Quote:
Originally Posted by _Q_
Very quick math here.
$120,000 salary = $7700/month after tax
Average 3 bedroom detached home = $512,000 = $2200/month
Property taxes = $250/month
Average new vehicle = $40,000 = $600 lease
Child care for 2 children = $2400
Bills including TV, internet, phone, heat, water, sewage, etc. = $700
Grand total of $6150, leaving the family with just over $1500 per month for groceries, gas, savings, gym memberships, RRSPs, RESPs, paying off student loans and other debt.
That's about $350 per adult, per 2 week pay period for "discretionary" spending.
Sure.... it's doable. But it doesn't leave much room for daily coffee and avocado toast.
What ends up happening in a situation like this is things get cut out. Maybe the kids stay with their grandparents instead of daycare. Or maybe the family keeps driving their 15 year old beater. Or maybe they just say "fk it, we'll just keep accumulating debt, because what's the point?"
And this is in Calgary, where things are relatively cheap. Imagine living in Toronto or Vancouver, where average incomes are about 80% of what they are here and housing and child care are twice as expensive. No matter how many new TVs and vacations you tell yourself you won't purchase, it's not going to make any difference whatsoever.
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What a ridiculous budget you're expecting here. If you've still got two kids that need full time daycare, to the tune of $2400, then there's no f'ing way you should be buying a $500,000 house, and a new car. Neither of those are necessities.
You can go and claim the other extreme of a 15 year old beater, but that's just you, expecting that you get handed your life on a platter. I somehow managed to raise my kid in a half duplex, with a 10 year old vehicle, and further managed to find a dayhome that was only $600/mo., and now suddenly, a few years later, I've got extra money in my account, making not much more than half your salary.
Seriously, you're spending your hard earned money on expensive glue, and I'd like a sniff, because it seems like it's the good stuff. Instead of the good glue, I learned to fix a few things on my own, and went without the flat screen and PS4 in the bedroom. Funny how money can be saved when you're not wasting it on wants and instead of using it on needs.
I seriously can't get over how insane your post is. As though a $500,000 detached house is a god given right. STFU and earn it. My kid's RESP has a fair amount (not full), my mortgage is well on it's way to being paid, and my vehicle is a little older. Boo hoo. Someone owes me something.
That said, I agree with the living wage part of the thread, just not this lunatic that thinks that being a newlywed means the right to two kids, a half million dollar house, and a $600/mo car payment. 1 less kid, 33% less house, and 50% less car somehow makes the math work pretty easily. In other words, get your #### together.