100k salary elitist club.

[rh71]

Simply said, my current salary when translated to HCOL areas is something to the tune of 150k. So my point being that regardless of being in the 100k club, it's not quite the same if you live in expensive states

The median income here in one of the most expensive counties is $97k and plenty full families make $150k and get by fine. Eating out 2/3 times a month is like $200 additional. You're not going to have brand new paid-for cars or toys since people pay $10k+ in property taxes on top of $500k home mortgages, but a decent & safe place to live and play.

 

[purbeast0]

The median income here in one of the most expensive counties is $97k and plenty full families make $150k and get by fine. Eating out 2/3 times a month is like $200 additional. You're not going to have brand new paid-for cars or toys since people pay $10k+ in property taxes on top of $500k home mortgages, but a decent & safe place to live and play.

A bit off topic, but before I started a keto diet, I would eat out (lunch) about 2x on average a week during the work week. Then on the weekends, my wife and I would eat out like 4 times on average. It would be fast food type of places, but each meal would be between $20-$30 for us 2, and that's not including $100+ dinners we would sometimes have. It's pretty crazy how much less I've spent on food by NOT doing this the past month lol. I've only eaten out twice in the past month. It feels weird!

 

[rh71]

A bit off topic, but before I started a keto diet, I would eat out (lunch) about 2x on average a week during the work week. Then on the weekends, my wife and I would eat out like 4 times on average. It would be fast food type of places, but each meal would be between $20-$30 for us 2, and that's not including $100+ dinners we would sometimes have. It's pretty crazy how much less I've spent on food by NOT doing this the past month lol. I've only eaten out twice in the past month. It feels weird!

I tally our optional eating-out every month (fast food and full meals) and it comes to about $400-500/mo. for 4. It may seem like a lot, but we also spend less on groceries as a result - something like $600/mo. That's cheap for 4 people.

 

[purbeast0]

I tally our optional eating-out every month (fast food and full meals) and it comes to about $400-500/mo. for 4. It may seem like a lot, but we also spend less on groceries as a result - something like $600/mo. That's cheap for 4 people.

Yeah my grocery bill is probably like $500 - $600 for my wife and myself and our toddler. But that also includes stuff like toilet paper, shampoo, soap, etc. I pretty much stick to the edges of the grocery store now a days though. And I usually get better brand stuff than the lesser stuff, for food it's worth it to me.

I'd guess our food bill for eating out for just us 2 would be like $500-$600/month if I had to guess, when we were regularly doing it.

 

[louis redfoot]

I tally our optional eating-out every month (fast food and full meals) and it comes to about $400-500/mo. for 4. It may seem like a lot, but we also spend less on groceries as a result - something like $600/mo. That's cheap for 4 people.

all you need is a good bottle of olive oil and grass tastes good. at home it's canned soup and simple salads (use imitation crab!). outside it's a sandwich wrap. dessert is an apple. and no i'm not cheap, just a food snob... can't eat that!

 

[dave_the_nerd]

meh, the only appreciable difference for someone who already makes a decent amount of money is housing. I live in Boston and I've never noticed cheaper groceries anywhere else in the US I've visited (other countries, sure). Even if you can pull up statistics and say it's 30% the point is ... make enough and you won't notice.

Not entirely true. Transportation costs also differ based on geographic factors, like car pricing:

https://www.thestreet.com/story/11920793/1/why-car-prices-vary-from-city-to-city.html

and insurance:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/under-the-hood/cost-of-car-ownership/cost-of-auto-insurance.htm

Saving a couple grand on a car is still real money, even if you are making $100k.

Also, rural folks drive more. (So spend more on gas.) Probably because things are further apart.

https://energy.gov/eere/vehicles/fact-759-december-24-2012-rural-vs-urban-driving-differences

 

[rh71]

^ use this instead to get an idea:
http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/

Apparently even between big HCOL cities, there's a big enough difference. If you make $80k in Chicago, you need $155k in NYC for it to be comparable. $80k SF you'll need $103k NYC. Then again, nobody is asking you to live in NYC, since you can be in the burbs 45 minutes away instead.

