Devonte Duncan earns $159K in Brooklyn, pays $3,450 rent, a debt consolidation loan, and a Carvana loss. He saves 10% automatically. 'You can't save your way out of poverty,' he says.
Devonte Duncan, 27, earns $159,000 a year as a software engineer in Brooklyn. His monthly take-home after taxes and 401(k) contributions is $7,752.
That number shrinks fast. Rent for his two-bedroom apartment runs $3,450. His fiancée, a school teacher, contributes $1,000. Duncan covers the rest plus $500 in utilities. A debt consolidation loan costs $947 a month.
The loan came from a period of lifestyle creep. He paid for friends' dinners, bought an electric skateboard, and financed a Tesla Model 3 that he later traded to Carvana at a loss. “Just because you make more money doesn’t mean you have to spend more money,” he said.
Duncan now drives a 2019 Subaru Outback. Car payment, insurance, and gas total $748 a month. Groceries and eating out run $600. He spends $50 on subway rides to avoid congestion pricing and Manhattan parking.
He dropped out of City College after losing a merit scholarship and joined the Marcy Lab School, a yearlong software engineering fellowship. His first job out of the program paid nearly six figures. His mother wanted him to go back for a degree. He has no plans to. “I’m just going to figure out how to make more money,” he said.
His savings system is automatic: 10% of each paycheck goes into an account he tries to forget. He also maxes out his 401(k) at 10%, with a 4% employer match. That adds up to about $15,900 a year. He does not set savings goals. “You can’t save your way out of poverty,” Duncan said. “The price of things is going up way faster than my wages are.”
Once the debt consolidation loan is paid off in two years, he plans to invest in his own ideas, including OpenBorough.NYC, a civic dashboard that costs him up to $300 a month to run.
Duncan’s experience mirrors the used-car market Carvana operates in. He bought high and sold low. Carvana, which carries an Alpha Score of 44 out of 100 (labeled Mixed), is balancing volume growth with margin discipline. The score reflects the used-car retailer’s uneven recovery path.
New York’s cost of living, he said, comes down to who you are and what you’re fighting for. “Everyone who grew up here is kind of just fighting to stay home.”
He eats out less now and socializes less, because the bill always lands on him. “I’ve set the trend of picking up the tab – and I don’t want to do that anymore because it’s super expensive.”
Prepared with AlphaScala editorial tooling from the source reporting linked above. Indexable analysis may include a cited Alpha Score value. Publishing checks screen each story before release. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.