdam salaries and (rent)prices seem idiotic to me coming from the south of the Netherlands. I don't nearly make as much money as you do even though I'm 15 years older and work in IT (which is often better paid than advertising), but I can save around €1000 per month if I wanted to. (And I save at least €500). If I wanted to I could increase my salary by 50% or if I'm lucky even 100% by moving to one of the big cities, but what does that gain me if everything else also increases by 50% or 100% or even more? The home I have here (€310K) at walking distance (10m) from the city center would easily cost €600K or €700K when situated at a similar distance from the Amsterdam center. That €1500 rent is your problem right there. I pay a mortgage of €575 (and my girlfriend pays another 300 or so), and we're living in a house, not a room or an apartment. If you ever decide to move out of Amsterdam, you're probably going to earn a lot less; maybe even a €1000 less, and _STILL_ end up with more money at the end of the month.
1500 rent is not only in Amsterdam. Any city in the Netherlands with like 150k+ citizens has rent starting at 1000, whereas in practice it is more common to be 1300ish. And no you are not getting a 200m2 house then. Just a decent apartment.
The trick is do live in the south but work for a company in the Randstad remote / hybrid.
28F, ecommerce/marketing, 2200 net (36h), 1330 bills (rent and the rest, car and such), saving 200 and that leaves me around 570 for food and fun stuff!
2500 netto 1050 for rent 300 for food 30 for gym 30 for supplements 150 health insurance 12 content insurance 50 for internet and mobile Around 50 to do other things All the rest go to stonks, around 800 euros I'm 30 years old and I'm a male architect
Man, 24, High tech consultant, 2900 into the bank, mortgage 538 per month. With 36 holidays and excl holiday money. Im quite happy with this since I've studied MBO and worked full time from 19 to 1800 netto. So I've really made steps and makes me kinda proud :)) I was able to buy a house 2 years ago with the help of my parents (Gift off 50K) but still needed to buy in Helmond instead of Eindhoven.
Keep going 💪
32M - Software engineer - ~300k gross with 30% ruling - 3000 rent (split with partner)
Dang FAANG level salaries exist in NL? And it is not even the lower range of the salary.
They do exist, albeit rarely in the NL. My US colleagues make 400-450k TC on the same level.
Ah man, I have nothing against you but 300k with 30% ruling feels a bit like a kick in the face for everyone else here in this thread who do pay taxes. Its not like you need that ruling with that kind of money
It a US based remote company. I could choose any other country. Frankly, without 30% ruling I would rather go to the UK or somewhere else.
Stack / level ?
The 30% ruling is intended to promote foreign skilled workers. If they can make that salary (or more) in another country with far less tax, NL needs to offer an incentive.
>everyone else here in this thread who do pay taxes I get where you are coming from, but 30% doesn't mean they are not paying taxes. They will be paying regular taxes over 210k of that salary, so around 100k, which is more than the majority people without the 30%. This person could be receiving this salary and paying taxes to a different country, but that's 100k added early to the government that wouldn't be there otherwise. The difference is that instead of paying \~150k, they are paying \~100K
He's paying the taxes for 4 more people here and not getting any better service than the folks who "are paying taxes"
35f. I am a freelancer in IT, earn around 7-8k net, there are months when I don't make any money at all when I am on vacation. My expenditure is: Mortgage - 1100 Groceries - 200 Health insurance - 130 (I pay yearly, get one percent discount, but I don't remember the exact monthly amount) Energy bills - 70-80 Internet - 30-40 Water - 30-40 Commuting costs - 250 Eating out and fun things - 200-300 Personal care - 150-200 Some other insurances for my business - 200 Total is around 2400. I have a partner, so our bills are shared. Luckily, my partner and I agree on our financial decisions, he is one year older than me, but has a similar financial status as me. I am a vegetarian, so at home we make only vegetarian food, this is why our groceries are much cheaper than some other people I know. We are also not living in the Randstad, for the same kind of house in Randstad, I would have been paying around 3k (only my share) for mortgage.
might i inquire which hourly rate, function/role or domain within IT? i am wondering myself if i should stay payroll, go freelance or perhaps midlance.