Once you get past the housing difference between HCOL and LCOL, I don't feel the other categories are a big factor. You're still making a lot more which more than compensates for it. Our gas, water, & electric total $210/mo. And I already mentioned groceries/food at $1k/mo. These may be higher than many places, but with the higher salaries here, are we really negatively impacted compared to others?

 

[ImpulsE69]

A bit off topic, but before I started a keto diet, I would eat out (lunch) about 2x on average a week during the work week. Then on the weekends, my wife and I would eat out like 4 times on average. It would be fast food type of places, but each meal would be between $20-$30 for us 2, and that's not including $100+ dinners we would sometimes have. It's pretty crazy how much less I've spent on food by NOT doing this the past month lol. I've only eaten out twice in the past month. It feels weird!

Yea, same boat for us. We love food, and we love trying new food..so we've always tended to eat out a lot. We decided to go on diets so I've been taking up cooking more - and being more adventurous than in the past in terms of looking up new recipes of things. It's been going good so far..but I am not sure how much money we've actually saved. Sure, a lunch is one thing - I can eat a can of soup vs going for a burger, but I've always done things like that for lunch due to limited time, and you save money, but when it comes to dinner, I think it may cost us just slightly less. (just us 2, no kids). We tend to eat leftovers the next day either way, and to make a 'good' meal it still costs about the same as going somewhere unless you are going out for high end steak every night.

 

[purbeast0]

Yea, same boat for us. We love food, and we love trying new food..so we've always tended to eat out a lot. We decided to go on diets so I've been taking up cooking more - and being more adventurous than in the past in terms of looking up new recipes of things. It's been going good so far..but I am not sure how much money we've actually saved. Sure, a lunch is one thing - I can eat a can of soup vs going for a burger, but I've always done things like that for lunch due to limited time, and you save money, but when it comes to dinner, I think it may cost us just slightly less. (just us 2, no kids). We tend to eat leftovers the next day either way, and to make a 'good' meal it still costs about the same as going somewhere unless you are going out for high end steak every night.

Eating healthy is way cheaper than eating out for me.

Lunches are typically like $10-$12 if I go out to eat.

For lunch I get like 4lbs of chicken breasts for like $12, tub of salsa for $6, onions for like $1, then some tortillas for like $7 (for 2 bags). I'll make chicken salad and make little mini-burritos and that will last me like 6 or 7 days.

Then dinner is also very cheap. I'll get a pack of 6 or so porkchops for like $6, or like 20 drumsticks for like $7, bags of frozen broccoli for like $1.50. I can cook us a porkchop each and split a bag of broccoli and it's like a $5 meal for 2 adults. Sure I also have some butter, olive oil, cheese, or seasoning, but that cost is negligible since it's used over many meals. So maybe add in like an extra $1 per meal.

 

[louis redfoot]

low carb dieters: i've eased into it the past two weeks and now am fully in the saddle. anyone else get this constant low-level runner's high?

 

[ultimatebob]

You may as well still be working at I've Been Moved.

Nah... they would have outsourced my job to 2 medicore sysadmins in Bangalore years ago if I had stayed. I saw the writing on the wall when I left.

 

[core2slow]

33, Sr. Engineer/architect, $125k, SoCal.

Like someone mentioned, I still feel very poor given the HCOL around here.

 

[Cuular]

52, Sr. Unix/Database Admin, 130k, SoCal.

Working at an FFRDC, so raises are subpar per a year. But benefits are pretty good.

Got lucky when finding a place to live, found a private owned house that the owner doesn't raise rent on. He likes to keep people in it, versus forcing them out with rent increases. Been at the place for 10 years.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

So happy to be able to join the elitist snobs club. Finally broke into six figures this past year. I'm mid 40's age. Public hospital senior department manager. N.J. so high-ish cost of living. Felt good to buy a house cash. I worked hard to get here. Was the first in the family on both mother and father side to get a bachelors degree. Then worked full time, raised a family, and earned an MBA along the way.

