Average Median Income?

[DrkZide]

Is it just me or do I never seem to have enough money to mod my car the way I want to? With the wife and I combined our income is in the $100k/yr range. We don't have many bills aside from household, childcare, student loans and cell phone bills. Both my vehicles are paid off and my wife has maybe a year left on hers.

Is this normal compared to some other users here? I've been waiting like two months so I can order the parts I need for my 120k service. I'm at 100k but I never did my 60k so I figured might as well do the 120k. Yet I see people with 3.5l strokers and new wheels. Makes me wonder even though the initial cost is low if this car is still out of my budget.

[stealthee]

I wish I made that much income. I started my current job in January at 9.50 an hour which is $19760 without overtime. I was given a 50 cent raise in May which brought me to $20800 without OT. I was given another 50 cent raise last week bringing me to $21840. The end of December I am up for another $1.50 raise bringing me to $12 an hour which is $24960, again without OT.

I do ok, even at that income level. I'm not rich, I don't necessarily struggle, but I don't do great either. As the old saying goes, the more you make, the more you spend.

[Emilie@GZP]

It all depends on your cost of living vs. income, and how much work you do yourself, what kinds of deals you get on parts, etc.

[DrkZide]

As the old saying goes, the more you make, the more you spend.

Damn and I consider your car one of the nicer ones around. I do all my own work so I could be spending more. I haven't linked my new bank account to my old MINT account since I joined the Army. At least then I should figure out where everything is going.

[stealthee]

I put myself in a hole making my car look the way it DID. Its developing issues here and there and needs gone through and redone. I'm going to do it right this time both physically and monetarily.

[Purdue3KGT]

It seems like money is buying less and less these days. I think the prices of most goods/services has gone up, while the incomes of most middle-class workers hasn't. I'm very fortunate in that I will be able to graduate from school with zero loans, and with my car completely paid off. I've had to work my ass off, but it will pay off in the long run, as I'll be able to get a fun car once I secure a decent job!

[CoreyB]

I know I dont have the money. I traded for my car a very nice Corrado with the VR4 being a basket case of sorts. I bought the Corrado for like $900 and had a few hundred into it. I have been piecing my car together slowly. Every time I fix something another breaks. I have only about $2000 into the car on top of the trade. This includes rebuilding the engine, replacing all wheel bearings, replacing the computer too many times, and replacing all the rear steering lines. Oh and fluids can get pricey as well. I make like $38,000 a year and my wife like $25,000 or so. So yeah its not easy. I do a lot of side jobs that help fund the car.

[Hammer]

I found it difficult as well at around 100K. It wasn't til I passed 150K that I had enough cash to pay for everything that needed to be done considering everything, including saving for retirement. Let me be clear though 100k is including benefits. So if you are making 100k plus benefits like employer pays health care then you are really closer to 120K. For a family of 4 also.

[CoreyB]

Yeah I didnt include bennys. That puts me closer to 80k or so.

[DrkZide]

I used to have benefits, although Army benefits aren't as nice as some make it seem. It took them three months to diagnose my knee and even then they didn't really do anything. TriCare is still an HMO plan and we all know how HMO's work. Our bills are low enough that we have money for small things. Like I just ordered a set of HID's from DDM for my wife's A4 and I've been putting money into the truck getting it ready for winter. But for things like a new bumper ($600 estimate after paint), 120K service (don't even know how much that is), Reupholster interior, new sound system or just updating things that are slowly showing their age, is proving to be difficult to keep up with.

[R/T93]

I make pretty decent money working for the DoD on the submarines here at Bangor, but I am struggling like most. I live alone in my own home, my mortgage is about half of my net income, leaving the other half for bills food and gas. I invest 6% of my paycheck into my govt retirement fund, and another 250 a month goes to life insurance a ROTH IRA and a separate money market account. I work as much overtime as I can to get back to a more liveable lifestyle.

I cant wait till I am 62 and can withdraw from my TSP and ROTH, gonna be AWESOME.

[CoreyB]

How old are you now ?

