[Anonymous]

I just started working for one of the big4s. My problem is I am having a tough time making ends meet financially. I have already trimmed my spending by packing lunch, eating out less (I eat ramen noodles and eggs for dinner several times a week), and getting a lower cellphone plan. The extra expenses of gas and parking fees are taking a toll. I don’t have any unnecessary monthly spendings (car payment, insurance, utilities, and rent). For the past month, I have spent over $400 on gas and parking alone. I still have not factored my student loan payments that are about to start pretty soon. I am netting less than my previous job in which I get paid hourly, and I am getting taxed way more :(. I knew that I was only taking a small pay cut when I took the job, but I did not expect the extra costs that are not reimbursed. I wanted to get a part time job, but it will be a problem once busy season kicks in, and I am still studying for the CPA exam. Any tips on earning and saving more money?

[Never_Give_Up1]

My advise on this is get use to it. Until you make about $70-$75k+ (if you have a family and are single income) you will be living pretty tight now a days. I currently make $62k and I have a family and I am constantly strapped. But at $62k my actual net is only $45k (thank you Uncle Sam). I am not living extravagantly either. Yeah there are things I could cut out, but then you start scrapping. I only have 1 car payment the other is paid for, the payment is pretty low on the one I do owe on. My wife and I joke all the time, when we were in college both working we felt more wealthy than we do now and our combined income was way less than I am currently making. Your biggest cost driver is going to be your home/apartment. My yearly mortgage total is $14.5k. I give 10% as a tithe, so right off the bat, my disposable income is about half what my actual take home is. With my actual being 40% of gross. I am looking to try and cut that down by a third by selling my home right now. Now that I have been out of school for a few years and have a new outlook on things. I am going to cut down to the bare bones on things. But in all reality, until you reach the $70's as a family income it seems to be a pretty constant occurrence that people are strapped. That right there tells you where the new middle class income starts. Homes just cost so much now that people go into massive debt to get into a home. And the sad thing is that renting is not much cheaper.

FAR - 81
REG - 81
AUD - 82
BEC - 81

Ethics - Done
State License Exam - Done

License - Licensed CPA in Utah

[Never_Give_Up1]

My advise on this is get use to it. Until you make about $70-$75k+ (if you have a family and are single income) you will be living pretty tight now a days. I currently make $62k and I have a family and I am constantly strapped. But at $62k my actual net is only $45k (thank you Uncle Sam). I am not living extravagantly either. Yeah there are things I could cut out, but then you start scrapping. I only have 1 car payment the other is paid for, the payment is pretty low on the one I do owe on. My wife and I joke all the time, when we were in college both working we felt more wealthy than we do now and our combined income was way less than I am currently making. Your biggest cost driver is going to be your home/apartment. My yearly mortgage total is $14.5k. I give 10% as a tithe, so right off the bat, my disposable income is about half what my actual take home is. With my actual being 40% of gross. I am looking to try and cut that down by a third by selling my home right now. Now that I have been out of school for a few years and have a new outlook on things. I am going to cut down to the bare bones on things. But in all reality, until you reach the $70's as a family income it seems to be a pretty constant occurrence that people are strapped. That right there tells you where the new middle class income starts. Homes just cost so much now that people go into massive debt to get into a home. And the sad thing is that renting is not much cheaper.

FAR - 81
REG - 81
AUD - 82
BEC - 81

Ethics - Done
State License Exam - Done

License - Licensed CPA in Utah

[Spock]

I dont mean to jump in front of your thread, but I am concerned about my starting salary as well. I officially start in fall 2014 in nyc and will only be making 57K (pre-tax) at one of the big 4. Is it really possible to live on this as a single person in nyc who does not want a roommate? I assume other people have been in this same situation considering the big 4 usually start everyone at the same beginning salary; I would really appreciate some insight on how to deal with this.

