I figure a lot of folks are doing their taxes these days, so it might be a good time to ask a budget and spending question. I’m curious as to how your annual spending compares to the Federal Poverty Guidelines. Here are the 2008 stats, find the number of people in your family and look at the column on the right.
2008 HHS Poverty Guidelines
| Persons in Family or Household |
48 Contiguous States and D.C. |
Alaska | Hawaii |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,400 | $13,000 | $11,960 |
| 2 | 14,000 | 17,500 | 16,100 |
| 3 | 17,600 | 22,000 | 20,240 |
| 4 | 21,200 | 26,500 | 24,380 |
| 5 | 24,800 | 31,000 | 28,520 |
| 6 | 28,400 | 35,500 | 32,660 |
| 7 | 32,000 | 40,000 | 36,800 |
| 8 | 35,600 | 44,500 | 40,940 |
| For each additional person, add |
3,600 | 4,500 | 4,140 |
I don’t know how many of you keep close track of your monthly spending, have a monthly budget or anything like that, but if you do, follow the steps below and fill out the survey questions.
- Find the Poverty line for your household size on the chart.
- Take your monthly or annual budget.
- Subtract from your monthly or annual budget any school loans.
- If you have a mortgage, subtract the Principal and Interest portion, and only include the taxes and home insurance. (Anything you’d continue to pay even after you no longer had a mortgage and completely owned the home).
- No compare your budget and the Poverty Guideline.
How do they compare? Fill out your answer in the survey below (it’s anonymous).
I know, kind of a bizarre question. I’ve posted on this topic before, but I’m working on some more financial related posts/articles and wanted to do a quick reader survey. Thanks for humoring me. Definitely post comments if you have any on the topic.
Ariah,
Since most people below or near the poverty line pay rent rather than mortgages, does’t subtracting mortgage numbers skew the data making people who own their homes look like they make less money than people who rent. I. E. I rent, so I do not get to subtract that, but you pay a mortgage and get to subtract that. You and I could make the same amont of money, but you would appear closer the the line than I would. Am I missing something here? Math has always been a weakness.
G
Though provoking topic. I am living on a stipend of 17,500 next year and have a goal of giving away 6k. Sidenote: I read the Dave Ramsey quote and I totally disagree with his principle of living poorly now so you can live decadently later… weird to hear from a Christian dude.. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be
Thanks for checking in Peter. I think your goal is totally doable. Set up a modest budget and live within it.
Dave's philosophy makes a lot of sense in encouraging people to get out of debt, but I find his end result is no different then any other financial gurus. Your right on.