The economy isn’t contracting as much as it was a few months ago.
Job losses for May fell only by 345,000.
(This was considerably better than the expected loss of 520,000).

And it was much better than in:

… April (-504,000)

… March (-652,000)

… February (-681,000)

… January (-741,000).

According to the National Association of Realtors, the median price
of a single-family home in the U.S. fell 14% to $169,000 in the first
quarter of 2009.

So, if you want to buy a house in 2009 and put down 20% on your new house,
with today’s 5.75% 30-year fixed mortgage, your $135,200 loan is going to
cost you about $788.99 a month.

The 2007 U.S. Census Consumer Income report issued in August 2008 says:

Real median household income in the U.S. is $50,233. In other words,
half of the households in this country make more and half make less.

Households headed by married couples have a median income of $72,785.
And the top 20% of households in the U.S. earn more than $100,000.
The top 5% of households earning more than $177,000.

So, your $135,200 mortgage loan costing you $788.99 per month should
be no problem with $6,000 a month coming in…
(unless you’re one of the 345,000 that got the pink slip and laid off in May).

A couple other expenses should be mentioned…
First off, there’s that little thing called taxes.

Let’s assume your employers cover half of your Social Security and
Medicare taxes. That means you give up 7.65% of the $72,000, or $5,508.

Your Uncle Sam will want his “regular” cut from your paycheck…
For a couple making $72,000 that would come out to about 20%.
Say good bye to $14,400.

State taxes are dependent upon which state you live in.
It could be 0% in Florida or 5.3% in Massachusetts.
Let’s compromise and say 3%, including state and local… That’s $2,160.

That leaves you clearing $49,932, or $4,161 a month… NO PROBLEM!

But don’t forget health insurance, which costs something like $500 a month
through your employers. And don’t forget your cars and associated insurance bills.
So take out another $500 - $1,000 (the average car payment in the U.S. is about $380).

Gas is about another $100 or $200 (or more) and is starting to increase again.
(Gasoline prices have surged 62% from $1.62 to $2.62 a gallon).

Cable, cell phones and internet would run about $150 or so (if you don’t have teenagers).
Food (eating home and not going out) might cost a family of 4 about $600 a month -
(again, if you don’t have teenagers).

Your monthly bills will run you into the $2,000 range, which means you’re now left with
$2,161 a month. Deduct that mortgage payment of $788.99 and you’ll have about
$1,372 a month left in your bank account each month. Still OK, …right?

But, if we assume a relatively low property tax rate of 1%, that’s $1,690. Insurance would
tack on another $1,000. And utilities might average $300 a month throughout the year.
The grand total for these costs is easily a good $500 a month.

End result: $872 a month in so-called disposable income.

But wait… That money will have to be used to pay for every other single thing you buy
throughout the year. That includes clothing, vacations, maintenance of the house and cars,
unexpected emergencies, and whatever else comes up.

If you have kids, you could also be spending for baby sitting, doctor visits, toys, etc.
Here’s the Million Dollar Question…

Is there any way that you can possibly be saving and investing for your retirement
or your kids’ educations? (College cost can run as much as $30,000 a year, or more).

Baby Boomers are now facing retirement and don’t have much time left
to close the gap between their current assets and their retirement needs.
What to do?

Face the facts. If you’re like most cash strapped Americans, you need more income.
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TAGS: health insurance, median income, Medicare, money, National Association of Realtors, property tax. College cost, Social Security, State taxes, U.S. Census, Uncle Sam

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 2:04 pm and is filed under Economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.