Question about income, am I in the minority?

Hey All,

Being congress offically approved the incentive checks for married couples making 150K and less, I got to thinking. Based on last week's post (and no drama please) it seems I'm in the minority here on LI because we qualify for this rebate. So, I'm dying to know (hence the poll) what the average household income is on LI. I consider DH and I as comfortable, but obviously could be better. I know everyone's standards are different. Thanks Kerry

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

My husband and I make a combined income of about 85,000.

This is not including side jobs (he DJs on the side, and I'm an artist)

We live pretty comfortably but I fear we won't own a home anytime soon..

While I don't make a lot of money at ALL... my job is extremely flexible which is important since I have a school aged child.

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

I always feel like we're in the minority as well, but my Dad always tells me it's the majority on LI. DH and I are very young. I'm 24 and he's 27. We desparately want to buy a house, but are in no shape to do so. I get frustrated, but am reminded by friends who are in their 40s and very comfortale financially that they were in the same situation as DH and I, if not worse, when they were our age. In 2007 we brought in about $80K. This year it will jump though because DH just took a new job making about $15k more each year and I make about $10k more at my new job.

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

I think you're right as well. There are some couples on this board in there 20's, 30s and 40s and I too hope that when we're in our 30's & 40's our salary will be greater. I think in the website world it hard to see that cause lets face it, were all screennames.

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

Well I am definitely with you then! I am *poor* and I stress the word POOR grad student If it wasn't for my husband I would be renting a room in a house full of students.

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

well i'm joining ya in the minority Kerry---DH and i DEFINITELY make much less than the combined $150K income!!

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

I am one month shy of 25 and DH is 26. With our combined income we make too much to qualify for the new incentive program.

We own a house and have had no help from our parents or any inheritance. I did not go to college and DH only has an associates.

For me, I literally stepped into a career opportunity and had no clue what a great decision it was 6 years ago when I started.

DH happened to find his calling 2 years ago. He is a salesman who happens to be number one in his office and because of that we benefit greatly from the commission structure.

But, if he was terrible at it our combined income would then be lower than $150,000.

Hang in there. It took us years to get to the point we are at now. And really, at the end of the day, no matter how much money you are making, you never feel like its enough.

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

There are PLENTY of people on LI who make less than $150K combined.

Look at your poll. Everybody is not going to disclose how much they make publicly but you can see what they answered.

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

Okay, I'm 31 and DH 34, and we fall under the 150k income. We own a house. We also have a DC.

Its my job that has us there and honestly its made me think that I should be making more and its going to come down to discussing more pay or looking for something else.

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

We were doing well and just under 150k and then I got laid off- and then instead of going back to a high-powered work environment, I decided to work PT and spend time home with the kid- so really even though I'm making much less- after not having to pay for her day care- it isn't as bad... life has a funny way of working out.
Oh and while DH's salary isn't the highest- he gets a free company car with gas & insurance paid for- that has to increase his salary by like 15k.

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

Message edited 2/8/2008 9:57:02 AM.

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

Now that Im a SAHM, we make MUCH MUCH less then the $150K.

I think many do and we are not int he minority as much as we think .

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

I answered the poll.

I don't know that we are an accurate assessment of the average income on LI. Most of the people on this site are 20s-30s & newly married. I would expect their salary to be lower. Just my 2 cents - minus any tax rebates, of course.

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

Dh and I both have our masters and our 32 years old and our combined is way less than $150K. We amaze ourselves how we still are able to live comfortably here.

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

We have a combined income of about $100K between the both of us. And we own a house.

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

Yeah, going with Ophelia on this one I should mention that although I am hardly helping out financially in our household, we do own a co-op, have two cars, a dog and a pretty nice life. Although it is $$ we are still able to go on vacations and even did Europe last year.

I really feel like once I have a "real" job that things will be so easy for us financially and we would be able to afford a house and save money easily. I say that now but mo money mo problems right? We shall see!

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

We definitely qualify for the rebate and I def don't think you're in the minority. It's so expensive to live here. I don't know how any of us do it (and I give even more credit to those of you with houses and children since I'm not even there yet!).

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

Posted by azoodie

Well I am definitely with you then! I am *poor* and I stress the word POOR grad student If it wasn't for my husband I would be renting a room in a house full of students.

Message edited 2/8/2008 10:33:03 AM.

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

I said the same thing in another post from yesterday...you can live comfortably on less than $150k on LI. The problem is too many people have been living above their means for too long and it has caught up to them.
IMO if you make $150k+ and living on LI, you should bel iving comfortably.

We are currently making much less than $150k...DH is a NYC cop (he works alot of overtime) and I am a SAHM who works P/T 2 days a week, we bought a house in 2006, our mortgage is in the $400k range, we live in Merrick so our taxes are way up there, we have 2 cars (1 is a Lexus that we still have a car payment on), we just had a baby AND WE STILL MANAGE FINE making less than $150K. Are we stocking thousands in our savings acct each month? No not right now but most people aren't. Would we be better off if I worked F/T, of course but I chose to stay home with my baby.

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

Combined between DH and I we're about at 100K combined...one would think we could afford a house instead of renting this crummy azz apartment. Its actually not the mortgage payment...its the obscene down payment required. We acutally get very discouraged in saving because we dont see any possible way (short of a rich relative dying or magically hitting Lotto) that we will every have a down payment

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

right now DH and i make a combined income of about $95,000 but that doesn't include his mandatory OT.

in may when i get my raise we will move into the next tax bracket.

Re: Question about income, am I in the minority?

Combined- about $125 K ish.. give or take