What is "good" money.

[FINFAN]

I grew up thinking six figures = financial success, however, that would not be true in Chicagoland today. It is certainly a decent income and you can live on it modestly, you just can't also pay for college, retirement, home/taxes and food or partake in much of what the city has to offer unless you were making that right out of college. I mean, for 1 kid you would have to be putting about $300 a month aside from the day they are born, double that for 2 kids...car payment a thousand a month is gone instantly.
That being said, I personally still think 100,000 is GOOD money( if your single) but I think what others have said is more current, 250,000 is now what 100,000 used to be. Lets face it, people used to be told to have 3-500,000 for retirement...thats is not going to cut it anymore, you need a million to be able to have freedom of medical choices and care, cost of living and any travel/life you may wish to lead. Now, is that the norm? Not in my life, sadly.

 

[mjkacmom]

It really depends on where you live! I'd say good money here would be a family income of $200,000, and under $100,000, not so much.

 

[angierae]

It's really location dependent. Friends of mine are in contract to buy a house in Boston for almost half a million dollars that would cost maybe $125k where I live.

My 2nd husband and I make, combined, less than my first husband made on his own. But we own a house, two late model cars, take vacations - we never did that in my first marriage and were always broke because we spent our money poorly.

I'd rather have less money, spent wisely, than have a huge income but always feel broke because the money is being wasted.

 

[HHSTigerFan]

I remember taking a class years ago and the prof telling us that he always thought of good money as making 125% of the median income in your area, which made a lot of sense to me..

 

[seven dwarfs]

I always thought 'good money' meant not eating beans every night for dinner!

 

[mhsjax]

It's really location dependent. Friends of mine are in contract to buy a house in Boston for almost half a million dollars that would cost maybe $125k where I live.

My 2nd husband and I make, combined, less than my first husband made on his own. But we own a house, two late model cars, take vacations - we never did that in my first marriage and were always broke because we spent our money poorly.

I'd rather have less money, spent wisely, than have a huge income but always feel broke because the money is being wasted.

Yep. My dad made half as much as someone else I knew. Yet we had way more and this other family always thought we were rich. My dad was very good with money, he wasn't cheap, but careful about what he spent his money on, and when he and my mom died, they had quite a nest egg to leave to all of us. So really it isn't so much about how much you make, but about how much you spend.

 

[herdtoDisney]

I think what is 'good money' depends a lot on the COL of where you are. In my area of the country, housing is expensive and property taxes are high. It makes your salary go far less than it would in , say, NC or FL.

Because we chose to live here, we do certain things to live the way we want-we have a fixer upper house (we love it, but it's not fancy, no AC or granite or any of that stuff) and drive older used cars (less property tax that way!) but we are able to vacation and do some fun stuff.

 

[HHSTigerFan]

I grew up thinking six figures = financial success, however, that would not be true in Chicagoland today. It is certainly a decent income and you can live on it modestly, you just can't also pay for college, retirement, home/taxes and food or partake in much of what the city has to offer unless you were making that right out of college. I mean, for 1 kid you would have to be putting about $300 a month aside from the day they are born, double that for 2 kids...car payment a thousand a month is gone instantly.
That being said, I personally still think 100,000 is GOOD money( if your single) but I think what others have said is more current, 250,000 is now what 100,000 used to be. Lets face it, people used to be told to have 3-500,000 for retirement...thats is not going to cut it anymore, you need a million to be able to have freedom of medical choices and care, cost of living and any travel/life you may wish to lead. Now, is that the norm? Not in my life, sadly.

My wife teaches at a school in southern Will County in the Lincoln Way district, she makes about $75K.. we live in Kankakee County and to us she makes very good money, but she says others that live in northern Will and into Cook and Dupage are always complaining about working for such low pay.. Just depends where you live..

 

[lisaross]

Good Money is how u Budget...You can take two families of 4 - same neighborhood one family bringing in 100,000 and the other 150,000 - the 100,000 can be very budget minded - that being said - still taking vacations eating out etc (they are just smart shoppers - use coupons/pay cash etc.) the other family with 150,000 can spend spend spend - buy the most expensive cloths at retail price - eat out many times per week - have a cleaning lady etc etc.

Good Money is how u put it to use!

