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What is the bottom salary / hourly pay you would accept?

post #1 of 61
8/7/10 at 2:16pm
Thread Starter 
What is the minimum salary / hourly pay you would accept? Would you need to just cover the costs of daycare and other misc working expenses or do you need a certain amount above that?

What is your bottom line for salary / pay?

What is the least amount of vacation/paid time off you would accept?

For me, I don't think I could make less than $30k - $35k. That would just barely cover the costs of daycare and other expenses and leave next to nothing left over. And that is for one child under kindergarten age. I live in a metro area in a high tax state.

Just curious and want to gain perspective.
Thank you.
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post #2 of 61
8/8/10 at 9:17am
60K

I'd need at least 3 weeks vacation and 2 weeks sick. I currently get 4 weeks vacation and 13 days sick, plus federal holidays. I used to get 2 weeks each and was always out of leave, and that was pre-baby!

I wouldnt leave my current gig for less than 75K (if I was really unhappy), 80K otherwise.

I live in a high COL area and am the sole provider of my household.
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post #3 of 61
8/8/10 at 9:31am
Right now I make 80K. I carry all of our insurance, though, too.

DH works, but makes around 56K. He has a job where he could be transferred, but we wouldn't be able to leave without me making about the same amount. (Especially the benefits part.)

We did do it on my salary alone for a while, but it was really tough for us, we weren't used to it! I would say that I would have to make 50-60K minimum for us to feel comfortable with it.
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post #4 of 61
8/8/10 at 9:33am
Thread Starter 
What is your job/field, educational attainment, and years experience?
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post #5 of 61
8/8/10 at 9:54am
HR (govt employee), bachelors in Business, 3 yrs in HR, but 7 yrs professional experience overall.

60K is bare bones survival for me and with a childcare subsidy from my job. DD begins a home daycare thats $250 a week next Monday and that is cheap. The daycare we tried initially was $325 a week, but then the owner went down to $280 because I was a single mom. I'd pay about $300-325 for a center. Her dad will help with costs also.

My friend pays $660 a week for two kids at a home DCP.
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post #6 of 61
8/8/10 at 10:03am
i make 63K with very generous benefits right now. I work in a statewide educational advocacy group with offices in every state and DC. I wouldn't relocate to another state in our network without at least 90K since not all states offer as generous benefits and I would lose my seniority, and my DW would not get job relocation support. We also wouldn't relocate to another state unless the move would allow us access to second parent adoption rights so my wife could legally adopt our son.

My DW makes another 42K in her job. that is a major paycut for her--she lost her job 3 years ago, and 3 years of unemployment will make you settle for things you never thought you would accept.

I have a masters degree and am working on my PhD. I have 7 years of experience as a teacher, 2 years as a fulltime doctoral student, and 3 years with my current organization--so 15 years of work experience.
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post #7 of 61
8/8/10 at 10:10am
$8 hr is the least. i am a caregiver for 2 non profit agencies and they both start at around there. its sad how little te pay is for the work we do but my mortgage is only $272 so i can get by
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post #8 of 61
8/8/10 at 10:39am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharlla View Post
$8 hr is the least. i am a caregiver for 2 non profit agencies and they both start at around there. its sad how little te pay is for the work we do but my mortgage is only $272 so i can get by
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Wow, how is your mortgage only $272???

I pay over $600 per month in just real estate taxes! That's no principle and no interest. Just the taxes! And just the local taxes at that. I do not live in a mansion either. I live in a high tax area.

How much of the $272 is real estate taxes?
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post #9 of 61
8/8/10 at 11:38am
We're getting by on my less than $30,000 a year salary at the moment and will be a little more comfortable when I get my raise at the beginning of Sept.
We do get some government assistance, but compared to most it isn't much.
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post #10 of 61
8/8/10 at 11:44am
we pay $500/yr taxes and our mrtgage does include home owners and taxes.. our loan is for 39k
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post #11 of 61
8/8/10 at 7:21pm
I wouldn't work for less than $30/hour or 70K a year.

I'm a nurse and I have one year experience. Within 6 years I'll be making $40/hour and I'm pretty stoked.

I have vacation and benefits, easy sick time, etc.
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post #12 of 61
8/8/10 at 9:21pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharlla View Post
we pay $500/yr taxes and our mrtgage does include home owners and taxes.. our loan is for 39k
Posted via Mobile Device
Wow. Just wow. $500 taxes a YEAR???? Holy moly. I pay over $6,000 a year in taxes on a house that costs less than $300k, which is below average for the cost of a median value house in my city.

I can't imagine $500 a year taxes on a house. That just wouldn't ever happen in my city. Taxes on a $100k house here (which doesn't exist) would be at least $3,000 per year.
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post #13 of 61
8/8/10 at 9:29pm
I pay $1100 a year on a house that's worth $150K, so I'm sure it's area dependent.
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post #14 of 61
8/8/10 at 9:43pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ceinwen View Post
I pay $1100 a year on a house that's worth $150K, so I'm sure it's area dependent.
Yes, very much area dependent. COL is high here, so are taxes.
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post #15 of 61
8/9/10 at 11:40am
I work part-time, 12-36 hrs per week. DH covers the main bills like mortgage and utilities. We pay very little in childcare, since DH and I mostly work opposite shifts. My minimum- I need enough to cover groceries and kid-related expenses, which altogether amounts to about $1G per month.

In the next year or two, I will start carrying the insurance, and that's going to take a big chunk.
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post #16 of 61
8/9/10 at 11:46am
The min I would accept would be 50K. That is probably what I would be worth. But, it would not work for me as I would have children in childcare and that would not cover it. I think I would have to earn over 100K to cover all the costs if I had to use fulltime childcare. (plus I have children leaving for college in 3 years, so whatever I earn will reduce their financial aid, meaning, I need to earn enough to cover that. This is all just a rough guess. No one will pay me 100K though.
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post #17 of 61
8/9/10 at 12:04pm
$100,000. High COL area, high property taxes, high everything really.
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post #18 of 61
8/9/10 at 12:18pm
I make around 30k right now with 12 days of sick, and 16 days of vacation. Great health/dental benefits. If this job disappeared and I had to take another, I'd not settle (unless we were getting to the point of forclosure or starvation, etc) for less than that.

Now- if I could find a job that is only 20 hours per week, I'd take a bit less vacation and money. Though probably more per hour, really.
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post #19 of 61
8/9/10 at 2:27pm
The very least I would accept would be the market value for the position, which would be around 110,000.

The last vaca I would accept is 3 weeks.
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post #20 of 61
8/9/10 at 2:34pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ~ Wonderful Life ~ View Post
The very least I would accept would be the market value for the position, which would be around 110,000.

The last vaca I would accept is 3 weeks.
$110k a year? What do you do? Pray tell!
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