Anyone else "struggling" financially? I know, it sounds ridiculous. Two kids (pre-school), mortgage (10 yr I/O), loans (but not huge), full time nanny (7 to 7), and just life expenses. Wife also works full time and does decent. We both max out our 401k, but after all our expenses, at the end of each month, I'm stoked if we can save a dollar. And struggling is definitely the wrong word, but just curious if any other mid/seniors feel the same or had any tips. We live in Los Angeles.
Rising Star
My target has always been <$1500 looking for apartments, whether I was making $60k or $120k.
You could probably get away with up to $2k but imo it’s unwise to start with a rent number and back out the rest. Start with your 401k obligation, your tax obligations, your other savings or investing obligations, and *then* back out 30% of your net and see if it’s workable
Rising Star
If having girls come over being that you’re single and dating around is important, then you also want to consider that. Certain areas are going to be very unappealing for dates to come over
Rising Star
No more than 30% of your take home pay. And you should be maxing out your 401k
Also I don’t have any more debt
Roommates would be recommended but you could get a $2k studio. It's not going to be a luxury building in Chelsea but you can find something if you really don't want roommates.
You can get a 1br for 2k right now ha, def can do above a studio. Just depends if you care about a luxury building or not.
Rising Star
150K with no debt and no dependents is certainly enough money to live alone if that’s important to you. You could spend 3K on rent and still save plenty if you don’t go crazy in other areas.
If you’re going out drinking every night, owning a car, or other money-intensive things, then obviously you’d need to pay less rent, but you don’t need to have roommates if you budget well in other areas.