Go sub to my new channel - ruclips.net/channel/UCedlVG7DetjhvcWKXMy5QSQ Take home pay calculator - smartasset.com/taxes/paycheck-calculator Cost of living calculator - www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-living-calculator 117k is "Low Income" - www.cnbc.com/2018/06/28/families-earning-117000-qualify-as-low-income-in-san-francisco.html Cost of living is highly dependent on if you have bills. The big one being your living expenses. 100,000 is alot of money, but 99% of the time, you don't get that money, your landlord or bank gets a majority of it. Then your student loans, then food, and a car.
Worth noting is that 117k is the low income FOR A FAMILY OF FOUR - one single person can do pretty well on that (though as explained on this video, not awesome like you'd expect).
Step 1: Get a 300k developer job in the most expensive area Step 2: Negotiate to work remotely for a small salary deduction Step 3: Move to the cheapest area Step 4: Profit
Noah Minteer yeah and you still pay taxes too. Difference is their taxes go to things that lower their cost of living. So while you may earn more and pay less tax you can still have less disposable income because you have to pay for things such as tuition, medical bills and insurance. Everyone pays tax, the better system prioritises tax better. I think some European countries do this better than the US.
@Noah Minteer And that's the best thing on it. I don't see any advantage to being part of a big nation and living in an overpopulated area. It usually includes a problem of overcrowding everything from buses, highways, etc., includes a lot of wasted time with commuting, waiting for everything (even your lunch or basic groceries). No, thanks, better of with a population of "single state".
@Noah Minteer My dude, 60 million people (size of Britain) is not a "small sample size". Germany is around 80 million people. The U.S is not that far off with 320 million. If we were the size of China (1.3 billion people), then your argument would make more sense. But even then, the Chinese government has already come out and detailed plans to provide basic universal health care to its 1 billion citizens. 😂 so what the hell are we talking about here? This is absurd. The fact that the U.S. is the only industrialized nation that doesn't do this strongly suggests that this is an ideological issue rather than a practical/technical issue.
Dont be stupid with your money and you wont be broke with that kind of money. He included student loans and car payments in his calculations. Those are not things you have to live with. Also, who pays $600 a month for entertainment?
@@JoshuaFluke1 the thing is it depends on where you live here in pa in the suburbs of where i live my house is 150k and has 5 bedrooms 3 full baths and 1 small powder room 2 living rooms, dining room and a good sized kitchen and a massive basement along with 1 office, and a few smaller rooms and has a total of 3,000 Sq. Ft. a mistake i see alot of people make is spending to much on a house or in general things you dont need on top of it
I'm a Bay Area native. The cost of living is absurd here. You are 100% correct that six figures is poverty level here with our million dollar average homes and California taxes. Meanwhile minimum wage is like $12 an hour in places, and then people wonder why everyone who isn't a tech worker is broke. I'll be honest, it's going to keep getting worse. This place is ground zero for people who halt development of any kind and they have all the power thanks to all our laws, so traffic will get worse and housing costs will keep increasing. If you get a 2x raise to move to the Bay Area but have to deal with a 3x cost of living increase, you're actually decreasing your quality of life by alot. Just keep that in mind if you're planning on coming here.
@@JoshuaFluke1 you may be right. It's just such an alien concept. Food prices increase too of course, but they only represent a sliver of the expenses, so it's hard to imagine someone not having enough left for food out of 100k. Perhaps in those cases some rearrangements would change things, perhaps not. It's quite an issue, but honestly it is hard to be sympathetic with someone who earns that much, even if their costs are greater.
@Ethan Groß The second line is unrelated to the fact that I am European. It just points the hypocrisy of making fun of people that are way more successful than me.
I used to live in a 2br apt in South San Jose (that’s 1hr away from SF - w/o traffic). Rent was 3k. And my commute to Palo Alto is 30mins away w/o traffic and there always traffic. I had to spend 1hr one way every day. And the money was not saved at all.
It’s crisp most of the time but basically the mountains form a bowl around the slc area. The pollution gets stuck in the bowl during the winter. And it takes a storm to clean it out.
Exactly. In 2012 I was making $90 an hour in NYC and was wondering if I could sleep at the homeless shelter to make ends meet (hotels were $180/night). It was only a contract.
Well, rv parks there are just as expensive. If your talking about just parking on the street, it's illegal not to mention very uncomfortable. I converted a box truck into an rv for stealth rv living, but without water, power, and septic drain, your better living in your car and hitting a 24 hour gym.
A Google engineer did just that. Slept in a box truck and used Google facilities - showers, food etc. Pocketed the savings in San Francisco. Pure genius! 😂🎉
It's not a lot of money it's 65-70k after taxes. In the 1980's it was a lower rich class salary. Now it's a middle class income. Wage growth is stagnant inflation isn't.
An assistant manager at a grocery store in Iowa with a high school degree lives much better than a Google software engineer in San Francisco with a Masters degree. How did society convince the smartest people to accept the lowest standard of living and quality of life? Because they did.
idk about THAT. I am the second thing (I don't work for Google, but comparable) in SF with an MA. I do NOT want to be working at a grocery store in Iowa. I love my job, this job is part of the perks of this job. Not being bored. And I can go to the beach every day for free. Don't let anyone tell you 100k is poor, that's fucking ridiculous. I make 110 and I'm in heaven.
You can get a studio apartment in SF for $2k - I lived there for 3 years and made a little less than $100k/year. I moved there $5k in debt and left with over $60k in the bank.
Sounds about right. 25k to rent, 30k to taxes, spend maybe 20k for food and everything else, and you've got about 20k in savings a year. A little discouraging to see how quickly that money goes though.
yea what single person is getting a 2 bed apartment on their own? Could easily have a roommate and if both roommates had a significant other then you each only pay 1k
I heard in SF, they are taking these old warehouses and divided them up into rooms with bunk beds 3-4 beds high and people are paying 1500 a month for basically a bed to sleep in. It’s crazy that programmers and other IT folks are making 300-400K and they can barely afford proper housing
@@lovesgibson Because they don't technically make that much, it's all taken from them in taxes and expenses. Remember this, you only "make" what you actually take home.
If I ever start feeling old and wish I was 25 again, all I have to do is watch a video like this and I get over it! I feel really bad for the up-and-coming generations and pretty disgusted by the greed of the powers-that-be who are driving this mess!
Here I am making 6 figures living in Birmingham AL and I own a 150K home (far more impressive than what he showed here for 800K), drive a 50K car and I'm able to save about 1500 bucks a month. Point is, make them pay you for the area. I'm a software developer for The University of Alabama in Birmingham just FYI. I also turned down a 250K in CA that was offered to me for this very reason given in the video. My low 6 figure salary here in AL goes WAY FURTHER than a quarter million would in Cali.
I used to live there. It is low income even for a single person. The cost of living in that area is VERY high. A small apartment in a safe and decent area costs $3000 to $4000 a month or more. The cost of groceries, gas, utilities, etc is also higher than most of other parts of the country. And the taxes are also high. If you have a small family and you are paying back student loans, and have a car note, you will find yourself struggling a lot with that salary. You can do better if you move to a cheaper state even if you are earning significantly less money.
@@FallacyAsPraxis Oh always, Commifornia is just a failed state. Same with many other shitty democrat run states. The policies are what make them unlivable.
As someone who went from 30k to 110k (oilfield gig) I absolutely agree that money is all relative, but saying 100k isn't as much as you think isn't a fair shake, imo. The key, that I learned from taxi drivers in NY, is to make 6 figures but live in places where its boring as hell. That way, the cost of living goes down, and you can profit off of the difference.
My mortgage payment is ~25% of my monthly wages. Small town in North Carolina. Cost of living is low, and I do try to be frugal and live below my means.
@@JoshuaFluke1 Rolling Hills in Centerville, UT looks nice. 550k for upscale 4000SQ houses with views? Why would anyone pay more to live in SLC? And in regards to SF and other pricey markets, remote is the answer to every housing ill.
@@sidehustletips I dont need 4000sq ft. Imagine all that cleaning. Also 550k for a house, that mortgage would be huge. Even with 100k cash down payment. I just want like 1500sq ft. And a yard on a mountain side.
Living in Seattle here. Making 100k a year here is still good, but it’s definitely not what it used to be. Cost of living just keeps going up and wages don’t change.
I learned that as a kid after reading a Connecticut Yankee in Arthur's Court: is not the amount of the money, but its buying power that counts, and that varies from location to location. Mark Twain taught me that!
I love watching Josh gradually figure out just how dysfunctional and no fit for purpose our economy is. This is what happens when you have crony capitalism and government of by and for the rich.
@@psusac start in your local community. Figure out how you can best serve there, figure out peoples needs, wants, desires and what the community can do to best serve itself. Build from there, get into district work. Then scale. Get to state level and keep adjusting. From there, completely up to you! Either way, i agree our current system in the USA is broken, but i think minor tweaks would be far more effective on a whole than focusing on tearing it down and going to 3rd world status. We're the number 1 economy in the world for a reason, that doesnt mean it doesnt come at a cost though. Have a fantastic evening mate!
Or people voting for high taxes. Either way, I'm done leaving my fate to voters and politics. Work multiple jobs, create a corp, and try to get your employer to pay you on B2B. Taxes go bye bye
50 years ago people would have thought someone was crazy to go into debt for the next 30 years to buy a home. But that's what makes everyone good little slaves and makes them obey their masters. Stack a handful of credit cards on that and nobody feels they can afford to tell their employer to kick rocks if they make unreasonable demands. Hence, a population of debt slaves.
"People in eastern europe probably get like 1000$ and their rent costs like 100$" I wish.. an average paycheck is like 700$ and rent for 1 room apartament with comunal fees is about 350$. We basically give 50% for rent.
I'm also in Eastern Europe. Ours is around $250, 48% goes into food alone. 17% is utilities. An average salary is also not enough to rent a one room apartment in center even if you spend on nothing else ($300) and is generally unaffordable further from center ($202).
@@ryanoheron5354, we hardly survive. Many people take loans when they need electronics and other foreign wares and the interest rates are high. Some rent with roommates or in shitty places with no official contract. Others work in shadow sector with no official salary to avoid paying the taxes.
