So, I'm now looking for jobs (as most of you that know me know).

What's a job?  Well, it's a paycheck.  It's a career, it's power, it's students, it's life, it's time, it's plants on my window in my office, it's drama involving secretary and some professor, it's a lot of things.

For the moment I will only concern myself with the monetary issue.  How much money do I want?

Well, I am nearly 30.  I need to save.  Let's save 15% of the paycheck.  Considering the fact that I am likely to get tenure and assuming that I will, let's save only 15%.  My salary will increase, yes.  That will translate primarily into more savings.

15% for savings

Now, about taxes.  Oh boy!  Oh, my.

According to the IRS 2007 Federal Tax Rate Schedule and considering that I will be making somewhere in between $77K and $161K my tax rate will be:

$15,698.75 plus 28% of the amount over 77,100.

That, my friends, is ALOT of money.  Oh well.  This is the way life is, so I will live it like that.  For the purpose of this simple calculation I will put my total taxes as 25% of the income.

25% in taxes

At this point in the story I am considering to increase my savings.  I will think about that later.  Let's calculate what I need.  So far I have 100 - (15 + 25) = 60% of my income remaining.

I want a condo.  I don't have kids yet.  I'm not married.  I want a nice condo downtown. Shall we say $400K?  Yes, let's say that.

According to this simple mortgage calculator and putting in $400K at 5.75% interest for 30 years we get $2,334.29 a month.  That's $28,011.48 a year (let's not forget the 48 cents -- that's key).

$30,000 for the condo

How could I forget insurance and building amenities (I'm picking a downtown condo so it's got to have amenities). Let's put insurance at $3K/year and amenities at $800/month = $9,600/year.

$42,600 for the condo

Condo maintenance:

Water ~ $50/month

Gas ~ $30 / month

Electricity ~ $200 / month (yeah... I know... computers...)

Total ~ $280/m = $3,360/year

Cleaning service which I would absolutely adore to have (never liked cleaning) would be on the order of $100/month (I'm fairly clean as-is), so $1.2K/year.  Incidentals, like repair and all that, let's save up $5K/year for that (otherwise I'll just dump this into savings).

$10,000 for all maintenance

Now, I'll have to drive of course.  Now, I think BMW is a respectable vehicle to get me from A to B in style.  I am single. I'm not James Bond and not planning on it, but I do like to drive (and sometimes drive fast).

The 2008 Z4 M is a $55K car.  Very impressive. Wait, what's the tax on this? Let's say 10% with some fees that I am sure are to come. So, $60K. Financing and all, paying it off in 3 years comes to something around $22K/year. Insurance let's say $200/month ($2.5K) and of course gas which I'd say a tank a week is a good estimate (I don't drive that much) so $5/gallon, 20 gallons = $100/week for 52 weeks is $5K. Parking is about $100/month here, so let's say $150/month for 12 months is $2K.

Whew. So, 22 + 2.5 + 5 + 2 = 31.5

$31,500 for the car

I like to travel, too, of course.  Who doesn't.  I prefer to take no more than a few days off and fly around U.S. with occasional trip to Europe.  Let's give me three vacations a year in U.S. and two international.

U.S. trips are usually below $400 for the ticket.  Hotel would be around the same, so $400.  Entertainment would be something like $800, why not?  And of course I'll need to double this number for my companion.  That's (400 + 400 + 800) * 2 * 3 = $9,600 / year.

International trips are longer and more expensive.  Let's say $1,000 for the ticket (although that might be low).  Hotel, again, $1K.  Entertainment would be a little more; on the order of, say $1K.  That's $3K for me, $6K total.  Twice a year that's going to endup at $12K/year.

$21,600 for travel

Food? Clothes? Movies and theatre?  Hmm.  Let's just modestly budget $150/week for food ($7,800/year).  Clothes I'd give myself...  I'll need alot, actually.  Suit is, say, $400. I mean if I get it at a Russian store without going nutts.  I'll need 5 of those = $2K.  Other clothes and accessories would amount to another $3K.

$15K so far.

Entertainment could get tricky.  I'll just say $5K/year for incidentals.

$20,000 for food, clothes, movies

I'm going to need a gym membership ($100/m) and advice of a personal trainer ($100/m) right alongside with all the supplies I need for training like energy bars, gloves, etc.  I think budgeting $300/month is not a bad idea.

$3,600 on health

I cannot really think of anything more at the moment.

Let's calculate all that I've written down thus-far.

$129,300.  Not bad, huh?  Now, remember, this is just 60% of my salary.  The other 40% are taxes and savings.

That, my dear friends, brings us to a grand total of $215,500 per year income requirement.

Although an ambitious goal, I cannot expect to actually get paid that.  At least not when I am first starting my job.

I need to aim for about $120K/year total (90K for 9 months plus summer).

I will shortly revisit this list and see what numbers I can improve.