Financial Freedom
I’ve added a link to another BLOG. It’s about a man’s quest to have his net worth reach $2 million plus the value of his primary residence. He’s up to about $200K now which is impressive enough for a 29 year old. It led me to think about the efforts that my wife and I are undertaking to achieve some measure of financial security.
Living within our means has been a real struggle for us despite the good income I earn in my job. Part of the reason for this is living in New York State. I was born and raised in Massachusetts so I’ve learned to live with taxes to some extent. New York, however, has exceeded expectations. In short, it’s very expensive to live here. I’ve owned a house for almost 2 years now and in that time my taxes have nearly doubled. Taxes now make up roughly 40% of the monthly payment I make for my mortgage. Now with a daughter about to start preschool and twin boys who will become more expensive as they keep growing, the expenses will start to mount.
As I state above, I earn a good income. However, I haven’t received a raise in 2 years, despite consistent good reviews. This is disheartening because my wife and I are so careful with money. We bought used cars so we don’t have car payments. We use cloth diapers so we don’t have to spend a fortune on disposables, and so forth and so on. Despite these efforts we’re slowly being squeezed out. We cant save as much as we used to, we can’t afford to go anywhere to visit family.
I went to grad school, and my wife supported me, so that we could enjoy some measure of financial security. I lived up to my end of the bargain working hard, getting a job at a “good” company and then working hard to get ahead at that company. However, that isn’t enough. So what now?
Step one seems to be, get the hell out of New York State. I wonder why anyone lives here to be honest. It’s nice to be near New York City certainly but what’s the point if you can’t afford to enjoy it. So where can I take my family, make a similar salary and cut our cost of living. I’ve just started looking but it seems like the answer is, anywhere. It looks like my wife and I are about to embark on another adventure.
Living within our means has been a real struggle for us despite the good income I earn in my job. Part of the reason for this is living in New York State. I was born and raised in Massachusetts so I’ve learned to live with taxes to some extent. New York, however, has exceeded expectations. In short, it’s very expensive to live here. I’ve owned a house for almost 2 years now and in that time my taxes have nearly doubled. Taxes now make up roughly 40% of the monthly payment I make for my mortgage. Now with a daughter about to start preschool and twin boys who will become more expensive as they keep growing, the expenses will start to mount.
As I state above, I earn a good income. However, I haven’t received a raise in 2 years, despite consistent good reviews. This is disheartening because my wife and I are so careful with money. We bought used cars so we don’t have car payments. We use cloth diapers so we don’t have to spend a fortune on disposables, and so forth and so on. Despite these efforts we’re slowly being squeezed out. We cant save as much as we used to, we can’t afford to go anywhere to visit family.
I went to grad school, and my wife supported me, so that we could enjoy some measure of financial security. I lived up to my end of the bargain working hard, getting a job at a “good” company and then working hard to get ahead at that company. However, that isn’t enough. So what now?
Step one seems to be, get the hell out of New York State. I wonder why anyone lives here to be honest. It’s nice to be near New York City certainly but what’s the point if you can’t afford to enjoy it. So where can I take my family, make a similar salary and cut our cost of living. I’ve just started looking but it seems like the answer is, anywhere. It looks like my wife and I are about to embark on another adventure.
posted by Danielle at Tuesday, January 31, 2006
1 Comments:
Good luck on your quest for financial security! I agree I don't know how the average person affords housing and is able to sock away when living in NY.
I earn a good income and can save a healthly amount because living costs are very moderate in Raleigh, NC. I have realized that if I lived in NY, forget it - I wouldn't be able to save nearly the amount I do today.
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