LowCel 

I haven't been blessed with children so I have some free cash. I'm sure if I had an extra mouth to feed my bike room would have much more free space.

Doin Work son

I married a doctor Seriously though, she is a pediatrician, I'm a minister, we are both mid 20's with no children, and managed (somehow) to make it through college and my masters/ her med school without debt. Lot of ramen noodle nights paid off in the end.

hhnngg1

Again, while all these are admirable causes, they are all nearly trivial expenses compared to:

- REAL ESTATE. Mortgage and rent. You can scrimp all you want, but this is by far the single biggest determiner of your expenditures. Kids in college and those who live with their parents always forget about this. YOu can actually eat out every single day, pay full retail for everything, and be fairly indulgent in your expenses and still come out ahead by a fair margin if you're willing to live in a substantially cheaper area. Just as an example, a 3-bdrm modern house in the suburbs of Norcal will set you back $5,000 in mortgage every month. That same house in Rochester NY will cost you about $2000 per month. It's really hard to save your way through lifestyle adjustments to $3,000 per month, or $36k per year.

- KIDS. Love 'em, but they'll eat a hole in your wallet at every age. And even if you think you'll cover it by having two spouses working, child care rears its ugly head, and you either pray that grandma is willing to work near full-time as a parent, or you're looking at $2k-$4k per month in monthly child care expenses while they're young. And it gets worse when they're older - they start to want CF bikes, college, etc.

Lifestyle adjustments help, but they're actually nearly trivial compared to these two big factors in the grand scheme. Do your budget and take a look yourself at how much those two items eat from your budget - if you have both of them, it'll usually be between 2/3rds and 3/4s of your entire monthly intake.

StanSeven

Except salaries are also based upon geographical location. Generally employers in Rochester won't pay the same as employers in Norcal for the same work.

Machka 

That's the plus side to living in a small town in the middle of nowhere in Australia ... relatively inexpensive housing costs.

(One of several plus sides. )

danvuquoc

The majority of women I know in San Francisco in their mid 20s are making at least 75K even then that sort of lifestyle is difficult on only 75K. Yes they all dress well, and go out quite often. Maybe its just the women I know... *shrugs* -- but I hear this point a lot from bitter older guys who haven't really been entirely fulfilled with their careers. Hopefully that doesn't describe you.

patentcad

How sad your pathetic Quebec existence must be.

hhnngg1

19-25 @ 75k? That's very unusual. Just think about it - they're in COLLEGE from age 19-21, and then unless they're in a highly desired field (actually a lot are, liek computer science), it's a stretch for them to be hitting 75k. At age 28+, it's more reasonable, but very unlikely <25 as I posted. At 19-21, it's pretty much near-impossible if you're doing the college thing.

Professional stufff: Lawyer, doctor, MBA, all require you to be in school as well.

The only one I can think of which will give you $75K+ pretty much right out of college or near then, is computer science.

ericm979

Sounds like things are going down hill! Hahahaha.
I don't know about anyone else, but I combine making a good living with being conservative about what I spend money on. There's a lot of things that people in my income bracket often buy that I don't (i.e. expensive watches, low-end luxury cars). I don't wear a watch and drive a mazda. That leaves me with money to spend on bike stuff.

I also don't buy bike stuff just to buy bike stuff. I'd rather use the parts until they break or there is something significantly better or i need the part (ok, "need" is sort of loosely defined- no one "needs" a set of carbon wheels, but I didn't get them until I had a race where I calculated they'd be an advantage, and I got them at a good discount). My frames are from 2009 and 2006, the 2009 one would also be a 2006 except it broke and was replaced under warranty in 2009. I'm still on 7800. Etc. I don't need this years zipp wheels, they're not going to make that much difference.

But the biggest part of the "secret" is being old. Not only do you move up in your career and make more money, but there's less other stuff that you need to buy because you already have it.

I'd go back to being 26 and poor again any day.

Judging from the postings here there's a number of people who are more into buying bike stuff than they are into riding. I think that's sad. Go ride your bike.

contango 

I don't see a lot of point in having several bikes, although I have two myself (a mountain bike and a cross bike).

If you're comfortable, try dropping things back a little. Turn the heat down a degree or two and save a bit on your heating bills. In the summer turn the air conditioning (if you have it) up a degree or two and save some electricity. Drive a little less, or a little more economically. Lots of small changes can add up to quite a bit.

If you change your car every three years, keep it four years or five years. Instead of buying a new car buy one that's a couple of years old so someone else took the hit of depreciation.

I remember a while back when I started to realise just how much of our household budget was basically fluff so started to cut things out of it. My basic rule was that if we cut something out and didn't notice the difference it stayed gone. If we noticed the difference we could then decide whether the difference was worth the extra money.

StanSeven

He said mid 20's and somehow you converted that to 19-25! Also mid 20's is not "right out of college."

I can tell you from interviewing people for jobs that $75K is the going salary for bright people in their mid 20s in the San Francisco area.