[Spock]

I dont mean to jump in front of your thread, but I am concerned about my starting salary as well. I officially start in fall 2014 in nyc and will only be making 57K (pre-tax) at one of the big 4. Is it really possible to live on this as a single person in nyc who does not want a roommate? I assume other people have been in this same situation considering the big 4 usually start everyone at the same beginning salary; I would really appreciate some insight on how to deal with this.

[LSNYC]

@Spock I was making way less than that when I started and made it work with out a roommate. However you aren't going to get to live in Murray hill or ues. You also aren't going to be gong out every night but it's totally do able. I'm assuming you won't have a car, you can walk or take the subway to work and are not going to try to keep up with other peoples lifestyles. If you do all that you can totally do it. If your willing to have a roommate it will be much easier.

A - 61, 91!!
B - 78!
F - 76!!!
R - 71, 73, 74, 69, 77!!!!

Finally done!

This is my 2nd attempt at the exam, I had two parts passed (failed many) and I stupidly quit, big mistake. Now I'm back and with a vengeance!

[LSNYC]

@Spock I was making way less than that when I started and made it work with out a roommate. However you aren't going to get to live in Murray hill or ues. You also aren't going to be gong out every night but it's totally do able. I'm assuming you won't have a car, you can walk or take the subway to work and are not going to try to keep up with other peoples lifestyles. If you do all that you can totally do it. If your willing to have a roommate it will be much easier.

A - 61, 91!!
B - 78!
F - 76!!!
R - 71, 73, 74, 69, 77!!!!

Finally done!

This is my 2nd attempt at the exam, I had two parts passed (failed many) and I stupidly quit, big mistake. Now I'm back and with a vengeance!

[neika822]

Unfortunately, I'm feeling like this too. I get paid monthly, and I've paid almost all of my bills this month (I still have to pay my Becker financing still… yippee!) and I'm already broke. I can't even afford to move to a cheaper apartment, because I don't have first/last/possible realtor fee to pay for it.

At least I have a roof over my head and food.

/vent

R - *77*(02/'13)-Becker & NINJA
A - 71('11); *87*(04/'13)-Becker & NINJA
F - *76*(08/'13)-Becker & NINJA - "server upgrade" survivor
B - 60('11); *82*(10/'13) -Becker & NINA

DONE, DONE, AND DONE.

CPA in Massachusetts; issued 01/24/14

[neika822]

Unfortunately, I'm feeling like this too. I get paid monthly, and I've paid almost all of my bills this month (I still have to pay my Becker financing still… yippee!) and I'm already broke. I can't even afford to move to a cheaper apartment, because I don't have first/last/possible realtor fee to pay for it.

At least I have a roof over my head and food.

/vent

R - *77*(02/'13)-Becker & NINJA
A - 71('11); *87*(04/'13)-Becker & NINJA
F - *76*(08/'13)-Becker & NINJA - "server upgrade" survivor
B - 60('11); *82*(10/'13) -Becker & NINA

DONE, DONE, AND DONE.

CPA in Massachusetts; issued 01/24/14

[LT-P]

I just got my first apartment and I'll be moving in a month. I had to move over an hour away from my job because the location (Stamford, CT) is too expensive. Which means I'll be paying for parking, train fare and taxis :/

I was amazed by how many taxes are taken out of my check ($1400 a month) Is that even legal??

I was hoping to use my CPA bonus for a vacation but it looks like I'll actually be using it for furniture and other grown-up things .. like bills and rent 🙁

- passed all 4 exams on my first try using Becker!

Ethics: TBD

[LT-P]

I just got my first apartment and I'll be moving in a month. I had to move over an hour away from my job because the location (Stamford, CT) is too expensive. Which means I'll be paying for parking, train fare and taxis :/

I was amazed by how many taxes are taken out of my check ($1400 a month) Is that even legal??

I was hoping to use my CPA bonus for a vacation but it looks like I'll actually be using it for furniture and other grown-up things .. like bills and rent 🙁

- passed all 4 exams on my first try using Becker!

