4 ms·

note he says "support family", it is easy to be a bachelor on a lot less but 175k if you want to do any kind of saving for retirement, saving for your kids educ

note he says "support family", it is easy to be a bachelor on a lot less but 175k if you want to do any kind of saving for retirement, saving for your kids education, and paying for healthcare is not much. So if you want to look your kids in the eyes and say "hey I'm gambling on something for my own personal fulfillment rather than giving you the opportunities that I could easily if I had kept my old job" then go right ahead but its difficult for others to do. Thats why I want to my whole risky-taking entrepreneurship thing BEFORE having kids so you don't run into that quandary.

erlanger 18y ago
If you can't support a family on $175k, you're doing it wrong.
- comatose_kid 18y ago
  You seem pretty sure of yourself, and some differing data points would be nice to hear. Are you raising a family in the Bay Area?
  - deleted 18y ago
    [deleted]
  - catch23 18y ago
    There are quite a few poor families making a living in the Bay Area that happen to have other mouths to feed too. If you want more data points, come visit my neighbors and ask them how they do it. The cost of living here is not as bad as you might think.
    - comatose_kid 18y ago
      I probably should have been more clear - are there areas in the bay area with good schools, and homes that require significantly less earnings than 175k per year (say, 125k?) And I'd like to not spend 2 hrs commuting, because spending time with my children would be nice. In my experience, you have to pay a lot more here to get the same quality of life that you could find elsewhere. I live in the Bay area, and am raising a family here. It is expensive - 175K/yr would probably buy you the same standard of living as 80k/yr would in Ottawa, Canada, where I grew up.
      - deleted 18y ago
        [deleted]
      - erlanger 18y ago
        1> % Assuming both parents work 1> 125000 / 2 == 62500. true
      - tptacek 18y ago
        It's not as if it's hard to actually figure out the cost of living difference between Ottawa and San Francisco. They're ranked all over the place. Ottawa and Chicago are neighbors in the rankings on the first page of the Google results. $80,000 in Ottawa therefore approximates $108,000 in San Francisco.
    - Chocobean 18y ago
      to raise a family with all the luxuries, conveniences and advantages money can buy, you're gonna need a lot more than $175k. How else can one pay for therapy sessions for the 5 year old, country club riding lessons with the older kid and semi-annual Euro trips for your entire family? But if you can't raise a family with $175k, making appropriate "sacrifices" to pet expenditures that aren't necessary, and getting the best value of your money when it needs to be spent, you are doing it wrong.
  - mlinsey 18y ago
    The Bay Area is much bigger than the area immediately around Sand Hill Road; there are certainly neighborhoods where you can raise a family on 175K.
  - deleted 18y ago
    [deleted]
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
gommm 18y ago
Well in that case you can tell your kids to go and study in a good university in a country where higher education is (almost) free... I don't really understand why people still keep paying huge amount of money for tuition in american universities when they could get the same or better education for almost nothing in a european country I've been to a American university and I've studied in France so I have seen the differences and the 21000$ tuition/year university wasn't better than the free (500$/year but 15$/year for people with aids) university.. So you don't need to save that much money for your kids but just teach them well enough so that they have an open mind and are willing to go out to different places to get what they want...
- frossie 18y ago
  European universities are ~free for Europeans. They charge significant fees to non-EU students. Obviously it depends on the country/university, but it would be cheaper for someone to go to their local state university in the US than to a European one. However, it may be cheaper to be in a top-flight EU university than an Ivy League US one - I haven't checked the numbers.
  - ido 18y ago
    I'm an Israeli and I am studying at the best Technical University in Austria (TUWien). Tuition is 742 Euros per year. Germany is similar, and I'm pretty sure France and the vast majority (if not all) of continental Europe is somewhere in that ballpark too. The UK is more expensive, I'm not sure about Ireland.
  - menloparkbum 18y ago
    A cousin of mine got a Master's in Germany and only paid the local fee which was something like the equivalent of $800USD per year at the time. The catch is that you have to know German. She took a 10 month crash course in German at a German community college before doing the Master's. It seemed like quite a bargain, if you're into Germany.
    - barry-cotter 18y ago

erlanger 18y ago

If you can't support a family on $175k, you're doing it wrong.

comatose_kid 18y ago
You seem pretty sure of yourself, and some differing data points would be nice to hear. Are you raising a family in the Bay Area?
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
- catch23 18y ago
  There are quite a few poor families making a living in the Bay Area that happen to have other mouths to feed too. If you want more data points, come visit my neighbors and ask them how they do it. The cost of living here is not as bad as you might think.
  - comatose_kid 18y ago
    I probably should have been more clear - are there areas in the bay area with good schools, and homes that require significantly less earnings than 175k per year (say, 125k?) And I'd like to not spend 2 hrs commuting, because spending time with my children would be nice. In my experience, you have to pay a lot more here to get the same quality of life that you could find elsewhere. I live in the Bay area, and am raising a family here. It is expensive - 175K/yr would probably buy you the same standard of living as 80k/yr would in Ottawa, Canada, where I grew up.
    - deleted 18y ago
      [deleted]
    - erlanger 18y ago
      1> % Assuming both parents work 1> 125000 / 2 == 62500. true
    - tptacek 18y ago
      It's not as if it's hard to actually figure out the cost of living difference between Ottawa and San Francisco. They're ranked all over the place. Ottawa and Chicago are neighbors in the rankings on the first page of the Google results. $80,000 in Ottawa therefore approximates $108,000 in San Francisco.
  - Chocobean 18y ago
    to raise a family with all the luxuries, conveniences and advantages money can buy, you're gonna need a lot more than $175k. How else can one pay for therapy sessions for the 5 year old, country club riding lessons with the older kid and semi-annual Euro trips for your entire family? But if you can't raise a family with $175k, making appropriate "sacrifices" to pet expenditures that aren't necessary, and getting the best value of your money when it needs to be spent, you are doing it wrong.
- mlinsey 18y ago
  The Bay Area is much bigger than the area immediately around Sand Hill Road; there are certainly neighborhoods where you can raise a family on 175K.
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]

gommm 18y ago

Well in that case you can tell your kids to go and study in a good university in a country where higher education is (almost) free... I don't really understand why people still keep paying huge amount of money for tuition in american universities when they could get the same or better education for almost nothing in a european country I've been to a American university and I've studied in France so I have seen the differences and the 21000$ tuition/year university wasn't better than the free (500$/year but 15$/year for people with aids) university.. So you don't need to save that much money for your kids but just teach them well enough so that they have an open mind and are willing to go out to different places to get what they want...

frossie 18y ago
European universities are ~free for Europeans. They charge significant fees to non-EU students. Obviously it depends on the country/university, but it would be cheaper for someone to go to their local state university in the US than to a European one. However, it may be cheaper to be in a top-flight EU university than an Ivy League US one - I haven't checked the numbers.
- ido 18y ago
  I'm an Israeli and I am studying at the best Technical University in Austria (TUWien). Tuition is 742 Euros per year. Germany is similar, and I'm pretty sure France and the vast majority (if not all) of continental Europe is somewhere in that ballpark too. The UK is more expensive, I'm not sure about Ireland.
- menloparkbum 18y ago
  A cousin of mine got a Master's in Germany and only paid the local fee which was something like the equivalent of $800USD per year at the time. The catch is that you have to know German. She took a 10 month crash course in German at a German community college before doing the Master's. It seemed like quite a bargain, if you're into Germany.
  - barry-cotter 18y ago