Right now the company I work for is hiring people that age and one of our competitors for jobs is the Fedearl government. Someone graduating at 21 yo is earning $75K annually when they are 26. We have to offer something more (doesn't have to be pay like opportunities for more challenging work) to get the best.

big john

How do you do that? My rent is $1500 and the cheapest apt around here is at least $1000.
I guess if you make $100k per year and live in an apt. Even rooms for rent in people's houses are $700 or more.

ColinL

the secret to buying what you want is to have a plan and not to buy crap you don't need. you also need to be willing to make sacrifices. I used to go out to lunch every day with co-workers, sometimes a sub sandwich and sometimes sit-down restaurants. cutting that out alone will buy a lot of bicycle gear.

you also need to be pragmatic about bicycling purchases. buy stuff you will be able to use a long time, or if you don't use it much, don't spend much on it! a cross or commuter bike with fenders is a great Nth bike but if you drop $2,000 on it (and can't really afford to do so) then that's a bad choice.

hhnngg1

I clearly said 19-25 in my original post. I wasn't the one who upscaled it.

$75k out of college does happen in SF, but is still unusual. In any other place besides SF, it's probably even less common.

What are you paying someone straight out of college $75k for, anyway? Even investment bank analysts coming in make about that much.

For sure though, if you told a typical college grad that they could move to SF and make $75k a year between age 19-25 as I specified above, you'd be selling them false hope. Odds are far, far, far more likely that they'll be coming in at half that. SF is lucky to get exceptional people, but companies in this economy can't afford to drop $75k on someone who will need to be trained for 2 years before really earning their keep.

big john

I was wondering why nobody said anything about the descent.

I'm old but I'm in a sucky career and make quite a bit less than I did a few years ago.

I'd love to go back and re-do some of the job decisions, hell, just about all of them.

pallen

haha, so true. This also avoids the kid expenses.

Its all great if you are fine being home alone with all your fancy bikes...

Like most have said here, its about priorities. I have an 18yr old car that was paid for a long time ago. I also just have 1, nice but not crazy expensive bike.

StanSeven

I'm talking about people in their mid 20s with three or four years experience. We do consulting work in finance, accounting, IT, and management and organizational improvement. But $75K is the going rate for large metro areas.

hhnngg1

I'm beatin' it to death, but it's true for the vast majority.

Don't worry so much about being pragmatic about bicycling, saving money for lunch, and all those other small (but surprisingly painful) lifestyle habit changes.

Look at only two things:

1) Mortgage & rent
2) Child care (if you have them)

Those two things will dwarf anything else you deal with. All the other stuff is nickel & diming compared to even just one of these two. You only start to deal with these other items after taking care of the first two. If you haven't even mentioned mortgage and rent, you're not doing it right. Cut down your mortgage & rent, and spending $1k-$2k on bikes EVERY OTHER MONTH is eminently doable for most folks.

petalpower

I prioritize my lifestyle. Obviously my family ( Wife and 4 week old girl ) come first, and then our house.

I still wear clothes that are 10+ years old.
We drive paid for cars more than 5 years old.
I hang dry my clothes.

I even go as far as during the summer, placing a bucket of water in the sun, and then using it to take a shower in the evening.

The savings help me spend money on cycling, and my other expensive hobbies such as firearms and motorcycles.

mcafiero

I myself got a used 2010 Cannondale Supersix this year and got it at a steal for $2200. I bought it as a reward after winning my first race and it sucked my bank account dry.

danvuquoc

Odd, thats what happened to me and most of my highschool/college buddies -- at least 75K -- out of University. Have you ever been out here? Half of 75K is $37.5K -- you can barely survive on that in the Bay Area, let alone San Francisco.

hhnngg1

I'm not making this stuff up.

Here are the AVERAGE incomes for CA broken down by area. Keep in mind that this is AVERAGE - if you're dealing with 19-25 age range, you're dealing with people on the lower end of this scale.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Califor..._capita_income

Median househould income for SF: $55k (3rd on the list.)

I belive that you and your buds were fortunate to make $75k+ right out of college/uni, but I'll also stand by my post that if you told the typical (even A-list) college grad that they can look forward to $75k/yr as a green 22 year old right out of college, you're sadly mistaken.

Sure, it worked for you, but that is a far cry from saying that the typical 19-25 year old can pull in that much right off the bat. Heck, at that scale you're making more than half the folks who even posted in this thread who are twice your age and have double your experience in what they do.
(I do agree that $40k is rock-bottom minimum at SF/LA but I know a lot of folks who are making less than that - with a lot of parental and credit card help.)

kimconyc

Two underlined items are key.

dalava

I used the money saved from not having the 2nd car in my family to fund my cycling hobby. Oh, I also reduce the amount of golf I play simply because I enjoy the time on the bike way more than on a golf course. I figure between the car (monthly payment, maintenance, insurance, gas) and golf (green fees, cart, or monthly dues), I am way way ahead even if I splurge on new bikes or wheels or gears.

dayday82

What part of No. VA do you ride in? I also ride through some parts of Bethesda too.