Benchmarking, locally

I find it amusing and useful to read about how other people handle their money. But because my housing costs are so much lower than most of the other PF bloggers who regularly post their net worth, I don't find it all that useful to use them for benchmarking purposes.

So I was happy to get my hands on the February 2007 issue of Philadelphia magazine, which has a cover story about all the millionaires in Philly. I refuse to either subscribe to this pap or pay the exhorbitant cover price to buy one at a newsstand, but I had seen the magazine around and been curious about the cover story, so I pounced when a fellow train commuter abandoned it on a seat. The article really bugged me (I find that the magazine's intended audience is vastly wealthier than I am, and more unabashedly concerned with looking affluent). However, I was thrilled to see a sidebar subtitled "How four real Philly families spend their cash."

They profiled the families in a simple table, with annual incomes of $40,000, $65,000, $125,000, and $385,000. Our annual household income is somewhere in the ballpark of $60,000, so I was most interested in comparing myself to their numbers. Granted, this is a very incomplete profile, lacking such useful things as the age of the profiled family. Still, if these folks live in Philly, they have access to the same affordable housing options that I do.

Here's how my family stacks up to this one.

House value/size
Theirs: $90,000/3100 square feet
Ours: $130,000/1400 square feet (the value is a reasonable guess)

Monthly mortgage
Theirs: $650
Ours: $575

Cars
Theirs: 2001 Sable, 1987 Honda Civic
Ours: 1994 Subaru Impreza

Monthly car payment
Theirs: $189
Ours: $0

Education costs
Theirs: None--2 kids in public school
Ours: $634/month for preschool

Vacations (no timeframe given, but presumably the last year or so)
Theirs: Week in North Carolina ($2500)
Ours: Week in Germany, a couple long weekends in Boston (all visiting family), around $2500

Dining out
Theirs: Once a month, $100
Ours: Five times a month, average of about $150

Clothing
Theirs: $1000 per year
Ours: No idea. Maybe $400-500 per year?

Credit card debt
Theirs: $6,000
Ours: $0

Retirement savings
Theirs: $30,000
Ours: $70,000


There you have it. I'm not sure how useful this is, but it's an interesting exercise. I do wonder where they got a 3100 square foot house for $90,000? Housing is cheap here compared to most cities of this size, but not that cheap. At least not in the neighborhoods where I know people well enough to know what their houses are worth. Maybe they paid that much for it five years ago and haven't adjusted the value since the recent boom. I know I usually use the 2004 purchase price of $70,000 for my house when I calculate my net worth. Another thought: I'm glad I don't have to heat 3100 square feet!


Related posts:
So you want to know where I live