living costs

celeron_266

so i am fooling around and trying to estimate how much a couple have to earn in order to live without any external support

mortgage: 250k principle, 6% interest, pay off in 5 years (i dont want to work my whole life just to pay off the house):  5k per month = 60k per year

car:  2 cars, $500 monthly for each = 12k per year

car insurance:  2k per car = 4k per year

gas:  $300 per car per month = 3.6k per year

utilities (natural gas, water, electricity):  2.5k per year

phones (one landline, two cell phones), internet, tv:  ~$180 per month = ~2k per year

medical:  $100 per month = 1.2k per year

food:  ~$1000 per month = 12k per year

so minimum a couple have to earn ~ $97.3k a year just to support themselves...

if you want to help your parents (both sides 2k a month = 48k per year), that will be $145.3k per year!!!

and remember...this is the minimum living costs...no incidentals (occasional traveling, shopping) added...

if kids are present...the costs will increase again...

i am not considering monthly savings as well....

this is scary....it seems that if both people are earning equally, they will have to take in 100k per year AFTER TAX in order to live relatively comfortably....

the only thing that i can think of to reduce the living cost is to stretch the mortgage to 10 years, that you  pay 2k less per month (12k per year)...but you will have to suffer twice as long to pay off the house....

how can a couple achieve this????

[ 本帖最後由 celeron_266 於 2008-5-24 13:48 編輯 ]

celeron_266

原帖由 SAZABI 於 2008-5-24 13:50 發表
Are we talking about minimum, ok living condidtion, or more luxury life?
I mean.. if we are talking about minimum, a lot of couples out there just have one car neh.

The mortgage part is unrealistic t ...

ok so lets modify a bit for the mortgage part and the car part

$400k principle (i prefer apartments btw), 6% interest, 15 years

still goes to about 3.5k a month = 42k a year (18k less compared to my initial estimate)

and with only one car, all car-related expenses are divided by 2, you save about 10k per year

total savings with these modifications is about 28k, so each person can earn 14k less per year...not very significant IMO

[ 本帖最後由 celeron_266 於 2008-5-24 14:03 編輯 ]

celeron_266

LOK:

i have made modifications on the mortgage at the thread just above you

yungfourfour:

1.  thats why i said each person have to earn about 100k after tax to support themselves

2.  done modifying the car-related cost at the thread above LOK

3.  ok so you save 80 bucks a month, thats goes to $960 per year, only ~0.7% change to the total living cost

celeron_266

原帖由 Catpiano 於 2008-5-24 18:37 發表
5 yr to pay off mortgage??  most mortgage nowaday is 30 yr ..  

Good luck man ..  250K principle ??  so that is assuming you have $500K as downpayment??  ( average house price in Van is $700K plus )  ...

i know house is expensive...thats why i said i prefer apartments...and i also changed the mortgage to 400k for 15 years...the annual cost is 18k less than my initial estimate...but IMO this decrease is not very significant

if i stretch the mortgage to 30 years...sure i have less monthly payments...but the thought of paying that much interest just doesnt attract me at all....i rather work hard and pay it off asap

also...thinking that i have 4 more years of schooling to do (i am doing a professional degree)...meaning that when i start working i will be a few years before 30....a mortgage for 30 years means that i wont be able to pay off my house until when i am almost 60....which just sounds too crazy to my liking....

celeron_266

原帖由 fibbi 於 2008-5-24 21:20 發表
to parents: $1000/month each side?? I think it's really A LOT...

its not too bad IMO...considering that i have been already giving them 1k a month right now when i am earning much less...i would love to give them more when i earn more in the future....