I would then take time to find a remote company which to some degree would align with my moral values. I would not need to rush to keep working in the automobile industry, but instead would try to get in somewhere where they would need my experience and work with renewable energy or smart grids or something similar. For that I would probably need to spent some time doing some courses on that topic and educate myself so I’m employable. The 80k would give me that possibility.
(My case is rather specific that I also need a work visa sponsor to be able to stay in Korea, so that makes it much more difficult.)
The problem is that unless you had enough investments to be generating an income you can live on, all a neat egg does is focus your mind on the fact that it is diminishing and that could be used as a deposit for a house or just a rainy day fund.
What it might do is encourage you to get something lower paying just to pay the bills while you are waiting for the dream job or you might be able to undertake an unpaid apprenticeship as long as there’s a solid job offer at the end of it.
I had this. What i did was consider what the best title/type of company i could get with respect to career growth and turned down interviews for everything that wasnt that.
I came VERY close to changing my search parameters after about three months of looking with no firm offer. I landed one of the ones i wanted. Pay isnt on the upper end for the title but its still the title and a large company.
If i had to rush i probably would have taken a much shittier role with far less growth opportunity.
I am a highly trained professional with 10 years experience though so ymmv.
Ok, now we’re talking. That will get me through a couple of years if managed well, so I would have the luxury to be choosy about my next job, get multiple offers (hopefully) and not have to sacrifice on having fun while looking. Still, I’d be planning to get a new job in 2-3 months max, ideally.
People downvoting have never lived a different country, or city, than where they were raised … seriously, cost of living varies wildly. 10k/month in expenses with a family, house (mortgage, insurance, maintenance, etc), cars (gas, maintenance, insurance, etc) travel / vacations, you name it, is not unreasonable.
Yea. It’s rough out there for everyone. A friend of mine is paying 1700 a month for a 2b in California. Dude, I’d be homeless. There’s no way I could afford to pay that every month.
I appreciate that thank you. I am. My apartment is fine, but I also don’t have a shit ton of the upgrades that they’ve been doing to other apartments. That’s another reason it’s low. I actually need to re new my lease, they left a note on my door yesterday
What everyone in this comment section calling out “10k isn’t much” are failing to understand is that over 60% of the USA live paycheck to paycheck and don’t have any savings to speak of. Extend that to the world and you would go pale.
Yea seriously thank you. I’m like mind blown that ppl don’t think that’s a lot of money. 10K would last me almost 2 years not working. I’m single, no dependents, my rent is cheap and I own my car. What’s the deal here man? Why’s everyone pissing on 10k as chump change? That’s a lot of money man
That would last you two years of not working??? That wouldn’t last me a year of rent (maybe 6 months or less), never mind other expenses like food. I don’t even live in an overly expensive place like California or NY. I also don’t have any extravagant expenses. What in the world place do you live in with rent that cheap?
The insane levels of post-COVID inflation has been a real bitch, though. Prior to COVID, that would have been around a year’s worth of rent (but still not enough for other things like rent and utilities). But everything has skyrocketed since. But even pre-COVID, I can’t imagine $10k being two years of total living expenses.
How in the world are you able to live off $5k/year? My last months credit card bill was $2.6k and I don’t even pay rent or tuition on my card. I’m also single with no dependents, own my own car, and have extremely cheap rent.
I pay around that per month, but that includes all of my expenses, including rent and other bills, not just credit card alone. Maybe the person you’re responding to has kids or lives in a higher COL area or something.
In some places, rent alone might be that much though.
I don’t know much about their situation, but one of my coworkers has kids in daycare and it seems insanely expensive to the point where they’ve recently needed to get a second job.
It’s not usually that high but it’s not totally uncommon for me to spend that much a month. I usually try to keep my spending between $1,200-1,800/month but that doesn’t always happen.
Rent for a 1b apartment is more than that in some cities in California.
Edit: I see this was responding to someone spending 2.6k just on their credit cards, apologies. When I just graduated, spending that much on a credit card seemed like a lot of money. Now, that’s just average … on one credit card (I have 3 😅). Try having a family, traveling, or … I don’t even know, but life catches up with that pretty quickly.
Yes. I live in a 1b 1b I’m in the south. So cost of living isn’t skyrocket like in California for instance. I also don’t just ‘accept’ an outrageous price in rent. If an apartment cost 1100 a month for me to rent, then I’m going to a neighboring city for a lower cost.
