What's your ideal salary to live comfortably?

<p>but how to people buy cars and houses on that kind of salary</p>

<p>There are online calculators to compare salaries from city to city. For instance, a company in Dallas wanted to hire my husband to work as an engineer for them, but he would work from our home in Maine. We looked at the calculator and told the firm that it’s almost 25% more expensive to live in Portland than in Dallas. They weren’t willing to pay him that much, so he’s still working on his own (and doing fine).</p>

<p>@golfcrewxctrack: Loans and mortgages, it’s part of the reason for the financial crisis today. Banks are lending money out to people who can not repay them.</p>

<p>^^They pay it over time. Some people take out loans. One of the reasons many Americans are deep in debt.</p>

<p>I come from a household of 6 on 70k/year.</p>

<p>Wow you people dream big… 250k is a lot to expect. I’d say to continue the lifestyle I have now, I’d probably need 75k a year, but I could make 50k work with little difficulty. For a family obviously I’d like a household income of >150k.</p>

<p>I just can’t imagine living on that little</p>

<p>golfcrewxctrack just discovered the American middle class today.</p>

<p>^^Don’t be surprised when your fresh out of college and making less than your ideal salary. No one pays an undergraduate a six figure salary.</p>

<p>You may be surprised at what you can live on. My husband and I worked for the same company in the early 90s. The entire design division was dissolved, so we were both laid off the same day. We both collected unemployment for a little while. Since we both had master’s degrees in engineering, I NEVER expected to be in that position! We survived, but it was tough.</p>

<p>ya but I’m going to do an MD/MBA joint degree program so I’ll have enough education to make that kind of money</p>

<p>You sound overly confident in yourself.</p>

<p>I am very confident in my self</p>

<p>This can be a flaw.</p>

<p>My dad makes around 200k (I don’t know the exact amount but my understanding is that it’s between 180 and 200). My mom does grad school classes at 30k a year. Our family of 5 lives in a relatively huge house, we have all sorts of technology, and enjoy regular vacations and other luxuries. We also live in an extremely expensive neighborhood. 250k or more is just excessive… To support a family, 100k is plenty, and anything more is a luxury. I’d prefer to have 150k a year just in order to give my family an above average life.</p>

<p>how about you get an undergrad degree first</p>

<p>Not everyone goes to medical school. Only 40% do, and these kids are ultra competitive, like cut-throat.</p>

<p>Just because you have MD/MBA behind your name doesn’t guarantee you a 300k+ job.</p>

<p>I’ll probably shoot for a salary around 200k+. It all depends what specialty I go for in med school, if I even still want to go there by the time I graduate undergrad.</p>

<p>I know it doesn’t but it will probably help</p>

<p>But you have to find a balance between confidence and naivety.</p>