5 ms·

> you'd have $275k net. If you remove generous expenses, you have $200k a year in savings. In Seattle Washington? You'd have an extremely hard time making ends

> you'd have $275k net. If you remove generous expenses, you have $200k a year in savings. In Seattle Washington? You'd have an extremely hard time making ends meet on $75K, it certainly isn't "generous." For example median home value in Seattle is $725K.

DVassallo 8y ago
My expenses are about $150K a year. Fixed costs per month: * $5K mortgage * $1.2K health insurance * $300 life and disability insurance * $800 utilities * $2K home services: nanny, sitter, cleaner * $800 school / preschool and kids activities * $2K groceries, essentials, etc I have a family, two small kids (4 and 2), and live a comfortable life in Seattle. I could obviously adjust my standard of living, move somewhere cheaper, etc, but I didn't want my family to have to change anything from this experiment I'm doing with my life.
- Jotra7 8y ago
  $2K home services: nanny, sitter, cleaner. Spends more per month on luxuries than most people make in the US, cries. Get a grip, dude.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- hinkley 8y ago
  I live a comfortable life in Seattle and my mortgage is $3k a month including taxes, in a house that’s too big for us to keep clean. I think “comfortable” might be understating things. If I moved into my neighborhood now it might be closer to $5k (without a bigger down payment) but I wouldn’t recommend it.
  - DVassallo 8y ago
    $5K includes property taxes, HOA, and home insurance. The total was $4K originally when I bought a $850K townhouse in 2015. But I refinanced recently to get some cash out and that got it to $5K.
    - antongribok 8y ago
      As someone trying to do something similar in 5 years (not nearly in the same situation), I'm having a hard time imagining why you would refinance and take money out (and not the opposite, refinance and pay things down or pay off your mortgage completely). A lot of the things in your post resonated with me, but seeing this in the comments really got me curious about your math. Good luck with your endeavor!
      - DVassallo 8y ago
        I didn't need the cash out, but it adds a bit of a safety margin. Liquid cash gives you optionality. For example, if things don't work out as I hope, I could use that cash to try to buy another small business, or something like that. It would have been harder (or impossible) to refinance without a steady paycheck, so I planned for that while I still had the job. My mortgage interest rate is 4% and I've put the cash I've withdrawn in short term US treasures at 2.5%, so that cash is only costing me 1.5%. Another reason I did a refinance was that when I bought my house I had only been in the US for 2.5 years and my credit score wasn't great (in the 600s IIRC). I could only get an 5/1 ARM loan that was about to start becoming variable at a higher interest rate.
- fjp 8y ago
  Wow how much nanny-ing are you getting for $2k a year?
  - SatvikBeri 8y ago
    Those are monthly costs
BeetleB 8y ago
>In Seattle Washington? You'd have an extremely hard time making ends meet on $75K, it certainly isn't "generous." Renting an 1800 sq ft 3 bedroom house is $40K/year. That leaves $35K. Per month that's almost $3000. If you are having an "extremely hard time" paying for everything else with $3000, you may want to reevaluate your lifestyle. I'm not saying it's a fantastic lifestyle, but it's not a poor lifestyle. You'll still be able to afford a lifestyle better than most of the country.
- sytelus 8y ago
  I agree with you but grocery and other essentials bills itself comes out to be $2000 per month for family of 4. If you don’t care about organic food shopping, specific brands for quality and relying heavily on Wallart then it is possible to lower this at $1000. The eating out lunch at work itself is usually $300. Phone + cable + internet bills in family would add another $300 even when you haven’t upgraded in 4 years and so minimum TV subscription. The cost of gas and 2 car maintenance + insurance easily adds up to $500/mo. Replacing car, even mid end, adds another $500/mo for next 5 years. Computers, house maintenance (essential servicing) etc will add another $300/mo spread out. We haven’t yet got to various other utilities, schooling, dentist, optometrist etc. I suppose bare minimum essential is probably $1000/mo but if you set needle to little above middle class but way below “rich” (which is not same as median) then $3000’for “everything else” is not sufficient.
tonyedgecombe 8y ago
You'd have an extremely hard time making ends meet on $75K That isn’t much less than the median income in Seattle.
endangered 8y ago
It's generally a bad idea to buy a house, so I don't really see how the median home value is relevant.
- milesokeefe 8y ago
  >It's generally a bad idea to buy a house Why's that?
burger_moon 8y ago
I live in Seattle, none of my friends work in tech, none of them make anywhere near 75k, try cutting that number in half. They aren't living in condos in cap hill with the other high earning tech folks but believe it or not they aren't struggling to eat at night either and live comfortable fulfilling lives.