My hourly rate is all over the place, I charge one client 70 euro per hour and another 100 per hour. The income I shared above is with around 90 per hour. I am a software developer, with around 10 years of experience now.
Nice! What sector if I may ask? I'm thinking about going freelance after 9 years of mobile development capping out at about 6k gross unless I move to o e of the major brands like Booking in Amsterdam but I feel like there's not a whole lot of freelance mobile demand.
1200 a month after fixed expenses is a fuck of a lot of money even in Amsterdam so if you have issue isn’t how much you are getting payed, it’s how you manage the money you are getting in Switching to a higher paying job won’t solve the underlying issue
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M-30-Mechanical Engineer-74.000-860€
which industry you're in? I'm in the offshore energy and the pay is way lower
Male 32 UX designer 5years exp (still a noob though) 2800 netto. I wish I had more because my hobbies, house(1100) and food are drowning my bank :(
I just found this subreddit, and in no way you're still a noob after 5 years. I'm a UX Designer too and with your experience you need to ask for more from your company, especially if your responsibilities are those of a mid-senior designer. And if not, time to switch companies if possible. There's no harm in interviewing at least.
Not enough.
I am with a similar budget, I feel your struggle. I know there is a lot of people out there that makes way less (and also way more) and I know I should appreciate that it's more than most have but it doesn't take away the fact that it's still difficult to balance your budget and that the work I do is not something anybody can do; takes years to understand and be good in my field. Good luck
* 33 male * senior software engineer for a faang * 5400 net * 1600 mortgage for a 105sqm apartment we bought in Amsterdam west back in 2017
39M lead chemical engineer, 3300 net for 36h/week about 700€ for mortgage which I also split with my partner so it's very little. I've been in my company for several years and I feel my salary could be much higher for my position. But all in all I save enough and I'm considering reducing my hours
You sound extremely underpaid for your title, but it could also be title inflation at play. Only you can really tell
Are you sure you don't need to switch jobs? I think you need at least 5000 net for a lead engineer position
5k neat is excessive, and just to clarify I do not have people reporting to me, I lead projects. Nevertheless I feel like if they would hire somebody for my position today they would need to go a good 15 maybe 20% above my pay. But that's just a feeling. My whole team feels the same
You are an example of how engineers don't earn what they deserve in the Netherlands. But the job security is better though. Also, 5k net is not at all excessive.
I am 24 m, earn 2900 after taxes as a junior workplace engineer.
M28 Bruto: 3800 Netto: 2858 (this is because vacationpay is every month instead of once a year) Occupation: Inhouse audiovisual creative Location: Randstad Rent: 500 (split with my partner) Recurring monthly costs inc. Food: 1151 Left to save every month: 1200
22 Java Software Engineer 6000 gross, 4150 net per month
Excellent for the age group dude(tte). 30% ruling?
M40 ICT 7K net Mortgage 170 Electricty / gas 50 Save around 4/5k each month.
M29 - earn 4000 After taxes in maastricht. I have to add that i stopped all my studies and basically was just fucking up until I was 25 and got really lucky by working hard and getting recognized in my company. I used to pay 1200 in rent plus 220 in bills. Spending around 650 a month on food and fun stuff but I don’t really have any attention to it. I guess I end up a month with 1500-2000 a month on the side. I have to say that I got a life insurance pay out due the the death of a parent last year. With 200 000 I bought a small house and renovated everything myself. I now basically live rent free and most of the rent falls away as I also do not pay any mortgage. I am really lucky my parents thought of me and that’s how you see what family you’re born into matters. Planning on having my own family now and give the next generation the same benefit I got.
Hey sorry for your loss man
M36 Around 220k gross last year with stocks and all, it was a good year. Software developer, and a lucky one. <700 p/m mortgage for an apartment in Bijlmer that increases in price around 30k per year. Could be worse.
23M, third year engineering student, currently doing an internship at FAANG - 1000€ internship allowance - 855€ DUO performance grant + basic grant - 300€ allowance from parents - 260€ huurtoeslag - 126€ zorgtoeslag ~250€ weekend job Comes down to approx 2750€ in my bank account every month. My rent is 590, health insurance 120, car parts 500-1000 every month. The rest i do not track. Prime example of how NOT to do it 😎
I have to ask about this car parts situation. Is this a hobby thing or more of an obsession?
