What is "good" money.

[Princess_Pris85]

There are a ton of other factors to consider in addition to COL to determine what's "good money." I feel like in this economy any job making any amount of money may be considered "good money." Age is another factor. I don't think people straight out of college will be making $100k. I think it really depends on the phases of life, general expectations etc.

For me right now i feel like anything above $50k a year would be good money - then again, I don't own a house, have kids, and will just be finishing up school this may (grad school).

 

[ceecee]

Depends on many factors, location is a big one!

 

[disykat]

However, I think we do a really good job of convincing ourselves that our wants are needs. We're all trying to live like we're making "great" or "rich" money. Because we can't, we say we're average, when in fact we're actually "good."

For example, IMO having a standard cable package is something I would equate with an average income, digital cable package - good, premium channels - great, everything - rich. Same for phones. Land line, maybe basic cell - average, multiple phones per family with texting - good, data plan - great, you run out and get the new model and have everything - rich.
.

I agree!

Same for vacations. Dare I say it here, but I think most "average" folks take their vacations somewhere close by or to visit family and save for a splurge every couple of years. Good income folks might take a nice vacation yearly with a few weekends nearby. Rich is thinking nothing of booking a deluxe and heading down to WDW whenever the urge hits. (obviously it's also about how you prioritize your budget, this is just an in general thought) It starts to get easy, when surrounded by people who are living like they are rich, to feel like you are poor.

 

[luvthemouse71]

To me, good money means paying for the necessities and still having enough to spend on wants. For me, that's a trip every year( 2 this year) and fun gadgets. But, I buy mostly everything else on sale( thanks, TJMaxx and Kohl's!), brown bag it to work, clip coupons etc.

I make about $70,000 a year before overtime, which is not too shabby for a single person. I have been trying to save money just because I think it's a good idea to have a rainy day fund.

 

[luvthemouse71]

In my mind it isn't tied to any kind of number, really. I grew up blue-collar working-class, and "he makes good money" is an expression with decidedly blue-collar origins. Working-class people are a lot more willing to talk about what they make than white-collar people are, and IME, "good money" is always relative -- to one's relatives, specifically.

In my world, one defined "making good money" as doing financially better than, or at least as well as, your parents. "Making good money" means keeping your mobility on an upward track. If you don't do as well as your parents you find yourself on a down slope relative to the rest of your family; thus your income is no longer good in their eyes.

This is a very good point. 3 of my grandparents worked in factories, and one was a machinist. My dad was a firefighter.So, I come from a primarily working class background. My dad runs around bragging about the fact that I graduated college and I'm a nurse. It's very sweet. And I also agree with the upward mobility factor as well. I may not make a huge amount but I get two raises a year( thank you, nursing union).


Don't forget benefits play into this as well. If you have good benefits and sturdy job security, that impresses some people too.

 

[bdcp]

As a teacher, making "good money" is when DH and I can combine our incomes to live comfortably. This means the bills are paid, we can buy the things we need, and can save for things that we want. I have never expected to make more than $40k in any of the professions that I have considered, so to make anything over that would make me happy.

As a former Californian, I would say that anything over $125k would be good money. For rural WA, anything over $70k. When we lived outside of DC, anything over $125k.

Sadly I understand the Virgina comments made earlier about needing ~$200k to be considered as making "good money". When we lived in MD, DH commuted to DC for work and the majority of his co-workers lived in VA, and in nicer communities to boot. In fact, many couldn't comprehend that I was a teacher making the salary I did, or the fact that we didn't have a nanny to raise our children.

I never had a nanny and I raised my own children. I didn't go to work til they were in middle school and then only part time. I hate to tell you but there are lots of areas in DC and MD that cost as much as the area I live in. Also, salaries are pretty much the same across the whole DC metro area. We know lots of teachers making less than the avg. You can spend just as much living in MD, in fact income taxes are higher in MD than in VA (I've lived in both). Your last paragraph doesn't make much sense except you seem to resent those that live in VA. Get your facts straight.

 

[Soben]

well, we would love to live in a lower cost area as well, but the commute DH would have would be brutal, he is not in the city riding the train. We have been in Naperville for over 20 years..we were living way below our means for years and we are in the same home, older cars etc., it is COL that is affecting us.

DH drives an hour and a half to get to NVille, (Country roads and man do I hate winter. Save the freezing rain for the weekends!) It seems like even in the suburbs it takes forever to get anywhere. There's a stoplight on every corner. So I don't know that moving in would really help.

Aside from real estate, I don't think Naperville really has a higher COL than anywhere else in Chicagoland. Food costs the same at Dominicks out here. Target doesn't charge more for paper towels. Clothes are the same at Penneys. DuPage county taxes are actually lower than a lot of surrounding counties since there is a much larger business tax base and you get a heck of a lot more for your money!

I love to shop up there, so many stores! You could just buy the loss-leaders at each one and be set!

We're in Loudoun County (eastern) and we've been here for 15 years so no surprises. DH and I are at our peak earning potential (early 50's) and we'll probably stay here for another 10-15 years and then look to downsize our home so we can retire. Our county has been the wealthiest county in the nation for a couple of years but it's also one of the most expensive to live in. Our real estate taxes are $8,100/year.

My real estate taxes are $4,100 for a $100-$125 house. I have a friend in Aurora, IL who pays $15K. I guess it's all relative.

I've enjoyed this thread, I think that you always tend to look up at people making more rather than looking at those lower than you. That keeps you from getting too satisfied.

 

[Judique]

I never had a nanny and I raised my own children. I didn't go to work til they were in middle school and then only part time. I hate to tell you but there are lots of areas in DC and MD that cost as much as the area I live in. Also, salaries are pretty much the same across the whole DC metro area. We know lots of teachers making less than the avg. You can spend just as much living in MD, in fact income taxes are higher in MD than in VA (I've lived in both). Your last paragraph doesn't make much sense except you seem to resent those that live in VA. Get your facts straight.

