What is a decent monthly income?
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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by SpoolE on Wed Nov 9th at 11:55am 2005


In your opinion, what do you think is a good, decent monthly NET income? When I mean net, I mean both Husband + Wife's income put together? When I mean decent, I dont mean Bill Gates, nor do I mean a toilet cleaner! Just a normal family, middle class, with a computer or two living in a good area. So in other words, a decent middle class normal income. Not poor, not rich. Oh, and also remeber to try to translate it into US$ if possible. Got to www.xe.com to do so.




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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by Mephs on Wed Nov 9th at 12:02pm 2005


My personal income is ?45 pounds a week, living on the dole (unemployment benifet for you yanks <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif"> )

Its a very invasive question for most, but IRC people know my ins and outs anyways. More importantly jimmi, either reply to things at the same rate you post them or stop doing it, you sad, sad f**ker.




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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by SpoolE on Wed Nov 9th at 12:32pm 2005


Mephs, Mephs, Mephs...
Im sorry, I was just interested :/ Didnt mean to be invasive or whatever. Also, I didnt find a thread on this, so I just started one.



I would love to change the world, But they would'nt give me the source code.



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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by Crono on Wed Nov 9th at 12:38pm 2005


If both have degrees, I would imagine (unless they're teaching) they would make something in the 45-60K a year a piece. Let's just say 55K.

That's $110K a year. So ... $9.2K/Month After taxes that'd clear around $6,440, assuming taxes takes 30% of the money up.

If you take bills out of that too, they'd probably have about half of that left.

This would be, probably, a little above middle-middle-class. They could probably own a $250-350K home ... have a bunch of luxuries and what not.

Not too difficult to figure out. Most "okay" paying jobs do anywhere from 25-35K a year. (You will make $35K a year by being a nurse ... or a manager at Staples)

However, if you have a better degree, you'll get a s**t load more money. Look at Satch, I believe he said he, alone, clears an ass-load of money. But then again, he's in the medical field and filling people up on drugs they don't need.



Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by Underdog on Wed Nov 9th at 1:17pm 2005


Wages are 100% dependent on the prices/cost of living in any given region of the US.

Menial jobs such as Restaurants may pay as low as 3.35 an hour (or worse) in the south, where the same job may pay 10.00 an hour in the north or west.

Incomes are also a very private thing. As long as the answer can remain general it should pose no problem but any specific questions can become an issue.

Most in the world, myself included, do not really want to know how much other people make because it can lead to boundaries in associations. I detest spoiled rich people, and I am quite sure many others do as well so knowing they are one could lead to issues. For instance, people casually say "Ram is cheap go get you a gig" well money is hard to come by for many. A sentence like that hurts on many levels, most in ways that are not easy to put in forums, even among friends.

Anyway, salaries are subjective and should be taken into consideration when you make your list.




There is no history until something happens, then there is.



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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by SpoolE on Wed Nov 9th at 1:44pm 2005


The question wasnt "What is your salary?".
It was what you think is a good amount. So dont tell me what you earn!



I would love to change the world, But they would'nt give me the source code.



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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by Underdog on Wed Nov 9th at 1:53pm 2005


People naturally want more. So how could anyone realistically answer.

I think that if you can make ends meet and still sock a bit away for a rainy day then you are making a sufficient salary. Most would disagree but thats their viewpoint and would need to post a contrary reply.

I cannot post a number, it would have to many variables to be realistic. Inflation, cost of living, natural disasters, unemployment, medical bills, old age.... The list goes on and on.




There is no history until something happens, then there is.



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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by G4MER on Wed Nov 9th at 2:42pm 2005


Well lets see, I make $13.77 an hour.. And I think its decent for the area I live in. Im not rich nor am I poor, I would like to make in the 34 to 48 thousand range a year. But I think most people would consider the 60 thousand area to be their ideal pay range.

When my wife was an exotic dancer, she would make anywhere between 500-1000 a night with a couple nights a week over the thousand mark. So we were rolling in cash. But sine she has retired, its been really hard, once your used to that kind of income.

I have to agree with Underdog though, in his post above..




