How much income is enough?

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Alex

Alex

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Jackie Treehorn said:
I have total compensation of around 125k in the bay area as a single guy. I can't complain but I'm sure as hell no baller. If I made another 50k I'd be happ(ier.)

My base pay will be about 125 in a couple of years. At some point I may be able to move up to a position that gives me up to 10 percent bonus also. So I'll peak at about 150k total eventually.

The good thing is I can take this job anywhere in our range if the position in the right regional office comes up, but honestly I don't know if I'll stay in California. I feel like I'm living like a college student in my 30s renting an apartment. Not really what I dream of. I can't possibly afford a house here.

A guy friend of mine who has multiple streams of income and came from a wealthy family says "the more money you make, the more money you spend." I find that to be the case. I blow too much money on food and dating.
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All of my friends under the age of 40 who own a house/condo all live outside SF, Oakland, or Berkeley. And those are the only places I really care to live in the Bay Area. Walnut Creek? Hayward? Concord? No thanks. It feels foolish to throw away the rent money every month, but owning sounds like a chore. Almost all of those friends who own seem to spend a lot of time working on the house and not doing anything else.
 
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Jackie Treehorn

Jackie Treehorn

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Alex said:
All of my friends under the age of 40 who own a house/condo all live outside SF, Oakland, or Berkeley. And those are the only places I really care to live in the Bay Area. Walnut Creek? Hayward? Concord? No thanks. It feels foolish to throw away the rent money every month, but owning sounds like a chore. Almost all of those friends who own seem to spend a lot of time working on the house and not doing anything else.
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I live in Oakland. I don't particularly want to live anywhere but Oakland. Berkeley gets on my nerves, and honestly I wouldn't live in SF even if it were cheap. Everything I do is in the east bay, job, etc. If I had the money, I wouldn't mind living in Orinda or Moraga or Lafayette since they're only ~15 minutes away without traffic. Walnut Creek, ehh, yeah, it's so bland. Concord I worked in, wouldn't want to live there. San Ramon / Danville / Dublin / Livermore, no thanks either. I get what you're saying about houses.

Xarpolis said:
You only spend more because it's easier to justify. If you made $40,000 a year and that 100% went into your bills and stuff, you would look at any extra purchase as putting you in debt. But realistically, you make $125k a year. You make enough to cover your rent and utilities. So you have enough extra to do some things you enjoy. In this case, going out to eat. If you were struggling, you wouldn't go out. Then you would save money.
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Yeah, I know. I could save more though. Some weeks I do better at going to the grocery store and bringing food to work / eating at home. I'm super involved in social activities and I've made a wide variety of friends since moving out here in 2015, so I'm constantly getting asked to go somewhere for brunch on the weekends or dinner any given day. I do enjoy the food scene around here. Lately I've been a bit smarter about what I buy out too.
 
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