DVassallo 8y ago

My expenses are about $150K a year. Fixed costs per month: * $5K mortgage * $1.2K health insurance * $300 life and disability insurance * $800 utilities * $2K home services: nanny, sitter, cleaner * $800 school / preschool and kids activities * $2K groceries, essentials, etc I have a family, two small kids (4 and 2), and live a comfortable life in Seattle. I could obviously adjust my standard of living, move somewhere cheaper, etc, but I didn't want my family to have to change anything from this experiment I'm doing with my life.

Jotra7 8y ago
$2K home services: nanny, sitter, cleaner. Spends more per month on luxuries than most people make in the US, cries. Get a grip, dude.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
hinkley 8y ago
I live a comfortable life in Seattle and my mortgage is $3k a month including taxes, in a house that’s too big for us to keep clean. I think “comfortable” might be understating things. If I moved into my neighborhood now it might be closer to $5k (without a bigger down payment) but I wouldn’t recommend it.
- DVassallo 8y ago
  $5K includes property taxes, HOA, and home insurance. The total was $4K originally when I bought a $850K townhouse in 2015. But I refinanced recently to get some cash out and that got it to $5K.
  - antongribok 8y ago
    As someone trying to do something similar in 5 years (not nearly in the same situation), I'm having a hard time imagining why you would refinance and take money out (and not the opposite, refinance and pay things down or pay off your mortgage completely). A lot of the things in your post resonated with me, but seeing this in the comments really got me curious about your math. Good luck with your endeavor!
    - DVassallo 8y ago
      I didn't need the cash out, but it adds a bit of a safety margin. Liquid cash gives you optionality. For example, if things don't work out as I hope, I could use that cash to try to buy another small business, or something like that. It would have been harder (or impossible) to refinance without a steady paycheck, so I planned for that while I still had the job. My mortgage interest rate is 4% and I've put the cash I've withdrawn in short term US treasures at 2.5%, so that cash is only costing me 1.5%. Another reason I did a refinance was that when I bought my house I had only been in the US for 2.5 years and my credit score wasn't great (in the 600s IIRC). I could only get an 5/1 ARM loan that was about to start becoming variable at a higher interest rate.
fjp 8y ago
Wow how much nanny-ing are you getting for $2k a year?
- SatvikBeri 8y ago
  Those are monthly costs

BeetleB 8y ago

>In Seattle Washington? You'd have an extremely hard time making ends meet on $75K, it certainly isn't "generous." Renting an 1800 sq ft 3 bedroom house is $40K/year. That leaves $35K. Per month that's almost $3000. If you are having an "extremely hard time" paying for everything else with $3000, you may want to reevaluate your lifestyle. I'm not saying it's a fantastic lifestyle, but it's not a poor lifestyle. You'll still be able to afford a lifestyle better than most of the country.

sytelus 8y ago
I agree with you but grocery and other essentials bills itself comes out to be $2000 per month for family of 4. If you don’t care about organic food shopping, specific brands for quality and relying heavily on Wallart then it is possible to lower this at $1000. The eating out lunch at work itself is usually $300. Phone + cable + internet bills in family would add another $300 even when you haven’t upgraded in 4 years and so minimum TV subscription. The cost of gas and 2 car maintenance + insurance easily adds up to $500/mo. Replacing car, even mid end, adds another $500/mo for next 5 years. Computers, house maintenance (essential servicing) etc will add another $300/mo spread out. We haven’t yet got to various other utilities, schooling, dentist, optometrist etc. I suppose bare minimum essential is probably $1000/mo but if you set needle to little above middle class but way below “rich” (which is not same as median) then $3000’for “everything else” is not sufficient.

tonyedgecombe 8y ago

You'd have an extremely hard time making ends meet on $75K That isn’t much less than the median income in Seattle.

endangered 8y ago

It's generally a bad idea to buy a house, so I don't really see how the median home value is relevant.

milesokeefe 8y ago
>It's generally a bad idea to buy a house Why's that?

burger_moon 8y ago

I live in Seattle, none of my friends work in tech, none of them make anywhere near 75k, try cutting that number in half. They aren't living in condos in cap hill with the other high earning tech folks but believe it or not they aren't struggling to eat at night either and live comfortable fulfilling lives.