[tdeck]

I wonder if the confidence OP is detecting from their collegues is more due to unspoken 1, 2 and 3 rather than the explicitly mentioned 4. In our society it's considered kind of gauche to say something like "I could take a 100k pay cut and still pay the bills" or "I've got enough savings to go years without a job" but for many software engineers living well below their means these could easily be true. There are lots of people out there making $200k/year and spending less than $40k/year, particularly people without kids.

[TylerE]

Who are these people living on $40k/yr, and what size cardboard box do they live in?

[kthejoker2]

40 might be a bit of a stretch with inflation, but even with 4 kids and a dog my yearly expenditures to live in a very nice (3800 sqft) house with 2 (paid for) cars is only about $67k/year.

$37k mortgage $15k bills - electric, water, Internet, car insurance, cell phones, etc. $15k - food, gasoline, clothing, haircuts, other "necessities" (many of which are not)

Then of course there's vacations, Christmas/birthdays, and unexpected large purchases (e.g. the out of warranty laptop broke), so maybe add on another $10k?

But we could also easily tighten the belt a bit and cut those bottom 2 items to $20k with only a little bit of pain.

When you're walking home after taxes with $175k/year you definitely get a little flabby on what should be sensible cost cutting (e.g. I'm sure I'm paying a few hundred dollars a year for streaming/subscription services I don't use enough to justify, but it's not worth the hassle.)

We are of course extremely privileged to not have any major medical issues, a good support system for child care, 2 work from home parents, and to have somehow avoided most of the crazy tuition hikes of the 21st century.

[rr808]

> only about $67k/year.

Which is >100k/year before tax which is well above median household earnings.

[kthejoker2]

Right, but we're also an above median family size (again: 4 kids.)

I could easily drop 20-25k from that spending if we didn't have kids - in fact, at the time I had my first kid, my mortgage was $24k/year, my bills were nearly 40% lower than they are now, and I didn't track food and clothes budgets back then but even if they were 80% of present day levels (I suspect it was much lower) that'd put us right around $40k/year.

But I also am on the real estate property ladder, so I think it'd be foolish for me to spend any less of our income on our housing than I do, so counting it as pure "expenditure" is a bit misleading.

Also since someone asked this year I paid $2,200 in healthcare distributions on top of $750 annual premiums.

[rr808]

Thanks for putting all the numbers down its always interesting. I'm jealous and scared of having 4 kids. :)

[TylerE]

Not to mention I see no mention of healthcare costs. I - a single 30-something with some chronic issues, easily spend $5k on healthcare a year - more if I get hospitalized, which has happened 3 times in the decade.

That’s not even counting the portion that comes out of my check.

[FreakLegion]

What kind of answer are you looking for? There are people who live on less than $40k without even meaning to. It's not an outrageous number, but sure, would be harder with chronic health issues and so-so insurance.

[ilikecakeandpie]

With a roommate, a paid off used car, and a not extravagant lifestyle in a smaller city/town, it's not impossible. It ain't as easy as it was ~8 years ago when I was doing that though

[TylerE]

That’s not living if you’re making 200k a year. A roommate? Seriously?

[rr808]

Maybe this is an American thing? I lived with roommates until mid-thirties, was pretty normal in London.

[tdeck]

Have you never lived in the SF bay area? I had multiple friends colleagues who lived with housemates while making six figures in software jobs. It's very normal.