What do you consider a decent salary?

amother

Bronze

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 10:18 am

amother [ Blonde ] wrote:

in ohio everyone who lives in a struggling school district gets money paid towards their tuition. If you earn under a certain amount then the school can't charge you the difference between the money they got and the money they actually charge for tuition.

I am actually from cleveland and while the voucher program does help it does not apply to everyone and it often does not cover nearly full tuition. Also I would like to point out that tuition is just one part of finances and there are many other things that are just as expensive or more expensive than living on the east coast (such as clothing, kosher food, mortgages, along with utilities, phone bills, car payments, insurance...)

I do think that people here live much more simply than in town places and therefore can make do with less. I grew up in cleveland and most of my relatives live here and when I was first introduced to in-towners (when I was a pre-teen) I was actually horrified by the amount of gashmiyus and materialism I saw in NY and Lakewood.... I am not saying this judging. I am just trying to point out the differences and that it is not just the tuition vouchers!

amother

Blonde

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 10:27 am

I also don't get free tuition. trust me I get it. I'm also always telling people to please not move here thinking they can magically live with no money because of the vouchers. There are plenty of other expenses. I was just explaining how it works.

I live in Cincinnati. The "main" frum community is in Golf manor/amberley which all qualify for the vouchers. I believe it might be different in Cleveland.

amother

Green

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 11:09 am

amother [ Vermilion ] wrote:

As for camps, again, in town, day camps in my area are around $1,100 per month. It is what it is.

Are your investment properties in the frum area? They would generate cash bec they appreciated or you mean you could put in tenants if you wanted?

About 1.5 hrs out of frum area. My DH works there so it was easy for us.
We have tenants. But the houses were cheap so rent is low. It covers expenses - morgage, taxes, repairs, utilities. There isn’t much left over after that and whatever there is we save in case of extended vacancies or expensive repairs so there is no steady monthly income but we can pull money out when we need and they do increase in value and it’s a great tax deduction.

amother

Tan

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 11:31 am

In town. Three kids.
My husband makes less than $55k (full time) I make $36k (part time). Gross.
We own our home which is small and cheap. We don't get any help from parents or qualify for any programs.
It's pretty tight, but livable. No debt and we put away a little every month in savings. But no extra money for renovations or vacations.
$200k sounds like a dream come true!

amother

Sapphire

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 11:38 am

We live oot have 4 really small kids (all under 4) and send to MO school. Combined income is about 175k gross BUT and this is a big but we both travel a lot for work sooo our cars car insurance and gas is all paid for by our employers. We also get medical insurance for the whole family through our employers. I consider what we make a good salary. We own our own home and put money into savings for both ourselves and our children each month. Tuition for the 3 kids in preschool is expensive at about 32k all together but it’s a really good program. We also have to pay for nanny for baby and for after school. Even with those expenses we come out ahead every month.

amother

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 11:48 am

amother [ Tan ] wrote:

How is it possible to live on that? It would barely cover our mortgage and tuition.

rmbg

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 12:13 pm

amother [ Seafoam ] wrote:

We live in Cleveland, combined salary of under 50,000 and we are living decently, both teacher’s.

I’m going to guess that you are on Medicaid have food stamps and wic and get vouchers. I don’t mean this in negatively. Just that simply 50k is not enough to live decently without govt programs. I’ve been down that road.

amother

Floralwhite

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 12:16 pm

amother [ Bronze ] wrote:

Unfortunately I don’t feel like cleveland is like this anymore. With all of the people who moved here from the tri state area the standard of living has gone up tremendously. The standard for Simchos has gone up, The stores all sell all the New York stuff. The girls are dressed with all the let’s frum trends. It was not like this when I was growing up. Real estate has also gone up a lot in the frum communities. Food is more expensive. You need to have at least one car, most families need 2. Obviously it still doesn’t compare to the tri state area but it’s not as cheap as it was even three years ago.

amother

Mistyrose

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 12:21 pm

amother [ Tan ] wrote:

Mortgage plus tuition costs us approx. $38,000 annually. I told you it's a small, cheap house. I wasn't kidding...

So there's like 40 k left for everything else?

I guess these answers just show how much is lifestyle and mindset. Empowering. One person makes 170k and feels like she's struggling and another makes 50k and feels like that's decent.

Meanwhile the one making 170k probably lives in a large updated home, buys her kids what they need, has nice yt and shabbos meals with guests, sends her kids to sleepaway camp, and goes on a small vacation with her family once a year. But feels like it's a struggle.

pause

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 4:04 pm

amother [ Wine ] wrote:

Gross

I'm a recruiter
Most employees make in the 100k+ - 150k range.

I'm talking about Jews from across the Tristate area.

Less than 100k is low although many people are on that kind of salary.

More than 150k is very nice amount for an employee.

People with 250k- 300k positions are far and few in between and they usually have a big burden of the business on their shoulder.

More money = more responsibility.

Most people making that kind of money (over 150k) are business owners.

amother

Pink

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 4:32 pm

amother [ Mistyrose ] wrote:

This exactly. You'd have to look at many, many factors objectively to decide what is a struggling vs comfortable lifestyle. And some of it depends on your surroundings, and how you compare to people you are living among.

amother

Tan

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 4:57 pm

amother [ Mistyrose ] wrote:

I guess so. I don't buy myself new things often, shop last season for my kids... in stores like children's place mostly. We eat out once a year, on our anniversary. Kids go to the school's daycamp, which is pretty cheap according to the other places, and I included that in the mortgage plus tuition number. I don't buy prepared frozen meals or stuff like that. What am I missing?

ETA: Oh, and we have guests VERY rarely. We go to our parents for Succos and Pesach every year... so that saves us a bundle. We only have one car. Anything else?

amother

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 6:02 pm

amother [ Mistyrose ] wrote:

That’s the thing, I don’t do most of that! Because 170 isn’t enough to cover it.