How do people afford to live?

[Aeson]

Don't sweat it dude. As long as your happy it doesn't matter how much money you make. Money doesn't make people happy its how they use the time they have that makes them happy.

 

[zoroaster100]

While I think there's nothing wrong with trying to get paid as much as you can doing honest work you enjoy, I agree that it's more important to find out how to live comfortably and securely with the money at your disposal. You should try to find the best paying job you can enjoy or trying to get a raise in your current job, but making more money often just means you quickly upgrade a few things like house and car and before you know it you feel just like when you had the less expensive house/car/stuff except now if you want to take a lower paying job that you would enjoy more, now you feel you can't because you can't afford the things you've grown accustomed to which before would have seemed like unnecessary luxury.

 

[Pbartender]

Id live just fine with a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home in a nice neighborhood and that certainly wouldnt cost 200k.

You probably don't live within 100 miles of Chicago, do you?

We rent a small 70 year-old, 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom house in a nice neighborhood about 40 miles west of Chicago. Four years ago, it was appraised at about $190,000.

 

[Bloodstone Press]

The last time I checked, the poverty line in America was an average of about $19,000 a year. Over the past few years I've been well above that line a few times, and well below it a few times. I can tell you that that makes all the difference. The difference between making $20,000/year and $25,000/year is astounding. Its the difference between just getting by, and having plenty of extra money. Right now, I'm hitting just about $21,000/year, thanks to the added money I get from publishing. If I had to rely on my day job for my only means of support I couldn't do it. That's part of the reason I always encourage people to start a small business. Its a great way to supplement your income. And who knows, if your small business does well, you might be able to quite your day job and run yor business full time.

I'd suggest reading the Millionaire Next Door. Its got a lot of information on how to become wealthy on even a small income. The main key is to live below your means (which is hard to do if you make less than $19,000/year). Buy only what you need. Never pay full price. Invest.

The Millionaire Next Door has case studies in it about people making over $600,000/year, and they can't make ends meet because they spend theri money faster than they make it. The trick is to make as much as possible and spend as little as possible. It seems simple, but millions of people can't do it.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I live in the aforementioned Northeast, about 20 miles north of Boston. As mentioned by other posters, if you want to live as an "affluent" person like in the article, yep, you need to make that kind of money. But the reality is that most people do not own a 4000 sq. foot home, own two luxury cars, a summer home, eat out at fine restaurants each week, send their kids to private school etc. etc.

It is by no means cheap to live around these parts, especially if you want to own a single family home in the suburbs, but it can be done. My wife is a teacher and I work for a major pharma company. We have a single family home ( 3 BR about 1600 sq. ft.) in a decent neighborhood, two kids (both in daycare, the largest expense, even more than the mortgage), and two cars. We don't eat out or go out very often - we have two kids. We don't own a summer home. We do OK, although we do have to be careful about what we spend. If one of us was to not work we would have to tighten our belts even more and we might not be able to maintain the current house.

 

[the Jester]

Well, look at the lifestyle in question. Do I need two brand new Lexus's, a boat, and swimming pool? Nah. Id live just fine with a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home in a nice neighborhood and that certainly wouldnt cost 200k.

It would where I live. :\

 

[Templeton580]

*

 

[drothgery]

Id live just fine with a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home in a nice neighborhood and that certainly wouldnt cost 200k.

In Dayton, it wouldn't. In San Diego, a 3 bedroom/2 bath home in a nice neighborhood would be difficult to find for $500,000 (or, why I still live in a one-bedroom apartment even though I could easily afford the 4-bedroom houses in Ohio, Wisconsin, or upstate New York that I grew up in).

 

[philreed]

This is why my long-term plan includes moving to western North Dakota. Inexpensive, secluded, and the perfect place for hermit-types like me. I'd much rather structure my life around living 50-100 miles from a city than being in the middle of a city. If I had my way I wouldn't leave my place more than once a month.

 

[Nellisir]

Yeah, one of the biggest expenses there has got to be the vacation house. I'm in the homebuilding industry (as a homebuilder, not a roofer or plumber), and real estate in the northeast is nuts right now -- particularly north of Boston. I bought my home 5 years ago for $75,000 -- today I could probably sell if for $225,000 or $250,000. The upper-end market has slowed quite a bit in my area, but lower-priced homes are still incredibly in demand.

Cheers
Nell.