I used to say 10k is enough to solve one major problem in my life and that was it. Enough to bailout a relative, enough to move across the country for a new job, enough to rebuild after a fire/flood, enough to buy a reasonable car in cash. 10k is not just money, 10k is a force in its own right. It represents one thing that should destroy my life or someone around me life nd make it go away.
Many years ago my wife wanted to finish her degree and she made 2k a month. I gave her my ten thousand and told her to focus on studies for five months. Worked out.
I recently moved across the US. 15k would be possible but it would be tight (assuming everything you own doesnt fit in the back of your car). Also assuming youre including all moving expenses like reregistering a car, gas to drive across the country, deposits on rent/utilities, a month of overlap on rent, etc. All the little things start adding up quickly with a move that far.
Don’t blame the responders, look at your question. If what you really want to know is “if you had 2 years worth of savings to live on”, ask that. The low end average cost of living in the US anyway is $2,500 a month, so 10k is 4 months of living expenses. That’s also about the average length of a job search.
In general, the OP seems a bit out of touch with a lot of things. They also recently asked why people stay in shitty jobs instead of just quitting them before they have another job lined up. Money. Money is why.
I’m guessing they maybe live with their parents who only make them pay nominal rent, giving them the freedom to not have many bills and to allow them to have large stretches of time between jobs if needed.
I take one check and put it away, then next pay cycle I take a portion of that to add to the first chunk in my savings and then use all of that to pay my rent at the end of the month. I don’t spend any of my first check because that needs to be the majority of my rent while my second check I only need to pull 250 from
I don’t buy it. Not in the US, at least. Even if that was exclusively spent on rent alone, that would put it at $417/month. The only way you’re doing that is if you own (at least bought before the real estate spikes since ~2017) or you have a personal relationship with the landlord and are getting well below market rates. Or if you live in a van down by the river.
And that’s even before things like food, insurance, etc.
Cost of living isn’t the same everywhere and perspective is relative.
Rent in my area averages around 3k USD/mo for fairly plain arrangements. Between that and “unavoidable” costs like utilities, you’d get 3-4 months max on that amount, even living frugally. It really isn’t that much for a lot of people, even if that amount might be to you.
My apartment, which is about 22 square meters, costs me the equivalent of 1300 dollars a month. Add in a electricity, food, Public transit card, mobile data, and other small necessary things, and it’s at least 1800 dollars a month. And that’s without any extra expenses like fun things.
Which would, of course, last under 6 months. That’s not a lot of time. I’d need to start a job search immediately to be safe.
Those are your responsibilities that you need to accept and do twice the work for. That’s the cost of having those things.
People who do not have those burdens are not the bad guy. Focus your energy on ways to help yourself instead of shitting on other ppl.
The amount 10k I put is because that’s a fuck ton of money TO ME. And would help me a shit ton.
If 10k ISN’T enough for YOU then disregard that number and just put an amount according to your life situation that you consider a large sum of money that would help you while you’re unemployed and then answer the fucking question.
Basically, take any amount that you consider a large sum of money, and then apply the same question I asked in the post.
Stop trying to shame and fucking argue. Makes you look bitter
My condolences for your situation but the reality is that it simply isn’t a lot of savings.
10K lasting you 2 years is a fantasy. If rent is $500 a month, (which is an overwhelmingly generous estimate in this economy), you’re still talking about $500x24 months = $12K. That’s ignoring literally all other costs of living like food, transportation, electricity, etc.
I’m single, no dependants, don’t need a car to get around, and 10K would still not even last me a year simply because my rent is $1100 a month (and that is considered really good for a 1br in my city)
$1100 for a one bedroom? That would be crazy good where I’m at even for a studio where you’ve got bullets flying at night. I’d blow through 10K in rent in a few months. Where the hell does OP live that they could survive 2 years? There’s no way I’m even in the same country as OP.
Yeah I’m super lucky. I live in a major city in Ontario. My rent is partially controlled due to provincial laws and my building being a bit old, and I’ve lived in it for about 5 years.
I’m kinda trapped though since I’d probably be paying double for a unit of the same size elsewhere in the city, and even more if I wanted to get an even slightly larger place, so I have to be happy with what I’ve got until the housing bubble bursts. I’m not complaining though, the building is well kept and in a very dense and walkable neighborhood with lots of amenities.
You said in another comment that your rent was $800 a month, two years of that is $19,200. Rent is (supposed to be) about 1/3 of your living costs, so that would be $2400 per month. You’re good for a little over 4 months, more if you live very lean.
