Flagpole wrote:
That's a big rent on that income. Typically, you want to try to be about 25% of your take home pay on rent. In your example, that's about $560. Manhattan is a different animal though, so if you want to work there, living close means high rent. As others said, if you basically do nothing else that requires regular monthly income (Cable TV, cell phone, car, etc.) then you could make it work. I don't see much room for investing though, and long term that's a problem.
He's probably not going to be making $17/hr the rest of his life. It will probably only be a few months to a year, then he'll get a raise to something fairly decent or can find another job that pays well using his experience. Investing can wait a little while. He'll probably be alright taking a little credit card debt as well. I don't remember what he says what he wants to do, but it is not hard to make $60-80k in New York after working there for a year or two.
He has said that he doesn't have a car, and he is on his family's cell phone plan. His only expenses should be rent, utilities (which will be split with his roommate--water is usually covered so in the rent so it should be just electricity and internet), food, alcohol, and some miscellaneous items (razor blades, soap, shampoo, toilet paper, etc).