That's a plain lie. I live in Bulgaria and you can easily, and I mean easily get a salary of 1300 dollars, and find an apartment (not a room) for like 200 dollars a month.
@@relentless8756 Eastern europe is usually recognized as the Baltic states and Poland, Bulgaria is more of south-eastern europe. Either way, you guys have a good life then, also my comment was written 1 year ago, things are changing in price quite incredibly. Right now the rent costs are going up, but salaries are becoming bigger too. Either way the 50% of income going to rent is still quite true here.
God I love your channel. It really has all the info I've been searching for and wanted to know. It feel like I'm getting a more honest, realistic expectation set for tech workers. (more than the other 'tech worker life' channels). Thank you.
I actually live in a small town in Kansas, just started a new job as a computer engineer with a slightly lower starting wage for a computer engineer around here, and it is wild how much money I have left over even including 401k and HSA contributions. Bless small town living, two bedroom 1.5 bath apartment for $600 a month (water included) is pretty damn nice.
@@Darksigma.777 Dont much want to say the town/company because everyone would very easily know exactly where I am for 8 hours a day Monday-Friday but let's just say it's a small town in northern Kansas. I graduated from KState so fort riley is very familiar, especially wity the canon shots rocking the windows in manhattan lmao
What's the salary? Just graduated in central cali with compE. I'm working a Software Eng Job paying 70k. Now I'm being taxed more in a single check then I'd make in 4 months working retail.
Besides inflated salaries which are attractive on paper I think another reason a lot of people don’t move to places like Pittsburgh, KS is because then they’d have to live in Pittsburgh, KS. Most new grads and young adults would simply rather struggle in a big city where there’s more attractions and dating prospects. Sure you could move there when you’re further in your career but you only have so many years to be young. There’s a balance that must be struck. I’d love to hear your insight on that part of it Josh
This us very important lesson for the ones who change countries. In my country the revenue tax is taken from each paycheck so I have had colleagues who have been blindsided by the fact that they have accepted a salary that seemed big but after taxes, rent, transport fees it wasn't that much.
@@riverdaletales8457 You should pay them rent once you start making money, after all, they also have to work, have bills, and expenses. Unless, of course your parents are rich and don't need any of your money.
$100k is more than enough to live comfortably. If someone making that isn't able to afford to save, get healthcare, and take care of their other needs, that is completely on them. I honestly am so tired of people forgetting that not everyone wants to be rich. They just want to be able to afford to live.
This. I make about 65k and am able to live comfortably and save. If I made 100k, I would be able to easily save 30k of that a year with my current lifestyle.
I'm Canadian, I work in video games, I''ve been a senior for a while, so I'm getting paid accordingly and I do less than 100K US$, yet I'm way above the average pay and I have a pretty decent house. I'm really happy of the cost of living of where I live, if I were to move to Vancouver, my house would worth around 5-6 times more than what I paid for. So as senior game programmer, I get a lot of headhunters poking me for jobs in LA that's where a lot of big game companies are. I see big numbers (when they do give any) and I'm thinking "ok it's 3-4 times my current salary, but the cost of living will be WAAAY higher".
Who wants to live paycheck to paycheck all thier life? Your basically a slave. I’d rather have a few million bucks to live off and enjoy life. Time is the real asset you can never get back.
Just as bad in London. The Office for National Statistics reports two interesting stats: the 30th percentile rental cost for a house of a given size (in bedrooms), and the 10th, 30th, 50th, 70th and 90th percentile incomes for full-time and part time workers in every county area. If you imagine a couple where one earns the 50th percentile full-time, and the second earns the 50th percentile part-time, and they live in a _30th_ percentile costing 2-bedroom place, then they'd actually have more disposable income if they moved to South Wales, or the North of England far away from London (and took the 50th percentile jobs and 30th percentile house there). Places like London and Bay Area are only great if you're in the top-top-top earning percentile. The vast majority have to live in relative squalor or have stupid commutes that waste your life.
True dat. A tiny single room in a shared house/flat in zone 2 will cost you a bare minimum of £500($616) a month! You go to zone 3 and you gotta do that life-wasting commute and it's not even that much cheaper.
I've been bingeing your videos every weekend since I came across your channel a few weeks ago. I'm a tech worker (but not an engineer) making the Google engineering base pay you described in this video and in love how this video puts into perspective Bay Area life and struggles for nonBay Area folks. I can definitely confirm that it has been a struggle, especially with regards to saving up for a home and putting down a high enough of a down payment so that I don't end up house poor after factoring in mortgage.
I'm from East European country and I totally agree with you man. It's all about the country you are living in. I have three years of experience as a front end dev and I'm currently searching for a job. I'm ready to work for a 25K per year cause for me It's a lot of money and when you said it's a salary of a trainee I was really surprised. For 2K, I can live like a king for about three months. Don't get me wrong people are people all over the world, I'm learning really hard because the requirements are ridiculous to get this much of money and this is kinda disappointing.
Greetings from Russia, where an average citizen will not make 100k in his entire life. I usually spend like 300-400 a month tho (and I am not trying to save money or anything), so at least I got this going for me. LOL.
I am Russian That's bullshit! Average Russian salary is $500/month so average Russian makes $100k in 200 months (16.7 years) Even with salary half of that, you would still make $100k in 400 months (33.3 years) Conclusion: the majority of Russians will make $100k in their lifetime.
@@nnslife you're missing the point. Maybe they'll make 100k over a lifetime, but that's just beyond what anyone could hope to save for retirement. Reality check, you'll need about that much in your pension to have a similar quality of life to when you were working, and not be on the poverty line like all the other pensioners relying on the government
First of all, I agree, the wages in Russia are so small I was shocked and thought I misunderstood something the first time I saw the wages they were offering for a full-stack developer job. But I can't help mentioning that the rent as well as the food is very cheap there. Like a fully-furnished nice, clean apartment in the middle of the city of Kaliningrad (a nice location in Europe, a Russian enclave there) costs $200 to rent! The apartments also don't cost nearly as much 50K or less, the food is also much cheaper. And these are the main expenses of daily living. The only things that still cost as much as in the US are cars (but not insurance or gas), and clothes by international brands like H&M (but you don't buy H&M clothes or cars every day).
Hey Joshua, I just wanted to tell you that I really like your content and I'm glad that you make progress :-) Keep on doing your great work! Cheers from Austria (big fan here)
This is Truth! I live in San Diego and my husband and I are low income. I just convinced him to move to Arizona because the cost of living is so much lower than here in San Diego. I'd rather hustle and work hard to live life and have some savings, not just so we can scrape by.
Im from an eastern european country. In the capital i was payed 1700 a month out of that i had 300 rent 300 for food and 200 for some other expenses. I could basically live an average life and save half my income. In the smaller city's no one pays rent every one owns their house.
I had exactly the same experience, but I was earning 2000 a month after taxes and lived with my parents since I was still a student, expenses also $500. Studies were totally free and of really high quality for software engineers.
I live in Cancun, Mexico work remote for US company and I make around 2700 monthly. Rent here for a nice, clean safe, place can be around 800-1200 month, I think earning 30-40k yearly and live in the US is not a good deal.
I don’t get why people move out of their parents house just to move into an apartment with roommates 😑. What’s the difference?! You’re not independent because if your roommate doesn’t pay his rent (which you’re Dependent on) then you’re doomed ..
@Trace Ford I know a woman who is 75 years old, has written two best selling books, has won awards for her commercials, yet she lives in a small apartment in New York City where she must have roommates in order to survive.
@@riverdaletales8457 Not everyone has the luxury of growing up in a family that doesn't traumatize them in one way or another. Congrats if you had no real issues with yours.
The prices in us always bugged me. I live in middle europe Hungary, so the low side of eu. Minimal wage after tax 5.680usd/year Avrage junior developer salary is around 10.000usd/year Cost of a newly buildedhouse, 85 squre meter ~900squrefoot Here families with 2-3 children has a house this big. Or a smaller, 4-500 squrefoot flat in the capital city Cost around 84.000usd 1gallon (3,7l)gasoil 4,8 usd 1kg (2;2lbs) of bread 1 usd Cost of living is somewhat cheaper here, and having a car is not as much of a has to because of the more widespreaded public transport system But I always just watch: Man living in the usa is so exehausting and expensive.
Loved this video, lots of content and stuff to see! Also I thought 200k was too much for a place here in Lisbon but compared to that yea it's not that much!
The fact that most ppl up their lifestyle when they get raises and promotions baffles me. Stifles all of your potential growth. 100k can quickly become equal to 30k bc your takehome number after expenses is the only one that matters. I cant stand hearing crap about the economy and the country, when the choice of where you live, and what you choose to do w your money is the only important thing.
exactly! I used to live in Indiana comfortably on just $22k/year and had a ton of disposable income left over every month. It literally depends on where you live and your spending habits. $100k/year goes extremely far in alot of places.
Couple of things to consider: Average is often not a great measure for a lot of things to do with money, somewhere like San Francisco there may be a lot of very high end properties which can skew the average high. Second, it's pretty normal for rentals to have more than a single occupant, so whether it's a partner or roommate, you may be able to effectively half (or more) the rent on any given dwelling. Of course if you live alone in a nice neighbourhood, then these numbers are pretty reflective.
Yes, I feel like a lot of context is lost. Personally, I know people working in London and have weighed the option myself. You can get by on a low/medium salary, if you can split the housing cost (be it a partner, or just someone to split an apartment with). Renting is much cheaper than owning a house. Buy groceries somewhere cheap like Aldi. Accept a 30-40 minute commute. It's not a cushy lifestyle, but if you're not going out every weekend, you'll be able to save a bit and provided you make some career progression, eventually increase your lifestyle (or eventually save up money and move elsewhere to own property). When it comes to owning property.. Forget it. They're just overpriced in these areas, focus on an investment or retirement account instead. You don't need to own your house to get ahead, become financially stable (& independent?). This myth needs to end.
Well, having a roommate does impact someone’s lifestyle for better or for worse and therefore the original point is still relevant. Many people don’t believe living with 7 roommates to make ends meet is a high quality lifestyle
I'm learning web developmet after my current job so I can look for a remote position that pays me in euro or dolar. In the beginning of this strategy I've considered leaving my country but I gave up bc of the high living costs. I can live a super comfortable life here in Brazil with 2~3k EU or USD monthly. Most families manage to do with under 250usd/month.