Average cost of groceries per person per month in Texas is $289. Let’s say you’re thrifty and only spend $200. www.sofi.com/cost-of-living-in-texas/
Average utilities in Texas (including internet) is $402 per month, again you’re thrifty so we’ll halve that at $200 per month.
So, if you buy absolutely nothing besides bare minimum groceries, gas, car insurance and utilities (I’m assuming you’re on no-cost Medicaid here), that’s $465 per month + $800 rent is $1265. You’re good for almost 8 months. Not a dire as some here are claiming, but also not two years. If you lived like the “average Texan” it would be about 2.5 months.
Bruh these people absolutely have the option to scale back, don’t feel bad for them. They live paycheck to paycheck after their $80k car payments and $600k house mortgage. That’s not the same.
Or maybe they have a family with kids, they live in an expensive part of town, but moving is not an option due to job constraints, or maybe the kids are going to school there and moving would be disruptive. Maybe that area didn’t use to be so expensive 10 years ago. They need cars, not 80k cars, but large enough to haul said family around, cause maybe public transportation sucks where they live (ahemLAcough). Heck, maybe they bought those cars in cash, no payments, but gas, insurance & maintenance (maybe they’re old cars) are killing them. Car prices are too expensive to get a new car, so they keep spending 1000s in repairs instead. Maybe a hurricane, strong winds or just normal wear and tear made their house roof leak, thats $20k right there, ask me how I know.
Also, a 600k house is cheap and almost impossible to find in California, for example. No, moving to Texas is not an option, thanks.
Edit: the example above is hypothetical, not my current situation, but based on my experience.
Those are all things you can scale back on. People who make less certainly are forced to. Not that they’re not entitled to live there, my point is I don’t feel bad at all that they’re claiming to live paycheck to paycheck, because they have the option to not be.
There is no set amount of USD that defines the line between “wealthy” and “poor”. Your $120k figure would go a lot further in Mississippi or Texas that it would go in California or Massachusetts, where that would be barely enough for a large family.
There’s definitely a place (or two) in the US where a family struggles with $120k/yr. Sure, just move to Mississippi, I guess …
Lots of people have families in high COL cities and live on significantly less money than that.
They would be considered “poor” there, or at least not wealthy.
I literally spent $24k on home repairs this summer, and I just pay it in payments, and I make 6 figures.
Well good for you, I guess.
No normal person pays this in cash, outright.
I guess I’m not normal.
My roof replacement a few years back was $8k
Good for you, that would get you half a roof here, and insurance won’t cover if it’s considered normal wear and tear.
…everyone’s point isn’t “wow you suck for having only 10k in savings”. Everyone calling out the OP is saying “in my country/area cost of living is very high and with 10K in savings I would be in a bit of a panic”.
Also telling people to “get educated” while they react to the US cost of living being out of control just makes you sound like a dick.
Bruh, I live in Seattle. The cheapest ones are still in the $1000s for minimal sq/footage. My place is $1700/m w/parking at 640 ft.
Average people who work in service or labor can’t afford to live here if they have a family. Commuting on 90 or I-5 or 99 is always a slog, so living outside of the city incurs massive time and effort, which aren’t sunk costs. Gas is $5-6/gal here. Public transit is better than most places, but still bad. And we haven’t even brought up the homeless dilemma, rampant drug use, and property crime.
Most cities are like this now. Dallas/Ft Worth are cess pools. Miami is a mess. Tampa, SFO, LA, NYC, and so on… If people don’t see it, it’s because they’re ignoring it or are in a bubble.
I know your pain very well lol, that’s why I moved from Washington. Seattle is pretty ghetto too, so I didn’t want to live in the city. I wanted more Bellevue/Redmond/Issaquah/North Bend area, but the cheapest places there were like $1200+ and that was considered dirt cheap that went really fast. Now I’m stuck in a shitty red state in a medium-sized town for the time being. I was so optimistic when I was growing up in WA like 15 years ago and wanting to stay there my whole life. Now it’s overcrowded as hell, expensive, and all the other things you mentioned!
Your point is valid, but LendingClub’s numbers are bullshit. People keep quoting that press release like it’s science.
LendingClub’s business is in person to person loans (they act as a middle man between the investors and borrowers). Person to person loans are risky because the kind of people taking them out tend to be desperate and have no money, so unless everything goes right, they end up defaulting on the loan.
