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Comment by purplelobster | Hacker News Reader

If you work in tech you should be able to save at least 30%. I save 60%, and I also live in the highest marginal tax rate country in the world. If you can't it probably means you live beyond your means.

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Your numbers mean literally nothing to me. What do your expenses cost per month? Children? Food? Housing? Student loans? Car payment? What is your income tax rate? Sales tax rate? Insurance? Phone? Internet?

Number are rough because of different currencies, but:

Expenses: $1500

Children: none yet, but subsidized child care, paternity leave and other subsidies makes it pretty cheap

Food: $500

Housing: $400 (own apartment with my SO)

Student loans: $150

Car payment: no car, bike most places

Income tax rate: 32%, but employer pays another 30%, so effectively 62%

Sales tax: 25%

Insurace: $15

Phone: $15 (cheapest possible plan)

Internet: included in housing

Note: I also lived in the US before, with simliar savings rate, which was even easier.

My food budget is 3 times your food budget.

My housing is 3 times your housing budget.

My student loans are $200/month.

My car payment is 300/month.

Income tax rate 9%.

Sales tax: 0

Medical insurance: $8000/year

Auto (and other) insurance: 1200/year

Umm, I don't mean to sound crass, but if you have 5 kids, 3 who live with you and 2 who do not, and a spouse who isn't currently working, I am not surprised that you find it difficult to save money. At the same time, it's not hard to understand that people who chose to have fewer children would find it easier to save money and get by without needing a trust fund.

It doesn't sound crass at all. One of the children is a foster child who we get no extra money for. She needs a safe place to live and food in her stomach and we're in a position where we can do that. I don't begrudge my situation at all.

What I do have an issue with is "if you can't save x amount per month, you're living beyond your means". It's not that black and white. My trust fund question was legitimate. I also think that if you have a support system behind you (i.e. parents you could ultimately live with if you couldn't find work), it makes taking a year off with very little income, much more likely....as does, having a trust fund backing you up.

@gregd Well of course, that's the entire point! I didn't just happen to have low expenses, I've been actively lowering them as much as I can! And you have to make some sacrifices to reach a 60% savings rate, but you also realize how much of this middle-class lifestyle doesn't actually make you happier. Why do you spend $1500 on food every month for one person for example?! That's insane. My expense is too high for my taste even though I bring lunch to work and rarely eat out, but that's because groceries in this country are more as expensive than in the US. Eating out costs twice as much as the US. Also why is your housing 3 times mine? If you live with an SO for example you should be able to find something cheaper than $3000. Again, in SF that might be a sacrifice but you have to do something to get ahead.

I recommend reading this: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-from-...

I have a wife who is in college full-time, 3 children that live with me (2 that do not)...that eats up (pun intended) my food budget. My rent on a 3 bedroom apartment is $1400/month and I had to sign a 14 month lease to get that (after already living here for over a year). They wanted to raise our rent $300/month if I didn't sign the 14 month lease.

I pay for health insurance out of my own pocket, which is over 8000/year.

Look, that sounds like a tough situation financially, but this is not the norm among people on this forum (whom I'm addressing). Also, good news! If your wife manages to find a nice job after graduation, and if you keep your lifestyle the same, you can now put an entire salary into your savings account (or pay off loans, which is the same thing) every month. That's basically what me and my wife are doing.

This is bit of a silly blanket statement given America's main tech center (and a significant portion of HN's population) is in San Francisco, where rents are the highest in the country. It's really hard not to live beyond your means just by living there.

@johnward Well you don't have to do 60% (I'm trying to become financially independent). But stop buying stuff you don't need. Live in a smaller apartment, preferably close to work. Avoid debt and cars like the plague, cook your meals at home. You won't miss all that stuff and it'll make it possible to save a significant portion of your take home pay.

@hoorayimhelping SF also have ridiculous salaries compared to the rest of the world. Everybody seems to be making at least $120k starting out, and many up to $300k. I make way less than that, but also live in a pretty expensive city. I just bypass that by not buying a lot of stuff. It's only possible because I reject the average consumerist middle-class lifestyle. I won't buy a house, I'll never buy a car again, I bike to work, I don't have expensive hobbies. You can't have the cake and eat it too. However most people should be able to save more than they do.

I know people that live in the United Arab Emirates too (the country with the highest marginal tax rate), and besides housing, the rest of the stuff is ridiculously cheap, so it makes sense that if you have a high income you can save a lot.

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?coun...

According to Numbeo, even if you live in Dubai you're way ahead of someone living in San Francisco, and even Montevideo, Uruguay (where I'm from)

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