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What salary would be "enough" for you

How much is enough?

  • 50000

    Votes: 16 20.0%
  • 100000

    Votes: 23 28.8%
  • 200000

    Votes: 14 17.5%
  • 500000

    Votes: 2 2.5%
  • 1000000

    Votes: 9 11.3%
  • When Chuck Norris tells me its enough

    Votes: 16 20.0%

  • Total voters
    80
Family income of $200k would be enough for me and my family to comfortably survive. It wouldn’t leave much extra, but enough. That said… I would naturally want to have more, if possible.



You ever try to buy a house in the DC area? Seriously, to qualify for low income housing in this area you need a salary of up to $60,000 for a family of 4.



Want to take a guess how much it costs to put a kid in daycare? Try 3 at once… And a hefty mortgage for a not too big 60 year old house.

Not everyone who makes over $50k is wasting it on things like BMWs and other luxuries.



I drive a Honda Civic. :p



Quite true, and I agree fully!


EDIT: @Disgustipated: I just did a quick real estate search for Las Vegas and was shocked by what I found. Now I don’t know what neighborhoods are good and what are bad, but I was finding 4-5 bedroom houses in the 1500-2000sq ft range for $15,000. No I didn’t forget any zeros. :eek:

No wonder you feel that you can live fine off of $50,000 per year.

I think you are missing a 0. :p

LOL where did you find that house? I'm guessing crack central. The local newspaper did an article on real estate last year. I believe the lowest price was $10,000. It was at Martin Luther King and Lake Mead Blvd. I won't go into details, but we all should know what type of neighborhood roads named Martin Luther King reside in most cities. It is crack central. I don't know how many bedrooms this particular house had, but I doubt it was 1500 to 2000 sq feet.

But perhaps you could find an auction price that low, who knows.

The average home price in Vegas is still above $100,000. New home sell for much more than that.

and I acknowledge if you live in expensive areas such as Washington D.C., New York, Southern California, you will need to make that $100,000. Housing is far too expensive there.
 
Who said I was even going to hoard it that long?
If you can think of a way to spend the entire world's supply of money immediately that doesn't simply amount to world conquest, then I'd like to hear it. ;)
 
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I'm not sure what you mean by this.

Is my purpose in life supposed to be to spend money? I'm sure that's what the capitalists want. While I support capitalism, I do what I want, not what they want me to do.

I've found spending time with good people far outweighs fancy cars. I owned a fancy car once, it really didn't get me any friends. And it ended up getting sideswiped in a parking lot, and the guy drove off. I miss that car. I had it going over 145 mph. But I probably would have killed myself in that car, so it's best I live a more sensible life now.

the last activity I really enjoyed was just hanging out with a friend bowling. It was early so we got it for $1 a game. I fail to see how I need to make $100,000 for this. Now if I had kids $100,000 might be good. But not necessary. I have enough money saved up right now to put 2 or 3 kids through college.
Consumption is not purpose. Consumption is what modern society suggests you use to fill the void left by a lack of purpose.
I didn't imply that spending was the point.

But how much money you need depends on what you plan to do with your life. If you want world conquest like Cutlass and Fox, you're gonna need a lot (and lots of other things too, but I digress).

If all you want is to live by yourself and work until you die, you can do with (much?) less than $50,000. If you want to have a family and kids, you're gonna need more. If you want to allow your partner to stay home and take care of the kids, you're gonna need a single salary big enough to cover for two. If you want to put your kids through college in the US, you're gonna need extra money to save. If you want to make sure you can retire early or have more money after you retire you're gonna need to make more and invest.

If you want to open children's homes in India you're gonna need more. If you want to influence companies in how they operate directly, you're gonna need a lot more. Or maybe you want to buy plots of rain forest in Indonesia to protect against deforestation. True, you can go through a trust or some fund with a little money and do such things, but if you have more you can achieve more.

And if you do want a grand house, or several cars, or a huge boat, or want to travel to lots of places and always live on expensive hotels, or influence companies and politicians and such, you're gonna need more.

Personally, if I can have a grand dream (but not too grand), I wouldn't mind having the media power Murdoch currently wields. That way I could influence the world to be more to my liking (think higher reputation for science, less reality shows and less tabloid news, and more actual important stuff that people should know). Doing so would make the world a much better place for my future kids.

