How much do you need to make in order to live comfortably?

amother

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 1:23 am

How much do you and your husband need to make annually in order to live a comfortable life? How many kids do you have that you need to pay tuition for, and In what area of the world do you live?

amother

SandyBrown

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 1:28 am

We spend about $5000 a month and are not comfortable.

So we NEED about $6000 a month to be comfortable I'd say.

No tuition. Two kids. Live way oot. No health insurance cost. No food stamps.

$1500 rent/water/sewer
$400 gas, electric, phone
$1000 groceries
$1000 debt re-payment
$800 two car payments, car insurance

amother

Salmon

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 1:30 am

We are in Israel and even here we need a lot. I would say comfortably we need at least 15,000 a month and sometimes up to 20,000 and that is dollars. I definitely more when there are vacations and big purchases like construction for sure. I'm just talking about month to month expenses not and there's something extra.
Editing to add that we have five kids.

amother

Chestnut

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 1:42 am

amother Salmon wrote:

You need 50000 shekel to live comfortably in Israel. Wow, that's a lot.

amother

Emerald

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 1:42 am

In Israel
average month we spend 20,000 shekel and we are careful and frugal
We need 5-7 thousand shekel more to be comfortable

amother

Stone

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 1:47 am

In Israel - family of 11 bli ayin hara, we spend 20,000 shekel including 5000 per month special help for two kids and we really struggle. We'd need another 5 - 7 to relax and another 10 to be comfortable.

amother

Oak

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 1:53 am

Israel - we make 22,000 NIS per month, and we also get rent from a small apartment that we rent out.
We live comfortably, b"H. We are frugal. Don't go on vacations (maybe 1 shabbat per year).
We have 1 car.
7 kids - 2 married. 2 in yeshiva. 3 in beit yaakov.

amother

Lemonchiffon

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 2:56 am

I live in Israel with my baby.

$2000 rent
$200 playgroup
$800 groceries, bus fares, occasional clothing etc.

amother

Melon

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 3:04 am

We live in Israel.
We spend about $15,000 a month and live very comfortably.
Family of 7.

amother

Forestgreen

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 4:38 am

I'm so happy to see I'm not the only one in Israel that wouldn't be able to run a home on the numbers I usually see on this site and elsewhere.

I would say at this stage, with 6 kids living at home (Mostly - Oldest is in college during the day, Next one is going to the army soon, next 2 are in yeshiva dorm and come home weekly, etc.).

I would say $10K a month would be nice. Thankfully we're almost there, but not quite. With $12K I think we could relax a bit more, maybe a vacation, but not enough for a bit of much-needed renovation. And saving for weddings is always on my mind.

amother

Begonia

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 4:46 am

Im in Israel

One baby

At this stage we are making 11k nis and are very tight and frugal (dh is learning) would need about 20k nis to be comfortable at this stage, and probably 35-40 k nis a month to be comfortable with an older family and 4-5 kids (I have IF so thats my best hope)

amother

Gardenia

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 4:51 am

Israel
One child
Comfortable with 10K nis
We own apartment
have a car

amother

Brickred

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:00 am

In Israel.
To live with no worries at all we would need about 30,000 shekels a month. We live with slightly less now and its tight every month.
Tuition is a very small part of our monthly amounts.
2 adults 2 kids and a few pets

Bnei Berak 10

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:05 am

OP, it's well known that people who earn more also spend more. It's proportional.

amother

Mintcream

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:53 am

2 kids and not making it.
Monthly:
3k mortgage + taxes
3k credit card bill (includes food)
2k childcare + tuition
1k insurance.

So that puts us at needing 9k a month. Which we make in theory, but we bring home only 5k after taxes.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:53 am

amother Salmon wrote:

Amother, 20k dollars is roughtly 70k shekels. YOu need that to live comfortably? Can I ask if you live in an expensive area? And do you have many kids? That sounds like a LOOOT of money.

amother

Forestgreen

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:54 am

Rappel wrote:

Israelis - from where do you get such a high income?

It's not easy. I know some people do it by having great hi-tech jobs, but we don't. I have 2 full time jobs (1 is for an American company so that actually does pay nicely) and my husband works full time as well and tutors a bit in the mornings. Our pre tax income is 38K shekels, although there are a lot of taxes coming out of that.

amother

Emerald

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:55 am

Rappel wrote:

Israelis - from where do you get such a high income?

I'll answer- I wrote above that we need an average of 20K shekel

I work as an office administrator and net 11K
DH learns in kollel in the morning, owns a business which he works on in the evening.
Some months we can finish the month easily and other months we're very tight.

We need 20k in order to stay out of debt - we could use another 5-7 to be more comfortable
I'll add that 7 k every month is house debt (mortgage and other loans)

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:56 am

Rappel wrote:

Israelis - from where do you get such a high income?

Except for the post that said they need 20k dollars, the incomes are not so high. Lets say both spouses are working, 20k is not that much. Lets say one makes 15 and the other 5. Thats about average, I believe.
Average full time salary is about 12k, so if 2 adults/parents are making roughly that, or in that area, the combined income will be between 20 - 30 k shek a month.