How do people in hcol cities do it? All in, I make a little under 200k in Atlanta. Im able to max out my 401k, HSA, & back door roth. I save 1200 + buy 2 shares of VOO /month. Mortgage/HOA is 2100. After all that, I find myself watching every penny on my Amex bc money feels tight. Would love to move to a bigger city but PwC wouldn’t pay that much more & it’s hard to envision mortgage or rent doubling like it would in SF/LA/NYC. Tips for how to make your budget work? Just save less?

likefunny
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HSA + roth + 401k = ~30K
Housing = ~25K
Savings = ~24K
Total = ~80K

Let’s say your take-home after taxes is about 110-120K per year - what are you doing with that extra 30-40K per year (minus food, travel, general expenses, etc.)?

likesmarthelpful

I dunno, I am at $160k, max 401k, HSA, 2x Roth IRAs, and $1250/month into investment accounts, mortgage is $1700...MCOL, and support my wife staying at home with 3 kids. And we feel quite comfortable, not loaded, but we can do what we want or making meaningful progress towards other short term savings goals to do what we want (within reason)

Other spending habits you have? Hobbies, shopping, going out, traveling, pricey food, services...you can certainly do a number of those things on your income, just not all of them heavily - you still have to pick and choose what your priorities are on the extras and keep them under control.

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We live in the Bay Area and make 500 between wife and I and we have deferred home buying until further notice

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Your housing expense is really high for Atlanta, so in a HCOL city you probably wouldn't live in as nice of a place. Also roommates. There's not many people who pay for 4k apartment by themselves. Even if they are able to, it's just not a smart move

I only pay about half of what you pay for rent in NYC. When I lived in Atlanta, I only paid about $600/month on housing

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KPMG 1- agree and thanks for your perspective. Home park is scary tbh so I’m impressed you lived there! Safety is one of my top priorities so I think housing is one of the things I’d have to splurge on.

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Make more or save less. 🙄

likesmart

Partner up for dual income

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Your math doesn’t add up. Seems like you have some holes in your pockets. List out your total monthly and total take home after tax and you’ll see the issue.

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Sorry to ask but I'm from Europe and I do not always understand : when you say that you make 200k, is it gross salary? If so, what is the net? Just for me to understand how it works in US 🙂

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Agree net would be ~$130-150k, depending on state income tax. In GA closer to $140k

@OP I feel this. My mortgage in ATL suburbs was about 2k/mo all in. We are moving to SF for a new job. Although I’m getting a 60% raise, I’m losing money (in the short term). Rent for a 2 BR out there is $3.5k/mo. And we’re going from 2500 sq ft new construction to 1000 sq ft apartment..
Gas is $5/gallon there
Yikes

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We move tomorrow - fingers crossed. Thanks for the well wishes

I'm in HCOL, I don't max out any of those accounts, make $88k, spend $1800~ in rent with 1 roommate (and parking), and having like $50k in savings/investments. My goal for this year is to max out those retirement accounts

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Have you thought about house-hacking and trying to recoup some of your mortgage in a HCOL area through renting out a portion of your property? That’s one option for reducing your overall expenses.

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Good idea!

Sounds like a lot

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We generally make a fair bit higher salary and probably end up saving a smaller percentage of our income. It's not ideal but it's possible.

In SF, make a bit less, but mortgage/ HOA/ property taxes puts me around 3.8k. Max out everything except mega backdoor.

Try to keep living expenses around 1k (groceries, eating out, entertainment, etc). No car and eating mostly plants at home helps a lot.

I live in the DC area and make 150k but live with 3 other roommates while paying 800/month. I intermittent fast to have mainly one meal a day, I use mintsim for my phone plan at the 4gb/month for 12 months ($250 for the whole year) after buying my iPhone SE new. I bum any streaming service off people. I’m ultimately saving up for a way overpriced house payment. I never buy clothes unless it’s Black Friday or I need to rent a tux. I don’t buy alcohol unless I can get a rebate for it for drinking at home. I never keep more than 10k liquid, all my money is working

You lost me at “one meal a day”

funnylike

How old are you? I live in LA and have a roommate so I only pay $2100/month. In a year or two though I probably won’t want to have roommates anymore and this will increase

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