Hacker News Reader

Comment by setgree | Hacker News Reader

My salary is $96,000, which comes to about $5700/month after taxes and everything. I spend about $1300 a month in recurring expenses (rent, gym, etc.). I'm 36, I live with roommates in Brooklyn, and I saved $1200 last month. That means on average, I spent about $100 a day on everything else (food, fun, travel). It's a life that works for me.

IMHO, income is logarithmic [0], so in terms of things I might like to have but don't (an apartment with a shared pool?) it would probably be a big jump up in income to get them. If I got a $10K raise tomorrow, it wouldn't really make a difference.

If I ever have kids, I'll either have to give some things up or climb the income ladder.

[0] https://ofdollarsanddata.com/climbing-the-wealth-ladder/

View on HN

Its beyond minid-boggling how you spend 1300 a month on rent and gym and other stuff. Which neighbourhood are you in? How many roommates? I've usually paid around 3-4K for a studio...

I'm in Kensington with two roommates in an old house. It's definitely a great deal but if you are willing to live with roommates in a somewhat uncool area, similar deals are definitely possible: https://streeteasy.com/for-rent/nyc/price:3000-4000%7Carea:3...

For instance, here's $3500 for a 4 bedroom/1.5 bath that's on a quiet street but near a lout one https://streeteasy.com/building/171-east-8-street-brooklyn/3...

I was curious too, and it seems feasible. Assuming at least 2 other roommates, you can find a 3 bed for less than 3600/mo. Here's a small 4 bd/1.5 ba for 3350/mo, so about 1120/mo.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/216-E-93rd-St-2L-Brooklyn...

Obviously not the most ideal circumstances, but it can be done.

actually i used to live in flatbush the first year i moved to nyc in a "coliving" space, and the rent was very low around 1.2K p/m, but never again going back to that area... Parkside ave station was disgusting honestly.

> [0] https://ofdollarsanddata.com/climbing-the-wealth-ladder/

New book from the writer (his second):

* https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/770215/the-wealth-l...

> which comes to about $5700/month after taxes and everything

That’s surprising as that’s about the same tax as in the U.K., but people claim the U.K. has high tax.

The problem (in my mind) with the UK tax is the huge steps in the progression and how quickly it hits 40% (in SWE salaries, at least). Go from 0% to 20% to 40% which feels a bit "steep" but it is better than going from 0% to 10% to 12% to 22% to 24% to 32% to 35% to 37%.

But since I was old enough to actually look at paycheck (paycheque?) calculators online, I've found that the UK tax rate for livable wages is actually fairly low.

To compare NYC to UK, £66k/yr = $90k/yr. In the UK, you would be taxed £17k ($23k), but that same salary living in NYC would be taxed $26k (£19k).

So NYC + Fed + NYS taxed together at a higher rate than the UK government (INCLUDING NI).

And $90k in NYC feels like WAY less than £66k somewhere Zone 4-6 in London with a similar commute.

Most people struggle to

Remember under 50k NI is a massive jump. Roughly the marginal bands are 32%/42%/62%/45%. Add 10% if you have kids between 60k and 80k, add 9-15% over 27% if you have student loan. The 62% marginal rate at 100k is a big kicker.

Basically means most people pay far higher marginal rate between 50k and 120k than above 120k.

> So NYC + Fed + NYS taxed […]

A recent video on NYC, "The Absurd Lengths Billionaires Go to Not 'Live' in NYC":

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veJfMypXWtc

Income tax percentage in the U.S. ranges from negative counting credits (for the bottom 60% of taxpayers in states with no income tax) to a marginal rate of 52.7% plus a 1% surcharge on all income combining federal, state, and local for incomes over a million bucks in San Francisco.

Low income tax states tend to make up for it in other ways (sales tax, property tax, or both) but basically UK taxes would look extortionate to an Alaskan, painfully high to a Texan and probably pretty normal to a New Yorker or Californian.

96K/year = 8K/month, and I pocket about 70% of that. Does that seem high to you? It doesn't to me, but then I've mostly lived and worked in coastal blue states. if I moved to Florida, I'd take home probably another $500/month (and I'd probably spend more than that on having a car).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com