LendingClub puts out this bullshit article inflating the number of people “living check to check” to try and make it seem like their person to person loans are less risky. They want you to think you’re lending money to people with a 6 figure income could just sell one of their Teslas to pay you back, not people who took out the loan because their 1991 Chevy Corsica needed repairs and without it they can’t get to their job at Burger King.
Sorry, LendingTree and LendingClub are two companies in the same business selling the same narrative. Their names are as similar as their business models, so it’s easy to get them confused.
I don’t think if somebody posted links to articles from McDonalds and Burger King talking about the health benefits of eating more French fries, you’d consider them more credible for having two different sources.
Three types of comments here: You take your time looking for a good job, You rush to get another job, You ignore the spirit of the question and whine about a technicality
Me, me, me haha. If you have the money to live nicely for awhile, spend time finding out what jobs youre really passionate about and go for those. Even if your under qualified it cant hurt to apply. Sometimes they can offer entry jobs to get were you want to be. If you already know what you want to do, spend some time updating/improving your resume and see if you can get a a few companies to fight over you. There’s a lot of power being able to walk away from the negotiation table if you’re qualified and its just not the right time.
Totally fucking agree and thank you for being so level headed. It’s true, when you have the time and a savings (USE A DAM NUMBER THAT YOU CONSIDER TO BE A LARGE AMOUNT OF MONEY ACCORDING TO YOUR SITUATION THAT WOULD HELP YOU WHILE UNEMPLOYED FUCK)
You do have the flexibility financially and for the betterment of your career, to walk away from jobs that are toxic, low paying and have no career growth.
You’re not rushed to just take anything keeping you in a vicious cycle.
I wish that everyone could have that. :( I hate how things are
How much 10k is to you is relevant to the question. For some of us that’s a month, for some that’s six months. It makes a difference to how you respond.
$10k is not very much money to live on where rent alone is $2000~2500. I think if I had $100k I would be very picky. Or better yet, I would try to start my own business.
Yeah Im jealous of OP that in their area that’s “hefty” in my area that would cover maybe 2 months expenses if you were being frugal, certainly it wouldn’t be “restart your career savings”
This is the answer. We are in this position now. Husband still unemployed, but has turned down several low offers. If we didn’t have savings, he would have taken a job below what is enough to live on, but at least it’d be something.
With the cushion, he job searches full time instead outside working hours.
That’s what I was thinking. $10,000 for me is about 2-3 months of expenses. Of course, if I lost my job and knew things were going to be tight, I’d cut back on spending. I could probably get that $10,000 to stretch to 4-5 months, but it still wouldn’t make me relax my job search much.
Now, if I had $100,000 in the bank, I’d be quite a bit more relaxed in my job search. Give me $1,000,000 in the bank and I’d question if I even needed to find a job. $10,000,000 in the bank and I’d retire and live off of the interest.
Between my mortgage, child support, and kids college tuition, that would be gone in a month.
However if it were a hefty amount, nothing would change. I’ve never taken intentional time off between jobs and I still wouldn’t. Unless it were a life changing, lottery winning, early retirement amount of money, I’d be too anxious about where I’m getting paid next. I would not enjoy time off
If I were truly unemployed and worried we’d cut back a lot, but currently our expenses are $6k/month. I think I could realistically cut a grand off, maaaaybe grand and a half tops. but only could save more by restructuring debt, and changing my 401k investments.
10k will last you about 3 months comfortably, 6 if you're single and willing to scrimp or live in your car. That's your time limit to get a new job.
I had about 3x that saved and took a year off after working a decade at my previous position (I was pretty burnt out and hadn't been able to take more than a week off since I started). Having that padding gave me the time and peace of mind to look for something I really wanted, and gave me the freedom to turn down offers that would have put me back into the burnout cycle.
I ended up with a full WFH position with a 50% bump in salary. Within a year, I made back what I had spent simply by maintaining my budget from my previous salary.
If I hadn't had the cushion, it would have been pedal to the metal and accepting the first position offered, and I would have likely hit burnout before a year was out.
I have been unemployed for almost a year now and was looking the entire time. Burned through severance and savings. Sooooo you better not slouch because shits tough for anyone but entry/associate level.
If you have the cash to spare for it, FindMyProfession is a subscription service that I’ve twice used to get out of a shitty job. First time I wanted the new job to take me to a specific state, they found it in the heights of the pandemic and with a 30% bump in pay within the first month. Second time I wanted a new job but I didn’t want to move, in the barely-begun third month they found me a 20% bump in pay for a fantastic company.
The service they offer is some expensive shit, but I trust it so goddamn much.
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