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Old 05-23-08, 12:26 PM   #24 (permalink)
Panache
Irrelevant Pissant

 
Join Date: May 2007
Last Online: 07-01-08 06:52 PM
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Re: Can you prosper with a teacher's salary--$40,000?

Quote:
Yeah, in certain areas one can live comfortably on 40K a year. But its not what I would consider being prosperous. If you don't live beyond your means, you could enjoy a quiet and unassuming life without struggling to get by.
People get by just fine on 20k, which means that someone making 40k could lead the same sort of lifestyle and tuck away an extra 20k every year by putting it in a tax deductible IRA.

The S&P has been averaging a 10% annual return for over 50 years, so 20k/yr invested over 40 years of work would let you retire with a total of $9,737,036.

Ten million is fairly prosperous by pretty much any standard, so the answer to the question "Can you prosper with a teacher's salary" is clearly yes.

If the question was "Will most people prosper on a teachers salary?" then the answer would be no.
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