7:52 No. This happens because you are American. Here, in Europe, where *nobody* gets a six-figure salary except high-ranking managers and CEOs, it is said that your living style more-or-less stabilizes after you make 25K-40K per year (depending on the country). Everything else above that goes mostly to savings. You'll have Internet, a car, and a decent place to live. After that 25-40K break, the only difference will be whether you vacation to the Caribbean or within your own country, or whether you have a Renault or a Mercedes car, or whether your kids go to Harvard or to the local college. That can make a difference, sure (especially regarding what college your kids can go to), but for 92% of the time, your life is exactly the same whether you make 40K or 80K. Most of us grind for the good jobs because we want security and a nice cash pillow to land on if things go wrong. It's not about "I make 80K, so I spend 80K, even if it's on frivolous things". It's more like "I make 80K so I can have a nice life, a nice car, nice vacations, and still save 30K a year so my kids can go to an expensive University when they're older and I can retire to a nice house by the beach".
I moved from Seattle Wa to North Carolina to get a lower cost of living. My pay was good in Seattle but cost of living slowed my ability to save and build wealth. If you want to build wealth the point you are making is very important
I guess buy is misleading,. I finance them, but I could buy if I saved for three - five years. It’s just not the strategy I want to take. They’re 125k-175k
I've been to SF for a conference back in 2016. Amazing city especially for tech but expensive as absolute hell. One guy I talked to works in city but commutes 2 hours each way. Imagine getting up so early because you have to spend 2 hours just to get to the job, work for 8 to 9 hours, and then it's another 2 hours before you get home. Maybe you see your family? Doesn't feel like a good trade to me.
I make 91K in the dc area at 23 and it’s way more than enough to live, it’s kinda blowing my mind I work with other recent college grads living at home and complaining they don’t have enough money toward the end of the month. Granted they have a much nicer car than me and go out almost every weekend and happy hours everyday. I also have 0 debt so I guess that’s a major plus for me but still I have almost $2K+ left over so I scratch my head at what people do with their money honestly.
This is mostly true. I lived in SF and other places in the Bay Area for 7 years. The cost of an apartment in SF is exaggerated if we're talking about one person . But there are other costs that aren't mentioned. Like for example, the cheapest parking ticket you'll get in SF is $80. One time we paid $10 for 3 tomatoes from a hip grocery shop in the Mission district. It gets more ridiculous than you think in SF
A friend of mine migrated to USA and lives in Palo Alto for 30 years. She lives in her parents’ first house across from Stanford. Her parents also own a house nearby where they live. Both houses have mortgage paid off. My friend works as a barista and has no worry about housing living in the heart of Silicon Valley. Her family is middle class, not wealthy and loaded. They bought the houses early on in area with good school district (not East Palo Alto) and accelerated payments to rid off mortgage.
Here in NL, especially in Amsterdam, a decent developer salary would be around 90k euro (around 100k usd). However, everything is fu**ng expensive and taxes are high, some of your income will be in the top bracket and you pay 52% tax. (foreigners can get tax deduction for the first 5 years btw). So then you have a good paying job but a furnished 2BR appartment in a decent location will cost you 2500 euro a month. Don't expect a company car for a developer job, but even if you get it you'll have to pay tax. A 50k (which a entry level 3 series will cost you, note that cars are also damn expensive here) car will cost you around 400 euro nett per month. Employers don;t pay more because they actually have to pay a lot of fees on top of the salary and they can;t just fire someone because of all these socialist protection laws. It must be set that by default, permanent employees have many benefits such as paid leave 25 days or so, retirement plans partly paid by employer, commuting expenses, etc. So what happens now is everyone is working as an independent contractor. Demand is high so no issues there. When you shop around the same 90k permanent position will pay 90 per hour (rule of thumb, annual salary divided by 1000). Many advantages because you're seen as entrepeneur by the tax office, so lower taxes and every expense for items you might use is deductable. I'm currently working 4 days from home, 1 day office at 97.5/hr . I got this contract 3 months ago after i was layed of my other contract (@85/hr) because of corona. It took me two weeks to find. Contractor positions in NL and most of NW-Europe (including germany) are on par with these rates. London and Switzerland even pay slightly more. Contracting here is similar to regular jobs in US, although taxes are still slightly higher. Outside of sillicon valley, I believe salaries in US are similar to contractors here. Edit: My rant about expensive cars in NL and housing in Amsterdam, does not apply to all other area's (although housing in London, Paris and Switzerland is even more expensive) Edit 2: 90K p.a. will nett you 54,312 p.a. or 4526 a month (although every month it is slightly less since there is 8% vacation allowance which will usually be paid in May for the whole year)
I remember hearing someone describe a 300k house as fancy. I cringed in Melbourne. If there were houses within an hour of a good number of jobs where I'd be able to find tenant/s for any spare rooms I'd be all over that. That's before even considering currency conversion.
It's even worse to think about it as an European, because here (especially in Poland and some other poor countries I guess) 6 figure salary is A LOT, but that means we get used to it, so when we finally decide to go to USA or somewhere similar... we're gonna have a hard time, I guess.
Okay but lets be honest $4,000 a month for rent is the extreme. You make good points though. As long as your aware of your location & your budget you will be just fine.
As someone who lives off of maybe 30k(Ga, United States), that's a lot. That's a enough to live by myself with no roommate, build a stock portfolio, and have two savings accounts. That's enough to go on vacation once a year, eat lunch with friends without worrying about money, and have a dog. Six figures is a lot of money. Not enough to spend recklessly, but enough to live a relaxing lifestyle. More than anything, it's enough to invest in yourself, and build your worth even more. Turning a 100k salary into a 200k+ salary.
Exactly. Im in Indiana and $100k goes very far here. I'm currently able to live very comfortably on just $800/month in total expenses. So imagine what $10k/month could do.
That is cheap for a home for LA standards! I paid $567,000 for my Condo out here in LA for a 1,200 square foot, which was bought on a short-sale (Was priced at $800,000) and I bought in December 2020. I make $96,000 per year and I can barely pay all of my expenses (Mortage included). So, ya, it's really expensive to live in LA!!
I have been living in SF for 20 years, a 100k = comfortable living, 200k travel around and still live in comfort anything below is kinda crazy considering that the average home is about 1mill
Outstanding video, Josh!! It should be viewed by hundreds of thousands of people as a public service announcement. Highly informative and practical. Thank you!
Cost of living comparisons are essential! You do also have to consider where you want to live. Some people will take less take-home money so they don't have to live in rural Kansas.
Meanwhile in Eastern Europe: Boss: Great interview! From Monday you'll be starting your new role at *company*. $600/month sounds good for junior dev, aye? You: Sure......
This is a great video, my sis wanted to accept ab offer in NY that cost iif living wise was a downgrade from her job in SC, but numerically higher, she wouldn't listen but luckily had another reason not to take the job
Why would a single person pay $4,000+ for a 2 bedroom apt? I’d prefer having roommates for 2 or 3 years, save money and buy a house somewhere else boiiii
I've managed to keep having my own place for all of my working life. With room mates coming and going sometimes (close friends that need a place and all). It's so much better. I can play whatever music I want, whenever. Nobody wakes me up when I don't want to be. If I wake up on a weekend middle of the night nothing stops me from playing games, starting a wood working project, coding, etc. No fighting over chores/responsibility, no late payments, never worrying about stuff going missing (because now you gotta trust not just your room mates, but everyone they trust), etc. That said, I am also never paying 4000+ for a 2 bedroom apt, what is wrong with people.
@@nagyzoli you have your own room and bathroom, y'all just share the kitchen and living room. I have done it all 4 years of college. I don't understand why some people find it hard to share those spaces.... At that point, rent is only like 1.5k in a decently neighborhood
nagy zoli damn, I feel bad for you guys in Europe lol. Our flats are more like square where the rooms are on the sides and the living room kitchen is in the middle
This doesn't take into account the stock grants, bonuses, and raises you get at big tech companies in the Bay Area that you likely cant get elsewhere. Sure, 100k salary alone is not enough to live comfortably in the area (not saying it cant be done), but when considering many companies also pay 30-100k in stock grants, you can afford a much higher take home income as a result. Not to mention that most companies offer 10%+ raises every year you stay there (to retain talent), so if you stay longer, you can make much, much more and outpace the cost of living. Also to note, the Bay Area provides many excellent opportunities to network and connect with people that can help you advance your career and earn more.
Mr. Joshua Fluke, this was a very good video and I am sure a lot of viewers were well informed. I was well aware of the information, but none the less, a good and informative video. Good work!
Its why I stay in Kansas. My wife and I make around 150k together and in Kansas we live really well off. I am able to even max out all of our retirement accounts which is around 60k a year easily.
Yep. Definitely not struggling but it can go quickly if you aren't money wise, but key is stay single and don't have kids haha. Save a lot that way. Also, I work remote and don't live in a major city. My mortgage is as much as my rent was outside of Denver.
Kids are a drain for sure and limiting with regards to what you can accept on top of it (overtime gets harder, you set down roots, etc.) as for the staying single part, not so much. Getting hitched effectively doubles your earning power provided you aren't going the stay at home spouse route. Even prior to my recent lay-off, if I were still single it would be extremely difficult for me to afford living on my own. My wife being an employee of the federal government is the only thing that makes me not living with my parents possible.
Depends how many kids you have. If you have 5 kids yes they are a money drain depending on how much money you make. If you have one kid and let’s say you take home 40k that’s more than doable if you’re wise with money. This whole notion of not having kids to save money is dumb. Youre going to be broke regardless of having kids or not if you have terrible spending habits
@@KiingCam96 considering that a kid costs around 14k a year or more. I say that's a pretty damn accurate statement. Sorry if you got triggered, but facts are facts.
