5 ms·
You can also live just fine off that amount in most American cities. $40k is basically $2,500 / mo after tax. In the Atlanta area for example, there are plenty
by kingnothing 6y ago
You can also live just fine off that amount in most American cities. $40k is basically $2,500 / mo after tax.
In the Atlanta area for example, there are plenty of nice 2-3 bedroom houses for $200,000 or even less, which puts your mortgage at $1,000 / mo. That leaves $1,500 / mo for a car, utilities, and food, which is plenty doable. Rent out a room if you want to for more income.
- watermelon59 6y agoHealth and dental insurance can be a huge cost though.
- kingnothing 6y agoHealthcare can definitely be expensive and you'll need a plan for that until Medicare kicks in.
- war1025 6y agoI have a dream that someday America will get its head out of its ass and decouple health insurance from employer benefits. That would change the employment calculus for a ton of people.
- sgerenser 6y agoACA actually makes health insurance very cheap if you can control your income (I.e. retired and living off investments). My in laws were paying a couple bucks a month for a Silver plan, I think it’s up to $100-$200 now. ACA subsidies do not take into account wealth, only adjusted gross income.
- gnicholas 6y agoHow does this work if you have kids that will be going to college when you’re ~50? That is, how do you know at 40 how much you’ll want to spend on your children’s college education?
- offtop5 6y agoAt least my plan assumes I won't have a family. Kids make this nearly impossible. While I can up and move to Costa Rica tomorrow( assuming their wasn't a pandemic ) , you can't exactly just tell your wife and kids to pack it up( and expect to remained married).
- Bedon292 6y agoIf you have kids, and want to help pay for their college education, a 529 plan or other custodial type account (UTMA/UGMA) would be a good choice. I would not want to take that out of the funds you are trying to live on.
- mooreds 6y ago> That is, how do you know at 40 how much you’ll want to spend on your children’s college education? It's hard to figure how much to save for kids college, because the spectrum is so wide. For example, do you plan for the worst case scenario (ivy league, no scholarship or out of state state school, no scholarship) -- $250k and climbing. Or the best case scenario (they take tons of ap courses and courses at local cc until transferring their jr year to in state school with full tuition scholarship) -- ~$20k? Maybe try to aim for the midpoint? It's a hard problem. What I've read that mad sense to me, though, is that kids can borrow for college and you can't borrow for retirement (reverse mortgage notwithstanding).
- kingnothing 6y agoEither you keep working to pay for their education, or you tell them to take out loans like most families, or you live in a state that pays for education. Georgia, for example, has the HOPE scholarship which pays for kids with good grades to attend public colleges at low or no cost as long as they keep their grades up.
- citizenpaul 6y ago1k a month? Good luck with that. https://www.zillow.com/mortgage-calculator/ https://www.zillow.com/mortgage-calculator/
- kingnothing 6y agoYou aren't making any sense.
- citizenpaul 6y agoPut in the numbers you suggested to the calculator. The only way you are getting under 1k month mortgage is if you have 20% of your down payment. I think the stats are something like 90% of homebuyers don't even put down 10% of the cost in down payment.