In the summertime, for about the last couple of decades, the hamptons are invaded by either pretentious city trash, euro trash or celebrity trash.
Posted on 07/04/2005 9:04:00 PM PDT by Selkie
It's a question that plagues the successful and the aspiring: How much does a family need to net each year to lead a comfortable affluent life?
We are not talking about great riches; there are millions of Americans who work hard to be able to afford the best for their families--and themselves--but who don't entertain notions of owning private jets, sprawling country estates or closets full of the latest fashions. Their goals are more grounded: a good education for their children, a nice house, a weekend place, the occasional trip, a night out once a week and a little money in the bank.
We attempted to tally what it would take for a family of four to live well in different parts of the country, starting with every state in the Northeast. We looked at one city in each state and factored in a range of costs, including housing, cars, education, dining and health care.
So what does it cost to live well? We have the answer--or at least some ballpark figures. And it isn't cheap.
Our totals ranged from about $215,000 (for Portland, Me.) to a whopping half-a-million dollars (for, not surprisingly, New York City). And that's the net of local, state and federal taxes, and includes very little savings. Less-urban upper New England tended to be the least expensive place to live well, while medium-sized cities such as Baltimore and Philadelphia ranked in the middle, and the big metropolises and surrounding areas, such as New York, Boston and Greenwich, Conn., were tops when it came to costs.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
It has been my observation that many people who have wealth aren't the ones who walk around with Tommy Hilfiger/Ralph Lauren emblems prominently emblazoned on every article of clothing.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
I live in a tiny 800 sq ft condo that is worth 400k.
I spend half my time dreaming about what space I could buy if I'd move from here already !
LOL
Horrid people there in the summer, no thanks.
And you probably sleep better at night than the people who spending their waking hours craving more, more, more stuff.
:-)
I'm currently renovating my house, which was appraised at around $65,000. It is about 1,100 square feet. I would be curious to know how much it would appraise for when I'm finished.
Me too:) We suffer with a shore place too.
What makes the people so horrid there, during the summer?
Wow. My basement is a bit larger than twice your condo.
For some of us, "living well" and "Northeast" just don't go together.
That makes a huge difference, no matter where you're living. Now that our boys are 9 and 12, I'm really seeing the impact of their growing appetites on the family food budget. Once we add up the cost of their music lessons, scout activities, and summer camp or swimming pool access, it makes my head start to spin. We live a lot more simply than many of our neighbors, and the boys are in public school. Probably the biggest impact of kids on our budget has been on the income side. If we didn't have youngsters, I'd still be working full time. We've chosen to spend more time supervising the little dudes and reduced our income in the process. No regrets.
That makes me think of the people who have those bathroom "retreats," which are about the size of his condo. Who spends THAT much time in the bathroom, to justify turning it into a house within a house?
| What It Costs To Live Well: Northeast | ||
| Greenwich, Connecticut 06830 |
Net Income After Taxes | $359,300 |
| Primary Home Cost | $2,000,000 | |
| Annual Home Payments | $110,996 | |
| Vacation Home Location | Martha's Vineyard, Mass. | |
| Vacation Home Cost | $1,700,000 | |
| Annual Vacation Home Payments | $94,404 | |
| Cars | $18,200 | |
| Dining Out | $10,400 | |
| Food at Home | $10,400 | |
| Travel | $22,300 | |
| Health Care | $5,600 | |
| Utilities | $7,000 | |
| Private School | $24,000 | |
| College | $30,300 | |
| Other | $22,100 | |
| Savings | $3,600 | |
| Local/State Taxes | 17.2% | |
Self built small odd looking house, paid cash for land (a few years ago when it was still cheap here), two cars each 20 yrs old, and we rarely buy new clothes. We are not fashionable. Heheheh.
We sleep very well, thank you.
The things that are important to us can't be bought with money.
Of course, if a bunch of money came our way we'd think of ways to use it - including donating to favorite charities.
Sounded like a rather upper end assumption to me...We certainly don't have any kids in private school, weekend places and I drive an old car because I needed to be a sahm....but to assume a kid in a private school and a kid in a private college...that's upper end to me...
Trajan88
In the summertime, for about the last couple of decades, the hamptons are invaded by either pretentious city trash, euro trash or celebrity trash.
You could afford a mortgage, maintanance and taxes on a Chelsea condo worth $1.25 million. At current rates, the total would be 4,200 per month, or $50k, most of which is deductible, so the IRS pays you to live there for the first several years.
Thanks I need reality slaps like that !
;-)
Bump from the NYC bedroom community.
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