It would be great to eventually achieve that much money and power, but if I'm like everyone else (and who isn't?), I'll probably have my kids and try to raise them with me and my partner teaching them one ting and lots of media and certain people teaching them less useful things.

As such, until I give up on achieving some level of personal influence on the world, no "salary" will ever be enough for me.

But yeah, if all I wanna do in life is to exist "comfortably", then sure, I can make due with less than $50,000.

But if I die after only having existed, I could just as well never have existed. I want to have made a difference, even if that only means raising some good kids to carry on my values.

I want more than simply to exist.
 
I think you are missing a 0. :p

LOL where did you find that house? I'm guessing crack central. The local newspaper did an article on real estate last year. I believe the lowest price was $10,000. It was at Martin Luther King and Lake Mead Blvd. I won't go into details, but we all should know what type of neighborhood roads named Martin Luther King reside in most cities. It is crack central. I don't know how many bedrooms this particular house had, but I doubt it was 1500 to 2000 sq feet.

But perhaps you could find an auction price that low, who knows.

The average home price in Vegas is still above $100,000. New home sell for much more than that.

and I acknowledge if you live in expensive areas such as Washington D.C., New York, Southern California, you will need to make that $100,000. Housing is far too expensive there.

Here is the one I saw:

http://www.remax.com/property/79427858-60050148/5736-Cedar-Ave-Las_Vegas-NV-89110/

Again – no idea what the neighborhoods are like… probably bad if it is that low.

Median Sales Prices:

Arlington, VA: $490k (http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Arlington-Virginia/)
Las Vegas, NV: $135k (http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Las_Vegas-Nevada/)
 
I didn't imply that spending was the point.

But how much money you need depends on what you plan to do with your life. If you want world conquest like Cutlass and Fox, you're gonna need a lot (and lots of other things too, but I digress).

If all you want is to live by yourself and work until you die, you can do with (much?) less than $50,000. If you want to have a family and kids, you're gonna need more. If you want to allow your partner to stay home and take care of the kids, you're gonna need a single salary big enough to cover for two. If you want to put your kids through college in the US, you're gonna need extra money to save. If you want to make sure you can retire early or have more money after you retire you're gonna need to make more and invest.

If you want to open children's homes in India you're gonna need more. If you want to influence companies in how they operate directly, you're gonna need a lot more. Or maybe you want to buy plots of rain forest in Indonesia to protect against deforestation. True, you can go through a trust or some fund with a little money and do such things, but if you have more you can achieve more.

And if you do want a grand house, or several cars, or a huge boat, or want to travel to lots of places and always live on expensive hotels, or influence companies and politicians and such, you're gonna need more.

Personally, if I can have a grand dream (but not too grand), I wouldn't mind having the media power Murdoch currently wields. That way I could influence the world to be more to my liking (think higher reputation for science, less reality shows and less tabloid news, and more actual important stuff that people should know). Doing so would make the world a much better place for my future kids.

It would be great to eventually achieve that much money and power, but if I'm like everyone else (and who isn't?), I'll probably have my kids and try to raise them with me and my partner teaching them one ting and lots of media and certain people teaching them less useful things.

As such, until I give up on achieving some level of personal influence on the world, no "salary" will ever be enough for me.

But yeah, if all I wanna do in life is to exist "comfortably", then sure, I can make due with less than $50,000.

But if I die after only having existed, I could just as well never have existed. I want to have made a difference, even if that only means raising some good kids to carry on my values.

I want more than simply to exist.
Any good work may be undertaken collectively. Any work that demands sole individual control will either be cheap or evil; a painting or an empire. Individual fortunes are never necessary.

History is littered with forgotten tyrants, but there is only one Vincent Van Gogh. Which do you think bathed in gold, and which lived in poverty? ;)
 
Any good work may be undertaken collectively. Any work that demands sole individual control will either be cheap or evil; a painting or an empire. Individual fortunes are never necessary.

History is littered with forgotten tyrants, but there is only one Vincent Van Gogh. Which do you think bathed in gold, and which lived in poverty? ;)
Well, a collective may not react as fast as an individual, and it may even act without thinking, but I can see how there is a safety from tyranny in numbers.

I'm gonna concede this one to you. :)

Though I still want a lot of money! :p
 
Why are so many assuming people spend their money as some sort of contest, rather than just doing things they want to do.

