Quote:
Originally Posted by KGZotU
I completely agree with piercehawkeye, at least I think I do, that the problem with the poor, or lower middle class, is sociological. As I said, my wife and I lived very comfortably on $15,000 a year, and that included saving for retirement! We drove a car, lived in an apartment, etc.
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I didn't respond earlier as I felt I didn't have much to add to the discussion.
But as you mentioned this twice it stuck in my head, so I did some calculations and came back to it.
I don't doubt that you really did live comfortably on $15k because it's not worth lying about. However I'm intrigued as to the circumstances.
Here are my calculations, based on the real life amounts I pay (converted to $ at today's exchange rate to make it easier to read in the US)
All figures per year
Rent - $6,972 (I have the cheapest rent of anyone I know, more usual would be $11,500 plus)
Council Tax - $2,205
Electricity - $709
Gas (household, not car) - $189
Water - $402
Car Tax - $226
MOT $99 (mandatory car test - required annually)
Car Insurance - $450
TV Licence - $259
Phone - $118
Total - $11,629
Now this list covers only mandatory costs.
Not included but recommended:
Breakdown Cover, home contents insurance
(in the interst of frugality the phone is a basic pay-as-you-go mobile, in order to make emergency calls and be contactable in return - quarterly line rental for landline would be much higher)
The amount left per month ($280) has to cover the following for two people:
Car repairs, clothes, family occasions (birthdays, Christmas etc), food and drink, gas (petrol), haircuts, household cleaning products, perishable items like pantyhose, toiletries, prescription charges, suncream, toilet paper..... and apparently saving for retirement.
I could not live "comfortably" this close to the edge. I can only assume some of this is cheaper in the US.