When even a six-figure salary isn't enough to compete

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

A man at my mother’s office (this was 20 years ago) used to commute 2 hours to work from Pennsylvania to New Jersey every day. Apparently, he just listened to lots of sports on the radio both ways. I can’t imagine the state of his back.

I think it was because his wife had a very high-paying job in PA, his kids were in private school there, and he was working a government job and wanted to get his full retirement income, plus they’d found a cheaper home outside of NJ. So there were “good” reasons for doing so, but still…I mean, bye-bye any hobbies or working out at the gym.

[skrosenthal]

It’s true that many people are “enjoying horses on far less than a six-figure income,” but this specific OP was asking about affording the costs of A-circuit showing, which really is a separate question. And maybe the right answer for her is that at this point in her life, she needs to find a way to enjoy horses without A-circuit showing, but that’s not the same thing as being able to participate at that level of competitive sport, and there’s a totally legitimate question about whether it’s good for the sport’s growth if even people who are broadly and generally very wealthy feel like they can’t play.

[2bayboys]

I agree, which is why one of the many things I listed as things she might need to change are her goals with horses. Her current financial situation does not appear to allow for the level of showing she wishes to do. Lots of people have been in that scenario and made adjustments without giving up horses entirely. No judgment here if her enjoyment requires A level competition.

[Krallen]

What helps me make it work is selling horses. I’m an ammy with a regular job (also 6 figures) but have ridden professionally and have a ton of experience starting and developing young horses. I buy youngsters in the U.S. or Europe, some unstarted, some green broke, develop them for a bit and sell them. I enjoy the process, although I admit that sometimes I long for a broke horse to walk into the ring with. But this way I can have and ride quality horses. I usually make enough on my sales horse to support my personal horse.

[vxf111]

I think part of the issue here is not factoring in the COL. It used to be that 6 figures was a LOT OF MONEY. Now, with the COL what it is, it’s not. So aiming for “6 figures and then I have it made” isn’t as realistic now as it may have been years and years ago. And that’s just reality. For horse people and non horse people.

[FieldMack]

A 6-figure salary is just getting by without horses.

[RW06]

Just wanted to say that as someone also navigating the original topic of this post, and as an HR professional, this whole thread has really checked a lot of unexpected boxes for me

[Jo]

@RW06

Just wanted to say that as someone also navigating the original topic of this post, and as an HR professional, this whole thread has really checked a lot of unexpected boxes for me

I am literally, at this moment, listening to an ADP webinar supporting every state tax point I have made in this topic.

[fordtraktor]

@lenapesadie and payroll professionals…maybe a dumb question, but can you work around the payroll issue if the employee agrees to pay taxes in both locations? Just wondering because this is how we do things. I am not in a reciprocal state with my WFH employer, so they withhold in the state of employment and I pay taxes there, and I pay some additional taxes in my home state on my own and file in both states. I don’t think my work has any additional inconvenience because of this? Maybe they do and I don’t know, but I figure I would have heard about it in my small company.

Yes, I have some additional tax burden, but it isn’t enough to make the situation not work for me financially.

[Jo]

@fordtraktor

maybe a dumb question, but can you work around the payroll issue if the employee agrees to pay taxes in both locations?

Most likely, no. Employees performing duties in a state require a business license in that state, even if the corporate office is not physically located in that state.

ETA: Your unemployment taxes, paid by your employer, should be paid in the state you perform the work.

[soloudinhere]

I used to drive nearly 2 hours each way to an office for about 18 months.

My house cost 1/3 what a similar home close to the office would have cost, so I went with it.

I’m glad I did as it was good for my career even if it was bad for my car.

[soloudinhere]

I do this too. I have funded my (admittedly $$) personal horse by buying and flipping. I’ve been doing this for 15 years at this point and I have a pretty solid formula for doing it that involves a lot of lower level, kid safe horses for every one or two imports to stabilize the cash flow.

I’m honestly baffled by how rare it is now to have someone who is producing nice quiet safe kids horses. It used to be very common and now it’s nada. I have a very solid business doing this because of that.

[Tha_Ridge]

@soloudinhere

I’m honestly baffled by how rare it is now to have someone who is producing nice quiet safe kids horses. It used to be very common and now it’s nada. I have a very solid business doing this because of that.

Oh man, it’s wild. Not at all surprised that you’ve been successful doing so. If you can keep your expenses low enough, you can make a killing. (I can’t, so I, unfortunately, have to target higher price tags to make a profit, although I always have one OTTB project at any given time and have been very successful with them too in this hot market.)

[lenapesadie]

Super sorry! My background is evidently a unicorn whereas employers simply get set up to accommodate where the employees live. Unless it’s Cancun or the Philippines.

[onlyTBmares]

This is very true. Putting aside the whole work remote in some LCOL area, housing prices have inflated far more substantially in urban areas than average salaries have. For example, in Seattle, housing prices have increase 193% in 20 years. So if you were making exactly figures then, your salary would need to be close to $300k accomplish the same home income:home cost ratio.

[Mander]

We were buying our first house last year and I was talking to my mom (lives in LCOL area). She started talking about how their first mortgage was $200/mo and that was a manageable amount to pay yadayada as though that number was even remotely close to ANYTHING you could find nowadays, even in a LCOL area. I can’t even bring myself to tell her what our mortgage is - she would be appalled that we would make such “unwise” financial decisions.

They were buying in the early 80s - assuming their interest rate was somewhere around 10%, their mortgage loan would have been about 23k. Today, 1 acre empty lots in their zip-code are going for 50k (granted, with lower interest rates).

[soloudinhere]

A $200 payment in 1982 would be a $582.69 payment today…which would be a mortgage amount of $131,500 at current 3.5% interest rates.

You actually have significantly more buying power than they did in the early 80s.

[Mander]

Wouldn’t that be assuming that what you can buy for 130k (or less) today is of equivalent quality to what you could buy in the 80s for 23k?

[soloudinhere]

No, that is a straight calculation on the value of a dollar.

For the equivalent mortgage payment that your mom keeps waxing nostalgic about, you could borrow $130k today and be spending the same amount of money. $200 in 1982 is equal to $582 today.

Since you said that plots of land are now going for $50k when they were $23k then, it stands to reason that you could buy 2 and some for what they spent on one.

[Mander]

Yes, but they didn’t buy “just a plot of land”. They bought an actual livable house for 23k.

The only things available in their zipcode for <130k today are foreclosed modular homes or huge fixer-upper projects.