Chicago ‘luxury’ apartments = 2k/ mo utils not included. Live in $400/ mo w/ utilities included. Lower income but relatively ‘safe’ family neighborhood. Don’t tell landlord or roommate you’re s/w engineer. (there’s no lease; social worker roommate is chill, things are loose!). Basically conduct life outside your small bedroom like Equinox gym membership, soup up your room w/ good desk, chair, machines, design interior nice, then come home to sleep and maybe read before bed. Use public transit - good here in Chicago. Use po box so roommate doesn’t see statements - or go paperless. Save and invest 75% of salary and side hustle(s), then change lifestyle ( ie buy house/ duplex to rent out, switch to higher paying job, marry someone whom you love and respect who also happens to have business savvy and wealth, keep skills up and embrace learning.
Seriously, USA is seems to be more crap as I more see your videos. We can be much better off in Europe, especially in the central and eastern part. Although the zero interest rates also did much of the damage here and the prices are way up. But still can be much better off in my country. Not very hard to make 3000 euros after tax as a software developer (if you are clever) locally and my mortgage payments can be as low as 400 per months (for a 2 bedroom flat near the city center in capital city, assuming price about 140k eur, 70 m2 flat) if I would buy today a flat in a good area - good means close to center, not in terms of safe with a low crime because the whole city is safe (I bought it earlier so my mortgage payments are half and I almost paid it off). I have an old car, probably worth around 1000 eur, 100 eur insurance per year, usually don't put more per year into servicing cost than 500 eur. Also you could put your car expenses before tax if you are clever (I am living in a different country now so doesn't apply in my case, my car is used by my mom when I am not here). But in the capital city you don't need even a car and starting to be an issue with parking. You can use a public transport, monthly ticket for the city is about 25 eur per month (super cheap). Cost of energy regarding to living (electric, gas, heating, hot and cold water, payments to building maintenance company) is up to 200 eur (there is virtually no servicing cost in the flat, no boiler here, every energy sources coming externally, that's why it is quite expensive with that 200 euros... maybe will get a air condition unit so that might change). If you want you can rent out a room for somebody else for about 250. Remember, I am still talking about making this locally. You can still do it with better combinations. I can move to even a cheaper place and work remotely or I can work remotely for a company in other country where they pay more and live here (or move to a cheaper place), etc. Internet cost is 15 euros for 300Mbit/s download and 30 Mbit/s upload (fiber optics to the home). Commuting time to the city center probably 10-20 minutes one way with a public transport. With a car is usually 10 minutes but we are starting to get now traffic jams so it will be worse. Airport - 10 minute drive from my place (which is quite far from the airport). If you take a taxi that's maybe 5-7 eur. Food is quite cheap here, you can get a decent meal in restaurant for 5 euros, usually better quality that in UK or USA (no hamburger or similar, compare more with an Italian type of food). A standard thing is to go to eat outside in a restaurant as an employee and eat from a standard plate (I am not sure how long this will survive) - you have many times some meal deals and the meal includes a soup as well. Oh and we have health care insurance as a standard thing included in your salary. You can't bankrupt in this country because you survived a cancer (usually that's a standard thing in Europe). School debt doesn't exist. Universities are free and paid by state (unless you overrun the standard study time but even after that the cost shouldn't be horrible, maybe you pay couple of 100 euros). With the same university I could easily get a job in any software company in USA (so it's not like something very low quality). Cost of having kids are not very high. All the schools and nurseries are subsidised so it's about couple of 10 euros per month the cost. Nothing like 600 pounds/month nursery cost in London for one kid :) BTW: With a non-compete agreement probably your dad's former company would have no chance to win and take everything from your dad in this country. Europe is not a corporate heaven and people have rights here as well, not just companies. Companies usually don't put this into contracts here (definitely not 25 years ago, no they are starting to copy this crap from USA but they wouldn't have much chance to sue and take everything from you, those things are even heavily limited in the law and I think after 6 months ending you employment contract you can do whatever you want, even competing directly to your previous company). Yeah, ok, so probably we don't have fancy cars with 5 liter engines like in USA and I don't own a house with 8 bedrooms (my parents they own a 150m2 house but that's outside of capital city) but I think I am still with a higher quality life than living in San Francisco / LA / Silicon Valley, working for google or facebook, barely save anything and going bankrupt after having a higher medical bill.
Yea, I have this conversation a lot with Europeans/people from Asian countries. American media makes it look amazing but the actual standard of living is pretty garbage compared to most first world countries.
@@JRCxyz Me? I'm from Hawaii but I lived in California and Japan for a while and now I'm back in Hawaii but I moved from the countryside to the city part. I guess that would contribute to my mindset considering I've only lived in expensive shitholes of states lol.
That's why folks in Silicon Valley love, love, love this whole remote situation right now. 150K is not a ton of money in San Francisco. But it's a lot in Texas or Florida where you not just get a nicer loft or house. But the quality of life is much higher - SF is been swarmed by homeless every day which can be hard to live with.
Go sub to my new channel - ruclips.net/channel/UCedlVG7DetjhvcWKXMy5QSQ
Take home pay calculator - smartasset.com/taxes/paycheck-calculator
Cost of living calculator - www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-living-calculator
117k is "Low Income" - www.cnbc.com/2018/06/28/families-earning-117000-qualify-as-low-income-in-san-francisco.html
Cost of living is highly dependent on if you have bills. The big one being your living expenses. 100,000 is alot of money, but 99% of the time, you don't get that money, your landlord or bank gets a majority of it. Then your student loans, then food, and a car.
Worth noting is that 117k is the low income FOR A FAMILY OF FOUR - one single person can do pretty well on that (though as explained on this video, not awesome like you'd expect).
Bruh. My car insurance is 176 lol Florida. Financed car 🙄
100 for electric!?! Are you living in a closet?! Electric for a 1200 sqft apartment was literally 400 a month in the WINTER here in florida.
@@gatorslife22 I'm being super conservative lol
Joshua Fluke please teach us developers how to manage our finances!
Step 1: Get a 300k developer job in the most expensive area
Step 2: Negotiate to work remotely for a small salary deduction
Step 3: Move to the cheapest area
Step 4: Profit
This is what the tech companies are doing in Utah, and it's blowing up the housing market here.
STONKS
@@CLove511 Consider moving to Germany. Cheers
Gentrification basically.
or...
Step 4: Hire cheap labor from a 3rd world country to do your work
Step 5: Vacation all year
As an eastern european, I envy your salaries. But then again, my cost of living is a lot less, and my college was free, tho.
Asa ziceam si eu la inceput pana afli ce scumpe sunt toate, lipsa de drepturi pentru angajati, lipsa de protectie sociala etc
Noah Minteer yeah and you still pay taxes too. Difference is their taxes go to things that lower their cost of living. So while you may earn more and pay less tax you can still have less disposable income because you have to pay for things such as tuition, medical bills and insurance. Everyone pays tax, the better system prioritises tax better. I think some European countries do this better than the US.
@@harryiii3361 I definitely agree with you. At least here you can't bankrupt because of medical bills.
@Noah Minteer And that's the best thing on it. I don't see any advantage to being part of a big nation and living in an overpopulated area. It usually includes a problem of overcrowding everything from buses, highways, etc., includes a lot of wasted time with commuting, waiting for everything (even your lunch or basic groceries). No, thanks, better of with a population of "single state".
@Noah Minteer My dude, 60 million people (size of Britain) is not a "small sample size". Germany is around 80 million people. The U.S is not that far off with 320 million. If we were the size of China (1.3 billion people), then your argument would make more sense. But even then, the Chinese government has already come out and detailed plans to provide basic universal health care to its 1 billion citizens.
😂 so what the hell are we talking about here? This is absurd. The fact that the U.S. is the only industrialized nation that doesn't do this strongly suggests that this is an ideological issue rather than a practical/technical issue.
It’s a lot when you’re broke
You're still broke, except now you just work for the opportunity
Joshua Fluke touché
lmao
Dont be stupid with your money and you wont be broke with that kind of money. He included student loans and car payments in his calculations. Those are not things you have to live with. Also, who pays $600 a month for entertainment?
@@JoshuaFluke1 the thing is it depends on where you live here in pa in the suburbs of where i live my house is 150k and has 5 bedrooms 3 full baths and 1 small powder room 2 living rooms, dining room and a good sized kitchen and a massive basement along with 1 office, and a few smaller rooms and has a total of 3,000 Sq. Ft.
a mistake i see alot of people make is spending to much on a house or in general things you dont need on top of it
I'm a Bay Area native. The cost of living is absurd here. You are 100% correct that six figures is poverty level here with our million dollar average homes and California taxes. Meanwhile minimum wage is like $12 an hour in places, and then people wonder why everyone who isn't a tech worker is broke. I'll be honest, it's going to keep getting worse. This place is ground zero for people who halt development of any kind and they have all the power thanks to all our laws, so traffic will get worse and housing costs will keep increasing.
If you get a 2x raise to move to the Bay Area but have to deal with a 3x cost of living increase, you're actually decreasing your quality of life by alot. Just keep that in mind if you're planning on coming here.
Not being a software developer in California is basically automatic struggle bus.
Low Income != Poverty
Nobody who earns 100k is struggling to feed his family. He may live below average for that area, but he isn't poor.
@@mrknarf4438 in san jose and san fran they are
@@JoshuaFluke1 you may be right. It's just such an alien concept. Food prices increase too of course, but they only represent a sliver of the expenses, so it's hard to imagine someone not having enough left for food out of 100k. Perhaps in those cases some rearrangements would change things, perhaps not. It's quite an issue, but honestly it is hard to be sympathetic with someone who earns that much, even if their costs are greater.
@@mrknarf4438 A house a little nicer than a cardboard box there is 280,000... Monthly rent even is going to be double or triple what you would expect
me (a european): *laughs about American student loans*
also me: *cries in 1 room appartment*
just live at ur parents lol
@@ethanswimmer1287 that's around 2000usd/month. and in America, you could get a pretty decent apartment for that.
@Ethan Groß The second line is unrelated to the fact that I am European. It just points the hypocrisy of making fun of people that are way more successful than me.
people in europe are cold asf, i rather live in US.
@@tdias25 That's a fairly broad statement! :D
Averages are so misleading, it's far worse than that if you have a family and want a "safe" area
Don’t have a family and you’re set bro .
