I’m going to use a household wage income of $100K for tabulating this budget, since it’s an easy round number, and it’s also quite close to my salary. I’m estimating taxes that are due to the wage income, using my 2006 tax calculator.
|
item |
amount |
comment |
|---|---|---|
|
Mortgage |
1270 |
|
|
Homeowner due |
165 |
Includes the insurance for the condo. |
|
Electricity |
45 |
|
|
Water |
25 |
|
|
Trash |
13 |
|
|
Gas |
55 |
|
|
Local Phone |
16 |
|
|
Cell Phone |
7 |
I pay just $3.21 each for my two cell phone. |
|
Long Distance Phone |
20 |
Mostly it’s international calling cards. |
|
Cable/Satellite |
17 |
Most vanilla plan because I can’t get clear TV signals. |
|
Medical Insurance |
127 |
Covered thru my employer. |
|
Car Insurance |
45 |
Only pay about $540 a year for two old cars, liability only. |
|
Gasoline |
160 |
My round trip work commute is 15 miles. My car has about 20 miles/gallon. |
|
Car Maintenance |
40 |
Oil changes + prorate for changing brake + 30K/60K miles service. |
|
Travel/Vacation |
220 |
Annual of $2600, mainly for flying back home to visit parents. |
|
Food |
360 |
Include modest dining out (with two small kids, it’s hard.) |
|
Baby(1) expense |
100 |
milk powder/toy/etc. |
|
Preschool |
440 |
3 half-days of preschool + karate class. |
|
Wife’s allowance |
300 |
I don’t dare to comment here. |
|
Cash Usage |
80 |
God knows where I spent these dollars. |
|
Charity |
31 |
My baseline contribution as a Childreach sponsor. |
|
Miscellaneous |
100 |
Reserving $100 for anything else. |
|
Federal Tax |
363 |
Tax can increase very fast with additional income or without 401k/IRA contribution. |
|
State tax |
202 |
|
|
City tax |
20 |
|
|
Social security tax |
487 |
Annual salary cap at $94200 for 2006. |
|
Medicare tax |
121 |
|
|
Property tax |
225 |
|
|
401k |
1250 |
Annual limit is $15000. |
|
Spousal IRA |
333 |
Annual limit is $4000. |
|
ESPP |
1250 |
Employee stock purchase plan, maximum amount of $15000. |
Since my monthly wage is about $8333, and the total sum of all items is $7887. My cashflow is only $446. However, my actual saving needs to include the green items above. My annual pre-tax savings are $15000+$4000 = $19000. My after-tax savings are $446 cashflow * 12 months + $15000 ESPP * ( 1 / 85%) = $23000. The 85% comes from 15% discount from the market price of my company stock. Including more than $3000 of principal paid down towards my mortgage balance, my after-tax saving is actually about $25000. Therefore, my total annual savings is roughly $19K + $25K = $45K. Both pre-tax and after-tax savings can vary, depending on other additional sources of income such as interest or capital gain. In the past couple of years, I have hit the phase out limit of spousal IRA, due to a higher adjusted gross income (AGI), and ends up having less pre-tax savings, but more after-tax savings.
Last note about my budget. I have been noticing my utilities have permanently gone up by some 15 to 20%. I’m not sure if it’s because there are 2 more kids in the house, or if it’s because of inflation. Also, my wife tends to spend more when I spend less time with her. She needs to make up the emotional happiness thru material happiness. It definitely PAYS (thru less spending) to make my wife happy, 
.
