I have a dev friend who makes over 200k working for Apple and lives in our friend's garage paying just 200 a month for rent. His case has nothing to do with the average living expenses of average teachers in the US. He's an outlier, as I suspect you are.
Then 36k should be enough to support two dependents without any other income, as it’s almost 150% of poverty. And I suspect most teachers are not supporting two dependents on their incomes alone, so your comment makes me feel stronger about my previous statement.
As for me being an outlier, maybe? I don’t live in a basement. I live in a regular apartment with one roommate. I have a car (2014 sedan) and buy regular groceries, go on vacations, do things with friends, live a pretty regular life.
I take objection to you saying “if you are not … willing to live in a shared apartment” as if that’s some grand imposition. To me it sounds like you might be the outlier? Normal people, even couples live in shared apartments all the time.
I want to note that I didn’t claim that teachers aren’t underpaid (I haven't researched or thought about it enough to make a decision). Just that 36k isn’t some impossible amount to live on, which it’s not in most places.
- 2.2k (FICA)
- 4k (Health Insurance)
- 4.3k (Income Tax)
- 1k (3% matching Simple IRA)
but ignoring 3.8k into HSA and 6k going to Roth IRA because we are probably too poor to do that
=
whopping 24.5k
If you spend less than that I'd love to know what is in the care packages your mom sends you each week.
The part about my mother was unnecessary.
Is that supposed to be hard? I've spent less than that almost every year I've been working, and I live somewhere a lot more expensive than Nevada.