[Polygon]

I would love to be making even $50k a year. Sadly I'm underpaid and I only make about $29k. After all the bills are paid I don't have much left. I put most of the rest in savings. Once and a while I'll buy something for the cars. For the most part I'm living paycheck to paycheck simply because of maxing out a credit card and taking out a personal loan due to a medical issue that kept me out of work for six months. As such I over pay on my loans and the credit card. In fact that's where most of my money goes.

Happily, the Stealth is almost mine. I only owe $1,500 on it. However, once it's paid off the $200 I pay on it a month will go to the credit card. Also, I'm trying to get a different job. One that will pay me about $10k more which is what I should be making. If I could ever get my computer business off the ground I could be out of debt in no time.

[CoreyB]

Polygon, its nice to hear you have your priorities straight. It sucks but at least you are taking care of your shit.

[stealthee]

Yeah, debt is the main part of my issues. I'd be living much more comfortably if it wasn't for that. According to my current payments I should have most of my debt paid off in about 2.5 years, then I'll only have one thing left to pay off and I'll be home free. Hopefully in that 2.5 years my income will go up much more and I will be doing even better.

As nice as it would be to be rich I don't see it ever happening to me. I just want to be comfortable and buy what I want, when I want it, within reason. If things progress with my girlfriend then we can be very comfrotable together. Once she finishes her degree she will be able to start out at around 70k a year.

[I-AM-FURLONG]

12.00 a hour and a studio apartment for 1200 a month. Now im unemployed. I hate California

[CoreyB]

Stay at home dad with a internet side biz sounds good to me. They must not have many good jobs in your area Brian because you are obviously a intelligent person and could pull off my job with little training.

[nodoze]

well as of last year me and my no ex were only bringing in like 60k but i have a nice house with a 450$ month mortgage and relativley cheap bill and do close to 8-10k in cash side work every year to pay for the car habit

[CoreyB]

well as of last year me and my no ex were only bringing in like 60k but i have a nice house with a 450$ month mortgage and relativley cheap bill and do close to 8-10k in cash side work every year to pay for the car habit

$450 mortage ? I pay $1200 rent with NOTHING included.

[I-AM-FURLONG]

I'm throwing my money away in a studio apartment. we should include which state people live in also? huh?!

[ferriolom]

I was making 30$K a year. Me and the female own a house in Upstate NY with a $600 a month mortage. Now I stepped down and work part time at my "main job" and picked up a full time easy job to cover the bills... School FTW :(

[DocWalt]

If I could work full time, I'd be making somewhere around what Brian makes. Money is going to be super fucking tight for 6 years, gonna get a second job if I can.

[JasonY]

When i had steady work, i was making around 80k a year. Dropped as low as 33k and i lost my house, cost me my entire savings out of pocket to sell it to break even on the mortgage. If it wasnt for a good friend id have been in serious trouble and probably would have lost my car.

Hope to hit ~50 this fiscal year, but will probably only hit low 40's...fucking sucks. I wanna make ~80k again:mad: And im still playing catch up, if i could just have 2 months of steady work, id be back to square one, debt free and wouldnt owe my friend any money for letting my stay at his house while i got my shit straight.

Jason

[ferriolom]

I'm almost kicking myself for stepping down. Retail sucks but I WAS making decent money. Especially compared to a lot of the locale. Hopefully I made the right choice...

[Jeremy C]

I picked up a family of four on my current salary, so it made car spending a little more difficult. Good news is that my tax returns went up something stupid due to EIC and the wonderful little tax deductions that are sleeping up stairs. This years return, assuming the same as last, would be enough to pay off all my luxury debt (ie - not a house, but everything else) with some money left over. This would free up $400/mth that I am paying towards that debt. We've already decided that with the funds being freed, we have a few priorities that need to be taken care of first, but before too long I can start siphoning some funds back to my more fun hobbies. :)

[R/T93]

How old are you now ?

I'm 26 (tomorrow) the Roth is already 4 years old. I plan to work for the govt until I'm 55. I might find another job after, I might not, I may take the penalty and begin drawing from my ROTH early, depends .

