Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

Not elsewhere - here on LI. What kind of combined salary do you think is good - not rich, but reasonable to own a modest home, pay bills, raise a family and pay monthly cc bills?

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

at least $150,000 if you bought a house within the past 3 years...that would be just paying your bills, more like $200,000 to live more comfortably i.e. vacations, dining out once per week and savings/investments. This is based on my lifestyle though.

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

To answer my own question, I, too, believe $150K will get you by living a fairly modest lifestyle. $175K to afford you regular dinners out, a couple of vacations a year, etc.

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

Wow-I am poor-lol!!!
We did buy in 1996 though so that is our saving grace.

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

I also think the key word in your question is 'modest' home.

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

to me $150K is rich...but I agree to live on LI it would be a good combined salary to live off of.

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

I think it's "feasable" at $120K to have a starter house. You still need to be careful and frugal but you are not leaving paycheck to paycheck.

For vacations, going out regularly, buying clothes on a regular basis, etc.. $150+

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

I think it depends entirely on your age. Are you just starting out with you, DH and an infant (renting or in a starter home) or are you middle aged with three middle school-aged kids (and in your "forever" house)? B/c my answer to your poll would differ depending on the stage of your life.

Message edited 9/27/2008 9:18:58 PM.

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

I think DH makes a good salary here in CO. I feel like if we ever moved back to LI we would both always have to work FT to live the life we live now and CO's cost of living isn't all that low.
I think you need to be pretty close to 200K living on LI but then again it's a matter of perspective on what type of lifestyle you want to maintain.

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

Posted by MissJones

I also think the key word in your question is 'modest' home.

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

I think it also depends on how much you've saved for a DP for a house. And I don't mean by living at home with your parents paying no rent. We waited a long time to buy a house and to have kids so we could save over 20% for a DP and be comfortable making ends meet with a family. Had we gotten married, bought a house and had kids immediately, we wouldn't be in good shape right now. But we waited, and are comfortable (and will be when we buy a house), without making the top income listed.

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

I say $200K +

on LI the property taxes are 4+++ times the nat'l average and houses are more than double the nat'l avg.

IMO, to live like people do on $100K (or even 75K) in other areas of the country, LI'ers would need to make $200k+

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

I'm going to go there:
DH and I make a combined income of about $100K right now. We bought our house in 2005, at the height of the market.
We live okay now, but don't have a lot of savings however we do go out and do things...so I can realistically and knowingly say that you could live on LI for $125 to $175K and live fairly comfortably - going on vacations, paying cc bills, etc.
Any more than that and I think you are living "well".

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

DH and I are young, married just under a year and expecting twins. When I was working we were making just under 100,000 a year. Now that i'm not working it's more like 60,000 and if we didn't move into my parents house we would really be struggling. With 2 new car payments, rent and all the other expenses we just wouldn't be able to do it. Thanks to my parents we are able to live and save until we buy a house in about 2 years. I don't know how we would do it otherwise.

We are fortunate to have a lot of money in savings too, which will help when we buy a house.

So to answer the post...100,000 to me is living good on LI.

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

dh and i make over 130 and its not enough. we bought our house in 2005 and sold it. we just couldnt afford it.

combined we owe 1000 a month in student loans

plus we both have 2 new leases we got when DD was born 1000 (both prior leases ended)

plus over 1000 a month for daycare

right there is basically my take home pay. now what about rent, bills, utilities, etc.

I think if we didnt have to pay daycare we would be much better off. so hopefully in a few years things change

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

I'd say start at 150k. But most likely more if you want to have two new cars, vacations, a house worth more than 450k, etc.

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

We are in the middle of the poll. We make it but it's tight. We have one car payment (the other is a 03) both are Hyundai's. We both in 2004 when the market was hot. So the value of our house has decreased probably a lot. We have student loans, no credit card debt we pay that off each month, we pay for private life and disability insurance and daycare.

With formula and diapers and clothing my 2 growing weeds it's tight, not going to lie. But I know that in 5 years we are going to be in a very good position, daycare is the big killer of us.

We do eat out occasionally, but I do worry about buying clothes for myself or splurging on myself. We will make it though.

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

I picked $125,000 - $150,000 hence why I don't live on LI anymore. The most paying job I had on LI when I lived there 3 years ago was $35,000 and combine that with DH's $40,000 we would have not made it at all.

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

DH & I make much less than $125 tgether. We bought a home 4 years ago. We have two car payments. We have two kids. We go to Disney every year. We have enough money to buy what we need for the kids and treat ourselves at times. We go out to eat and go to the movies. We save.

On the other hand - our house is only 2 bedrooms, I drive a Honda, he drives a toyota. However, we could have bought a bigger house right now in a better area for less than what ours cost.

So I would think that what we make is a gret salary. We have done so much with it, and I only recently received a raise to make it much higher. We were living UNDER a combined income of $80,000 until only a few months ago and were doing fine. Just not saving much.

Message edited 9/28/2008 10:29:28 AM.

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

i put 150+, we are not there but we dont live the lavish life of all these dinners out and when we do go out we dont go order drinks, desserts, and dont got to bars or clubs

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

I don't know...DH and I together made over $100,000, but that still wasn't enough to keep us there. Even on a good combined salary, there's no way to afford a mortgage payment that's over $3,000 while paying off 2 student loans, not to mention all the other expenses.

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

With OT DH makes close to $160,000 and we struggle and do without.

Re: Spinoff to Obama post- What do you think is a "good" combined salary on LI

I think everyone's definition of "good" will vary, depending upon their lifestyle and expectations. In my mind, a good life is having a home, a decent car or two if needed, being able to buy food and reasonable clothing with little difficulty, and the ability to pay bills and save a few dollars.

We currently have around $150, we have a young baby (who we need to buy almost everything for, no hand-me-downs since he has no cousins), a house, and I would say, a good standard of living. We don't buy expensive clothing though, jewelry, bags, or other status items. We budget and didn't run out and buy all new furniture for our house right away. We have one car that is paid for, and very little debt other than our mortgage. We both had student loans until recently also. We don't eat out a lot, and budget in lots of small ways. Do I think we have hardships? No. We live somewhat frugally so we can pay our bills each month and save money.

Some would be okay living as we do, others would hate it, so I'm saying it's all relative. In my mind, this is a very ample amount of money to live on, but I've lived on far less for many years and didn't feel deprived then either.

Given what is happening with our economy, I'm interested to see if people re-evaluate what they "need" to have a good life.