Is a comfortable life as a PT with $250k in debt possible?

[jdaniels360]

Lol thanks guys, much appreciated! I've used turbo a bunch of times actually, just tend to fly through it so i can get my $$$ back haha. Definitely want kids eventually so will have to work around that.

I actually live in Fort Lauderdale, not even close to a cheap area. I have classmates paying close to a grand a month for apartments.... i'm also 6"8 250lbs and eat like it LOL. There's just a right way to do it if you're trying to save...... If you need budgeting advice, it'll cost you 130k/session )

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[DesertPT]

Lol thanks guys, much appreciated! I've used turbo a bunch of times actually, just tend to fly through it so i can get my $$$ back haha. Definitely want kids eventually so will have to work around that.

I actually live in Fort Lauderdale, not even close to a cheap area. I have classmates paying close to a grand a month for apartments.... i'm also 6"8 250lbs and eat like it LOL. There's just a right way to do it if you're trying to save...... If you need budgeting advice, it'll cost you 130k/session )

You seem like a pretty chill guy, jdaniels...I think I just realized where your username comes from

 

[NewTestament]

And yes, married filing jointly is almost always the better way to go, and having kids does reduce your tax liability. But it doesn't reduce it by as much as kids cost, that's for sure!

Do you recommend being a DINK?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it better to live in an area with high wages and live as frugally as possible?

 

[jblil]

@ jdaniels: I'll be glad to run some numbers for you. A couple of questions though: will your wife be working, and if she is, 1) what is her approx. income, 2) does she put any $ into a 401k? Those 2 items will impact your taxes significantly.

 

[Bluecase]

I'm sorry. Thinking you could take home 65k on a 75k salary is ludicrous. Even with whatever tax magic or situation you come up with you have to factor in health insurance, Medicare/Medicaid, social security, potential city taxes, etc..., even when I wasn't taking any money out for retirement I still only took 45k out of the 65k. So raise that salary and bank on 20k out of your gross income off the top- and even less if you don't want to be broke when you retire.

That's not any conjecture by students, pre pt students, or hr block. That is the way the world works. If you are considering finances it is smarter to talk to people actually working and not many people on here who make wild estimations about potential incomes or potential earnings after taxes. My two cents.

Half of the questions in the PT forum are answered completely on hearsay or wishful thinking of pre pt students. Not actual pts

 

[jdaniels360]

BlueCase, I appreciate the feedback. I wasn't assuming 65k take home on 75k, because i haven't been in the real world and i'm sure i'm in for a rude awakening. It was literally a total stab in the dark. I'm here to learn.

Jblil, lets say her income when i start making money will be roughly 55k post taxes, and not putting into a 401k. Let me know if you need anything else. Much appreciated!

 

[DesertPT]

I'm sorry. Thinking you could take home 65k on a 75k salary is ludicrous. Even with whatever tax magic or situation you come up with you have to factor in health insurance, Medicare/Medicaid, social security, potential city taxes, etc..., even when I wasn't taking any money out for retirement I still only took 45k out of the 65k. So raise that salary and bank on 20k out of your gross income off the top- and even less if you don't want to be broke when you retire.

That's not any conjecture by students, pre pt students, or hr block. That is the way the world works. If you are considering finances it is smarter to talk to people actually working and not many people on here who make wild estimations about potential incomes or potential earnings after taxes. My two cents.

Half of the questions in the PT forum are answered completely on hearsay or wishful thinking of pre pt students. Not actual pts

You are right. I was interpreting the 65k number as being just salary minus income tax, not minus any other factors. Which is still optimistic (probably more like 60k). And which is why I was wondering about jdaniels ability to live on such a small budget. But you are right those numbers are a pretty pointless thing to have a conversation about because they don't really pertain to your real life. I don't have time to go through a detailed analysis for him of all the ways that money goes out the windows.

And I promise, I know how much money it takes to live. PTs don't have any more training in finance than anyone else who has been an adult in the real world. The issue is whether or not someone has lived on their own in the real world, not whether or not they are a PT.

 

[DesertPT]

Do you recommend being a DINK

You mean "Dual Income No Kids" I assume. From a purely rational economic standpoint I suppose you could recommend that. But my personal beliefs are in families and I do want kids so no. That's not really something you decide based on economics IMO.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it better to live in an area with high wages and live as frugally as possible?

I suppose it could be. Depends on how much being in a "high wage" area swings the cost of living compared to other places you could live.

If you could live in area 1 with minimum cost of living X and wage Y, or area 2 with minimum cost of living 1.5X and wage 2Y, then yes your assertion would be correct and you would choose area 2. But if the situation was that area 2 was minimum cost of living 2X and wage 2Y, it wouldn't matter and you could choose based on other non-monetary factors. And if area 2 was minimum cost of living 2X and wage 1.5Y, then obviously you would choose area 1.

Just a theoretical explanation of how it really matters how all the various factors shake out.

 

[jblil]

Jblil, lets say her income when i start making money will be roughly 55k post taxes, and not putting into a 401k. Let me know if you need anything else. Much appreciated!

@ jdaniels: Assuming you make 75K gross (65K from a regular PT job, and 10K from PRN), and your spouse makes 55K post-tax, your federal tax burden would be 22K. Since you live in Florida there is no state tax, but I don't know if there are city/county taxes you have to pay.
The above also assumes you have no tax shelters such as mortgage payments, 401k/IRA contributions or other interest payments that are tax-deductible.

 

[jdaniels360]

So basically we're looking at closer to 10 years on a 130k debt.... it is what it is.

 

[DesertPT]

So basically we're looking at closer to 10 years on a 130k debt.... it is what it is.

That definitely seems a lot more realistic. The 5 years we mentioned earlier would require payments of $2500/month without fail which is probably not sustainable even with a post tax income of ~$100k that you calculated.

jdaniels, putting $30k/yr towards loans looks doable on paper but when the realities of life and children hit you'd be surprised. It really all depends on life circumstances and how frugally you can live. It might be doable for a few years, but maybe not 5+ years in a row.