What salary makes one wealthy in Iowa?

[briankaldenberg]

Your salary does not define wealth. What you do to leverage your salary is what defines wealth. There's plenty of people in Iowa who probably make over $250k and they don't have a pot to **** in. I'd say a net worth of $3M+ right now would define you as wealthy in Iowa.

Wealth in my ideal world is retiring between the age of 45-55, still owning your business(s), maybe sprinkle in a few rental properties, and still collecting the same or even more salary per year than you did while working.

 

[CloneIce]

Depends where you live. I grew up in a small town in Western Iowa where houses only cost like 50K. You dont need to make much in some places (of course there aren't many good jobs either). Totally different in comparison to Des Moines or some other cities.

But in general it takes less in Iowa than most places to be "wealthy."

 

[briankaldenberg]

Says the guy with no money.

See the grin on my face? Ear to ******* ear.

Love it

 

[bawbie]

Your salary does not define wealth. What you do to leverage your salary is what defines wealth. There's plenty of people in Iowa who probably make over $250k and they don't have a pot to **** in. I'd say a net worth of $3M+ right now would define you as wealthy in Iowa.

That's not "wealthy", that's filthy rich.

 

[jamesfnb]

When you can pay cash for everything (except your house) and still have plenty of money in the bank, I consider you wealthy. How much money you make doesn't mean much in my book with regards to wealth.

I do think having a happy, healthy family is better than any kind of wealth one could have no matter the number.

 

[BryceC]

34k could be a lot of money if you don't have a lot of debt. It all depends on the way one lives.

True, my hobbies are pretty much free and I have little debt. Money goes a long way with my lifestyle.

 

[Tedcyclone]

It all depends on how shallow you are.

shallow i guess... id say when you can pay cash for things such as new cars, etc... your very wealthy... if you dont know when you get paid, you are wealthy... if youve never think... i wonder how im going to pay rent, mortgage, bills, etc... you are wealthy... lots of ways to determine. id give it a nice combined family income of around 250k...

 

[jaretac]

$250k should be about the break point.

It sorta depends on the family support requirements

Holy cow!:shocked:

I would feel wealthy with $50,000! Even with all my loans and living expenses I'm still putting money away at half that salary. It would be tight with extra months to feed, but not that tight (I have company over enough to know). I would say anything over 6 figures should definitely be considered wealthy.

 

[CloneIce]

If you consider thirst for additional tax revenues by all branches of the government, it may take a couple of million in annual income to exceed the poverty level.:smile:

Actually federal taxes are lower now than they have been historically in the US..... property and sales taxes.... not so much (though that depends entirely on where you live)! :smile:

 

[clones_jer]

there's a break point somewhere when you get to stop looking at your checking account and worrying about being overdrawn or when your next paycheck goes in. if you don't concern yourself with those trivial details you're at least modestly well off. (or overdrawn :smile

 

[Cydkar]

I could tell you a salary that does not make you wealthy. Mine. :smile:

The only debt I have is my house but I still have to worry about cash flow...I have other obligations. If that worry were to ever go away I would consider myself wealthy. With my lifestyle, 100k would do it for me. Granted, I'd probably change my lifestyle but that's for a different thread.

 

[Tre4ISU]

This different for everyone. I make damn good money and right now, my net worth looks fabulous, however, I know what is to come in the future. I know that in maybe 5-10 years, if I am married and have a couple kids, that what I have right now will likely not get me by. For instance, 35K is quite a bit for a single guy, however if you throw a couple kids in there it certainly doesn't look like as much. I guess I am always looking to the future and how my current financial situation is relative to the future. I don't think I am where I need to be right now. In 5 years I may be there, but not right now.

 

[clones_jer]

I think some random psych class I took back in the day said that everybody thinks they're middle class and they'd be just about right if they made 25%-50% more than they currently do ... and that people that make 75-100% more than they currently do are the wealthy.

apparently the same attitude existed for the guy making $25K as the guy making $250K.

