patrick.net

About 10% on rent.

13%

Wow, 10%?? Good for you. That's a pipe-dream for me. 28% on mortgage here.

about 15% mortgage

Gross?? About 12% on my mortgage. It's closer to 20% NET though.

I always thought calculating by Gross income was weird...

11% on rent here, would be less, but I've taken a 20% pay cut since may of 09 :(
13% if calculating off net.

Renting a house with a friend so I can save up more federal reserve notes :)

SF ace says

Use Net as using gross simply ignores the effect of tax benefits and not comparable.
3 mortgages @ little less than 50% net, excluding 3,950 in monthly rent collected and investment yields. Max out IRA, employer contributed another 9%.

14.4% of my net.

14% if I only take salary gross w/o bonus, investment income, IRA, 401.K, and ESPP additions and subtructions.

Currently about 11% of my fiancee and my combined income. But it will increase soon as we've been living ultra-frugally for years now and plan on upgrading to a larger apartment this summer post-wedding. But not much higher.. around 15% of our incomes for a unit 3 times the size of the 1 bedroom we have now. Just no rush to buy a home where I'd be paying atleast 30%+ of my gross income on housing.

31.7% of net on rent

22.8% of gross on rent

There must be some wealthy people on this board...

Portland, Oregon just as an FYI

22% of net income which is what I think about after my 401K contributions, health insurance premium, taxes, etc.

I pay more in childcare each month!

Under 3% of gross on Rent in SF.

40% on combined Fed, State, SDI, Medicare & SS taxes. I'm under 35 so I don't think I'll see much (if any) of the SS returned. So for me it is a tax.

NorthBeachRenter says

Under 3% of gross on Rent in SF

Really? If you're making 100K/year, then your rent would be ~$250/month. Do you live at home?

15% gross on mortgage (escrowed), 7% on principle and interest.

I make high 6 figures (was low 7 figures before the slowdown).

NorthBeachRenter says

I make high 6 figures (was low 7 figures before the slowdown).

Damn! Whatcha doin' with all that dough?!?! Eye-ing early retirement? Expensive drug habit!?! Just kiddin'.

simchaland says

There must be some wealthy people on this board…

simchaland, Tell me about it. I feel better seeing you have to pay a bit to keep a roof over your head as well.

11% for me for rent gross. 37% of net. I take some money out for stock purchases, 401K and so on.

middleman says

simchaland says

There must be some wealthy people on this board…

simchaland, Tell me about it. I feel better seeing you have to pay a bit to keep a roof over your head as well.

Ahh, before you say that you might ask when some bought; many could have started off with a higher % gross... what many would give to shave a few of those years off...

simchaland says

31.7% of net on rent
22.8% of gross on rent
There must be some wealthy people on this board…

Some are wealthy, some have inheritances. My husband and I are middle class but living in a less than desirable area in the East Bay in a TINY 3/1 bungalow.

NorthBeachRenter says

Under 3% of gross on Rent in SF.
40% on combined Fed, State, SDI, Medicare & SS taxes. I’m under 35 so I don’t think I’ll see much (if any) of the SS returned. So for me it is a tax.

Yeah, no kidding. Social security/medicare is just a transfer of wealth from the young to the old.

Is anyone going to look a 30-year old person with a straight face and tell them all those social security/medicare taxes they pay will be paid back to them in 35 years. Pshhh.

Leigh says

NorthBeachRenter says

I make high 6 figures (was low 7 figures before the slowdown).

Damn! Whatcha doin’ with all that dough?!?! Eye-ing early retirement? Expensive drug habit!?! Just kiddin’.

Early Retirement; yes in about 15 years. Untill then I continue to save. I haven't always had a high income. I came to the US in 2000 and my first job paid $20k. We bareley took a day off until 2005. We took our first vacation in 2006 to mark the fact that we had saved $1MM.

We are not truly wealthy yet and have less than $4MM in assets, so if we want to be able to retire anywhere in the world at an early age and be largely self-sufficient we still have a way to go.

middleman says

simchaland says

There must be some wealthy people on this board…

simchaland, Tell me about it. I feel better seeing you have to pay a bit to keep a roof over your head as well.

On the old forum many people claimed to be earning a lot, but then many of them also claimed to be eligible for the stimulus check. I think there were only about half a dozen people who complained about the stimulus (mainly because they were paying for it :) ).

NorthBeachRenter says

Leigh says

NorthBeachRenter says

I make high 6 figures (was low 7 figures before the slowdown).

Damn! Whatcha doin’ with all that dough?!?! Eye-ing early retirement? Expensive drug habit!?! Just kiddin’.

Early Retirement; yes in about 15 years. Untill then I continue to save. I haven’t always had a high income. I came to the US in 2000 and my first job paid $20k. We bareley took a day off until 2005. We took our first vacation in 2006 to mark the fact that we had saved $1MM.
We are not truly wealthy yet and have middleman says

simchaland says

There must be some wealthy people on this board…

simchaland, Tell me about it. I feel better seeing you have to pay a bit to keep a roof over your head as well.

