Expenses

Man, enjoy life while under the protection of your parents as long as you can. Because life on your own, is a lot tougher, and a LOT more expensive...

Let's break it down:

Buying a house, car, furniture, paying all your bills, mortgage, insurance, utilities, etc. adds up.

House = $250,000
Let's say you put down $50,000, and take out a $200,000, 15 year fixed mortgage. That puts you at about $1,600 / month.

Car = $40,000
You put down $20,000, and take out a $20,000, 3 year car loan. That puts you at about $600 / month.

Utilities = $300 / month.
$125 for cable, internet, and phone service.
$25 for water.
$50 for electric right now.
$200 for gas right now.

Car insurance = $1,200 / 6 months -or- $200 / month.

Misc bills (Cell phone, EZ-Pass, etc.) = $100 / month.

Furniture = $15,000 total.
Instead of saving it all up to spend it, you put it all on a credit card, then do a balance transfer to another card that gives you 0% APR for the first 12 months, making your monthly payments $1,250 / month to pay it off without getting hit with heavy interest penalties.

Home Owners insurance = $750 / year (depending on your place and locations, etc.) -or- $62.50 / month.

Association fee (for townhouses, etc.) = $75 / month.

So, in the end, if you want to live this lifestyle, you will need an initial $70,000 just for all the downpayments, plus probably another $10,000 for incidental expenses that come with all this to be safe. So, you need to have $80,000 in savings to even consider this.

THEN, after you spend all that money, you are spending on average, about $4,187.50 / month. OR, you will need about $95,000 in savings to cover the furniture expenses, and only spend $2,937.50 / month.

This doesn't include personal expenses, such as socializing, food, dating, vacations, etc. Man, being old and trying to be responsible sucks...

Now, to put it in perspective, to spend about $4,200 / month, save a little money, and have some spending cash, lets round it up to $5,000 / month. You need to have a job that pays about $75,000 / year (assuming about 29% of your gross salary is taxed).

I'm at that point in my life, which is why I've taken the time to break this down. I have much further researched this than what I just wrote, but this is the QUICK breakdown of life.

Have fun! Just wanted to give you all something to look forward to!