The key is not to live in SF and save the money
I used to live in a 2br apt in South San Jose (that’s 1hr away from SF - w/o traffic). Rent was 3k. And my commute to Palo Alto is 30mins away w/o traffic and there always traffic. I had to spend 1hr one way every day. And the money was not saved at all.
Live in Mexico
@@HotepSaoirse lol
Roger But dat Goldengate Bridge tho.
Jason Lu one hour of commuting is nothing, in London 3 hours of travelling a day is the norm.
The rich people in Utah also live above the smog. Lol
Exactly
lmao I would of thought Utah would have super crisp air (im from NY)
It’s crisp most of the time but basically the mountains form a bowl around the slc area. The pollution gets stuck in the bowl during the winter. And it takes a storm to clean it out.
MasterOfDone r/im14andthisisdeep
@MasterOfDone nice
So basically work in a tech company like Google, then live in an RV.
Got it!
Exactly. In 2012 I was making $90 an hour in NYC and was wondering if I could sleep at the homeless shelter to make ends meet (hotels were $180/night). It was only a contract.
As I passed by the Google Campus, I saw several RVs. You could tell people were sleeping in it.
@@bigneiltoo thats crazy! $90 an hour and barely makin ends meet? Want did u, work 3 hrs a day?
Well, rv parks there are just as expensive. If your talking about just parking on the street, it's illegal not to mention very uncomfortable.
I converted a box truck into an rv for stealth rv living, but without water, power, and septic drain, your better living in your car and hitting a 24 hour gym.
A Google engineer did just that. Slept in a box truck and used Google facilities - showers, food etc. Pocketed the savings in San Francisco. Pure genius! 😂🎉
I live in Egypt and I still don't know why I find this interesting. I AM NOT EVEN IN USA!!
Hhhh we all do that !
LP2 INC no am a student. But I receive my allowance in USD
This comment is food for the algorithim.
Same
It's not a lot of money it's 65-70k after taxes. In the 1980's it was a lower rich class salary. Now it's a middle class income. Wage growth is stagnant inflation isn't.
Wow yumm I love algorithms
An assistant manager at a grocery store in Iowa with a high school degree lives much better than a Google software engineer in San Francisco with a Masters degree.
How did society convince the smartest people to accept the lowest standard of living and quality of life?
Because they did.
idk about THAT. I am the second thing (I don't work for Google, but comparable) in SF with an MA. I do NOT want to be working at a grocery store in Iowa. I love my job, this job is part of the perks of this job. Not being bored. And I can go to the beach every day for free. Don't let anyone tell you 100k is poor, that's fucking ridiculous. I make 110 and I'm in heaven.
They convince them by years of indoctrination during their “education”. It’s really quite simple.
@@SpecialBlanket how much money do you save tho annually?
Bingo
@@orange_penis it doesn’t matter. BecUse it’s still subjective and depends on where you live.
You can get a studio apartment in SF for $2k - I lived there for 3 years and made a little less than $100k/year. I moved there $5k in debt and left with over $60k in the bank.
Sounds about right. 25k to rent, 30k to taxes, spend maybe 20k for food and everything else, and you've got about 20k in savings a year. A little discouraging to see how quickly that money goes though.
@Jacob 20k for food *AND EVERYTHING ELSE*
@Jacob expansive foods in those cities i guess, specially if you dine out
yea what single person is getting a 2 bed apartment on their own? Could easily have a roommate and if both roommates had a significant other then you each only pay 1k
I heard in SF, they are taking these old warehouses and divided them up into rooms with bunk beds 3-4 beds high and people are paying 1500 a month for basically a bed to sleep in. It’s crazy that programmers and other IT folks are making 300-400K and they can barely afford proper housing
And the illegals live for free. It's their "right".
It seems like they are paying to live in a homeless shelter.
Yup. Knew a guy who did that. Totally absurd
How the fuck do they make as much as the president yet are poor
@@lovesgibson Because they don't technically make that much, it's all taken from them in taxes and expenses. Remember this, you only "make" what you actually take home.
If I ever start feeling old and wish I was 25 again, all I have to do is watch a video like this and I get over it! I feel really bad for the up-and-coming generations and pretty disgusted by the greed of the powers-that-be who are driving this mess!
Here I am making 6 figures living in Birmingham AL and I own a 150K home (far more impressive than what he showed here for 800K), drive a 50K car and I'm able to save about 1500 bucks a month. Point is, make them pay you for the area.
I'm a software developer for The University of Alabama in Birmingham just FYI.
I also turned down a 250K in CA that was offered to me for this very reason given in the video. My low 6 figure salary here in AL goes WAY FURTHER than a quarter million would in Cali.
Why not just take the job and live in a van
@@SimonWoodburyForget 1.) do it stealthily, 2.) don't tell anyone you're doing it, 3.) get a remote job and work out of a coworking space
The article says $117,000 is low income...for a family of four.
Don't have kids and never settle down. Done!
That’s a pretty standard situation for many. Not everyone is single.
100k is definitely a lot 🤣 it’s not about how much you make it’s about how much you KEEP.
I used to live there. It is low income even for a single person. The cost of living in that area is VERY high. A small apartment in a safe and decent area costs $3000 to $4000 a month or more. The cost of groceries, gas, utilities, etc is also higher than most of other parts of the country. And the taxes are also high. If you have a small family and you are paying back student loans, and have a car note, you will find yourself struggling a lot with that salary. You can do better if you move to a cheaper state even if you are earning significantly less money.
@@FallacyAsPraxis Oh always, Commifornia is just a failed state. Same with many other shitty democrat run states. The policies are what make them unlivable.
As someone who went from 30k to 110k (oilfield gig) I absolutely agree that money is all relative, but saying 100k isn't as much as you think isn't a fair shake, imo. The key, that I learned from taxi drivers in NY, is to make 6 figures but live in places where its boring as hell. That way, the cost of living goes down, and you can profit off of the difference.
Forreal, I dont have any major debt and 100k is my rent paid for the next 12 years lol
Just did the math. My rent is 42% of my monthly income and I live in a modest place for my area.
My mortgage payment is ~25% of my monthly wages. Small town in North Carolina. Cost of living is low, and I do try to be frugal and live below my means.
Same.. Australian housing market is criminal
You are likely to spent between 80% and 90% on rent in Brazil if you earn minimum wage. It's been this way for decades.
1:43 I mean that view is incredible....
They bought in early when Utah was still an undiscovered gem. Now everyone wants 2 million.
@@JoshuaFluke1 no worries housing prices will crash
@@superoriginalname we'll see. Lemme get that view lmao
@@JoshuaFluke1 Rolling Hills in Centerville, UT looks nice. 550k for upscale 4000SQ houses with views? Why would anyone pay more to live in SLC? And in regards to SF and other pricey markets, remote is the answer to every housing ill.
@@sidehustletips I dont need 4000sq ft. Imagine all that cleaning. Also 550k for a house, that mortgage would be huge. Even with 100k cash down payment. I just want like 1500sq ft. And a yard on a mountain side.
Living in Seattle here. Making 100k a year here is still good, but it’s definitely not what it used to be. Cost of living just keeps going up and wages don’t change.
I learned that as a kid after reading a Connecticut Yankee in Arthur's Court: is not the amount of the money, but its buying power that counts, and that varies from location to location. Mark Twain taught me that!
I never knew I needed to hear something so much until I heard it now
Couldn't agree with you more. I literally have a video going out in a week about how ill never live in silicon valley for this exact reason.
Oh shit it's Dylan!
I live in Louisiana and have a $400k developer job cause I work remote.
I love watching Josh gradually figure out just how dysfunctional and no fit for purpose our economy is. This is what happens when you have crony capitalism and government of by and for the rich.
you can keep blaming the government or you can take action - it's completely up to you
@@korratheaustralianshepherd5804 What action would you recommend?
@@psusac start in your local community. Figure out how you can best serve there, figure out peoples needs, wants, desires and what the community can do to best serve itself. Build from there, get into district work. Then scale. Get to state level and keep adjusting. From there, completely up to you!
Either way, i agree our current system in the USA is broken, but i think minor tweaks would be far more effective on a whole than focusing on tearing it down and going to 3rd world status. We're the number 1 economy in the world for a reason, that doesnt mean it doesnt come at a cost though.
Have a fantastic evening mate!
@@korratheaustralianshepherd5804 SO basically your solution is government work to fix the problem ... Lmao
Or people voting for high taxes. Either way, I'm done leaving my fate to voters and politics. Work multiple jobs, create a corp, and try to get your employer to pay you on B2B. Taxes go bye bye
50 years ago people would have thought someone was crazy to go into debt for the next 30 years to buy a home. But that's what makes everyone good little slaves and makes them obey their masters. Stack a handful of credit cards on that and nobody feels they can afford to tell their employer to kick rocks if they make unreasonable demands. Hence, a population of debt slaves.
The sad part is that they never taught this in school.
You don’t say .
This is just basic arithmetic calculation. It’s common sense to think bout ur cost of living and quality of ur lifestyle.
San Franciscan here. The idea the average person is living in a 2 bedroom and owns a car sounds WILD to me.
Caltrain
"People in eastern europe probably get like 1000$ and their rent costs like 100$" I wish.. an average paycheck is like 700$ and rent for 1 room apartament with comunal fees is about 350$. We basically give 50% for rent.
I'm also in Eastern Europe. Ours is around $250, 48% goes into food alone. 17% is utilities. An average salary is also not enough to rent a one room apartment in center even if you spend on nothing else ($300) and is generally unaffordable further from center ($202).
@@Alex-mc5yn how can people live then? Genuinely curious
@@ryanoheron5354, we hardly survive. Many people take loans when they need electronics and other foreign wares and the interest rates are high. Some rent with roommates or in shitty places with no official contract. Others work in shadow sector with no official salary to avoid paying the taxes.
That's a plain lie. I live in Bulgaria and you can easily, and I mean easily get a salary of 1300 dollars, and find an apartment (not a room) for like 200 dollars a month.
@@relentless8756 Eastern europe is usually recognized as the Baltic states and Poland, Bulgaria is more of south-eastern europe. Either way, you guys have a good life then, also my comment was written 1 year ago, things are changing in price quite incredibly.
