return2ozma40-year-old homeowner says economy doesn’t add up: ‘I’m making the most money I’ve ever made, and I’m still living paycheck to paycheck’
من البحر إلى النهرSo it isn’t just me. My spouse and I bring in together $250000 (before taxes), we own a house and we are living paycheck to paycheck. One factor of many why I chose to move to another country. The only good thing is that once I sell the house I will be able to pay off all my debts because of how much the price of house gone up.
I’m sorry, but if you’re making $250,000 and you’re living paycheck to paycheck, your consumption if just too high, and you need to make cuts. In most countries, including the United States, you can live very comfortably on a $250,000 salary and reasonable spending.
Most of my expense, other than taxes, are healthcare costs. I know of no way I can reduce how often my family needs healthcare, and I have thousands of healthcare debt still not paid. We rarely travel, rarely eat out, and rarely splurge. Maybe there is some way to squeeze our belts tight and make it work.
It is easier to just move to a country with more affordable healthcare. 12 years ago when I met Americans living and working in Japan I didn’t believe them when they said they were better off in Japan making less money than in the US because of how expensive healthcare is in the US. Now I regret not believing them.
I’m in the same boat, single income just under $200k, but my savings has stagnated the past three years due to medical bills (wife was hospitalized and is now disabled).
Debt is beginning to pile up and it seems like the only real option is to start cherry picking the more important medical expenses to keep up on and letting the others slide (like the $26k hospital bill).
At the current rate things are going, I’ll have no savings and no college fund for my kid along with a stack of unpaid medical bills and needing to downsize to a cheaper home in a worse neighborhood. At least our only car is paid off end of the year and should hold up as long as the last one (made it 12 years, 220k miles).
Living that American dream.