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!

Man, that sucks. How the fuck are you supposed save money that way >_<.

Exactly my point. It's fucking ridiculous, and saving money becomes a painfully slow process. And if you can't put that much money down, then it becomes even more difficult.

Beat as hell if you ask me.

This is why we bust our ass in college as Engineering students -_-

Actually, to make $5,000 / month, you need to make about $90,000 / year. After state tax, federal tax, medical benefit deductions, and 401k, you are losing at least 33% of your salary, which immediately puts your salary down to $60,300 / year, which is $5,025 / month clear.

Why would you buy a $250,000 house or a $40,000 car? Screw that. My car was $8,000 so I only pay about $400 a month for a payment and insurance. Coming up very soon, I plan on getting a $400 - $600 a month apartment. That's pretty affordable on my salaray. You just have to look in the right places. Don't settle for something until you've looked everywhere.

Actually, to make $5,000 / month, you need to make about $90,000 / year. After state tax, federal tax, medical benefit deductions, and 401k, you are losing at least 33% of your salary, which immediately puts your salary down to $60,300 / year, which is $5,025 / month clear.

This is where management comes into play! I can sit on my ass AND get paid too much.

Why would you buy a $250,000 house or a $40,000 car? Screw that. My car was $8,000 so I only pay about $400 a month for a payment and insurance. Coming up very soon, I plan on getting a $400 - $600 a month apartment. That's pretty affordable on my salaray. You just have to look in the right places. Don't settle for something until you've looked everywhere.

Why? Because when you're a 25 year old professional, driving around in an $8,000 junker doesn't cut it, and renting an apartment is wasting your money because you don't get anything in return for your investment.

Do you seriously plan on renting an apartment and driving around in a Honda Civic for the rest of your life? I don't.

I'm driving around in an Infiniti G35 Coupe, decked out with options, and living in a 3 floor townhouse. You'll understand when you get older.

*Blows up*

I'm driving around in an Infiniti G35 Coupe, decked out with options, and living in a 3 floor townhouse. You'll understand when you get older.

Why don't we go out sometime big boy.

Why? Because when you're a 25 year old professional, driving around in an $8,000 junker doesn't cut it, and renting an apartment is wasting your money because you don't get anything in return for your investment. Do you seriously plan on renting an apartment and driving around in a Honda Civic for the rest of your life? I don't. I'm driving around in an Infiniti G35 Coupe, decked out with options, and living in a 3 floor townhouse. You'll understand when you get older.

Of course I don't plan on living in an apartment the rest of my life. I'm only 19 and my $8,000 '02 Cavalier LS does me just fine. It's great on gas and it looks sleek and sexy.

By the time I hit 25, I should have a college degree and who knows, I could be married by then so I obviously won't be living in an apartment.

For being 19, I think owning my own car and renting out my own apartment is doin pretty damn good.

So shed some more financial wisdom on us ditus

What job/position/salary did you start with?

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, except I'm living with Nikki, we've both got really nice jobs, we're both going to be in college soon, we live really nice, we've got more money than we can spend, life is great.

I'm glad you've planned out my future! I want to be just like you!


But in all seriousness this is some good advice, although not many people live on the east coast where the standard of living is higher and so are the wages.

Titus, I think if you had someone to share all of those expenses with, it probably wouldn't sound so bad. You're pretty much talking about tackling goals that families go for, but on your own. If I understood right anyway.

Titus, I think if you had someone to share all of those expenses with, it probably wouldn't sound so bad. You're pretty much talking about tackling goals that families go for, but on your own. If I understood right anyway.

Basically I got that out of it as well. Most people try to get in 3 years what their parents got in half a lifetime.


Titus, is your goal actually attainable with your current salary?

Actually, no. I wasn't able to save up the full $50,000 down payment on the townhouse. I put $25,000 down, and took out an 80/10/10 (80% mortgage, 10% down, 10% loan) 15 year fixed mortgage. Essentially, it's an 80/20 (20% down, 80% loan) though. I live with one of my friends for the time being, with plans for my girlfriend to move in, but not until July 2008.

I have about $2,500 per month for mortgage, utilities, association fee, and home owners, but with my friend, I charge him $500 for rent and split the rest of the utilities, so he pays me like $650 of it per month.

Then, I had $5,000 toward furniture, so I only put about $10,000 on my credit card for the rest, which is almost $950 per month. All in all, with my car payments and insurance, I'm at around $3,400 per month, which I can afford, and still put about $500 away into savings, and do whatever socializing I want... for the most part.

Still saving is difficult, that's my whole point. And Thanatos, I think you're doing fine for only being 19. My point was that at my age, I wouldn't be doing fine if that was me.

Of course, with a family, I'd sell the townhouse, and buy something larger, since I plan on having children. Although, like you guys said, the big difference would be that I would be splitting ALL the expenses in HALF, rather than at a very discounted portion, as I'm doing right now. It will probably still end up being the same costs as it is now, since I would upgrade, however I plan on making a lot more money by the time that part of my life comes around.

To me, $250,000 on a big house like that sounds like nothing. In fact, it's only around £127,000 - over here that would get you a nice poky terraced house with a small garden, out in the suburbs.

Though it depends on the area.

You've done pretty well to get such a big house for that price.

I have more houses and buildings and 3 story card board boxes than any of you.

Lemme load up my GTA:SA game save.

Second Life, anyone? I'd like to try that someday.