Right now the rent costs are going up, but salaries are becoming bigger too. Either way the 50% of income going to rent is still quite true here.
God I love your channel. It really has all the info I've been searching for and wanted to know. It feel like I'm getting a more honest, realistic expectation set for tech workers. (more than the other 'tech worker life' channels). Thank you.
I actually live in a small town in Kansas, just started a new job as a computer engineer with a slightly lower starting wage for a computer engineer around here, and it is wild how much money I have left over even including 401k and HSA contributions. Bless small town living, two bedroom 1.5 bath apartment for $600 a month (water included) is pretty damn nice.
I'm in fort Riley KS, where are you?
@@Darksigma.777 Dont much want to say the town/company because everyone would very easily know exactly where I am for 8 hours a day Monday-Friday but let's just say it's a small town in northern Kansas. I graduated from KState so fort riley is very familiar, especially wity the canon shots rocking the windows in manhattan lmao
What's the salary? Just graduated in central cali with compE. I'm working a Software Eng Job paying 70k. Now I'm being taxed more in a single check then I'd make in 4 months working retail.
@@rmad800 I make 65k, course I'm ACTUALLY making 50k after taxes but I dont really see a salary as what I'm actually taking hone with me
I love KS...I farm in Missouri and Kansas live in Missouri.
Besides inflated salaries which are attractive on paper I think another reason a lot of people don’t move to places like Pittsburgh, KS is because then they’d have to live in Pittsburgh, KS. Most new grads and young adults would simply rather struggle in a big city where there’s more attractions and dating prospects. Sure you could move there when you’re further in your career but you only have so many years to be young. There’s a balance that must be struck. I’d love to hear your insight on that part of it Josh
I just sold a farm in SE Kansas..
This us very important lesson for the ones who change countries. In my country the revenue tax is taken from each paycheck so I have had colleagues who have been blindsided by the fact that they have accepted a salary that seemed big but after taxes, rent, transport fees it wasn't that much.
How I survive in the bay area: living with my parents.
Do you pay them rent ? Give them money ?¿
When I was making money I did.
@@riverdaletales8457 You should pay them rent once you start making money, after all, they also have to work, have bills, and expenses. Unless, of course your parents are rich and don't need any of your money.
Same and no shame living with our parents! It's the only way to save up for a down payment.
same...i paid for my own necessities and bills so i wasnt mooching
$100k is more than enough to live comfortably. If someone making that isn't able to afford to save, get healthcare, and take care of their other needs, that is completely on them.
I honestly am so tired of people forgetting that not everyone wants to be rich. They just want to be able to afford to live.
This. I make about 65k and am able to live comfortably and save. If I made 100k, I would be able to easily save 30k of that a year with my current lifestyle.
I'm Canadian, I work in video games, I''ve been a senior for a while, so I'm getting paid accordingly and I do less than 100K US$, yet I'm way above the average pay and I have a pretty decent house. I'm really happy of the cost of living of where I live, if I were to move to Vancouver, my house would worth around 5-6 times more than what I paid for. So as senior game programmer, I get a lot of headhunters poking me for jobs in LA that's where a lot of big game companies are. I see big numbers (when they do give any) and I'm thinking "ok it's 3-4 times my current salary, but the cost of living will be WAAAY higher".
There is enough to satisfy a man's needs but not his greed.
I love that saying, sounds like old wisdom
A man's needs but not his wife's lol
Man is nothing without his greed.
Who wants to live paycheck to paycheck all thier life? Your basically a slave. I’d rather have a few million bucks to live off and enjoy life. Time is the real asset you can never get back.
MILLENIALL GT s t o c k s
Just as bad in London.
The Office for National Statistics reports two interesting stats: the 30th percentile rental cost for a house of a given size (in bedrooms), and the 10th, 30th, 50th, 70th and 90th percentile incomes for full-time and part time workers in every county area.
If you imagine a couple where one earns the 50th percentile full-time, and the second earns the 50th percentile part-time, and they live in a _30th_ percentile costing 2-bedroom place, then they'd actually have more disposable income if they moved to South Wales, or the North of England far away from London (and took the 50th percentile jobs and 30th percentile house there).
Places like London and Bay Area are only great if you're in the top-top-top earning percentile. The vast majority have to live in relative squalor or have stupid commutes that waste your life.
True dat. A tiny single room in a shared house/flat in zone 2 will cost you a bare minimum of £500($616) a month! You go to zone 3 and you gotta do that life-wasting commute and it's not even that much cheaper.
I've been bingeing your videos every weekend since I came across your channel a few weeks ago. I'm a tech worker (but not an engineer) making the Google engineering base pay you described in this video and in love how this video puts into perspective Bay Area life and struggles for nonBay Area folks. I can definitely confirm that it has been a struggle, especially with regards to saving up for a home and putting down a high enough of a down payment so that I don't end up house poor after factoring in mortgage.
I smiled when i read the title)) Hi from Eastern Europe
I'm from East European country and I totally agree with you man. It's all about the country you are living in. I have three years of experience as a front end dev and I'm currently searching for a job. I'm ready to work for a 25K per year cause for me It's a lot of money and when you said it's a salary of a trainee I was really surprised. For 2K, I can live like a king for about three months. Don't get me wrong people are people all over the world, I'm learning really hard because the requirements are ridiculous to get this much of money and this is kinda disappointing.
Greetings from Russia, where an average citizen will not make 100k in his entire life.
I usually spend like 300-400 a month tho (and I am not trying to save money or anything), so at least I got this going for me. LOL.
I am Russian
That's bullshit!
Average Russian salary is $500/month so average Russian makes $100k in 200 months (16.7 years)
Even with salary half of that, you would still make $100k in 400 months (33.3 years)
Conclusion: the majority of Russians will make $100k in their lifetime.
@@nnslife Ok IgOr
@@nnslife you're missing the point. Maybe they'll make 100k over a lifetime, but that's just beyond what anyone could hope to save for retirement. Reality check, you'll need about that much in your pension to have a similar quality of life to when you were working, and not be on the poverty line like all the other pensioners relying on the government
@@emanueldobos8452 I think he was joking
First of all, I agree, the wages in Russia are so small I was shocked and thought I misunderstood something the first time I saw the wages they were offering for a full-stack developer job. But I can't help mentioning that the rent as well as the food is very cheap there. Like a fully-furnished nice, clean apartment in the middle of the city of Kaliningrad (a nice location in Europe, a Russian enclave there) costs $200 to rent! The apartments also don't cost nearly as much 50K or less, the food is also much cheaper. And these are the main expenses of daily living. The only things that still cost as much as in the US are cars (but not insurance or gas), and clothes by international brands like H&M (but you don't buy H&M clothes or cars every day).
1. Get a remote job with an American/UK tech company
2. Move to SE Asia (Vietnam/Thailand)
3. Enjoy the sun and profit
Teacup Chinese perfect scenario
Wow, tough life. It doesn't matter how much money you earn, the matter is how good you are living.
@Blaine Konkel 😂😂
life hack: work in a big city, save money, then move out to the middle of nowhere when youre like 35 as a relative millionaire
Or live close enough to the big city (30 min commute) and live not in a shit hole in the future
Or live in a car or a van and move out once you got money
life hack: Live in Europe.
Fu** I have literally 5 years left for your recommendation x'D
@@gpsoftsk1 No thanks. I heard from a friend that has been to multiple European countries multiple times that AC is not the norm their.
Hey Joshua, I just wanted to tell you that I really like your content and I'm glad that you make progress :-)
Keep on doing your great work!
Cheers from Austria (big fan here)
This is Truth! I live in San Diego and my husband and I are low income. I just convinced him to move to Arizona because the cost of living is so much lower than here in San Diego.
I'd rather hustle and work hard to live life and have some savings, not just so we can scrape by.
Im from an eastern european country. In the capital i was payed 1700 a month out of that i had 300 rent 300 for food and 200 for some other expenses. I could basically live an average life and save half my income. In the smaller city's no one pays rent every one owns their house.
I had exactly the same experience, but I was earning 2000 a month after taxes and lived with my parents since I was still a student, expenses also $500. Studies were totally free and of really high quality for software engineers.
Now imagine being a network admin and making $40,000.... welcome to Florida.
Well that would be the absolute low end of tech jobs
Yeah Florida pay is stupid low. But so is the cost of living
yeah, I live in FL and make about $31k per year. Net less than $2100 per month.
I live in Cancun, Mexico work remote for US company and I make around 2700 monthly. Rent here for a nice, clean safe, place can be around 800-1200 month, I think earning 30-40k yearly and live in the US is not a good deal.
I couldn't imagine being over 30 and still having to live with roommates.
Come to England and you won't have to imagine anything
Egis really what’s the average year earning ?
I don’t get why people move out of their parents house just to move into an apartment with roommates 😑. What’s the difference?! You’re not independent because if your roommate doesn’t pay his rent (which you’re Dependent on) then you’re doomed ..
@Trace Ford I know a woman who is 75 years old, has written two best selling books, has won awards for her commercials, yet she lives in a small apartment in New York City where she must have roommates in order to survive.
@@riverdaletales8457 Not everyone has the luxury of growing up in a family that doesn't traumatize them in one way or another. Congrats if you had no real issues with yours.
The prices in us always bugged me.
I live in middle europe
Hungary, so the low side of eu.
Minimal wage after tax 5.680usd/year
Avrage junior developer salary is around 10.000usd/year
Cost of a newly buildedhouse,
85 squre meter ~900squrefoot
Here families with 2-3 children has a house this big.
Or a smaller, 4-500 squrefoot flat in the capital city
Cost around 84.000usd
1gallon (3,7l)gasoil 4,8 usd
1kg (2;2lbs) of bread 1 usd
Cost of living is somewhat cheaper here, and having a car is not as much of a has to because of the more widespreaded public transport system
But I always just watch:
Man living in the usa is so exehausting and expensive.
Me, a person who grew up in Pittsburg, Kansas after hearing the first 15 seconds of this video: "How has anyone else heard of this town?!?"
Soon as he mentioned it my first thought was "add that city to the maybe's"
I've been there multiple times, but well, my mother grew up in Cherokee...
Would it work to get a job in San Fran, (working remotely) move elsewhere, and recieve Sillicone Valley wages without the ridiculous cost of living?
