4 ms·

Then you must be pretty rich. A lot of Americans spend 25% of their income on housing alone.

puPoh 7y ago
> Then you must be pretty rich. Not at all! If you own a house or rent a tiny apartment and live frugally you can do that with a middle-class income.
- abyssin 7y ago
  Owning a house probably makes you pretty rich in the eyes of many people.
- disiplus 7y ago
  if you own a house you are rich.
  - refurb 7y ago
    70% of Americans own their own home. Are 70% of Americans rich?
    - docdeek 7y ago
      I would expect 70% might have a mortgage but owning - as in not having to pay the mortgage because you own the home entirely - would be well under 70%.
    - Spivak 7y ago
      If you’re under 35 and own your home outright you’re either rich or your parents are.
    - icebraining 7y ago
      No, 70% live in a non-rented home (an adult son living in their parent's home is also counted, for example). Also, only 34% are fully paid off.
    - mrlala 7y ago
      Err, are you saying 70% own their own home (i.e., no mortgage) or 70% live in a house which some percentage >0 and <90% is owned by the bank? There's kind of a big difference there...
  - skinnymuch 7y ago
    You don’t own the house until you’ve paid off your mortgage. If you’re doing that under 50, you’re probably pretty decently well off. And also if it’s actually you who owns the house and not your sibling or parents who you’re living with.
- imtringued 7y ago
  If you prepay all your expenses you can live on $0 a month... That's not a very useful argument.
TomMarius 7y ago
If you live in eastern/southern Europe, it's very easy (and pretty normal) as a software engineer. I spend less than 20% of my salary, because the cost of living here in Prague is appropriate for people making $17k yearly (before tax), while I am making a typical SW engineer wage you'd find in an average town in the USA or western EU (~$90k yearly before tax).
- icebraining 7y ago
  Do you work for a local or remote company, if you don't mind me asking?
  - TomMarius 7y ago
    Local foreign-invested startup at the moment
    - icebraining 7y ago
      Thanks, that's amazing, and depressing (for me).
- saiya-jin 7y ago
  You must be bringing something unique and very senior to the table, or company is overpaying you maybe 2x of what it would take to get a great local SW engineer. I know there is long term shortage of senior folks there, but it shouldn't be that desperate. Plus you mention before tax, so unless you are contracting (which is probable but no real clue), you are left with much less after taxation, being in very high tax bracket. So the numbers posted don't work anymore, unless you live very frugally in crappy tiny apartment/room (or riding family wealth). I worked there 10 years ago, so maybe things changed dramatically. Its true they still keep pestering me in linkedin, so maybe it did change so much. Anyway, Prague is great place to visit, but I found it rather bleak for long term living and raising family, especially when compared with other places located more west. There is only so much you can buy with money within given society.
  - 7y ago

> Then you must be pretty rich. Not at all! If you own a house or rent a tiny apartment and live frugally you can do that with a middle-class income.

abyssin 7y ago
Owning a house probably makes you pretty rich in the eyes of many people.
disiplus 7y ago
if you own a house you are rich.
- refurb 7y ago
  70% of Americans own their own home. Are 70% of Americans rich?
  - docdeek 7y ago
    I would expect 70% might have a mortgage but owning - as in not having to pay the mortgage because you own the home entirely - would be well under 70%.
  - Spivak 7y ago
    If you’re under 35 and own your home outright you’re either rich or your parents are.
  - icebraining 7y ago
    No, 70% live in a non-rented home (an adult son living in their parent's home is also counted, for example). Also, only 34% are fully paid off.
  - mrlala 7y ago
    Err, are you saying 70% own their own home (i.e., no mortgage) or 70% live in a house which some percentage >0 and <90% is owned by the bank? There's kind of a big difference there...
- skinnymuch 7y ago
  You don’t own the house until you’ve paid off your mortgage. If you’re doing that under 50, you’re probably pretty decently well off. And also if it’s actually you who owns the house and not your sibling or parents who you’re living with.
imtringued 7y ago
If you prepay all your expenses you can live on $0 a month... That's not a very useful argument.

TomMarius 7y ago

If you live in eastern/southern Europe, it's very easy (and pretty normal) as a software engineer. I spend less than 20% of my salary, because the cost of living here in Prague is appropriate for people making $17k yearly (before tax), while I am making a typical SW engineer wage you'd find in an average town in the USA or western EU (~$90k yearly before tax).

icebraining 7y ago
Do you work for a local or remote company, if you don't mind me asking?
- TomMarius 7y ago
  Local foreign-invested startup at the moment
  - icebraining 7y ago
    Thanks, that's amazing, and depressing (for me).
saiya-jin 7y ago
You must be bringing something unique and very senior to the table, or company is overpaying you maybe 2x of what it would take to get a great local SW engineer. I know there is long term shortage of senior folks there, but it shouldn't be that desperate. Plus you mention before tax, so unless you are contracting (which is probable but no real clue), you are left with much less after taxation, being in very high tax bracket. So the numbers posted don't work anymore, unless you live very frugally in crappy tiny apartment/room (or riding family wealth). I worked there 10 years ago, so maybe things changed dramatically. Its true they still keep pestering me in linkedin, so maybe it did change so much. Anyway, Prague is great place to visit, but I found it rather bleak for long term living and raising family, especially when compared with other places located more west. There is only so much you can buy with money within given society.
- 7y ago