I make around 75K and I save 20% of that, but while I can live comfortably I can't indulge in many of the things I want to. I see no reason why I should feel bad about investing my time and resources wisely enough to earn what is needed in order to do what I want. I like fishtanks, I like my boat, I like to travel? What is it to you hippie scum? :p
 
Why are so many assuming people spend their money as some sort of contest, rather than just doing things they want to do.

I make around 75K and I save 20% of that, but while I can live comfortably I can't indulge in many of the things I want to. I see no reason why I should feel bad about investing my time and resources wisely enough to earn in order to do what I want. I like fishtanks, I like my boat, I like to travel? What is it to you hippie scum? :p
I know what you mean, it's annoying and frankly immature. I don't spend excessively; I save more than half of my income. But at some point, once I've bought a house, I want to be able to buy all the nice things I've been missing out on, so that I can enjoy my life as much as possible.

I also want to be able to look after a family at some stage, and probably my parents too. But I'm not Mother Theresa -- I want to enjoy my life as well! I don't see what's so horrible about that.
 
I don't want people touching my head, WTH man.

Now, if my door-handle was a life-sized replica of my penis, that's something I could go for. Puts a whole new spin on "brass knob".
 
Wait this is in dollars, not svenska kronor. crap, I voted totally wrong.

:lol:

-

The schools I attended from when I was around 10 up until last semester were located in this very wealthy (one of the richest in Sweden) community close-by. My school-mates were almost all from wealthy backgrounds, if not at least low-high class (if that makes sense). I, in contrast, though while by any means poor, come from a more middle-class household.

Many of the teens whom I've had the privilege of sharing schools with have turned out to become unruly teens who like to drink alcohol, smoke, and just generally not giving a crap about school. It's interesting since they probably wont amount to much in life if they don't get help from their parents.

So, since I was surrounded by wealth I intend to strive in life to reach the same kind of monetary situation as their parents. It'd bring me a perverse pleasure.

So... I'll vote something along the lines of 200k.
 
Enough for me? I have thought about this. The definition of enough means, for me, what I want to totally satisfy my worldly desires for everything, no matter how trivial or vain. I eschew big picture sustainability/environmental concerns with the idea that although I would indulge my desires I would try to do so in a relatively environmentally sound way. *sips non-fat soy latte*

That means the following:

Houses: 1 house for living. House would have a view, a pool, and be in a dense urban area where I could walk to stuff. Ergo very expensive house. 2 houses for vacations in one warm and one cold area. (Swimming/snowboarding)
Vehicles: At least 2 cars. Ideally 3. Preferably 1 car for each kid once they earn it. 1 boat. Enough money to fly privately when I wish or blow it on business class when I travel.
Nick nacks: Top of the line electronic equipment. Hired help for all the crap I hate doing like taxes and managing my money and all that.
Kids: Kids would not have to take out loans for school. College and grad school, all paid for, plus a trust for each one and ideally some property too. They would be raised in a way that they would take nothing for granted and be hard working. They learn these lessons by avoiding the beatings from my $4000 Italian leather belts.

That covers it. I think 10 mil/year should do for that.
 
In Rio today you need a family income of around $300K to live very comfortably in a family of 4. No I am not kidding, it's crazy expensive. Of course you can live well enough with much less, but that's what it takes to live greatly. A decently-sized apartment near the beach won't go for less than 3- 5 million dollars. 95% of this city is crap, the remaining 5% are more overpriced than Manhattan.
 
Here is the one I saw:

http://www.remax.com/property/79427858-60050148/5736-Cedar-Ave-Las_Vegas-NV-89110/

Again – no idea what the neighborhoods are like… probably bad if it is that low.

Median Sales Prices:

Arlington, VA: $490k (http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Arlington-Virginia/)
Las Vegas, NV: $135k (http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Las_Vegas-Nevada/)

Interesting. Maybe I'll buy it. I'm not familiar with Short Sales. What does that mean exactly? I know it means they are trying to get out fast, but would that cause it to be that cheap?

The neighborhood isn't that bad (compared to Martin Luther King and Lake Mead areas). It's far from good. I haven't actually drove through that area in a while, so it may be much worse. It is a mix between white trash and mexican in that area. There most likely is gang activity there. But most of my city has gang activity. Most "gang"aren't all that violent. They just like to say they are in a gang and get tats and all that.

There also might be some problems with the house. It most likely is a fixer upper.

As for Arlington, I knew prices were high there, but not that high. I was guessing around 300k. 490!! :eek:
 
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