[Alex3000gt]

Eh, hearing before tax income is worthless. Take out insurance, 401k, taxes and then see what you really take home. There goes 30% of your income out the door! Haha

[JasonY]

Alex, for me its closer to 40%. I lose 15% right off the top for FICA and then state and fed off of that cuts almost an even 40% right off the top. If i didnt have to pay taxes id have been caught up on my personal finances a while ago:mad:

Jason

[CoreyB]

My income was after everything . Take home pay. Still $53k is not much for a house hold.

[CoreyB]

Alex, for me its closer to 40%. I lose 15% right off the top for FICA and then state and fed off of that cuts almost an even 40% right off the top. If i didnt have to pay taxes id have been caught up on my personal finances a while ago:mad:

Jason

Dont worry Jason, That tax money is being given to someone else.

[Dark-Hawk]

I've simply decided to stop modding my car. Unless I have to replace something, I'm no longer putting money into my vehicle. I'm keeping this trend until I'm making upwards of 70K/year and have some form of disposable money to put aside. Cars are great, but they're a terrible investment. I'd rather just have my car, and a motorcycle for my fun vehicle; at least for now. That's just me though!

[AdamVR4]

How much money are you going to be saving every year?

I think I'm in a very similar income situation... Based on my relatively well refined budget model, given our current expenses (including a car loan), we will save ~$20k this year in spite of spending $9k on the VR4/travel... I'm not pleased with the amount we're saving, but I can't justify not having any fun... Then again, to be fair, I just used the VR4 half of that budget to buy a daily beater, so yes, I feel your pain on not being able to afford mods :)

[IPD]

i should be content, but i'm not. and that's probably how it will stay until i'm happy with my car.

i regret buying a 2nd car; and even more, i regret trying to have WSR fix it up for me. oh well. at least in another 18 months or so, that loan will be paid off. debt sucks.

imho, if you can save $10k per year, per income earner--then you're doing ok. i'm a little behind on that goal this year. at times, i feel that i constantly get the short end of the stick financially. i only seem to have money for my IRA just before the market takes a s**t. i purchased a house during the ONE AND ONLY spike in interest rates during the housing slump. so that "normally a great idea" 15-year fixed rate has been biting me in the ass because i'm stuck at 6% while the rates have dropped to 3.75% in some cases. and since i can't guarantee that i'll be around for another 2.5 years...i'm stuck without refinancing.

it's really par for the course for me though. if there is a hard way to do anything, i'll probably end up going down that road. i have the absolute worst luck. i'm like william h. macy in the cooler--only without the happy ending.

[Show Killer]

Shit, tell me about it. After taxes, child support, 401k and medical i will take home about 45% of my net income this year. Good thing is both kids will be 18 in about 3.5 years. That will be an extra 25% right there to my pocket.

[2fnloud]

OP,

I think you have a misconception, sure you are reading about different people doing grand and wild things to their 3s. But it is not like it is the same person saying "Oh I did this to my 3s and now on to do the next thing."

I too get frustrated by the news that this use just got these killer rims, and that user just finished installing a new set of DR750's" and I have only had my car a year.

Do you have a goal of how you want your car? If not write it out, group it in stages as much as possible, then don't sway from that list at all. It is too easy to look for items that do not line up with your goals for your car. I used to due this because I would get frustrated that my goal list would appear to go stagnate. Honestly that is how I became an owner of a 3s, I got frustrated that my Saturn project was moving at a snail's pace. Saturn vs. 3s, I decided the 3s was the better car to have.

I remember a question I heard a year or so ago, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."

Our cars are our elephants, and sometimes "Keeping up with the Jones's" causes us to bite off more than we can chew at times.

[i3igpete]

I'm throwing my money away in a studio apartment. we should include which state people live in also? huh?!

don't always think that renting is "throwing money away". when you buy a good size home, the annual taxes may equal what you're paying for rent. people don't always consider this, since you're throwing away just as much.

[HilbillyHomeboy]

Alex, for me its closer to 40%. I lose 15% right off the top for FICA and then state and fed off of that cuts almost an even 40% right off the top. If i didnt have to pay taxes id have been caught up on my personal finances a while ago:mad:

Jason

Gotta love being self employed...uggg. My biggest problem is I have almost no overhead, so very little write-offs. All profit blows when the tax man comes knocking. :(

Jeremy

[ChargerX3]

Im just glad that im making more than i did a year ago. $0 for over a year is tough. I work at job that doesnt necessarily tie into my major, but it pays all the bills and then some. I dont make big $ at all, but my needs atm are met, so i am happy. That is all that matters.

