how much does your family make a year?

amother

Mon, Jun 15 2009, 7:36 am

amother wrote:

there was no option for 0 income embarrassed

we live in israel, have no income and are b'H supported by both parents.
I dont appreciate it enough.......
but it's not always easy knowing that we always have to take,take,take

Same here!

amother

Mon, Jun 15 2009, 7:53 am

we probably make soemthing like $135,000 a year, but after taxes we only keep around $95,000 AT MOST (taxes take 30-40% of our money), after 10% missur (I think its calculated at this point) we get $85,000

Thats about $7,000 a month for.....
mortgage (2300), tuition (1100), car and homeowners insurance (probably 200), health insurance (1000), that leaves 2400 for food, dr bills, house bills, car repear bills, gas, food, savings, clothing, life insurance, saving money for yom tov food.

this past shabbos I just said to my husband how you can live off of much less in israel. I dont think I'm spoiled that we make that much money and its not enough, but I also think that people dont realize how expensive life is.

I am not the type of person to not have any health insurance, we applied for insurance during sheva brochos (or maybe before), I even had issues moving from PPO to HMO which saved us money becuase of the doctors in the HMO plans. I dont think its a spoiled mentality to want a doc whose name I can pronounce I just think its an opinion that you can either disagree or agree with.

I also mentioned life insurance, I find it a must to have life insurance, as soon as my first child was born my dh got life insurance. I know its a dark way of looking at life, and I do have betachon but I do believe taht these concepts were made by him. also if I can spend money during my life to make sure my family is taken care of if Chas V'shalom something happens why shouldnt I be doing that, cause if I dont the burdon will fall on my family and community and how can I ask them to spend their money that they need to feed their kids in order to feed mine, when my kids are MY responsiblity.

like I said the above comment its MY OPINION, you can agree or disagree, but its not an attack or judgement on anyone else, understand that, I'm very much the person who says everyone can do what they please, I may not agree or understand but its not my place to agree or understand becuase its their life, and everyone has the choice to live their lives as they please (as long as you arent putting someone in danger in the process or being totally over on halachos and stuff, in that case I just wont be your firend and if I get the gutts I'll speak up!)

mandksima

Mon, Jun 15 2009, 8:10 am

amother wrote:

I was told to deduct maaser AFTER figuring out our necessary expenses. Please ask your rav if you haven't.

We also feel life insurance is a must and we both have it even though I am not working.

We are living off a lot less than we did in the States. Our mortgage/taxes on our property were 5-6 times as much as our mortgage is here. It depends where you live, how old your kids are/which schools they attend and what you're willing to deem necessary.

Mrs.K

Mon, Jun 15 2009, 8:22 am

amother wrote:

this past shabbos I just said to my husband how you can live off of much less in israel.

While I agree that, hypothetically speaking, you can live off of, say, a quarter of what you live off of in America, if your salary is also a quarter of your American salary, then your back in the exact same boat, aren't you?

amother

Mon, Jun 15 2009, 8:43 am

I make $45K, single parent, barely have support from ex. Had to move back home and help my mother w/ the mortgage. Was thinking about moving out until my mother said she couldn't afford to live in the house w/o me contributing Sad

(this is NY)

amother

Mon, Jun 15 2009, 12:47 pm

We dont have a set income but it's approximately $250 a week which comes out to about $13,000 annually but when business is down we don't make anything unless there is a profit but it never exceeds $250 a week. Our income for 2008 was $9000. We are on Medicaid and have to apply for Food Stamps but DH doesnt have time to go with me so for now our grocery bill just keeps growing. We dont have any savings and we're living on credit cards but we hope to pay them off as soon as business picks up.

smilingmom

Mon, Jun 15 2009, 1:30 pm

amother wrote:

there was no option for 0 income embarrassed

we live in israel, have no income and are b'H supported by both parents.
I dont appreciate it enough.......
but it's not always easy knowing that we always have to take,take,take

I think we have to count money from all sources as income. Money from your parents and any stipends or kollel pay, as part of "how much does your family make a year?"
You use that money, it is yours.

amother

Mon, Jun 15 2009, 1:43 pm

80k. This just about covers our expenses. Hardly anything left to put away in savings. Though we do live comfortably. This is a Jewish life in NY!

imaamy

Mon, Jun 15 2009, 1:48 pm

I hope those of you who chose under 15K aren't living by yourselves (I hope you live with relatives and aren't try to pay rent/mortgage on that).

amother

Mon, Jun 15 2009, 2:06 pm

imaamy wrote:

I hope those of you who chose under 15K aren't living by yourselves (I hope you live with relatives and aren't try to pay rent/mortgage on that).

