1) If you're making 100K/year, you are making about $5,600 a month, in order to save 30K/year, you need to save 2,500 of it every month, that leaves you with $3,100. If you rent and not buy a house, here goes $1,000 (unless you leave deep in the suburbs), 2,100 left... You finance a car (which most of us do), a new toyota corolla (basic basic model) is about $384 if you have the best credit. Plus insurance for this car is another $100 or so if you're over 25. Let's say with gas and all, $500. You now have $1,600 in your pocket. IF you have any type of a social life, take out another $500 a month for expenses like going out, doing some small shopping, etc... $1,100. IF you are married, and your wife cannot work, you are screwed.
Not really. If you buy used cars for the first few years, you don't worry about that $500/month.
If you choose the right appartment to rent, you could rent 850/month appartment in bayarea. if you are single, why not sharing a room for 250-400/month.
If you don't spend that much $500/month for your social life ..., you can have much left right.
Having wife does not mean screwed
how much another person eat a month? How much other expense? Think about how much it save you. No more going out for lunch/dinner because lazy cooking. Think about tax cut for couple. Think about spending more time with wife rather than going for some social life that cost money.
1-b) Average base salary for a technical job hovers around 60K. This price is good for Americans as well as foreigners. That doesn't mean that our jobs are "junk" like you say. It just means that we need to start from somewhere.
The salary I count is for SF bayarea. Of course other place is much lower and different.
Here is the average salary
Entry level (Software engineer or MTS1) 55K (BS+0)
Junor level (SW Eng 2 or MTS 2) 72K (MS + 0 or BS+2)
Senior level 1(SW Eng 3 or MTS3) 99K (MS/BS + 5)
Senior level 2(SW Eng 4/5 or MTS4) 120K (MS/BS + 10)
So, if we come here after around 5 working years from home, we could expect to get SW Eng 3.
2) In 3 years into the house, if you can pay off 200K of the house, then you have to be richie rich.
I don't mean to payoff 200K, I mean the house could raise 200K or more.
A new 4 bedroom house in 2003 (2002 is much lower) = 350-400K
The same 4 bedroom house now is 650-750K.
You have a raise of few hundred K already.
3) Bonus of a 100K salary would be 15,000 max. Half of it goes to taxes, 7,500. 3 years, 22,500. It's not huge savings there either.
22,500 is not huge but add on to what you have.
Respect people who didn't get the chances you got. Some of the folks here would have gotten only few bucks a day in their home countries if they didnt come here. They work just as hard as you, and they deserve a little more respect.
