What is "good money"?

I always say something along the lines of "I'm doing fine". Or when they ask about my wife and I or our new house I just say "we're doing ok for ourselves".

I tend to think most non-finance people think of $100k as doing well. Not rich, but well off.

I would say anything above 300 is good money in Charlotte, NC.

umm really 70k is all we need to live happily. Banking sucks for just 140k, sigh.

i'll get those exits opps. one day.

I have a 10 year reunion coming up and been talking to some old friends.. one girl was like how her bf was making "good money".. I said 60k? she correctly quick with a 75k... i said damm.... thats great.... I was laughing inside but who cares... in houston..... 75k is "good money"

It totally depends on where you live. In NYC its close to 300 to 350K to be able to comfortably own your own place and beable save a good amount for the future yet still have enough to enjoy your life. Now if you lived in the rust belt you could get away with making 75K and be in the same position.

Yeah, it really depends on where you live. Cost of living between NYC and anywhere else in the U.S. is drastic. In NYC, you need at least 250k to do fine, while in Atlanta you could easily live off 75k. No point in working 100 hours if you are going to live till you're 65, just wait for exit ops.

sorry to hijack this thread but what are exit ops?

Good money depends on the eye of the beholder. I think $17.50/hour is good money and Yellowtail Shiraz is perfectly fine wine. Other people aren't sure a Porsche is a good car or a $30 bottle is good enough.

Genuine wealth gets built by saving lots of money. And you can save lots of money, whatever the circumstances, if you learn to be content with what you have.

I believe that good money is relative. As previously stated, We finance buffs are never satisfied in the early stages until we get a couple 100hr per week years under our belts then we start thinking about whats important, be it more money, lifestyle,exit ops or what have you. Where you live and what your desired realistic lifestyle is, determines, good money for you. In finance, 200-300k is good money not factoring location and age. In other careers to me 80k is good money. I hope to reach around 250-300k with a decent lifetyle in my early 30's a couple exotic cars and a half a mill property, and increasing portfolio.

yellowtail's shiraz is ok for the price but much better QPR wines if you splurge a tiny bit more :P but i echo illini's sentiments, im all down for saving and banking up north but when it may come time to switch things up im definitely taking my dragon's hoard and going to a land of inexpensive-ality

Good money in Texas is $50K+

But everything is bigger in Texas!

My main goal is to live off of dividends. I'm starting to get to a point where they're making a noticeable contribution to my income relative to my wages. Thank you oil companies; thank you American and Chinese motorists.

Good money in Texas is definitely NOT $50k. Maybe in rural Texas...

"Please pray for Japan" was a hasty replacement for a quote from a PE guy saying, "The only exit opp in life is death." Figured the day of a terrible earthquake, the signature was uncouthe. Now that it's not days but months after the disaster and the humanitarian situation seems under control, maybe I'll revert it back. :-)

The median household income is 45k.

^^^^^^^^^^^ GUY ABOVE ME = ANGRY NON TARGET LOSER

WHY U MAD BRO?

There are plenty of people living in NYC and making under 300K a year. You guys are nuts. Outside of NYC, 70K is good money, especially at a relatively young age. I'll tell you all what, having time to enjoy life and being able to do other stuff than work is much more valuable than owning a Rolex and a penthouse.

I am starting to agree with Illini more and more. Personally, I value liquidity the most. Nothing is more empowering than having a lot of money in the bank and knowing that you can be tell whatever job you have to shove it and look for something better. Go into debt and you will soon realize how much that paycheck utterly controls you. Nothing worse than being absolutely miserable and having to keep doing what you hate to pay for something you don't want anymore. Fucking blows.

I usually say: considering how much I work, they are paying me peanuts! And then ask people about their free time and vacations, makes them feel superior. Meanwhile I try to be somewhat like illini (but not completely, or i would kill myself) and am working on building a cash wall. Not as focused on tying myself in investments right now, since I'm doing a good amount of investing with OPM and have a comfortable amount in my acct as well. And totally agree with ANT's point on debt.

Thanks, Argonaut. Thanks. :wrysmile:

In my mom's country they have a proverb that says "wealth" (meaning "good money" in your context) is having twice what your father had. I like the simplicity of that in that it summarizes the evolutionary upswing of mankind, at least in its ideal form.

Illini, I'm just saying. I couldn't ever compare to you, so I'm not even gonna try. You are like a financial martyr. People like you back in the day would go village to village and whip themselves till they bled, and women treated them like rockstars, clamoring for even a little piece of their sweat and blood (and probably some other bodily fluids) -soaked loincloth.

How do you have three cars but only $25K in the bank??? Also, why did you need to finance a BMW in the first place?

Because im a college soph with a 740 credit score, 25k, a bmw 540 sport and an e46 m3.

P.S. Illini- I have great respect for what you contribute to this site. I have learn from your posts

Grrr, I got suckered again by a troll from Princeton masquerading as a sophomore college kid with his own BMW dealership from UW Madison. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me forty-three times, whoever you are, shame on me. :D

Debt is good and bad, the way you tell the difference is does the debt bring you positive net gain? You finance a car, the car depreciates in value and you pay interest on it. Looks like a loosing deal, but is it really? For the majority of Americans the car is their sole means of transportation to and from work. Now that you add in the positive net cashflow that a job provides the car begins to look more favorable. One can not look at the situation in a strictly simplistic way, the situation dictates the variables that one must add into the equation. Now I agree on the point that it makes no fiscal sesne to buy a 50k bmw when a 12k kia will preform the same tasks for about a fifth of the cost. However yet again society throws in a curve ball, is it socially acceptable for the man who makes 350k a year to drive a kia? The complex situations provided by society and the necessities of life often change the way a seemingly simple analysis is made.

0.01% of the deals is good money.

I feel like unless you are in high finance, living in NYC is a path to poverty. Most people get rich based off of how well they invest their money, not how much they make and investing a significant portion of your income can be very difficult when rent is $3000 per month, a drink at the bar costs $12-$16 and God forbid you want to take someone out to dinner.

Where I live the 70-90k range is upper middle class. This is "good money" in my opinion. Now "great money" is another topic.

Good money is $250K/year working 45-50 hours a week.

LOL, it has gotten to the point where two trolls are trolling each other.

haha

WSO: Innovating how the internet trolls.

As for the original question> I don't consider having "good money" to be just the $ amount you make at your job.

My favorite guy for personal finance is Ramit Sethi (google him). He puts it well: Imagine you have a company with just one source of revenues. Every shareholder would be up at arms because that is an incredibly risky situation. However, 90% of Americans are in that camp. Their only source of revenues is their paycheck.

My #1 goal as I start my career is to develop multiple sources of income. It is the same principle as Illini's MLP strategy but I am pursuing it through side businesses where I get a much bigger upside vs. capital invested. When I am making $5k from my side businesses, enough to sustain a good lifestyle for a single guy in NYC, I am making good money.