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Just out of curiosity: how much did you earn/are earning before starting law school (per month basis)?

None of your business.

A million an hour.

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Liberal arts majors are starting at about $33k this year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/busin ... djobs.html

im_blue: thank you for answering.

My potential boss wants me to give him/her a salary requirement. It is with a very worthy non-profit with major responsibility.

eternallearner wrote:im_blue: thank you for answering.

My potential boss wants me to give him/her a salary requirement. It is with a very worthy non-profit with major responsibility.

Google search - I think there is a website where you can type in the type of job and your zip code to get a good range. It may be something like salary.com.

Thank you for your helpful link.

Can one live comfortably with $40K? I am trying to come up with a budget, but find it hard to do so.

eternallearner wrote:Thank you for your helpful link.

Can one live comfortably with $40K? I am trying to come up with a budget, but find it hard to do so.

If you can't make a budget for yourself, then you probably need more than $40K, but probably deserve much less than $40K.

eternallearner wrote:Thank you for your helpful link.

Can one live comfortably with $40K? I am trying to come up with a budget, but find it hard to do so.

Yes, unless you're in New York.

After tax, we are looking at $28000, which means that the monthly earning is $2333.

I live in a place where a safe, decent housing is around $1000/month. That leaves $1333 for everything else. Food is around $400/month. Thus, finally leaving us with $933 as monthly saving.

I just find it hard to swallow that my monthly saving will be around $900.

xxxx after taxes, bad labor market really cut into it.

you're working for a nonprofit and you're a lib arts major? you're probs not getting much, bro.

im_blue wrote:Liberal arts majors are starting at about $33k this year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/busin ... djobs.html

That's about right.

eternallearner wrote:I live in a place where a safe, decent housing is around $1000/month. That leaves $1333 for everything else. Food is around $400/month. Thus, finally leaving us with $933 as monthly saving.

I just find it hard to swallow that my monthly saving will be around $900.

Life has substantially more costs associated with it than "decent housing" and "food." HTH

k77 wrote:

eternallearner wrote:I live in a place where a safe, decent housing is around $1000/month. That leaves $1333 for everything else. Food is around $400/month. Thus, finally leaving us with $933 as monthly saving.

I just find it hard to swallow that my monthly saving will be around $900.

Life has substantially more costs associated with it than "decent housing" and "food." HTH

healthcare is so goddamnfuckingexpensive.

k77 wrote:

eternallearner wrote:I live in a place where a safe, decent housing is around $1000/month. That leaves $1333 for everything else. Food is around $400/month. Thus, finally leaving us with $933 as monthly saving.

I just find it hard to swallow that my monthly saving will be around $900.

Life has substantially more costs associated with it than "decent housing" and "food." HTH

Seriously. OP, have you ever paid your own bills before? Also, where are you living?

I know that life has more costs to it than just rental/food. However, based on my observation regarding my own spending habits, those are the two areas that drain the wallet the most and on a monthly (unavoidable basis).

I am predicting to give Uncle Sam 33% of my salary.

eternallearner wrote:Just out of curiosity: how much did you earn/are earning before starting law school (per month basis)?

I'm in my early 30's and have been in TV advertising for 10 years. I'm giving up a salary that's fairly well into the 6 figures to pursue this. I'm not in it for the $$, decided to make a change in life.

eternallearner wrote:I know that life has more costs to it than just rental/food. However, based on my observation regarding my own spending habits, those are the two areas that drain the wallet the most and on a monthly (unavoidable basis).

I am predicting to give Uncle Sam 33% of my salary.

33% tax with that low of a salary? wut?

eternallearner wrote:I know that life has more costs to it than just rental/food. However, based on my observation regarding my own spending habits, those are the two areas that drain the wallet the most and on a monthly (unavoidable basis).

I am predicting to give Uncle Sam 33% of my salary.

@$42K per year you're nowhere near the 33% tax bracket, even on a marginal basis.

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eternallearner wrote: I am predicting to give Uncle Sam 33% of my salary.

Play with this doo-dad (LinkRemoved) to see your options.

If you're making $35k, you're take home CAN be roughly $2,200/monthly (that's about 75% of sticker salary). That depends on several things, though: withholding rates for fed/state income taxes, your health insurance premiums (if any; some non-profits, like where I work, are good about paying 100%) and your 401(k)/403(b) retirement contributions.

You are contributing to your 401(k)/403(b), yes? Good.

It's not a princely sum, for sure. But if you don't have any debt (c-cards, car payments), you'll be OK. ESPECIALLY if you have roommates/SO to split rent/bills. Me, I always preferred to live alone until my fiance came along. But I certainly paid for that preference.

paratactical wrote:

eternallearner wrote:Thank you for your helpful link.

Can one live comfortably with $40K? I am trying to come up with a budget, but find it hard to do so.

If this is a nonprofit entry level position, I would be surprised if you get 40k.

Entry level nonprofit positions in NYC start as low as 25k and, in my experience, rarely go above 35k. I would be really surprised if a nonprofit in a smaller market was willing to pay entry salary of 40k.

Live in the bronx.

I live in California, make more than that, and "only" pay ~26% in taxes.

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