So I’ve been digging through my budget and recent expenses, and I decided to come up with the amount of money I would need, bare minimum, to meet my current expenses. This comes with a few assumptions of course, namely:
- I am debt free
- Still have enough to save 100$/month for an emergency fund and at least 100$/month for investing/retirement.
- Have benefits at the job I am working at
- 25$ a week in spending money
Doesn’t sound too daunting eh? I plugged the numbers in and here’s what popped out:
I’d need $16,080 after taxes in annual income.
Wow! That was a lot less than I was expecting! There are of course a number of factors that go into this low figure. My girlfriend and I only have one car (2 seems to be the standard..but I think cars are black holes when it comes to money), I don’t have any kids, I rent, etc. Still, It’s a fun exercise. Take a look at your month to month expenses and see what you come up with. Be sure to put in a comfortable cushion (200$ a month for me), and you’d be surprised what you can actually live on in terms of income.
-Xias
on Nov 25th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
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on Dec 5th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
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