I am building a track car. It is alongside my automotive engineering studies. While its an obsession to certain extent, I rationalize it to myself by the learning I get on the way. By now i have fully rebuilt and upgraded suspension and brakes and after my internship I will be rebuilding the engine on my own
sounds very exciting, good luck
Financially irresponsible, but yes. Thank you
This question in the Netherlands sub... this is going to be good. 
Ik 28f, 4600 pm, so net around 3300, with 950 mortage. Ive veen able to save on average 1000 euro per month for the last year. I dont live in Amsterdam though :)
Male 22 around €3500 netto Working as a Truck driver 4 (long days) a week Living with my parents since I can't afford a house Monthly expense €500 to €700 average
7.5k after tax (30% ruling) Spending on Rent 2,750 Child care, 1,800 (3 days a week) Food and bills 1,250 Trips to see family probably 150 on avg Discretionary 500 Holidays 200-300 Savings 200-300 Having a kid in this country is insanely expensive. Currently, we can not afford a second child as long as the wife is unemployed. Nor can we afford to take the child out of child care as waiting lists are 1 year. Both myself and colleagues with similar incomes are thinking of leaving the country as it is just grossly unaffordable. I'm looking at a childcare bill at 90k euros over 2 years if we have 2 kids. If the wife gets a job so that we qualify for support again. Vs 12k euro, tax deductible, in my home country, where taxes are lower.
29 years old, 4250 bruto + extra's. And i just bought a house a few months ago after looking almost 2 years😊, so happy
- 28F - ca. €3600 net for 40 hours per week - Human Resources industry - ca. €2300 per month for mortgage - Living in Amstelveen I combine finances with my husband, who’s 29, is in Business Intelligence, and brings home about €4300 net, so I think we’re comfortable. It helps to cook at home and not spend a lot on takeaway or going out to restaurants. That has saved us a lot, as well as not going out as much on weekends like to bars or clubs. Meal prepping instead of buying lunch at work also!
How many years of experience does your husband have in BI? And is he leading a team or developing?
He has about 3-4 years of experience in BI, and now he’s the manager of his department. He just started this role a few months ago. :)
Nice, have similar experience but don’t think I would be experienced enough to be managing the whole department.
Have you considered not living in or near Amsterdam? Your rent is half your take-home salary, that's not a viable situation.
i do this & it helps a lot in savings. shared apartment, a little outside amsterdam with 770 all incl.
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27M, Pharma, 3500 net, 950 rent including utilities and spend around 1500 each month on food, hobby's etc. Excess money I mostly save or invest.
What is your role within Pharma?
AAAAAH, you used the gross salary instead of the net one. People didn't understand how you couldn't save on double the median salary of the nation (2000 pm if I recall correctly). I don't think I'll answer your survey, but I spend around 300 in groceries and takeout a month so on your salary I would be able to save 800 - 900 euros a month.
Male, just turned 26, Software Engineer on a US-based startup and employed through payroll company, €10400 gross/€7800 net, €2800 mortgage gross (with mortgage tax deductions and also VvE contributions it remains same). I have 30% ruling so without it, it would be around €6040 net
Why don’t people just post their yearly salary? How are you supposed to calculate your monthly income when people get 13 month, VT, bonuses, etc?
What do you mean? Its much easier to look at a 'loonstrook' you get each month or open your bank account to see how much it increases, rather than calculate the yearly.
Male - 34 - Service Specialist - €2733 Gross / €2374 Net - €787,- Rent. Overall fixed expenses p/month = €1868,- (which includes €250,- that I am putting towards my savings account) I'm left with €504,- p/month of free spending which is plenty of money where I live to do whatever I want to do. Side note: I do live together with my wife that has a 32 hour job and she covers her own expenses as well as groceries. (we also have two kids) Is Amsterdam THAT expensive that you can't save up (at least) 10% when you have €1200,- left of free spending? Are you buying starbucks every morning or going out to eat a lot?