Loved this video, lots of content and stuff to see! Also I thought 200k was too much for a place here in Lisbon but compared to that yea it's not that much!
The fact that most ppl up their lifestyle when they get raises and promotions baffles me. Stifles all of your potential growth. 100k can quickly become equal to 30k bc your takehome number after expenses is the only one that matters.
I cant stand hearing crap about the economy and the country, when the choice of where you live, and what you choose to do w your money is the only important thing.
exactly! I used to live in Indiana comfortably on just $22k/year and had a ton of disposable income left over every month. It literally depends on where you live and your spending habits. $100k/year goes extremely far in alot of places.
Couple of things to consider: Average is often not a great measure for a lot of things to do with money, somewhere like San Francisco there may be a lot of very high end properties which can skew the average high.
Second, it's pretty normal for rentals to have more than a single occupant, so whether it's a partner or roommate, you may be able to effectively half (or more) the rent on any given dwelling.
Of course if you live alone in a nice neighbourhood, then these numbers are pretty reflective.
Yes, I feel like a lot of context is lost. Personally, I know people working in London and have weighed the option myself. You can get by on a low/medium salary, if you can split the housing cost (be it a partner, or just someone to split an apartment with). Renting is much cheaper than owning a house. Buy groceries somewhere cheap like Aldi. Accept a 30-40 minute commute. It's not a cushy lifestyle, but if you're not going out every weekend, you'll be able to save a bit and provided you make some career progression, eventually increase your lifestyle (or eventually save up money and move elsewhere to own property).
When it comes to owning property.. Forget it. They're just overpriced in these areas, focus on an investment or retirement account instead. You don't need to own your house to get ahead, become financially stable (& independent?). This myth needs to end.
Well, having a roommate does impact someone’s lifestyle for better or for worse and therefore the original point is still relevant. Many people don’t believe living with 7 roommates to make ends meet is a high quality lifestyle
I think the site mentioned median, meaning it won't be skewed by outlier.
I'm learning web developmet after my current job so I can look for a remote position that pays me in euro or dolar.
In the beginning of this strategy I've considered leaving my country but I gave up bc of the high living costs.
I can live a super comfortable life here in Brazil with 2~3k EU or USD monthly.
Most families manage to do with under 250usd/month.
I wish you great success
Welcome to my world. I live in Rio
7:52 No. This happens because you are American. Here, in Europe, where *nobody* gets a six-figure salary except high-ranking managers and CEOs, it is said that your living style more-or-less stabilizes after you make 25K-40K per year (depending on the country). Everything else above that goes mostly to savings.
You'll have Internet, a car, and a decent place to live. After that 25-40K break, the only difference will be whether you vacation to the Caribbean or within your own country, or whether you have a Renault or a Mercedes car, or whether your kids go to Harvard or to the local college. That can make a difference, sure (especially regarding what college your kids can go to), but for 92% of the time, your life is exactly the same whether you make 40K or 80K.
Most of us grind for the good jobs because we want security and a nice cash pillow to land on if things go wrong. It's not about "I make 80K, so I spend 80K, even if it's on frivolous things". It's more like "I make 80K so I can have a nice life, a nice car, nice vacations, and still save 30K a year so my kids can go to an expensive University when they're older and I can retire to a nice house by the beach".
Rocking the Slav squat I see!
Me, a Frenchman : San Francisco leftover money is half a junior dev's whole salary.
I moved from Seattle Wa to North Carolina to get a lower cost of living. My pay was good in Seattle but cost of living slowed my ability to save and build wealth. If you want to build wealth the point you are making is very important
Dave Ramsey enters the chat
$100,000 really isn't that much money. It won't even buy you a Porsche 911 here in Canada.
I net 72k a year
Rent a bedroom for $825
Save $3000 a month
Buying houses in the Midwest every year
@@atomialep You can buy 30-50k houses in Oklahoma city in lower income areas of the city still. These are around 500-1000sqft homes.
Why is your rent so high?
I guess buy is misleading,.
I finance them, but I could buy if I saved for three - five years. It’s just not the strategy I want to take.
They’re 125k-175k
@Steven Mercado
I live in LA. Everything and everyone is high here.
Okay, not everyone is high
Fucck, thanks for this video Josh. Rent, student loans... its very important to think about all this stuff when deciding where to live/work/get jobs.
I've been to SF for a conference back in 2016. Amazing city especially for tech but expensive as absolute hell. One guy I talked to works in city but commutes 2 hours each way. Imagine getting up so early because you have to spend 2 hours just to get to the job, work for 8 to 9 hours, and then it's another 2 hours before you get home. Maybe you see your family? Doesn't feel like a good trade to me.
I make 91K in the dc area at 23 and it’s way more than enough to live, it’s kinda blowing my mind I work with other recent college grads living at home and complaining they don’t have enough money toward the end of the month. Granted they have a much nicer car than me and go out almost every weekend and happy hours everyday. I also have 0 debt so I guess that’s a major plus for me but still I have almost $2K+ left over so I scratch my head at what people do with their money honestly.
> "Let's just triple this, bump this up to $500..."
> "Remember this is a very conservative estimate."
This is mostly true. I lived in SF and other places in the Bay Area for 7 years. The cost of an apartment in SF is exaggerated if we're talking about one person . But there are other costs that aren't mentioned. Like for example, the cheapest parking ticket you'll get in SF is $80. One time we paid $10 for 3 tomatoes from a hip grocery shop in the Mission district. It gets more ridiculous than you think in SF
Also include medical insurance in there as well. Depending on what plan you have you can deduct an extra $80
*Laughs in Canadian*
@@redsquirrelftw It's funny that people struggle to afford healthcare?
A friend of mine migrated to USA and lives in Palo Alto for 30 years. She lives in her parents’ first house across from Stanford. Her parents also own a house nearby where they live. Both houses have mortgage paid off. My friend works as a barista and has no worry about housing living in the heart of Silicon Valley. Her family is middle class, not wealthy and loaded. They bought the houses early on in area with good school district (not East Palo Alto) and accelerated payments to rid off mortgage.
Here in NL, especially in Amsterdam, a decent developer salary would be around 90k euro (around 100k usd). However, everything is fu**ng expensive and taxes are high, some of your income will be in the top bracket and you pay 52% tax. (foreigners can get tax deduction for the first 5 years btw). So then you have a good paying job but a furnished 2BR appartment in a decent location will cost you 2500 euro a month. Don't expect a company car for a developer job, but even if you get it you'll have to pay tax. A 50k (which a entry level 3 series will cost you, note that cars are also damn expensive here) car will cost you around 400 euro nett per month.
Employers don;t pay more because they actually have to pay a lot of fees on top of the salary and they can;t just fire someone because of all these socialist protection laws. It must be set that by default, permanent employees have many benefits such as paid leave 25 days or so, retirement plans partly paid by employer, commuting expenses, etc.
So what happens now is everyone is working as an independent contractor. Demand is high so no issues there. When you shop around the same 90k permanent position will pay 90 per hour (rule of thumb, annual salary divided by 1000). Many advantages because you're seen as entrepeneur by the tax office, so lower taxes and every expense for items you might use is deductable.
I'm currently working 4 days from home, 1 day office at 97.5/hr . I got this contract 3 months ago after i was layed of my other contract (@85/hr) because of corona. It took me two weeks to find.
Contractor positions in NL and most of NW-Europe (including germany) are on par with these rates. London and Switzerland even pay slightly more. Contracting here is similar to regular jobs in US, although taxes are still slightly higher.
Outside of sillicon valley, I believe salaries in US are similar to contractors here.
Edit: My rant about expensive cars in NL and housing in Amsterdam, does not apply to all other area's (although housing in London, Paris and Switzerland is even more expensive)
Edit 2: 90K p.a. will nett you 54,312 p.a. or 4526 a month (although every month it is slightly less since there is 8% vacation allowance which will usually be paid in May for the whole year)
laughs in sydney,
there is not a single freestanding house for under 800k anywhere near sydney
A man called George thanks China!
And the Australian government for their stupidity/greed
I live in outer Sydney and when he said his house was 200k my jaw dropped. Still at least 600k out here
I remember hearing someone describe a 300k house as fancy.
I cringed in Melbourne. If there were houses within an hour of a good number of jobs where I'd be able to find tenant/s for any spare rooms I'd be all over that. That's before even considering currency conversion.
Keep in mind, the exchange rate is 1.45 AUD to 1.00 USD.
200k for a house smaller than my apartment lmfaooooo
where i live, in canadian suburbs, 200k will get you a 600 square feet condo
Making over 100k, working with some firm in the valley. Living in India. Rent is $400, I save over 80% and eat gourmet every day. LOL.
It's even worse to think about it as an European, because here (especially in Poland and some other poor countries I guess) 6 figure salary is A LOT, but that means we get used to it, so when we finally decide to go to USA or somewhere similar... we're gonna have a hard time, I guess.
Okay but lets be honest $4,000 a month for rent is the extreme. You make good points though. As long as your aware of your location & your budget you will be just fine.
As someone who lives off of maybe 30k(Ga, United States), that's a lot. That's a enough to live by myself with no roommate, build a stock portfolio, and have two savings accounts. That's enough to go on vacation once a year, eat lunch with friends without worrying about money, and have a dog. Six figures is a lot of money. Not enough to spend recklessly, but enough to live a relaxing lifestyle. More than anything, it's enough to invest in yourself, and build your worth even more. Turning a 100k salary into a 200k+ salary.
Exactly. Im in Indiana and $100k goes very far here. I'm currently able to live very comfortably on just $800/month in total expenses. So imagine what $10k/month could do.
That is cheap for a home for LA standards!
I paid $567,000 for my Condo out here in LA for a 1,200 square foot, which was bought on a short-sale (Was priced at $800,000) and I bought in December 2020. I make $96,000 per year and I can barely pay all of my expenses (Mortage included). So, ya, it's really expensive to live in LA!!
San Francisco and New York is even more expensive!!
Great vid, wish more people would talk about this.