On the old forum many people claimed to be earning a lot, but then many of them also claimed to be eligible for the stimulus check. I think there were only about half a dozen people who complained about the stimulus (mainly because they were paying for it ).

Can I ask what you do? Where did you migrate from?

BTW was just in SF for vacation. I heart North Beach. We ate our way through that neighborhood. OK, we ate our way through the entire city:O)

NBRenter, wow and I thought I was doing well in savings.
I cannot imagine saving up 1MM between 2000 and 2005. Do tell how you did that?

More telling is the pseudonyms of those who respond to other posts but not this one.

CBETA says

14% if I only take salary gross w/o bonus, investment income, IRA, 401.K, and ESPP additions and subtructions.

If I take out 401.K it will be 17%, further if I remove Taxes and do not add back the bonus - 26%

6.7% of gross for mortgage (not including property taxes or insurance).

26%, piti. Had a pay cut. Was doing better, obviously, before the cut. But I'm making it & doing okay.

1% on taxes and insurance.

10%

~20% piti. I'm with simcha--I thought I was doing pretty well, but I'm not nearly as well off as most here...

19% of gross on mortgage. Excluding stock grants and bonus from income, I try to save that against retirement or rainy day.

my property tax is 8% of gross. Sounds weird huh? I saved up a lot, and had equity in my old house that went to the new house, so my ltv is pretty low.

So total is 27%, excluding non-salary income, and the benefit from interest deduction. Could have gone higher but didn't, in case of job loss or whatever.

Congratulations to those who came to the US with little and now have much. For all the complaining about how America is corporatist, or Marxist, or both (?), and we're taxed to death, we can see that hard work, intelligence, and determination can pay off.

BTW my example shows why the rule of thumb of "house = 3x income" doesn't apply in move-up areas. My house is 7x income. Yet it's easily affordable, due to savings and equity in the previous house. True, those who bought in 2006 won't have equity for some time. But that's not most people. Something to consider when comparing median income to median house price in the Fortress, and saying that Palo Alto houses should be 3x the median income of $150k: $450k.

SiO2 says

BTW my example shows why the rule of thumb of “house = 3x income” doesn’t apply in move-up areas. My house is 7x income. Yet it’s easily affordable, due to savings and equity in the previous house. True, those who bought in 2006 won’t have equity for some time. But that’s not most people. Something to consider when comparing median income to median house price in the Fortress, and saying that Palo Alto houses should be 3x the median income of $150k: $450k.

Assets are always a function of income and debt. First home buyers can and do save for their homes as well. First home buyers have lower income and lower savings hence lower priced housing.
Show me a long term major negative correlation between income and housing ratios between different price points and I'll believe you. Otherwise this is just a fancy way of saying "I paid a lot for my house but I can still afford to make the payments".
Paying 8% of your gross income on your property tax should be a clue that the price paid was high. If you enjoy your home who cares but the house fits into luxury spending rather than a rational purchase.

5.8% for P & I

I spend about 13.3% of my monthly gross on rent. 50K/yr $560/month on rent

So when folks make it big it always seems to be a big secret of how they got there. Yeah, sure, hard work, but doing what?!?!

My dad worked his bum off as a janitor and farmer...financially wealthy?! Far from it.

I'm sitting around 8-10% gross. We actually downsized our place last year, mostly because rents came down + we didn't need all the extra space and though saving a good extra chunk would be worth it. We're actually saving more than just the rent difference now, because our place is at what I would consider 100% capacity. We had to get rid of a few things to fit into it (slight miscalculation on our part). But now we aren't buying anything, because there simply isn't room for it. By adding something enjoyable, we take away from livable space, which ruins enjoyment. It's worked out pretty well for us! I enjoy being at the perfect size and not worrying about random shoes/outfits/knicknacks showing up :)

@Leigh
People who have figured out a system that works really well, tend to not share that many details. I've seen some amazing businesses that I just didn't expect to print money, that did. Some janitorial work just prints money! If you get the right contracts and you know how to sell.

I've found it pretty hard to find a group of people who are at roughly you're own level (hopefully way above it!) where you can get really useful information from, while providing some back for them. One of the reasons I enjoy this place. There are a number of people here with varying backgrounds who can really help each other out.

16.3% of 2009 Gross (including the bonus and 403k contributions).

But I also pay my daughter's in college rent, so together it's more than 20.8%

pkennedy says

@Leigh

People who have figured out a system that works really well, tend to not share that many details. I’ve seen some amazing businesses that I just didn’t expect to print money, that did. Some janitorial work just prints money! If you get the right contracts and you know how to sell.

The richest people I know have no problems sharing how they did it. And by rich I mean stinkingly, obscenely rich (50-100 million). Most were smart and totally motivated by money and money alone, went to the right schools in order to meet the right people. Another couple were just lucky, made a disposable product I think is silly, that was bought by a major corporation for 50+ million. Others simply started with a crapload of money and well connected families, went to the right schools, met the right people, and had promotions handed to them one after another...

Sorry, but "worked hard from the ground up without any help from friends or relatives" is not the norm, not with the truly ridiculously rich. Unless by worked hard, you mean went to the right schools to meet the right people...