Lifestyle of a $100k Salary

Hi all

In August I’m starting a new job that breaks down to:

  • 95k salary
  • 10k sign-on bonus
  • 30k RSUs

I’m 23 in a MCOL city and currently make 30/hr, so it’s a good bump upwards. I have zero debt so it’s a clean slate.

I’ve never operated on a strict budget before and have never been particularly good at tracking my transactions month to month, but I’ve been trying to do a thorough job building a budget for my future.

Without giving the .xlsx file, my needs/wants/savings is conservatively 45/10/45 which seems like a decent ratio. I have a roadmap planned out with retirement contributions/6mo HYSA emergency fund, ESSP etc. All the general textbook steps are tentatively accounted for.

My main question however is what is an appropriate lifestyle for my income? I’m not interested in a super hardcore FIRE plan, living really frugally or retiring exceptionally early. I definitely don’t want to be financially irresponsible, but I would also like to be able to enjoy my money while at my current age and have the room to splurge on silly things on occasion if my income allows. My 10% wants is ~580 a month which definitely feels comfortable.

I understand it’s a pretty vague question, but I don’t have a good awareness of how someone who makes $100k and spends responsibly actually lives day to day. Is dropping $3k on a new computer reasonable? Is buying a $300 Coogi sweater reasonable? Going out to eat 1-2 times a week? (Given I value these things, which I do to some degree).

I get the feeling I can responsibly live at a higher lifestyle, I really just don’t know what that level would look like.

I think this is pretty subjective to your lifestyle and how you want to spend your money. It’s great you are doing the text book steps emergency fund, retirement and all that stuff. This is just how my husband and I do it. We each have a misc wants fund of $150 a month. This can be spent on whatever we want. It’s accumulative so if we don’t spend the full $150, it carries over to the next month. This can be used towards whatever we want. When it comes to larger purchases, we will see where we can cut from our budget temporarily or if we have extra income, we will start saving towards the bigger item like a computer until we have it saved.

When I got my first paycheck at 100k, I bought myself a designer bag as my reward. Within a week, I returned it and realized my money was better spent on things I actually need or invested. Personally, $100k for me is not enough to waste money on material things. You can still live a modest lifestyle and treat yourself at times.

We have a set budget. Where we each get 400 a month to be spent on anything we want. We also budget for vacations around 4k a year.

Don’t spend high-end money on clothes. Invest in your future. Live how you’re living now. No one who is important is going to be impressed by what you wear or what you drive. Money talks… wealth whispers.

You’ll still need a budget and won’t live lavishly, unless you have very affordable housing. It really is subjective to what things you prioritize and depends a lot on your specific location.

Lifestyle creep will get you. Only spend more for things that really matter. You aren’t low income so you don’t have to get the cheapest thing, but consider whether the more expensive thing is really needed or improves your life.

You are starting out in a great place! It sounds like you have a lot of positive things coming your way. Having an emergency fund, contributing to your retirement accounts, and having some liquid savings on hand are all good things. Since money is finite, you have to make choices based upon your goals.

First off congratulations on getting the job! & I would UP the investment plan if you haven’t already. Try to avoid too much lifestyle creep. Give yourself the first 3 months to decide where you want your lifestyle to be.