[DrkZide]

Do you have a goal of how you want your car? If not write it out, group it in stages as much as possible, then don't sway from that list at all. It is too easy to look for items that do not line up with your goals for your car.

Our cars are our elephants, and sometimes "Keeping up with the Jones's" causes us to bite off more than we can chew at times.

That's actually a pretty good idea. I'll have to sit down and write it out. For right now I'm just trying to get it mod receptive again. I know I need the 120k and a new set of brakes up front since mine rusted out when I was in the Army.

My other problem is being that I live in Denver I sold my little truck (Ranger) to buy a bigger 4wd (K10) so that I can tow the car, haul stuff, drive through tall snow, etc.. But now I'm finding I'm just modding the car AND the truck AND the wife's Audi.

[91stealthrt2]

Last year my wife and I only made 40k combined. And we purchased our house 2 years ago, it's less than 1400 sq ft, and our mortgage is 1600 w/ taxes & insurance. We don't spend out of our means and the only debt we have besides the house is student loans, which is almost 600 a month(Wife just finished her masters). We used up all our savings in the last year.

My wife just got a one year contract so she will be making about 40k for the next year, and I am hoping to get a promotion that will bump me from 30 up to 40k.

[2fnloud]

But now I'm finding I'm just modding the car AND the truck AND the wife's Audi.

So you are modding three vehicles?

[DrkZide]

Pretty much. The truck is getting winter ready, the Audi is getting some "pep" added to it by request of the wife and the 3000.....well no further explanation necessary. It's also the one receiving the more extensive treatment. Here's the thing though, I can mod both the Audi AND the truck for a fraction of the 3000. I just ordered a new set of "shocks" for the truck since it bounces more than your neighborhood gangbanger's lowrider and all it cost me was $100. Wife's new down pipe for her A4 cost her $125.

[IPD]

don't always think that renting is "throwing money away". when you buy a good size home, the annual taxes may equal what you're paying for rent. people don't always consider this, since you're throwing away just as much.

best reason ever to own a modest home. at 1200 sq ft (plus a 2 car garage) my house has annual property taxes of <$1200. that's less than $100 a month. while i won't be here long enough to have this particular house paid off, that's pretty much what i will end up owning eventually. i don't base it off of what i could be paying for an apartment; i base it off what i would be paying in lot-rent if i owned my own single-wide mobile-home (which is usually about the lowest you can scrape by on).

once my cadet loan & my mortgage are gone, my monthly NET income increases by around $1100-1200. and that's without any promotion or annual COLA. that's practically another full-time job.

that's what i'm really after. equity won't help me now--so it's not an incentive. it's the lack of recurring monthly expenses which i'm shooting for. owning a small, adequate home is the quickest & best way to achieving that goal.

[CoreyB]

Your modest home in my location would be 4-5k a year in taxes.

[HilbillyHomeboy]

I was gonna say, best reason ever to live in a place that doesn't have stupid high property taxes. I'm sitting on 3,400 square feet and my annual taxes are less than $500.

You can have the big city...I wanna be a hillbilly.

Jeremy

[CoreyB]

We dont have state income taxes or sales tax. So they make up for it with property taxes. That and we have a nice area. Not city at all.

[DaveSlow]

We dont have state income taxes or sales tax. So they make up for it with property taxes. That and we have a nice area. Not city at all.

We have both here in Chicago. Highest sales tax in the country I believe and our property tax is still out the roof. Yet our state and city is dead broke.

[IPD]

Your modest home in my location would be 4-5k a year in taxes.

sounds like a great reason to GTFO of there. just like cali.

[UTRacerX9]

I was gonna say, best reason ever to live in a place that doesn't have stupid high property taxes. I'm sitting on 3,400 square feet and my annual taxes are less than $500.

You can have the big city...I wanna be a hillbilly.

