~300k+/year pre-stock crash here. 4k mortgage, no other real bills. car paid off. you always want bigger shinnier toys. i couldnt care less for the b.s."designer ****" but i do enjoy going to concerts and sporting events, eating out, treating friends/family to nicer experiences

Op if I find out you make 200000 a year I will kill you

some of us already make more than 100k. Thats why we're quoting higher numbers

I’d think you’d have your sights set on 50k before 200+

Comfortable to me is having $1500/month leftover after 401k, Healthcare, Bills, and food.

I'm gonna say $85,000 is the sweet spot for me.

$4800/month after taxes


-$1500 Mortgage/Rent
-$500 in groceries
-$200 Utilities
-$500 Gas/Car insurance
-$50 Cellphone
-$250 Internet/Netflix/Hulu/HBO/Amazon

That leaves $1800.

401k -???
Healthcare - ???

100k or so

depends on debt load....

lol @ live like a king on 60k

For world class cities, you need 400k(household)+

For average cities you need around 200k

If you make under 100k then it's poverty time

A 100k salary at 35 is poverty as fuk. Good luck affording a home, savings, and kids.

Read my post. $85k is very doable, you'd have something like $1200/month left over. Hell even $70k would work. $100k is a great salary for a single person living on their own.

I mean if you're alone and don't care about a family or savings, investments, then sure. lol

In general, this mindset is a bit why so many guys struggle with women. No foundation building.

Very doable in my area even if supporting a nuclear family on a single $100k income, not mentioning that most people with a detached home and kids are dual income at least up until maternity leave

You won't be in a mansion, but you'd be comfortable. I know 0 people outside of coworkers who are making $100k+.

Since when is having $1200/month leftover not being able to save?



I did the math with $100k. You're left with $2000/month after taxes, 401k, and living expenses

Agreed, most folks aren't making $100k even in big Corporations. The median household income is $70k.

200-250K is where you can start relaxing but you'll still fall behind if you're not investing.

I have one hobby that costs more yearly than my salary from 10 years ago. 100K isn't anything like it used to be. And then thanks to the last few years of inflation and price gouging whatever bumps we've seen have been negated or worse.

I think at 400k you can live pretty comfortably anywhere in the world and can consider 5k-6k rents. 1mil for peace of mind in case the economy crashes tho

Was there a saying back in the day? That rent should only be 1 weeks worth of income (gross not net)?

So if rent is $3,000 your income should be 3,000 *52 = 160,000. But being realistic, most people would prefer those numbers to be net since most news stations use gross for some reason.

So realistically, it would be 3,000 / 0.71 * 52 = 219K if you wanted to make rent in 1 week.

Alberta is good I'll give you that

I imagine $100k back in the early 2000s was a baller income.


Most people won't sniff anything over $125k, let alone $200k. Even dudes making $200k in the Bay area are CUCKED IMO.

Honestly I think CoL, family, taxation, and investment are the biggest factors for feeling "comfortable".

An example to make my point:

Single bro in TX in a low CoL area who doesn't really care a lot about investing for his future could live a "modest"overalllifestyle while being able to go travel with a friend or buy that new TV or decide "screw it I'm buying the new Honda instead of the used Honda".... aka splurge now and then to 'feel good' and totally get by on 50k-60k, just fukking along for decades until finally he hits 70 and can't work full time anymore and just fukks along until he dies. It's not an extravagant life by any means, but he likely at no point in his life would have worries or significant stressors related to his income. Even though he didn't grind to make more money, his CoL, non-family, taxation, and lack of investments made it so his day-to-day was very cheap, and when retired didn't increase his costs.

Compare that to married with 2 kids bro in Cali who wants to diligently save/invest 25% of his income no matter what making 180k per year. Literallytriplethe money of the first bro, but likely has to live on a monthly budget to keep everything in check. Things like vacations, one-time purchases >$350, and unexpected debts would likely sit on his mind all day every day. Despite a massively higher income than first bro, he likely would have a stressed/"uncomfortable" mindset all of the time. Constantly thinking about "Gotta make sure tax time doesn't fukk us. Gotta make sure my kids get clothes that fit 1-2 times per year and their school lunch account is filled. Gotta make sure my 401k, Roth IRA, college bonds, etc., etc., are all where they need to be but oh chit we got in a fender bender and now I've gotta take little Susie to the Urgent Care well fukk... and cotdam the HOA fee just went up 60 dollars to 360/month, fukkkk...."

Theoretically, if bro #2 could magically bump his income up by 25%immediatelyand without increasing any expenses anywhere else, he likely could put his mind at ease and feel a bit better. But that's probably not going to happen and so to feel "secure" (not "comfortable") he lives his life slightly stressed trying to be fukking consistent in every way.


Cliffs/TLDR:

Lifestyle, mindset, and the environment you are in will actually make the bigger difference when it comes to feeling "comfortable" than simply "how much do you make?".

Well if you take into account the context which I clearly outlined...

-Single Male
-Texas

I personally could live like a king on that. It's a figure of speech...Define "World Class City". You have GOATCal Crew in your sig.

Most of your major cities (and many others outside your state) have a rising homelessness/crime rate. So you definitely aren't talking about anything in your state.How can you define whatI need?.

These numbers mean nothing if you can't even define a world class city.
To you it is. House...kids...you're assumingeveryoneis going to take on those expenses?

Do lanklets even think? Dumb take, srs

bout 350 trillion

Yep. And rent is where many fall behind bigtime. Home ownership is better in the long run, but it's hard for many to get their starter.

Long term, I wouldn't trust any industry over the next 20-30 years. Things are changing rapidly, so people better stack their wealth and use the tools available to invest or build side incomes.

Is Texas good living? Would love to leave Illinois, been thinking about relocating to Houston.

Not as much as it used to be but it's leagues better than living in inflated NY or CA. A lot of Calicucks have taken a liking to Austin so the COL has permanently risen in that general area.

If you're going to relocate to Houston I would recommend Pearland if you can afford it. Cypress is still aight in some areas and Katy is growing but the rent is rising with it's growth.

Do some research because I'm a little biased for Texas lol.

Doesn't matter, part of being comfortable is securing your future. You're young, the notion you can just drift around on 60k is not the advice you need. Grown men have benchmarks in lifeHomeless people are in skid row, a little strip of land, and overpasses here and there. I live in Palos Verdes boyo. The average home price in So Cal is nearly 1 million. So in places like CA, NY, you need 400k+

But I'm not saying people need to live in world class cities, just that if you do live in one it takes a much higher salary/career to be comfortable.
For incel manlets, sure I guess things like a family, kids, reaching the top shelf at the grocery store, and riding rollercoasters, is not something that attainable. But I meant for average dudes, who care about those things.

Strong cope/10

3 mil in cash and I'd never work again.

I'm very comfortable now. But I could always be doing better. I think once I hit $300k I'll be good. But realistically, once I hit $300k I'll set my sights on $500k, and so on.

Bro can't even define a "world class city".

I'm not the one coping here. The major cities in those states are cesspools with pockets of "good areas".