return2ozma'An economic divide that is widening': Almost one third of Americans earning $150,000 a year or more say they're living paycheck to paycheck and many rely on credit cards to close the gap
OBGIf you’re making 150k and are living paycheck to paycheck you either live in a crazy expensive area or are a total fucking idiot when it comes to managing your money.
hex_m_hellGo look at a mortgage or even rent in any major city.
Hi, this is pretty much me, and I concur. If you can’t live on $150k then you are definitely making some questionable decisions. That’s around $8k/m take home. Even if you are spending $4k on rent/mortgage, you should have plenty left over to live on.
Do you have kids?
I’m pretty sure I covered the questionable decisions.
Yeah, if you’re a single dude who doesn’t have anyone to take care of and has no physical or mental health problems $150k is great. If you’re part of a house with two incomes you’re probably OK. If you’re on a single incoming supporting parents with disabilities, kids, partners with disabilities, or any combination of similar things, you can maybe get by on $150k as long as you never fuck up and everything goes perfectly in your life and you don’t care about or try to help anyone else.
My wife is disabled FYI. I get what you are saying, but there is still a good amount of wiggle room in our budget. I also still don’t really like the idea of limping kids, which are a choice, in the same category as dealing with illness and disability. That doesn’t seem to be a good faith argument.
Flying SquidKids are not always a choice, especially now that abortion is illegal in so many places.
Chaotic EntropyIn addition, the idea that if you don’t have enough money then you just don’t get to have a family seems abhorrent.
A society where having kids is an unsustainable financial decision is a society that can’t continue to exist, and a society where caregiving for someone with a disability or having one yourself makes life impossible is also a society that can’t continue to exist.
There are also a ton of other factors that can easily push someone over the edge. “We have lots of wiggle room” is great for you but lots of people don’t… And even if someone did make a mistake, why should some small mistake put someone in inescapable debt?
I just think the idea that $150k is fine and everyone who can’t make it is an idiot isn’t taking in to account the obvious data that shows the opposite.
It does always strike me as ridiculous when we live in a world where continuing the existence of the human race is considered bad financial planning. No wonder birth rates are declining massively when the incentives are all on personal productivity and streamlining your life rather than having/raising a family. I don’t plan to have children for a number of reasons, but the fact that society is filled with active disincentives certainly doesn’t help persuade me otherwise.
SoleInvictusCan confirm. My wife and I live in a high cost of living area. Combined we make about $155k and our budget is painfully tight.
Yeah, if you’re a single man who doesn’t have anyone to take care of and has no physical or mental health problems $150k is great. If you’re part of a house with two incomes you’re probably OK
Why would it matter how many people it takes to make the 150k?
If you’re making $150k and someone else is making another amount of money…
Then your family isn’t making 150k and you’re not part of this discussion.
Also if you’re making more than 150k and can’t pay your bills, I have 0 sympathy for you.
It must feel good to feel superior to all these people who are struggling. I bet that makes you feel really smart and capable.
You wanna stop lashing out and make an actual point?
I make 150k, have 3 kids, a home, 2 cars, etc and I am most assuredly not living paycheck to paycheck
Good for you. I’m glad you don’t care about other peoples problems because you’re fine.
That’s the opposite of my stance. These people are fine and they’re comparing themselves to people who are not.