Seems like I just got here now I'm trying to figure out how to retire......

 

[ThePresence]

I'm making well over that. I'm Director of Marketing for a group of companies in healthcare.

 

[ponyo]

Eating healthy is way cheaper than eating out for me.

Lunches are typically like $10-$12 if I go out to eat.

For lunch I get like 4lbs of chicken breasts for like $12, tub of salsa for $6, onions for like $1, then some tortillas for like $7 (for 2 bags). I'll make chicken salad and make little mini-burritos and that will last me like 6 or 7 days.

Then dinner is also very cheap. I'll get a pack of 6 or so porkchops for like $6, or like 20 drumsticks for like $7, bags of frozen broccoli for like $1.50. I can cook us a porkchop each and split a bag of broccoli and it's like a $5 meal for 2 adults. Sure I also have some butter, olive oil, cheese, or seasoning, but that cost is negligible since it's used over many meals. So maybe add in like an extra $1 per meal.

I can't do that. I like food too much to eat the same thing everyday. Typical Costco run for me is over $400 a trip and I go at least once a week. Last year I got back $416 from my Costco Executive membership. So that means I spent around $1,700 a month at Costco warehouse every month. Add the Trader Joe's, Publix, and Aldi runs each week and that's probably another $100-200 a week. Then there's weekly Asian mart runs like H-Mar, MegaMart, etc. That's probably another $100 a week. I don't budget so I don't know exactly how much I spend each month total but I bet it's over $2k a month on grocery and food.

 

[rstrohkirch]

More than

Doing fine in a pretty low cost area

Need to make more so my wife can spend it all

 

[Squisher]

I never broke $100K, but came close being a union die maker. That would be too much overtime for me. However, the wife with nothing more than a GED and not starting to work until the kids were in their teens eventually made well over $100K.

Now, we muddle along well on my retirement and her disability making a third of what we used to.

 

[repoman0]

Seems like I just got here now I'm trying to figure out how to retire......

I'm 27 and trying to figure out how to retire

It's not looking good

 

[Cappuccino]

wow someone hire me please i can work for peanuts i can be your assistant manager here hit me up via PM. The poll is stupid high. You guys are rich >_<

 

[Yakk]

Yeah depends on local cost of living. 100k can be a lot, or it can be peanuts.

The number itself doesn't mean much. You should instead look at the delta between the cost of living and income.

 

[ponyo]

wow someone hire me please i can work for peanuts i can be your assistant manager here hit me up via PM. The poll is stupid high. You guys are rich >_<

You should export delicious European chocolate and candy to the US. USA is great at lot of things but we have shit mass market chocolate. It's terrible. Hershey and Nestle chocolate here are basically inedible. I go to Aldi and Trader Joe's to get European chocolate and cookies. If generics at Aldi and Trader Joe's are so good, name brand stuff in Europe must be off the chart good. So send us some chocolate.

 

[brandonbull]

This is ATOT, everyone makes 7,8,9, 10 figure income

Haha! That is a good one old bean. Why would say that I make butler wages?

 

[HumblePie]

Right now I am working two different jobs. One as a full time employee at a new position and another as a contractor. I am making about $180K between the two at the moment. Although I am doing about 60 hours a week and for awhile hadn't even posted on these boards.

I am a software developer and have worked at some very large companies. Currently working for a very large restaurant company doing both their main customer facing website and their mobile application for both android and iOS. Been a software developer professionally now for 20 years with a masters degree.

So yah, basically in the 100+K elitist snob category according to the OP I guess. It took a long time to get here though. I still remember living on the streets for a time with no job, and nothing but the clothes on my back.

 

[brandonbull]

voss?

I drink $$$$$$$$$ water. It is purified with diamonds, platinum, and chilled with ice from the Martian polar caps.