Most expensive city to live in

[Vlajos]

Steely, Semiramis is great. You have to try Kabobi just north of tracks a bit . It's Persian and BYOB. Amazing and inexpensive too.

[Steely Dan]

^ thanks, we'll be sure to check it out sometime soon.

Albany Park is like the Mecca of inexpensive BYO ethnic places.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by dimondpark

2018 50 Largest US Cities by Median Income, 2-Earner Families:
$189,493 San Francisco, CA
$182,594 Washington, DC
$161,164 Seattle, WA
$160,121 San Jose, CA
$139,971 Oakland, CA
$134,996 Atlanta, GA
$123,725 Austin, TX
$121,415 Boston, MA
$120,240 San Diego, CA
$119,407 Portland, OR
$115,879 Denver, CO
$113,582 Minneapolis, MN
$108,167 Chicago, IL
$107,273 Raleigh, NC
$104,786 Virginia Beach, FL
$103,759 Charlotte, NC
$103,416 Tampa, FL
$103,188 New York, NY
$101,181 Sacramento, CA
$100,821 New Orleans, LA
$98,041 Baltimore, MD
$95,486 Kansas City, MO
$93,282 Philadelphia, PA
$92,638 Nashville, TN
$92,130 Long Beach, CA
$91,552 Omaha, NE
$91,077 Los Angeles, CA
$89,855 Las Vegas, NV
$88,894 Louisville, KY
$88,877 Fort Worth, TX
$88,264 Colorado Springs, CO
$88,032 Oklahoma City, OK
$87,847 Phoenix, AZ
$86,603 Arlington, TX
$85,839 Indianapolis, IN
$85,460 Jacksonville, FL
$85,027 Columbus, OH
$83,236 Dallas, TX
$83,134 Albuquerque, NM
$82,963 Mesa, AZ
$82,414 Tulsa, OK
$82,123 Houston, TX
$78,376 San Antonio, TX
$76,992 Fresno, CA
$75,606 Memphis, TN
$74,473 Milwaukee, WI
$70,160 Miami, FL
$68,575 Tucson, AZ
$65,767 El Paso, TX
$61,319 Detroit, MI

This is why I will promote marriage until I die. It makes a *huge* difference in a child's life. It's literally the difference between poverty and upper-middle class in some instances.

[dimondpark]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

This is why I will promote marriage until I die. It makes a *huge* difference in a child's life. It's literally the difference between poverty and upper-middle class in some instances.

Amen on all counts.

[Jonesy55]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Good point on transit. It was less expensive for us to use cabs than public transit earlier this year. But I have a family of 5. Food wasn't as unreasonable as I remember from years ago.

Kids under 15 go free on London buses which is always a good way to save money there. For adults buses are £1.50 for a single journey ticket which also allows transfers within an hour, or £4.50 for unlimited travel in a day. So two adults and 3 kids can travel for £9 (US$11) a day total on the buses as much as they like.

I quite like the buses as you get to see the districts you are passing through but if you want to use the tube to save time then a single ticket in Central London is £2.40 /$3 which is quite expensive but it's capped at £7 per day ($8.50) so once you've taken three tube journeys you don't pay any more for the rest of the day.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

This is why I will promote marriage until I die. It makes a *huge* difference in a child's life. It's literally the difference between poverty and upper-middle class in some instances.

1. get an education

2. get a career

3. get married

4. have some kids

5. and most importantly, STAY MARRIED!


if you do those 5 things in that exact order, your chances of making it to middle class or higher are probably >95%.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

1. get an education

2. get a career

3. get married

4. have some kids

5. and most importantly, STAY MARRIED!


if you do those 5 things in that exact order, your chances of making it to middle class or higher are probably >95%.

Absolutely

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

Kids under 15 go free on London buses which is always a good way to save money there. For adults buses are £1.50 for a single journey ticket which also allows transfers within an hour, or £4.50 for unlimited travel in a day. So two adults and 3 kids can travel for £9 (US$11) a day total on the buses as much as they like.

I quite like the buses as you get to see the districts you are passing through but if you want to use the tube to save time then a single ticket in Central London is £2.40 /$3 which is quite expensive but it's capped at £7 per day ($8.50) so once you've taken three tube journeys you don't pay any more for the rest of the day.

Ok, good to know.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

1. get an education

2. get a career

3. get married

4. have some kids

5. and most importantly, STAY MARRIED!


if you do those 5 things in that exact order, your chances of making it to middle class or higher are probably >95%.

Maybe up through #3. But if you aren't already in, or on your way to, the middle/upper middle class by #2, then #3 probably won't make much difference. And #4 will absolutely present a setback.

But the best predictor for whether you will end up in the middle class is whether you were born in the middle class.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

#3 probably won't make much difference.

#3 made a huge difference for me, from middle class to upper middle class with a simple "i do".

income more or less doubled overnight.

getting hitched is the single best thing i've ever done in my life. hands down.

Originally Posted by iheartthed

And #4 will absolutely present a setback.

#4 is only there for ordering.

if you wait to have kids until you've got your education, career, and marriage on track, then your chances of success in life are greatly improved.

if you have kids before those 3 big life events are in place, then you're needlessly putting yourself behind the 8 ball for no good reason.

if you don't want kids at all, ever, then simply don't have them.

kids don't improve your chances for financial success in life, but ill-timed children can certainly negatively affect those chances.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Yeah, pricing for things seem fairly consistent across the country, which is also kind of surprising given the differences in cost of living.

