It’s Their Fault

Let’s have a look at the budget of someone (you!) who is just starting out in big NYC with an independent career plan. We’ll say you start out making $26,004 per year as a freelancer of some sort (starting a business, an artist, working an hourly side job, etc.) and live in Brooklyn. And you want health insurance because your parents are breathing down your neck. Why $26,004? Because it is the maximum salary to participate in “New York Cares” health insurance, the “good deal” health insurance program for lower income people. That “good deal” is $308.15 per month for an Aetna Health plan with discounts on medication. You’d like to live alone but can’t possibly do that–you’ll simply find a good deal on non-decrepit yet pretty damn shady housing within an hour of the city in a non-scary area with a roommate. This is going to cost at least $900 per month, and that’s quite generous given the rental market. You pay a VERY low (parents must be helping) $160 per month to college loans. Tax for the year, including your student loan deduction, is $2,130. You are college educated, fiscally responsible (no credit cards or debt), have no car or drug / alcohol habits, and are prepared to live cheaply and work hard to make your dreams true. How cheaply?

Post tax income per month: $1,989.50

Minus Rent: $1,089.50

Minus Utilities (a fair $50 per month): $1,039.50

Minus College Loan: $879.50

Minus (Vital) Subway Card: $798.50

Minus Vital Internet Connection (we can admit that right?): $748.50

Minus Health Insurance: $440.35

That’s a whopping $88.07 per week / about $12.50 per day for groceries, any business start-up costs, clothing, home furnishings, cable TV (forget about that), medical visits (this insurance hardly covers everything), medication, travel outside the city, the bars you’ll surely end up wallowing in, savings (ha), etc. etc.

A single lunch at cafeteria-style Cafe Metro in the city is around $12.50.

Good luck kids!