This is a discussion I have had with my friends and other people around my age who have only been working for a year or two. Living in a large metropolitan area or nearby suburb like most Gen Y'ers in the work force, what do you think would be a comfortable salary?
That depends:
Do you live alone or have roomates?
Do you upgrade your vehicle from the rusty POS you had been driving since high school (YES!)?
Do you visit the bars frequently on the weekends?
Do you subscribe to premium television, internet, and communication services?
Do you have money taken out of your paycheck for insurance and retirement accounts?
On average I was shooting for $45,000 out of college after putting together a mess of different scenarios in a spreadsheet. I figured that this would be comfortable living in any medium-sized city, and closer to $50,000 would be nice in a city like Chicago, NY, Boston, LA, Seattle, or similar cities with higher costs of living.
I won't tell you what I make or if I am comfortable or not, but I know that no matter how much I am making until a few years down the road there will always be the potential to be very uncomfortable without a budget. Tomorrow, I'll shed some light on some actual expense figures if you are trying to plan for life after college, so you can see where you can spend more or less to accomplish your spending/savings goals whatever they may be.