Jeremy

We'll always see you as one, don't worry. ;) As for me, it's definitely about location and timing. Last year I was laid off. With a severance package and unemployment though, I actually made almost as much as I would have working the whole year. I was living in FL and about to buy a 1900 sq ft house in a short sale deal. I backed out once I lost my job though, I didn't want that mortgage of $1800 or so a month hanging over me.

Fast forward a year though, and I've moved back to TX, bought a house that's twice the size of the one I would have bought in FL, and with my new job paying the mortgage and bills, I don't have any recurring payments like car payments, child support, child care, etc, and that I think is the key. Have the least amount of bills possible before throwing money at a car.

I have to spend money buying stuff for this house, but once that is done I can finally start putting money towards my car again if I want to. I just dropped 3k on a friggin sectional sofa... That could have been 19T's or even a TD05 upgrade. Ugh, the things we do for women.

[IPD]

$2100 on a sectional microfiber berkline. but it's pure win, so i'm happy with it.

[stealthee]

Stay at home dad with a internet side biz sounds good to me. They must not have many good jobs in your area Brian because you are obviously a intelligent person and could pull off my job with little training.

Yeah, I live in one of the "poorest" counties in the state of PA. The owner of the company I work for in worth a couple million though. :lol: Not bad for only having around 30 employees. But yeah, my intelligence is what is making me advance so fast at work. I'm finally being reckognized for my abilities. I wasted 4.5 years at my last job working for an unappreciative asshole. The best thing he ever did for me was fire me.

I'm going to do what I can to use my advancements and pay raises to my advantage. I don't plan on staying in this area forever. I may end up trying to go to school eventually. If things go the way I hope then I can go to school and be a stay at home "dad" to my girlfriends daughter while she works. With her degree we should be able to survive on just her income until I graduate and get a good job myself.

[Quick VR-4]

$2100 on a sectional microfiber berkline. but it's pure win, so i'm happy with it.

Funny, my first job out of college was as the National Accounts Marketing Manager for Berkline and they are headquartered in my hometown....small world.


As a loan officer, I see everyone from the guy clearning under 10K a year to the guy showing $500k+ on his tax returns. The one constant I almost always see is people spend what they make. Everyone says if I could only make $10k more a year which means you would just spend $10k more (in most cases). If I stayed in my first condo making what I do now, it would be paid for. Instead, I bought a house, have some toys, etc. It is human nature. For those that put all extra into savings and retirement...kudos to you.

[Hammer]

Everything has a maintainence plan. Home,cars,retirement,kids,college,wife. For a family of four, I have found take home pay of $75,000 covers everything with some room to spare like a 2 week vacation, once a year. I do not believe that is rich. Rich is when you have $25,000 left over at the end of the year sitting in your bank account that you can do whatever you want with. For me that happened after I had $100,000 take home pay. I live in ND. If you live in NY you can add 30% cost of living to those numbers.

[CoreyB]

100k is far from rich. Rich is when you have no money worries whether you have a job or not.

[Hammer]

100k is far from rich. Rich is when you have no money worries whether you have a job or not.

Hmm by that definition then I need 40 million. Rental realestate gives me money worries that 40 million could fix.

[CoreyB]

I think 2 or 3 mill should be enough to be rich.

[Hammer]

I think 2 or 3 mill should be enough to be rich.

I read an article on yahoo finance that said for early retirement at age 50 a person would need about 2 million to live out the rest of their days. Give or take depending on life style. So at age 50 to retire early with no money worries 2+ million. If you are 25 I would gather 5 million is required.

[IPD]

i could live happily on 1 million after taxes; provided i could be guaranteed 5% annual return.

i'd simply work for pleasure.