Yiiii!

I didn't think she resented anyone who lived in Va. If she did, then she didn't live here for very long to get such a skewed sense of this fairly unique area. There are pockets of wealth and pockets of average intermingled throughout the DC/MD/VA areas. Everywhere you turn there is a new McMansion development - they keep springing up around here despite all the economic problems.

I can tell you that when I moved here 20 some years ago, that the recommendations to buy a house from our DC counterparts at the time were to 'go to Virginia to find a deal', particularly the Woodbridge, Dale City and further out the 66 corridor, near Fair Oaks. We did some looking in Va as well as further out in Md but the new somewhat raw subdivisions did not appeal to me. Our relatives were in Maryland so we payed more to buy in Maryland, closer to our jobs and the city, in older more established neighbourhoods.

Shoot - maybe I could have had that nanny if I'd moved to Burke and commuted!
(Please - no offense intended.)

 

[Swimalie]

Yiiii!

I didn't think she resented anyone who lived in Va. If she did, then she didn't live here for very long to get such a skewed sense of this fairly unique area. There are pockets of wealth and pockets of average intermingled throughout the DC/MD/VA areas. Everywhere you turn there is a new McMansion development - they keep springing up around here despite all the economic problems.

I can tell you that when I moved here 20 some years ago, that the recommendations to buy a house from our DC counterparts at the time were to 'go to Virginia to find a deal', particularly the Woodbridge, Dale City and further out the 66 corridor, near Fair Oaks. We did some looking in Va as well as further out in Md but the new somewhat raw subdivisions did not appeal to me. Our relatives were in Maryland so we payed more to buy in Maryland, closer to our jobs and the city, in older more established neighbourhoods.

Shoot - maybe I could have had that nanny if I'd moved to Burke and commuted!
(Please - no offense intended.)

I live even "farther out" now am surrounded by McMansion gated subdivisions. In fact, Condoleezza Rice shops at my Wegmans so I'm guessing she lives near here. A lot of my friends live in these gated communities and none have nannies. Most have cleaning services though.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

This is a good thread to keep in mind when we see posts about how much people are spending on their vacations. The $200K family in a high COL is only spending 2.5% of their income on a $5K vacation whereas the $50K family in a low COL would be spending 10% on that same vaca. Both families may feel they are making "good money" for day to day living.

I grabbed numbers out of the air for this post by the way. I picked numbers that were easy for me to do the math in my head! I did not intentionally pick from anyone else's post.

As for my thoughts on what is "good money", I think there are too many other factors to consider than just a person's gross income. Paid time off, insurance benefits, pension or 401K matching, company vehicles, etc. Even in the same neighborhood, for 2 families making the same amount of money, these things can have a huge impact on whether or not they are making "good money". Overall, I think it is very hard to compare salaries with someone else without breaking out a spreadsheet!

 

[w0rM]

Says the person that has "Trip #19 coming soon" in their signature.

lol I guess that's a good point.

I don't make anywhere close to what most people in this thread make but I also have almost no debit except for my car payment.

 

[Colleen27]

lol I guess that's a good point.

I don't make anywhere close to what most people in this thread make but I also have almost no debit except for my car payment.

FWIW, I know exactly what you mean. The budget board is full of people who make way, way more than we ever will looking to stretch their dollar, and on these threads it is easy to get to feeling "poor" if you have an income in the ballpark of average (speaking nationally, not regionally).

We will never, ever see a six figure household income and we live on less than some other posters have deemed impossible to live on, but we do okay. We have no debt, not even a mortgage or car payment, so living expenses only take about 40% of our income. And if you can get to that place, even a lower income (by budget board standards - statistically we're pretty average-American), life is good. Sure, our Disney trips sometimes cost 10+% of our annual income, but that still only a fraction of our annual travel/discretionary spending budget.

 

[a1tinkfans]

I am watching an episode of "Til Debt Do Us Part" and Gail said that both the DH and DW made good money.

The DH made $52K and the DW made $87K.

What do you think is "good" money.

I did not read thru the thread....heres my thoughts:

It is all relative to How you want to Live and Where you want to live and What your expectations/priorities are. (considerations of pensions/health cov etc all come into play too IMHO)
We could not thrive on that combined salary. It'd be 200-250K.

 

[Alexander]

Completely agree that it all depends on where you live.

 

[enchantingodin]

Oh the whole Bert Reynolds / mansions / celebrity thing - I just thought it was a really exclusive area.

Sure plenty of celbs have homes around here. Bert Reynods, Celine Dion, Bryant Gumble, Micheal Jordan, numerous golf legends, etc. Most live on "The Island" (what the locals call Jupiter Island - a half mile wide, maybe 10-15 mile long), which really is the only place to find what I consider a mansion. Or a few in the high security community Admiral's Cove. That's it though. We're a mid sized town. Not quite everybody knows everybody - but close enough. Even still most of them (celbs)consider this a vacation home. So not much out on the town going on if you know what I mean.

Except for Mr. Reynolds. He used to live on his Ranch out in "The Farms" (Jupiter Farms is large plotted 'country' homes where people who like to own horses and be away for 'city' life reside.) He used come into the grocery store I worked at in High School (mid 90's) ever Sunday morning at 7am to get a dozen glazed doughnuts and the Palm Beach Post. It wasn't a big deal to me. He was a very quite man in real life. Polite, knew me by name, I think he liked the fact that I treated him like a normal person.

So sorry. Nothing too thrilling going on around here. Just normal people living their normal lives.