4 ms·
Have you lived in NYC or SF? Yes, it's doable for nearly everyone to stash some amount of money away, sub-$1k or whatever. However, if you're in the zone b/t
by dogman144 5y ago
Have you lived in NYC or SF?
Yes, it's doable for nearly everyone to stash some amount of money away, sub-$1k or whatever.
However, if you're in the zone b/t $100k/yr and say $250k/yr, it's entirely possible to have your act together financially, and not be able to save a relevant amount due to the cost of basically existing, responsible student loans and a simple social life. The amount of money you're able to save vs the general cost of living means that your small savings is basically meaningless if something happens.
A normal lifestyle can turn into being the walking dead financially. You make a lot on paper, but one wrong event knocks you out. This is why '08 was especially ugly for NYC finance types, despite being firmly upper middle class.
- Hermitian909 5y agoThis doesn't quite jive with my experience living in SF. I have an older but comfortable apartment close to BART and an active social life (had lol). Pre-pandemic my CoL was ~40k. I'm fortunate to be on the higher end of dev salaries so I don't need to spend this little but living a life I enjoy this is just how much I end up spending. I have friends and colleagues whose experience matches yours, some have come to me for help with their finances. I've found it fairly easy to slash 30-40k/yr from their budgets by simply forcing them to think about which things they're spending money on actually add happiness or utility to their life.
- dogman144 5y agoDo you have kids, do you have a dual income couple, and so on.
- Hermitian909 5y agoNo kids, no dual income. I recognize these costs are not representative if they have a child but OP didn't seem to imply those were the considerations.