
The budget breakdown of a 34-year-old who makes $150,000 in NYC - pavel_lishin
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/heres-the-budget-breakdown-of-a-34-year-old-who-makes-dollar150000/ar-BBPHz6X?ocid=spartanntp
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Konnstann
How are you single, healthy, and making 6 figures and only putting away 10-15%
of your monthly income? I make less than half that and I can save 40-50%
living in a similarly priced area.

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BLKNSLVR
_" primarily as a brand consultant"_

The kind of person that would be a brand consultant would be required by the
internal sense of price = quality = social status. For example: _" I buy a
purse for $200 and I'm like, 'Where am I going to make $500 tomorrow?'"_

Personality-bashing aside, looking at the numbers:

$150k annual = $12.5k / month, budget = $4,100 / month, Travel of $15k
annually = $1.25k / month. Overall this leaves ~$7k / month ($84k per year) as
"everything else" money.

She could easily put away 50% to fund early retirement, but she obviously
prioritises differently to you and I :)

She obviously works hard and she does plenty of charity work, so she's almost
unquestionably an extrovert and therefore not comfortable 'living the quiet
life'. Given the fact she's run the numbers and money is obviously important
to her, I'd say she's much more likely to be actively making choices rather
than just passively following societal norms.

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cbanek
> What Ilieva makes each year varies but, in a typical year she brings in
> between $80,000 and $150,000

So $150k at the top, and much less than that is possible. Who knows the
frequency of how often it's $80k, and how often it's $150k.

I don't think your numbers include taxes, which if you're self employed, are
higher than if you are working for a company (where they pay those payroll
taxes for you). So there's federal taxes, social security (both parts) and
medicare, and state taxes (for NY). There's also apparently an additional
income tax for working in NYC.

[https://smartasset.com/taxes/new-york-tax-
calculator](https://smartasset.com/taxes/new-york-tax-calculator)

This says $150k might be more like $100k after taxes. Then taking out the
monthly expenses (let's just say $60k), and travel ($15k) and retirement
($15k) and there's only about $10k left over on the best of years, with no
unexpected expenses.

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exabrial
$700 for a beautiful apartment in a Kansas City superb surrounded by a forest
now sounds like I'm getting a great deal.

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sigi45
And how many really cool/new/different restaurant choices do you have?

And how many companies are around you which offer interesting jobs?

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culot
Is restaurant variety really that big a deal? Quality grocery nearby would be
more important for me - my prime concern, actually.

Living in a Kansas city superb could be cool, if those nearby forests offered
parks and trails and such. _shrugs_

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sigi45
As strange as it might sound, at least for me it is.

Quality grocery nearby is more important to me for sure but that is also way
closer in a big city. At least here in munich.

I can only watch movies in OV (original version in my case mostly english), go
out to many different restaurants, go to many shows, congresses, using public
transport etc.

And at least for me, my job opportunities are way better. My carrier would be
none if i would have not moved.

I do not know how it looks in NYC And if i would not really use the citys
advantages because i can't afford it, i would move out of it.

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yurishimo
It blows my mind how people spend so little on food. Any sort of meat on a
regular basis can quickly surpass $50/week. My wife and I budget $150/wk for
food, with some weeks coming in under budget admittedly.

Maybe these types of budgets never factor in snacks or coffee shops?

If you add any sort of fresh meat then the prices go up even more. I would
love to buy grass fed beef and pasture raised chicken but I can't justify the
price when I have $70k worth of student loans to pay off.

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ruyi
$2,400 for a 2b apartment in upper Manhattan? I want that apartment!

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marsrover
I really have to get my food budget under control. I’m spending about 1200 on
groceries and 500 eating out every month. Everything else is fine but the food
kills me.

I think I buy too much fruit.

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NTDF9
This is about how much one would spend in San Francisco as well, if not more
with commute costs.