Ethics: TBD

[solis087]

@dragonfruit1212 hold on to your Big 4 job. Seriously. I know it sucks. But hold on to it. Don't try to save money on your house foundation by adding more water to the concrete. All nice, well paid jobs ask for experience in big 4.

When I started at a Big 4 in accounting in 2009, I was paid 35K/year, living in Montreal (so I paid WAY more taxes than anybody here will ever pay… But eh, free health care has to come from somewhere;)). Yeah, I had to have a roommate, cut on groceries, cancel TV, save on utilities, and left to work way earlier so that I would save gas by avoiding traffic. It was not fun, believe me, but when I moved to tax a couple months after, that was a little better. Same paycheck, but I could take the subway to work everyday. Thank goodness. Now I work for a big Oil & Gas company in Calgary and I'm really happy. Good pay, amazing benefits, free 24h gym, 6 weeks vacation a year, and Alberta taxes are lower than California so it is not as bad anymore. Still work my a off, but at least, money comes. I still rent (by choice) to pay my student loans and to live 20 mins walk away from work, so I save $100/month on transit pass.

Life is all about choices. 🙂 Now, I'll choice to get back to work so that I can get the heck out of here. So that I can go study for FAR 🙁

BEC: 80
REG: 75
AUD: 57, 80
FAR: 10/5/2013

[solis087]

@dragonfruit1212 hold on to your Big 4 job. Seriously. I know it sucks. But hold on to it. Don't try to save money on your house foundation by adding more water to the concrete. All nice, well paid jobs ask for experience in big 4.

When I started at a Big 4 in accounting in 2009, I was paid 35K/year, living in Montreal (so I paid WAY more taxes than anybody here will ever pay… But eh, free health care has to come from somewhere;)). Yeah, I had to have a roommate, cut on groceries, cancel TV, save on utilities, and left to work way earlier so that I would save gas by avoiding traffic. It was not fun, believe me, but when I moved to tax a couple months after, that was a little better. Same paycheck, but I could take the subway to work everyday. Thank goodness. Now I work for a big Oil & Gas company in Calgary and I'm really happy. Good pay, amazing benefits, free 24h gym, 6 weeks vacation a year, and Alberta taxes are lower than California so it is not as bad anymore. Still work my a off, but at least, money comes. I still rent (by choice) to pay my student loans and to live 20 mins walk away from work, so I save $100/month on transit pass.

Life is all about choices. 🙂 Now, I'll choice to get back to work so that I can get the heck out of here. So that I can go study for FAR 🙁

BEC: 80
REG: 75
AUD: 57, 80
FAR: 10/5/2013

[Anonymous]

@Spock, I just started in NYC on the same salary. Is there a particular reason you don't want a roommate? 1 will make things much easier, and 2 even easier than that. I don't see any possible way you'd be able to live in Manhattan without a roommate, rent will be too restrictive. There's a lot of less expensive areas in Queens and Brooklyn, you should be perfectly fine on a 57K salary, assuming your student loans aren't too high.

[Anonymous]

@Spock, I just started in NYC on the same salary. Is there a particular reason you don't want a roommate? 1 will make things much easier, and 2 even easier than that. I don't see any possible way you'd be able to live in Manhattan without a roommate, rent will be too restrictive. There's a lot of less expensive areas in Queens and Brooklyn, you should be perfectly fine on a 57K salary, assuming your student loans aren't too high.

[Spock]

@ co10101 & LSNYC , Thanks for your replies. It is good to hear that it will be possible to make it on that type of salary. I dont do much partying or go out very often so expenses other than necessary ones will be small. As for a roommate, I know things will be much easier on the wallet but I have had some bad experiences with roommates in the past and the last thing I need on my mind is a similar experience; unfortunately I dont have any friends moving to the same area either.

I looked at Queens/BK/Hoboken, and a few places way up on the East and West side. I found some decent prices at zillow and trulia. I know the specific places wont be available but I was trying to get an idea of price & location. I really just want a place to lay my head that is safe and a quick commute (under 30mins door to door).

[Author]

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