 

[4429 mcc]

I could tell you a salary that does not make you wealthy. Mine. :smile:

The only debt I have is my house but I still have to worry about cash flow...I have other obligations. If that worry were to ever go away I would consider myself wealthy. With my lifestyle, 100k would do it for me. Granted, I'd probably change my lifestyle but that's for a different thread.

There's a 12 step program out there for you my friend.

Also we need to rethink this whole HUCAC treasurer thing

 

[Cydkar]

There's a 12 step program out there for you my friend.

Also we need to rethink this whole HUCAC treasurer thing

My HUCAC Treasurer duties don't involve ex-wife issues. :smile:

 

[Wesley]

That's not "wealthy", that's filthy rich.

You would be surprised how many people who are at this level are still working like they have made little money. Some people just buy property and rent it out and keep accumulating until it becomes a trust for the heirs, thus missing the good times of the $35-50k guy.

 

[linkshero]

We have lived in central Iowa since graduating from ISU in 94. We started our family right away without financial planning or responsibility. We had two kids early, and excelerated from around 45K combined to a current peak of around $150 not including bonus.

We probably went a little overboard on our current house, but have never really been crazy about cars, boats, or other things. We ran up credit cards when we were younger, but have paid them off, and don't use them anymore.

I would say before the current recession we were a little more comfortable, but we were also able to get a better mortgage on our house after the collapse.
We have had stretches were we didn't really worry about money, and times when we didn't know what we were going to do. Even at $150K, I would say most Iowa families are a major repair (furnace), car, or health issue away from living pay check to pay check, or worse. We finally feel like we are catching up but now our kids are getting ready to enter college.

Looking back, I would say having some one help you with financial planning and responsibility could have an exponential impact on your wealth in later life. (duh I guess) After living through it and paying taxes, I feel like I have learned it's not how much you make, but what you spend. When I graduated from college, I would have never thought that I would be paying $150 month for a cell phone, $150.00 a month for cable for years and never really question it. Our first car payment was $265.00

Also, part of the real estate bubble burst was based on people defaulting on their homes. Many of these people were families making $150-300K a year, but spending way to much. They figured out that it was much easier to pay off their 8 credit card bills, cable, phone, etc, each month if they just skipped paying their mortgage. They also figured out that they could take half their mortgage and save it for rent or even a smaller house before, or once the bank decided to take their house, sometimes living rent free 12-18 months. They sad thing (smart for them) is that those people will probably come out with a better credit rating doing that than if they had be consistently late on all their credit cards.

 

[4429 mcc]

My HUCAC Treasurer duties don't involve ex-wife issues. :smile:

But HUCAC is involved with your ex-wife :wink:

 

[RandomFan]

You would be surprised how many people who are at this level are still working like they have made little money.

:yes:

The $3M number is actually a fairly low net worth for many farmers in this state. But, as someone mentioned earlier, that is the difference between liquid and non-liquid assets.

 

[mustangcy]

This different for everyone. I make damn good money and right now, my net worth looks fabulous, however, I know what is to come in the future. I know that in maybe 5-10 years, if I am married and have a couple kids, that what I have right now will likely not get me by. For instance, 35K is quite a bit for a single guy, however if you throw a couple kids in there it certainly doesn't look like as much. I guess I am always looking to the future and how my current financial situation is relative to the future. I don't think I am where I need to be right now. In 5 years I may be there, but not right now.

I think you are on to something here. I don't consider myself wealthy by any means but I just don't see how 34K would get anyone anywhere with a family. I make double that and between mortgage, student loans, cable/computer I can't fathom how guys making around 40K can do it. I really can't. I live in a moderate house, have no car payments, no boats, cell phone is company issued...seriously, how can someone make it on 34K? I don't mean to pick on BryceC here either but I just think it brings up an interesting point that I've been thinking about myself lately.