.

I find this too. There isn't that much of a difference from metro to metro, but moreso in my experience within the metros themselves, between downtown and hip neighbourhoods vs. less hip areas and the burbs.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

I was surprised at how expensive it was to eat & drink in Buffalo. Typical prices in USD seemed to be about the same as Toronto's in CAD (using the beer index: $6-8 for an average pint of a local brew), which given the exchange rate means it's actually more expensive (and Toronto is not a cheap place to go out). All the more surprising given that it's also a much lower rent / lower wage city.

Less competition maybe? More disposable income?

As a Canadian who goes to the U.S. quite a bit, this has been the case for a few years in my experience: prices on menus are the same but in USD as opposed to CAD. Which ends up being 25% more for us.

It never used to be this way (it used to be quite a bit cheaper in the US) though I have to say in grocery stores prices still tend to be a lot cheaper (in net cost) in the US than in Canada.

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by Acajack

As a Canadian who goes to the U.S. quite a bit, this has been the case for a few years in my experience: prices on menus are the same but in USD as opposed to CAD. Which ends up being 25% more for us.

It never used to be this way (it used to be quite a bit cheaper in the US) though I have to say in grocery stores prices still tend to be a lot cheaper (in net cost) in the US than in Canada.

I spent a week in Boston and New York the past coupla years and I found the cost of groceries about on par. I noticed that the same items in a Costco in Boston had the same price but in US dollars. Everything was more expensive.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Acajack

As a Canadian who goes to the U.S. quite a bit, this has been the case for a few years in my experience: prices on menus are the same but in USD as opposed to CAD. Which ends up being 25% more for us.

It never used to be this way (it used to be quite a bit cheaper in the US) though I have to say in grocery stores prices still tend to be a lot cheaper (in net cost) in the US than in Canada.

The only time I recall Canada being more expensive than the U.S. is around the financial collapse when the Federal Reserve aggressively devalued the US dollar. Other than that, Canada had been the "bargain" for my entire life. The CAD has tended to hover around 75-80% of the USD.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

1. get an education

2. get a career

3. get married

4. have some kids

5. and most importantly, STAY MARRIED!


if you do those 5 things in that exact order, your chances of making it to middle class or higher are probably >95%.

Exactly. Although getting divorced when the kids leave the house can also work lol

[jtown,man]

But really, me and the gf looking at the math the other day. Our rent is 1,440 a month(before dog fee, parking, etc. etc.), so its like 720 per person. I would have a hard time to find any 1 bedroom for that price in a decent part of Norfolk. I would end up in some small studio in the 'student ghetto' around ODU.

Instead, I have a beautiful apartment in a highrise(rare here) on the water. Life is great when two people can pitch in for a one-bedroom!

[10023]

Having kids is the single most expensive decision that 99% of people make.

For someone in the upper middle class each child costs, conservatively, $1 million over their lifetime, taking into account both direct spending and the opportunity cost (growth of that money over time if invested instead). Probably less if you don’t care about your health or exercise, or freedom to live a well-rounded life, travel, etc, but being able to do these things requires lots of paid help.

I’m sure people here will dispute this, but even the USDA estimates $372k per child for “higher-income families”, and that only goes until age 17 (so no college or grad school tuition), and doesn’t take into account inflation, let alone what those dollars would earn if invested.

[Nomad9]

Originally Posted by 10023

Having kids is the single most expensive decision that 99% of people make.

For someone in the upper middle class each child costs, conservatively, $1 million over their lifetime, taking into account both direct spending and the opportunity cost (growth of that money over time if invested instead). Probably less if you don’t care about your health or exercise, or freedom to live a well-rounded life, travel, etc, but being able to do these things requires lots of paid help.

I’m sure people here will dispute this, but even the USDA estimates $372k per child for “higher-income families”, and that only goes until age 17 (so no college or grad school tuition), and doesn’t take into account inflation, let alone what those dollars would earn if invested.

*person disputing this*

What kind of expenses does that “conservative” calculation take into account? Private school tuition? A car per kid in high school? Overseas vacations? College tuition? I don’t think my (middle/upper middle, but frugal) parents spent anywhere close to $1 million raising 3 kids, let alone 1. Maybe taking opportunity cost into account, but it’s doubtful they would’ve invested all of the excess anyway.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by 10023

Having kids is the single most expensive decision that 99% of people make.

For someone in the upper middle class each child costs, conservatively, $1 million over their lifetime, taking into account both direct spending and the opportunity cost (growth of that money over time if invested instead). Probably less if you don’t care about your health or exercise, or freedom to live a well-rounded life, travel, etc, but being able to do these things requires lots of paid help.

I’m sure people here will dispute this, but even the USDA estimates $372k per child for “higher-income families”, and that only goes until age 17 (so no college or grad school tuition), and doesn’t take into account inflation, let alone what those dollars would earn if invested.

I think this entire post is a little bias. You make kids out to be nothing but burdens. Simple fact is that men end up making more money when they get married and have kids. Women end up making less, true, but aren't they making like 75% of what men make or whatever anyways?

Seriously, how many parents pay for their kids college or grad school tuition and living costs? I literally don't know anyone in that category. We all took loans, worked, or joined the military.

[the urban politician]

I think 10023 is right, but in typical fashion he is missing the entire point of having children.