[jyl]

I put together, for her to see, budgets for a single young person to live minimum, modest, moderate and good lifestyles in Portland.

I added the costs of various things like computer, internet, camera, iPhone, TV, air tickets, cars, etc - she knows what clothes, lunch, etc cost. I added the average income at various educational levels, plus the potential earnings of a barista.

This was a bit of an eye opener for me. I concluded that:
- A minimum lifestyle for a young person(share a crummy apartment w/ a roommate, drive a $3000 used car or use carshare, frugal eating and very little entertainment, any larger purchase is at Goodwill, no savings) costs about $24K/yr in pretax income.
- A modest lifestyle (share a 2 bdrm apartment, cheap used car, more entertainment, some scope for buying things, save a little bit) is $46K/yr.
- A moderate lifestyle (a nice apartment of one's own, a new car, more entertainment, can make some larger purchases and take the occasional trip, plus save several thousand/yr) is $67K.
- And a good lifestyle (own a small house or a nice condo, new $30K car, travel, saving for retirement and rainy day) is $100K.
- All scenarios included at least minimal health insurance and the appropriate taxes.

Again, this is for a young person, single income household, no kids, in a city that I'm told is slightly on the expensive side but not Manhattan or San Francisco.