Will I have a good living in USA with this income?

[nickswe]

Hi guys,

Things are movin on. Quickly. I just received an offer for a local plus setup for my International company that now offers me a position in Garland, TX.

As I have no idea of costs for living, owning a Camaro (Prio #1 ofc!) and misc, I hope you guys can help me out a bit...

The offer that I have got is a local plus based offer. The initial annual salary is $70k / year (gross base).

On top of this I will be under a local plus programme, which also provides:

- $1,000 / month on top of my base salary for the first 6 months
- One months base salary extra upon arrival for helping me getting started
- All moving costs paid for
- Healt care, incl vision and prescription (how much value is in this?)
- Dental insurance
- Short and longterm disability insurance
- Life and AD&D insurance
- 3 weeks paid vacation / year (I will try to get this up to 5 to match my current one)


So what do you guys say? Yayy or Nayy? Can you give me some examples of what things costs related to owning the Camaro, buying it, buying food, doing stuff etc etc... In Texas.

Also... If I am able to negociate the base salary up from $70k/year to $80k/year. Will it make a BIG impact on my life standard?



Thanks! Appreciate all your input and feedback!

[tramtwo]

yes it is a good salary... 60k is average

[Johnthegreat]

In TX it's a good salary. Homes are cheaper there.some one from texus can chime in.

[christianmotox]

Come on men, I have a family of 4 and we live off 30k a year.

I think you'll do good.

[lscamaro]

Originally Posted by christianmotox

Come on men, I have a family of 4 and we live off 30k a year.

I think you'll do good.

I know families of 5 living off 40k. 70k is a great salary

[canecorso69]

70K in Texas is like 150K on the East coast(North) and 250K on the West coast. That is a very good salary.

[nickswe]

Oh so things are looking brighter. I am trying to compare to what I have back home and was a bit worried... But now it also seems like you do not pay any taxes on your income in TX? So you'll just pay the federal one ?

So you guys think that I would easily could afford a house with a drive in garage, a ZL1, and still be able to save some cash for travelling, fun stuff etc?

[2012-1822]

Originally Posted by nickswe

Oh so things are looking brighter. I am trying to compare to what I have back home and was a bit worried... But now it also seems like you do not pay any taxes on your income in TX? So you'll just pay the federal one ?

So you guys think that I would easily could afford a house with a drive in garage, a ZL1, and still be able to save some cash for travelling, fun stuff etc?

Hmmmmmm....

What do you mean, buy a house, buy a ZL1 and still left over for travel? How much house do you want is a big one. Yeah you probably can. How about a townhouse with a garage for about $100,000. Mortgage payment on that would be affordable.


I think that in the case of someone wanting to buy a house and a car that if you could negotiate to $80,000 that the extra money would make the difference on some nice traveling. But, you can travel all over this country for a little money or a lot, it's all up to you.


Bottom line, $70,000 to $80,000 a year is a pretty good salary, honestly it is more than an average family in this country lives off of.

[nickswe]

Thank you for all the replies!

Are there any "hidden" taxes or other expenses that I need to be aware of, or is it only the federal income tax that applies when living in Texas?

[A.VEE.BEE]

You should be just fine!

[SUX2BU]

Originally Posted by nickswe

Thank you for all the replies!

Are there any "hidden" taxes or other expenses that I need to be aware of, or is it only the federal income tax that applies when living in Texas?

I grew up in Garland and live just a couple miles away now. The cost of living here is really low. I'm a teacher and so I only make about 53k a year and it's plenty. There are no hidden taxes here.

Having all your health care/insurance insurance paid for is a huge benefit. Health care is crazy expensive here.

Three weeks paid vacation is actually more than most people get (the average is only two weeks). I doubt you can get it up to 5, but it doesn't hurt to try.

Ley me know if you have any other questions, like I said that's where I grew up and my parents still live there.

[pgustavson]

Firstly - Välkommen till Amerika...

Perhaps these websites can help you compare cost-of-living and give you an idea of how far your money can go.

http://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living

http://www.payscale.com/cost-of-living-calculator

BTW - I don't see any mention of retirement benefits in you list - No 401K??? If there is one, are there matching contributions from your employer??? Otherwise, you should factor in maxing out an IRA as a minimum. Unless of course you don't plan to retire here...

[MEDISIN]

5 weeks vacation!? This isn't Europe. We WORK here

[Kyle2k]

Originally Posted by nickswe

Oh so things are looking brighter. I am trying to compare to what I have back home and was a bit worried... But now it also seems like you do not pay any taxes on your income in TX? So you'll just pay the federal one ?

So you guys think that I would easily could afford a house with a drive in garage, a ZL1, and still be able to save some cash for travelling, fun stuff etc?

In all truth, job security rather than getting $10k more or benifits here and there is what will determine if you can afford all these things. Otherwise it looks pretty good. Be bold when negotiating, but not so bold that they might start questioning why they offered you this opportunity in the first place.