[EZnTn]

100k is far from rich. Rich is when you have no money worries whether you have a job or not.:thumbup1:

Some of the richest people I know worry little about the bank .. it's what's in their heart

[nodoze]

$450 mortage ? I pay $1200 rent with NOTHING included.
man that sucks but i live in bfe iowa and that mortgage is ESCROWED! lol i have a modest 2k square foot house that is all updated with everything its not new by any means but nicer than anything i ever had growing up

[Alex3000gt]

Alex, for me its closer to 40%. I lose 15% right off the top for FICA and then state and fed off of that cuts almost an even 40% right off the top. If i didnt have to pay taxes id have been caught up on my personal finances a while ago:mad:

Jason

Ouch! :eek:

[TheRedStealth]

just under 25k/year, fiance makes a little less, 1500sq/ft house on 2.2 acres. I sacrifice stealth money to go out to eat and stuff like that. havent bought a mod in years

[93STLTH]

It's a little depressing hearing some of these stories. I don't want to say how much I make, but let's just say I've had over $40,000 in taxes taken out already this year. I don't own a home and I have about $48,000 in debt to show for my work. But, I've never missed or been late on any rent, or bill payment and my credit rating is through the roof. I've stopped modding for the time being because I'm hoping to finally buy a house next year, so reducing that debt is priority number one. It's great that so many of you are headed in the right direction, even on limited incomes. Keep on the good, responsible path and you'll have it made.

[J_Parker]

I pretty much live paycheck to paycheck, hoping one day to have my Stealth going so I can start saving up a little in case of an emergency. I take in roughly $30k live at home, which my parents make me pay rent. and have few bills, but I have a feeling that may be coming to an end soon :( Overtime for me is pretty well useless to work, last week I made about $1,800 on my cheque (about 15 hours of double time this week)... $750 of that went to taxes (theres my overtime gone right there), and another $300 or so went to benefits... $250 goes to the personal loan I took out for a car that no longer runs, $80 is going toward my cell bill, $300 for rent, and another $350 for my insurance. I made the mistake of leaving all of my bills for the end of the month, or right at the beggining, so I'm always finding myself trying to keep $1k in the accounts to keep "the man" happy, parts buying for the car is a very slow going process.

[TheRedStealth]

just under 25k/year, fiance makes a little less, 1500sq/ft house on 2.2 acres. I sacrifice stealth money to go out to eat and stuff like that. havent bought a mod in years

forgot to mention thats before taxes and I'm in the middle of trying to file bankrupty on the 30k in debt I have mostly causesed by the stealth and being unemployed for over a year.

[Polygon]

Polygon, its nice to hear you have your priorities straight. It sucks but at least you are taking care of your shit.

Thanks. I'll admit it didn't used to be that way. Before the incident that really threw me deep into debt I would spend money on the cars when it didn't make sense to do so. I really regret doing that. Had I bee more responsible then, I'd much further ahead now.


It's a little depressing hearing some of these stories. I don't want to say how much I make, but let's just say I've had over $40,000 in taxes taken out already this year. I don't own a home and I have about $48,000 in debt to show for my work. But, I've never missed or been late on any rent, or bill payment and my credit rating is through the roof. I've stopped modding for the time being because I'm hoping to finally buy a house next year, so reducing that debt is priority number one. It's great that so many of you are headed in the right direction, even on limited incomes. Keep on the good, responsible path and you'll have it made.

That's the exact goal I have. Get out of debt and get right back into by buying a house. :D

[onebadmollafolla]

Work part time and make ~30k + benefits/year while going to school.

[93STLTH]

One thing to add though, the car is an important hobby for me. I used to be into running, playing baseball, bicycling, and a lot of other physical activities. Old age and sports injuries have pretty much taken that away from me. The car is the only thing I love that I'm still able to do. We all need something to give us a release from the everyday grind, I think it's an important part of keeping yourself balanced. People who don't have constructive outlets often turn to drugs and alcohol for their release, and we all know that's worse than any car addiction. Even though I've spent way too much money and time on the car, I also don't regret any of it.

[jrod]

I am very very thankfull for the money wife and I make. We are 25, and last year we made 134k on paper and prob 20k on the side. And this year we should do 150kish plus what i made on the side flipping cars. Very Very Thankfull!

[Alex3000gt]

Swew, a lot of high rollers in here. Haha.

Granted though that expenditures do increase with income.

[IPD]

I am very very thankfull for the money wife and I make. We are 25, and last year we made 134k on paper and prob 20k on the side. And this year we should do 150kish plus what i made on the side flipping cars. Very Very Thankfull!

you certainly have been richly blessed. i was lucky to have been making $25k/year when i was 25.