 

[FINFAN]

My wife teaches at a school in southern Will County in the Lincoln Way district, she makes about $75K.. we live in Kankakee County and to us she makes very good money, but she says others that live in northern Will and into Cook and Dupage are always complaining about working for such low pay.. Just depends where you live..

well we are district 204...she can compare salaries. A single teacher could live here(Naperville)on 75, but a family of 4 would be sinking fast.

 

[HHSTigerFan]

well we are district 204...she can compare salaries. A single teacher could live here(Naperville)on 75, but a family of 4 would be sinking fast.

Which is why we live where we do...

 

[goodeats]

We're a family of 3 living on $100K (I'm not working right now) in a VHCOL area (southern california). I would consider it 'good' money, however we do make a lot of sacrifices to be able to save for retirement/college and to have a little fun.

I think "good" money means being able to live well but having to make smart choices with your spending.

 

[FINFAN]

Which is why we live where we do...

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.

 

[crisi]

Good Money is how u Budget...You can take two families of 4 - same neighborhood one family bringing in 100,000 and the other 150,000 - the 100,000 can be very budget minded - that being said - still taking vacations eating out etc (they are just smart shoppers - use coupons/pay cash etc.) the other family with 150,000 can spend spend spend - buy the most expensive cloths at retail price - eat out many times per week - have a cleaning lady etc etc.

Good Money is how u put it to use!

Disagree. Yes, its important to live within your means - but for either of those folks, it shouldn't be difficult to do so outside of a few very expensive towns. On the other hand, no matter what you do with a $32k a year income and how tight you pinch your pennies - its never going to be "good money."

In fact, I read a lot of personal finance magazines and the phrase "they make good money" is often used to mean exactly the opposite - people who SHOULD be doing ok, but haven't managed to save. Personal finance stories often start "Bob and Margaret make good money, Bob is an engineer making $72k and Margaret a nurse who makes $60k, but they haven't saved for their kids college or retirement. An expensive addition three years ago added to their mortgage payment........"

 

[Colleen27]

It depends on where you live and the rest of your financial picture. 50K in a low cost of living area for a person who is reasonably cautious with money and debt is good money, but not so much for someone who had to take out large student loans to get that 50K. And of course in a high cost of living area that's peanuts, not even middle class much less "good money".

In my area 52K is good money on its own, and even better when you're talking about a two income household where that is the lower of the two; the couple in your example has a household income higher than the median house price for my town, so I'd consider that to be really good money.

 

[libinatorsmom]

I classify "good" as a person making over $50,000 - and then anything over $35,000 "Decent"... I do live in the midwest and I think it is relative to the living expenses etc.

 

[HHSTigerFan]

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.

Have you looked farther west?? I know people that live in the Yorkville/Plano/Sandwich area and they are quite happy.. Or if he works downtown, the Peotone/Manhattan/Manteno area won't add much time at all to a commute into the city.. None of those places are Naperville, but the cost is MUCH lower..

 

[marie1203]

To me good money will depend on the person not their income. If a person is responsible with their money and manages well then that is "good" money. We seen families of 4 have money to save on a $40,000 income. I seen a single guy(DBIL) make over $100,000 a year and didn't even pay rent not have enough to pay all his bills. No matter how much money you make if you don't know how to manage it will never be enough.

 

[mom2val]

Good Money to me means that we can:

• Pay our Bills
• buy groceries
• have money in savings
• contribute to 401K
• splurge every once in a while - new clothes, video game for dd, dinner out at a nice place
• take a vacation

 

[vicki_c]

You must live near me. That is the average in my county as well. And we live in the more expensive end of the county so it's even less than average if you make below $100k. So here, I would say good money is $150k and above.

But I also agree that good money depends a lot on where you live. If your bills are paid on time, you've paid yourself (savings account), paid college funds and retirement funds and you have some left over each month.

I agree with this, but I also live in the DC area, but on the other side in Maryland. It's just not something that can be given a pat answer without factoring in so many variables.

Even around DC, the biggest bite out of most people's incomes is their mortage, but my situation in that regard (purchased @ the peak in 2006) is quite different than some of my neighbors who purchased their homes way before the boom. So some of my neighbors could make considerably less money than we do, and still have a "good" income for what they need.