I am the Imamother that makes $250 a week. We pay our own rent. We dont get money from anyone. We live in a tiny cramped apartment in Brooklyn and have to count our pocket change to make rent.

Yakira

Mon, Jun 15 2009, 4:47 pm

I imagine the poll-maker lives in Israel. As you can see from the disproportionate amount of votes in the last category, there are loads of people who make that much, ranging from a measly 41k to a much more comfortable 100k+ and beyond.

gryp

Mon, Jun 15 2009, 6:03 pm

No wonder. I'm glad you wrote that Yakira, because for the life of me I couldn't figure out why someone would put out those choices in the poll.

Lovemylife

Mon, Jun 15 2009, 6:56 pm

$110,00...

Just like the others, we're comfortable but expenses are high (tuition, rent, maaser, groceries etc)

traveler

Mon, Jun 15 2009, 7:24 pm

amother wrote:

there was no option for 0 income embarrassed

we live in israel, have no income and are b'H supported by both parents.
I dont appreciate it enough.......
but it's not always easy knowing that we always have to take,take,take

Who is going to support your children?

lizza1984

Tue, Jun 16 2009, 6:18 pm

amother wrote:

there was no option for 0 income embarrassed

we live in israel, have no income and are b'H supported by both parents.
I dont appreciate it enough.......
but it's not always easy knowing that we always have to take,take,take

you can always give back when you have. Take very good care of them once you do start to make money

imaamy

Tue, Jun 16 2009, 7:48 pm

To the amother who lives in a tiny Brooklyn apt, how do you get food and other necessities on so little?

YALT

Wed, Jun 17 2009, 4:54 am

imaamy wrote:

To the amother who lives in a tiny Brooklyn apt, how do you get food and other necessities on so little?

yes, amother. please give us some tips! (Start a new thread & direct us to it.)

YALT

Wed, Jun 17 2009, 5:01 am

I don't think the poll will really show how ppl are living.
1) there is an important amount that is missing. the 40-50k. I'm sure there are quite a few ppl in that bracket.
2) as Yakira said, the options really all fall in the same category. They are all low income. Although the last option varies greatly.
3) There are those who are calculating all income including help they get from parents, benefits, etc.
While others are calculating whatever money they come home from work with (check & cash.) While still others only say how much is on their paycheck, that they pay taxes on (or collect taxes on.)

amother

Wed, Jun 17 2009, 8:26 am

Our income varied so much over the year. I added up approximately how much was made each month, and will be till the end of the year. It comes out to be close to 19000. In israel. We're definitely struggling, because we only started to make a little more these past 2 months, struggling to come out of debt. We've been in the red for so long that I can't even remember the last time I saw black in my bank account. Crying

amother

Wed, Jun 17 2009, 5:00 pm

I posted this a while ago, but I can't seem to find that thread. The numbers have changed a bit though anyways.
We make what should be a decent living, but there is not much when you do the math. I'm not complaining. B'H we both have jobs, but it does go quicker than you may think. Moving to a cheaper area would make no sense because our incomes would go down at least 30%.
We make a combined income of $165,000 with four kids.
Taxes take about $42,000.
Health Insurance takes another $12,000 a year.
Our tuition and child care costs are $36,000 ($3,000 a month).
Maaser takes about $10,000 a year.
Food/Diapers etc.. take about $12,000 a year.
Mortgage (inc property taxes/Home Owners' Ins. etc.) takes approximately $37,500 a year.
Utilities average about $6,000 a year.
Car Insurance is approximately another $2,200 a year.
Life insurance takes another $1,200 a year.
Commuting costs take another $1,800 a year.
Gasoline for the cars are approximately $1,500 a year.
This does not include clothes, shoes, dry cleaning, co-pay, medicines, any entertainment, chagim, or cleaning. Do the math. It's scary times we're living in