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GrreggWithTwoRs t1_j8smyrz wrote

Reply to comment by Soporific88 in Here’s how I lived off of $23k last year. by ThrowRAanyways2

That rent is def necessary to make it work on 23k. But if their rent was 1500, they could have the same exact budget by making 35k, which is still a really low number.

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brownredgreen t1_j8snmy9 wrote

Taxes differ from 23k to 35k a year.

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GrreggWithTwoRs t1_j8spytd wrote

True it’d be like 1350 rent to make it even at 35k salary

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brownredgreen t1_j8sqdpb wrote

I feel like you seriously underestimate the tax diff between 23k and 35k

Iirc, something like your first 10-12K is 100% untaxed, and after that is very low. The taxes on 30-35K are sizeably higher than, say, 20-25K

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GrreggWithTwoRs t1_j8sv1p2 wrote

They are, I checked on smart assets New York calculator tool. 23k gross is 19k post tax, which the OP confirmed. 35k gross is 27.5 post tax, so 8.5k higher.

8.5k more means 700 more per month. 620 is OPs starting number so that gets you to 1320

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brownredgreen t1_j8szwt2 wrote

You know of many 1 bedroom apts that go for 1320 in NYC?

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GrreggWithTwoRs t1_j8t23jc wrote

That’s a different question. My point was just that extremely extremely low rent is not necessary to make a very low gross income work. I wouldn’t advise anybody making 35k to spend 1350 on rent, it’d just a hypothetical, and no one is talking about one bedrooms.

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brownredgreen t1_j8t28n9 wrote

35K is above min wage

Any person who works full time should be able to afford a 1bdrm

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GrreggWithTwoRs t1_j8t2nc3 wrote

What are you looking for me to say? You made a great point about the taxes, my initial number of 1500 was too high, the number is really 1320. I agree with your second sentence there as well, but that is a different conversation.

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Imhappy_hopeurhappy2 t1_j8t3xh1 wrote

This is me. $1200 in rent. 35k a year dog walking. I don’t save though and I’m not exactly living in luxury.

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MarquisEXB t1_j8tqsf1 wrote

Do you have health insurance?

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Imhappy_hopeurhappy2 t1_j8ttq52 wrote

I’m on Medicaid MetroPlus. I got it in 2020 and somehow keep qualifying. My SO is a paperwork wizard and does all that for me. I pay $0 a month, it’s crazy. From what I’ve read in the news it sounds like I’ll be kicked off soon though.

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myassholealt t1_j8th9pr wrote

Though at $1,500, it'd be be really hard to find a landlord willing to rent to you (or a tenant looking for a roommate) if you don't have a sizeable savings to at least attempt to show you're not a risk of falling behind.

Room share options are a lot easier to get for someone making very little.

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danhakimi t1_j8uhiv5 wrote

The fact that op is saving $2500 a year is not ideal. Smart financey people say you should probably try to save about a third of your income.

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GrreggWithTwoRs t1_j8uia29 wrote

OPs in grad school, temporarily making 23k a year, and in their early 20s. Id say saving 2500 is incredibly impressive all things considered. Soon enough OP will be making double in income at the very least and can start to save normally

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danhakimi t1_j8uldkd wrote

Oh, for sure, I'm just saying, it's a bigger compromise than we think, and gets bigger, proportionately, at $35k.

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