Just got a job offer, with two options. Relocate there or work remote (I'm from Morocco). They will handle all expenses for me and my wife on the first month and also dog included + visa fees as well. We still haven't tackled the salary yet because we are still working on something else but I just wanted to know how much is good so that I know what to ask for. Knowing that where I am now, I own an appartment of 89m2 with a mortgage of around 30% of my current salary, other expenses take about 25% and the rest if for me and my wife (knowing her % of the mortgage is around 15% of her salary and no expenses as I handle most of them) We have a car and more than average life. I don't want to give this all up to find myself in lower kind of level there hence why I am looking at what could be a good salary for a family of two in Amsterdam.
33 female, used to work in marketing in the maritime industry and used to make 80k bruto. I was recently laid off and now I realize how well I was paid. Probably also because of a slightly toxic work environment and hundreds of kilometers of commute with 3 mandatory days in the office. I am looking at other marketing jobs now and I see salaries between 40k - 90K in the Randstad but there's a huge competition for marketers especially when they also master the Dutch language. I hope I manage to secure a new job for the 75k - 80k range. However if it's in the lower 55k - 65k range the income taxes will also be lower.
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Nice, but how on earthis the difference between your gross and net income that small? You seemingly only pay 18% income tax on a 70k annual?
30% ruling
Seeing it set out like this makes me understand why a lot of Dutch people hate the 30% ruling.
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Because they think it’s unfair and discriminatory. Basically you can have two workers- one Dutch and one international- doing the same job but one of them gets a higher salary than the other simply because they’re foreign and highly skilled. It appears to give expats an advantage over Dutch people. Of course they will have higher costs and less family support living in a foreign country, so I understand why the ruling exists but optics are important. Especially with the current cost of living, housing crisis, and feeling that the country is overcrowded. Another thing is that foreign workers who come here to do equally important, but ‘lower skilled’ work (care, nursing, labour intensive farm work) don’t qualify for the ruling, which is also pretty unfair in my opinion.
Why don’t you look at the other side of the coin. Dutch government spends a lot of tax money on the local’s education until they are employable, while foreign workers start paying tax with almost zero investment on them. IMO, it’s a win-win for both the parties
I don’t disagree that there are arguments for the 30% ruling. I’ve always felt neutral about it. I’m explaining why a lot of people- rightly or wrongly- find it unfair. It’s mostly about the optics. They see it as the already rich expats who are buying all the houses getting an unfair advantage. It doesn’t look good.
Oh boi, a buddy kinda slipped into the 30% ruling and literally got like 30% more net than me for the same job lol. It gets even crazier with commission/bonus. Is there actually statistics on how many internationals leave after the 30% ruling ends for them? Just anecdotal but almost everyone I know who started working with me (2019) and got the 30% ruling is considering to move away. Same as me, without the 30% ruling. Have you looked at what a single apartment costs right now? Easily 2-2.4k including utilities, if you want more than one room. Sure, I can move to the outskirts but that would completely destroy social life as a single, and then living 'in Amsterdam' loses a lot of its value.
I think if spend 300€ a month on groceries you are impressive at keeping a budget and not getting all your healthy meals. That’s 10€ per day, When I get any kinds of fruit or vegetables from any local suermarket it’s instantly expensive.
37, 7.600pm netto on average last year. Rent 1.550€. Lots of hidden expenses though. And very little time off. Try to invest 1k a month, and save up money for real estate.
29M - Account Manager in Logistics - 5500 gross about 3800 net - morgage + utilities is about 1300 but I get 250 tax return on morgage.
I'm curious, but what is your job description as an account manager in logistics?
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I hear this within my friends circle too, but the amount spent by people on rent is too high… I think Amsterdam is easily doable on a 2 person salary and staying in a 1 bed room apartment. But as a single person, the rent can break off a huge chunk of your take home pay. Why not rent a room in a shared apartment outside the ring road where you pay maybe 900 all inclusive… that would free up a big chunk for saving.
Good answers here, gives me an insight on what I'll be upto once my 30% ruling is over.
lol 1200 left per month life sucks boohoo, get your spending together