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When people can't even afford 2K rent, there are no games to play. Median house hold income is 60k After taxes that's closer to 40k. When rent alone is 24K, there are no games to play, no moves to be made. The math doesn't work. 2K isn't me over exaggerating, it's median.
https://www.rent.com/research/average-rent-price-report/#:~:text=The%20median%20national%20price%20now,2023%20when%20prices%20reached%20%241%2C937.
Then you're supposed to put 6% into your 401k, then how ever how much for medical insurance , then cost for car insurance ,gas..... where is money for food? Where is the 20% for investing for retirement? The basic of budget is 50,30,20. You're not supposed to spend more than 50% of your income on "needs", yet the median rent is more than 50% of the median after tax household income.
All those tricks are just putting the debt ahead into the future. That only works if you think you'll be making more in the future, but wages have been super stagnant.
You can't play games when rent requires more than half your income.
I own my home, life is fine, I'm fine. But try to do the math, try to make it work. For 60k gross pay and 24k yearly rent, explain how to make it work, how to save up the 10% down for a house and save for retirement.
I was starting with aroud $45k usd before taxes. I live in Australia, one of the most expensive countries. But instead of complaining and saying that math doesn't work I made it work. For years I was saving on everything, putting away every penny on managed fund. It didn't give me huge interest but at least I didn't lose on inflation. Fast forward 7 years and I'm about to buy two houses.
It's all about mindset, dedication and knowledge. And no, this isn't moving debt to the future. It's working around the debt, it's making the debt to work for you. Again, talk to a real money guy and he/she will explain you how it works.
Cost of living, rent, and taxes are all lower in Australia than US on average. Also median income is higher in Australia.
And where did you live? Did you have room mate or live with family?
Melbourne - expensive city to live in and I was living with my wife. The $45k was a household income.
And what was your rent?
It was somewhere around 1500 USD per month. On top of that I had to pay for overpriced health insurance (required by my visa - additional few hundred dollars per month) and I had a huge loan I took to move to Australia (visa costs, moving my stuff across the world, car, etc.). In total I was paying around 2300 USD per month, and I still had to pay for utilities and food.