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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by Addicted to Morphine on Wed Nov 9th at 3:21pm 2005


Yeah, I agree with UD's point about ideal wages being dictated by the cost of living. Making X amount per year may not cut it in the U.S. or U.K., but if you lived somewhere else where money goes further (like the Philippines for example) you would be perfectly content with that figure.

Since it's all relative, I think you answered your question in your first post. A decent monthly income is whatever gets you "a computer or two living in a good area." That figure changes wherever you live.

Edit: M$, I was really surprised by those figures on how much an exotic dancer makes. I never knew you could pull in that much cash! Next time I take a road trip to Montreal I'll be looking at the girls in a different light...




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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by French Toast on Wed Nov 9th at 8:55pm 2005


15 bucks a month on allowance...

Me pops makes 130,000 a year, but keep in mind 'tis Canadian, and we have uber taxes. So in reality he only keeps around half of it, and after property tax and s**t like that it's not an incredible amount of money...




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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by FatStrings on Thu Nov 10th at 2:57am 2005


my parents make about $60,000 annually combined and we get by find
of course we dont buy a lot of extra stuff and we manage our money wisely
take into consideration that the cost of living in the ozarks is a little lower than other areas




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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by Tracer Bullet on Thu Nov 10th at 3:54am 2005


I'd say 60K is a good round figure to pic for the average "middle class" family. It would be plenty to keep two people comfortable in most US cities (I'm not talking about LA here)

I make 23K as a graduate student, and while that isn't fabulous it's plenty to get by on for one person in Seattle. I don't live in luxury, but neither to I have to pinch pennies to pay my bills. Note that I don't own a car, so that takes a BIG chunk out of my expenses.





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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by Nickelplate on Thu Nov 10th at 6:02am 2005


Tracer, you're getting ripped off!!

I know a guy at work (Fatstrings knows him) and he makes $31,000 with benefits straight out of a bachelors in business. HE WORKS AT A SCHOOL. The same school I work at.

Tracer, you are the "steven hawking" to his "lobotomy patient." Seriously, you could have a lot more money, I bet....




I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com



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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by mazemaster on Thu Nov 10th at 6:15am 2005


He probably chose his work based on its interest to him rather than the payment?





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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by Nickelplate on Thu Nov 10th at 6:31am 2005


could be

that's a smart thing to do. That;s why I am changing from Psychology to Linguistics...




I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com



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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by Tracer Bullet on Thu Nov 10th at 6:37am 2005


I make 23K as a graduate student.

I made allot more when I was working... Grad school is a matter of indentured servitude. That is really quite high for a graduate stipend, particularly considering the low cost of living in Seattle (relative to California).

I get full benefits, and if you were to include the tuition (payed by the department) I make more like 50k.




Some people are like slinkys...

They aren?t really good for anything, but you can't help but laugh when one tumbles down the stairs.



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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by SpoolE on Thu Nov 10th at 11:17am 2005


Here a decent normal middle-class salary is about US$30'000 seeing that here living is pretty cheap (Cheap food at low tax), but my dad earns about US$70'000 annualy, but lots of it goes towards my Brother and sisters Universaty which is NOT cheap!



I would love to change the world, But they would'nt give me the source code.



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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by Myrk- on Thu Nov 10th at 5:20pm 2005


You should earn (in my opinion) twice as much money as your rent costs if you want a good enough life.


-[Better to be Honest than Kind]-



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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by SpoolE on Thu Nov 10th at 6:10pm 2005


I doubt it. My brothers rent is R3000 a month, and his salary is R18000 a month. So he earns 5 times what his rent costs. And that is a top class apartment!



I would love to change the world, But they would'nt give me the source code.



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Re: What is a decent monthly income?
Posted by Crono on Thu Nov 10th at 6:23pm 2005


... Six times ... 3 * 6 = 18.

Like I said, upper middle class would make somewhere around the 100K bracket a year. (In the US ... not really imperative on where you live if you make that amount period)

30K a year is what a lot of people make if there's no extended education background (in general) and the entire US has some similar system of wages, otherwise certain things wouldn't work (California, Washington, and New York don't count :P) Depends on your expenses, right?

It does depend on where you are, but, anyway.

Working in South Africa would be different ... I would imagine.



Blame it on Microsoft, God does.




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