Wish more people would talk about you
I have been living in SF for 20 years, a 100k = comfortable living, 200k travel around and still live in comfort anything below is kinda crazy considering that the average home is about 1mill
making just over 160K as a new grad in NYC, life does not feel too difficult compared with that of folks in SF
NYC is expensive (Manhattan more accurately) but SF has reached ridiculous levels for rent and cost of living
They pay that out of college? Feel free to tell us what degree/position.
@@bigneiltoo Yeah, that is certainly not the norm even here in NYC...
Are you a doctor?
Outstanding video, Josh!! It should be viewed by hundreds of thousands of people as a public service announcement. Highly informative and practical. Thank you!
My rent for apartment in Eastern Europe is like 600$, 911 square feet.
Max Maxed Sorry but no.
@@maxmaxed2887 Go to east germany and you can get 60k a year with a few years of experience in tech and pay €600 a month for an apartment.
Cost of living comparisons are essential! You do also have to consider where you want to live. Some people will take less take-home money so they don't have to live in rural Kansas.
Meanwhile in Eastern Europe:
Boss: Great interview! From Monday you'll be starting your new role at *company*. $600/month sounds good for junior dev, aye?
You: Sure......
That's the minimum wage in Portugal. In Lisbon u need atleast 2k
Why does he say aye is he Scottish?
@@dmmoctober He's a pirate.
Andrei makes sense
This is a great video, my sis wanted to accept ab offer in NY that cost iif living wise was a downgrade from her job in SC, but numerically higher, she wouldn't listen but luckily had another reason not to take the job
Why would a single person pay $4,000+ for a 2 bedroom apt? I’d prefer having roommates for 2 or 3 years, save money and buy a house somewhere else boiiii
nagy zoli it doesn’t matter man you’re gunna struggle in the beginning of the game but all that effort comes with a long term outcome my dude
Or if you don't want to share then live in a 1 bedroom or studio and save the difference. A 1 bedroom was spacious for just me.
I've managed to keep having my own place for all of my working life. With room mates coming and going sometimes (close friends that need a place and all).
It's so much better. I can play whatever music I want, whenever. Nobody wakes me up when I don't want to be. If I wake up on a weekend middle of the night nothing stops me from playing games, starting a wood working project, coding, etc.
No fighting over chores/responsibility, no late payments, never worrying about stuff going missing (because now you gotta trust not just your room mates, but everyone they trust), etc.
That said, I am also never paying 4000+ for a 2 bedroom apt, what is wrong with people.
@@nagyzoli you have your own room and bathroom, y'all just share the kitchen and living room. I have done it all 4 years of college. I don't understand why some people find it hard to share those spaces.... At that point, rent is only like 1.5k in a decently neighborhood
nagy zoli damn, I feel bad for you guys in Europe lol. Our flats are more like square where the rooms are on the sides and the living room kitchen is in the middle
all the shit you been through im glad to see you happy and having your own place
*cries* $771/month fixed income and slowly trying to make my way back into the workforce/ life itself.
This doesn't take into account the stock grants, bonuses, and raises you get at big tech companies in the Bay Area that you likely cant get elsewhere. Sure, 100k salary alone is not enough to live comfortably in the area (not saying it cant be done), but when considering many companies also pay 30-100k in stock grants, you can afford a much higher take home income as a result. Not to mention that most companies offer 10%+ raises every year you stay there (to retain talent), so if you stay longer, you can make much, much more and outpace the cost of living.
Also to note, the Bay Area provides many excellent opportunities to network and connect with people that can help you advance your career and earn more.
Really enjoyed this video man. Also, appreciate the effort you put into it. Good work!
Thanks dude
Mr. Joshua Fluke, this was a very good video and I am sure a lot of viewers were well informed. I was well aware of the information, but none the less, a good and informative video. Good work!
I have a hard time leaving the midwest due to my salary. I live in a beautiful home and actually paid less than you two years ago!
Its why I stay in Kansas. My wife and I make around 150k together and in Kansas we live really well off. I am able to even max out all of our retirement accounts which is around 60k a year easily.
Yep. Definitely not struggling but it can go quickly if you aren't money wise, but key is stay single and don't have kids haha. Save a lot that way. Also, I work remote and don't live in a major city. My mortgage is as much as my rent was outside of Denver.
Where does one find a 100$ a month rent in eastern europe/central-eastern europe:P, belarus?
Kids are a drain for sure and limiting with regards to what you can accept on top of it (overtime gets harder, you set down roots, etc.) as for the staying single part, not so much. Getting hitched effectively doubles your earning power provided you aren't going the stay at home spouse route. Even prior to my recent lay-off, if I were still single it would be extremely difficult for me to afford living on my own. My wife being an employee of the federal government is the only thing that makes me not living with my parents possible.
Depends how many kids you have. If you have 5 kids yes they are a money drain depending on how much money you make. If you have one kid and let’s say you take home 40k that’s more than doable if you’re wise with money. This whole notion of not having kids to save money is dumb. Youre going to be broke regardless of having kids or not if you have terrible spending habits
@@JoeSmith-oy3hk good point for sure.
@@KiingCam96 considering that a kid costs around 14k a year or more. I say that's a pretty damn accurate statement. Sorry if you got triggered, but facts are facts.
Chicago ‘luxury’ apartments = 2k/ mo utils not included. Live in $400/ mo w/ utilities included. Lower income but relatively ‘safe’ family neighborhood. Don’t tell landlord or roommate you’re s/w engineer. (there’s no lease; social worker roommate is chill, things are loose!). Basically conduct life outside your small bedroom like Equinox gym membership, soup up your room w/ good desk, chair, machines, design interior nice, then come home to sleep and maybe read before bed. Use public transit - good here in Chicago. Use po box so roommate doesn’t see statements - or go paperless. Save and invest 75% of salary and side hustle(s), then change lifestyle ( ie buy house/ duplex to rent out, switch to higher paying job, marry someone whom you love and respect who also happens to have business savvy and wealth, keep skills up and embrace learning.
Seriously, USA is seems to be more crap as I more see your videos.
We can be much better off in Europe, especially in the central and eastern part. Although the zero interest rates also did much of the damage here and the prices are way up. But still can be much better off in my country. Not very hard to make 3000 euros after tax as a software developer (if you are clever) locally and my mortgage payments can be as low as 400 per months (for a 2 bedroom flat near the city center in capital city, assuming price about 140k eur, 70 m2 flat) if I would buy today a flat in a good area - good means close to center, not in terms of safe with a low crime because the whole city is safe (I bought it earlier so my mortgage payments are half and I almost paid it off).
I have an old car, probably worth around 1000 eur, 100 eur insurance per year, usually don't put more per year into servicing cost than 500 eur. Also you could put your car expenses before tax if you are clever (I am living in a different country now so doesn't apply in my case, my car is used by my mom when I am not here).
But in the capital city you don't need even a car and starting to be an issue with parking. You can use a public transport, monthly ticket for the city is about 25 eur per month (super cheap).
Cost of energy regarding to living (electric, gas, heating, hot and cold water, payments to building maintenance company) is up to 200 eur (there is virtually no servicing cost in the flat, no boiler here, every energy sources coming externally, that's why it is quite expensive with that 200 euros... maybe will get a air condition unit so that might change). If you want you can rent out a room for somebody else for about 250.
Remember, I am still talking about making this locally. You can still do it with better combinations. I can move to even a cheaper place and work remotely or I can work remotely for a company in other country where they pay more and live here (or move to a cheaper place), etc.
Internet cost is 15 euros for 300Mbit/s download and 30 Mbit/s upload (fiber optics to the home).
Commuting time to the city center probably 10-20 minutes one way with a public transport. With a car is usually 10 minutes but we are starting to get now traffic jams so it will be worse. Airport - 10 minute drive from my place (which is quite far from the airport). If you take a taxi that's maybe 5-7 eur.
Food is quite cheap here, you can get a decent meal in restaurant for 5 euros, usually better quality that in UK or USA (no hamburger or similar, compare more with an Italian type of food). A standard thing is to go to eat outside in a restaurant as an employee and eat from a standard plate (I am not sure how long this will survive) - you have many times some meal deals and the meal includes a soup as well.
Oh and we have health care insurance as a standard thing included in your salary. You can't bankrupt in this country because you survived a cancer (usually that's a standard thing in Europe).
School debt doesn't exist. Universities are free and paid by state (unless you overrun the standard study time but even after that the cost shouldn't be horrible, maybe you pay couple of 100 euros). With the same university I could easily get a job in any software company in USA (so it's not like something very low quality).
Cost of having kids are not very high. All the schools and nurseries are subsidised so it's about couple of 10 euros per month the cost. Nothing like 600 pounds/month nursery cost in London for one kid :)
BTW: With a non-compete agreement probably your dad's former company would have no chance to win and take everything from your dad in this country. Europe is not a corporate heaven and people have rights here as well, not just companies. Companies usually don't put this into contracts here (definitely not 25 years ago, no they are starting to copy this crap from USA but they wouldn't have much chance to sue and take everything from you, those things are even heavily limited in the law and I think after 6 months ending you employment contract you can do whatever you want, even competing directly to your previous company).
Yeah, ok, so probably we don't have fancy cars with 5 liter engines like in USA and I don't own a house with 8 bedrooms (my parents they own a 150m2 house but that's outside of capital city) but I think I am still with a higher quality life than living in San Francisco / LA / Silicon Valley, working for google or facebook, barely save anything and going bankrupt after having a higher medical bill.
Yea, I have this conversation a lot with Europeans/people from Asian countries. American media makes it look amazing but the actual standard of living is pretty garbage compared to most first world countries.
Where are you from and where do you live now?
@@JRCxyz Me? I'm from Hawaii but I lived in California and Japan for a while and now I'm back in Hawaii but I moved from the countryside to the city part. I guess that would contribute to my mindset considering I've only lived in expensive shitholes of states lol.
Jesus christ you can write an article as a Content writer.{this long comment} don't write for free.
I wish I had the cash to leave the US.
That's why folks in Silicon Valley love, love, love this whole remote situation right now.
150K is not a ton of money in San Francisco. But it's a lot in Texas or Florida where you
not just get a nicer loft or house. But the quality of life is much higher - SF is been swarmed
by homeless every day which can be hard to live with.
Ok but you wont get that same 150k in Florida job