Why a 300-400k salary doesn't feel rich

[Anonymous]

Overall quality of life is decreasing for everyone, from the lower class to the upper class. Even though percentage wise this income puts you in the 97-99th, it doesn't feel that great because a top 3% lifestyle now is different from a top 3% lifestyle 50 years ago. Going down to the 90th percentile which is under 200k/yr, most families who make that are barely getting by. To really be comfortable nowadays you need to be in the top 0.5%, not even a 1% income feels that rich.

[Anonymous]

Why? Because you never learned to budget and save. I feel very comfortable on half of that.

[Anonymous]

I hope you get the reality check that you deserve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Overall quality of life is decreasing for everyone, from the lower class to the upper class. Even though percentage wise this income puts you in the 97-99th, it doesn't feel that great because a top 3% lifestyle now is different from a top 3% lifestyle 50 years ago. Going down to the 90th percentile which is under 200k/yr, most families who make that are barely getting by. To really be comfortable nowadays you need to be in the top 0.5%, not even a 1% income feels that rich.

I’m curious what you think a top 3% lifestyle looked like 50 years ago. Also, income and wealth are not the same thing. Compounding over the years matters.

[Anonymous]

Maybe it's because people with high salaries can't escape their jobs and work longer hours due to computers, phones, etc.

If you work long hours and are always reachable by work, you have diminished quality of life even if you are materially successful. The business press calls these "Extreme Jobs".

[Anonymous]

We’re at 300k since recently and the money feels great and plentiful, but other poster nails it: the income comes with very long hours and stress so it doesn’t feel like a great life. I envy the 180k barely working poster!

[Anonymous]

Uh.

We make $450ish (more like $410 last year) and it's pretty rich.

We live in a $1m+ house.
We do not typically think about, nor do we have to, groceries or gas or coffee or takeout or summer camp.
We haven't prioritized college savings, but we could pay cash, yes, even for a $70K school (we don't want to but we'll see).
We get new cars when we want them.
If we want to renovate or something, we would just pay cash or take a HELOC or stop contributing to one of the many many investment or savings accounts we have temporarily. This would feel BAD but it is a blessing.
If we aren't going to Europe this summer it's because it's our choice and we want to prioritize cash savings. It's not because we can't.

We are lucky and relatively, rich. In the upper-middle class no worries relative to others sense. And there are MANY families richer than us at our W school.

Get some perspective if you think 400K isn't well off. Unless you have 7 kids and 3 parents in assisted living that you pay for, you should be more than OK.

[Anonymous]

Errant nonsense. I earn a little less than that and feel extremely well off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uh.

We make $450ish (more like $410 last year) and it's pretty rich.

We live in a $1m+ house.
We do not typically think about, nor do we have to, groceries or gas or coffee or takeout or summer camp.
We haven't prioritized college savings, but we could pay cash, yes, even for a $70K school (we don't want to but we'll see).
We get new cars when we want them.
If we want to renovate or something, we would just pay cash or take a HELOC or stop contributing to one of the many many investment or savings accounts we have temporarily. This would feel BAD but it is a blessing.
If we aren't going to Europe this summer it's because it's our choice and we want to prioritize cash savings. It's not because we can't.

We are lucky and relatively, rich. In the upper-middle class no worries relative to others sense. And there are MANY families richer than us at our W school.

Get some perspective if you think 400K isn't well off. Unless you have 7 kids and 3 parents in assisted living that you pay for, you should be more than OK.

This is like reading about one of those families who lost their everything in 2008 and can’t stop telling everyone to save and live a smaller but more fulfilling life after the humbling. This income range is not rich and this type of exaggeration is both kind of shameful and also sad because of its astounding ignorance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uh.

We make $450ish (more like $410 last year) and it's pretty rich.

We live in a $1m+ house.
We do not typically think about, nor do we have to, groceries or gas or coffee or takeout or summer camp.
We haven't prioritized college savings, but we could pay cash, yes, even for a $70K school (we don't want to but we'll see).
We get new cars when we want them.
If we want to renovate or something, we would just pay cash or take a HELOC or stop contributing to one of the many many investment or savings accounts we have temporarily. This would feel BAD but it is a blessing.
If we aren't going to Europe this summer it's because it's our choice and we want to prioritize cash savings. It's not because we can't.

We are lucky and relatively, rich. In the upper-middle class no worries relative to others sense. And there are MANY families richer than us at our W school.

Get some perspective if you think 400K isn't well off. Unless you have 7 kids and 3 parents in assisted living that you pay for, you should be more than OK.

Is a 1 million dollar house a bragging feature? Seems really cheap to me. I live in Toronto and 1 million doesn't go far.

[Anonymous]

Good grief! Are you a troll? If you can’t live comfortably on that amount you are irresponsible. You need a reset on what rich is. If you think rich is having a private jet or even flying first class all the time you are seriously wrong.

[Anonymous]

Because I want a huge house, two bmw, and a trophy wife. 300k isn’t it. It needs to be 500k.

[Anonymous]

I can say the opposite depending on the data I choose.

[Anonymous]

Is this just your random thought of the day OP? If you want to feel rich on a $300k salary, don't live around people making $500k.

"There are two ways to be rich: One is by acquiring much and the other is by desiring little."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uh.

We make $450ish (more like $410 last year) and it's pretty rich.

We live in a $1m+ house.
We do not typically think about, nor do we have to, groceries or gas or coffee or takeout or summer camp.
We haven't prioritized college savings, but we could pay cash, yes, even for a $70K school (we don't want to but we'll see).
We get new cars when we want them.
If we want to renovate or something, we would just pay cash or take a HELOC or stop contributing to one of the many many investment or savings accounts we have temporarily. This would feel BAD but it is a blessing.
If we aren't going to Europe this summer it's because it's our choice and we want to prioritize cash savings. It's not because we can't.

We are lucky and relatively, rich. In the upper-middle class no worries relative to others sense. And there are MANY families richer than us at our W school.

Get some perspective if you think 400K isn't well off. Unless you have 7 kids and 3 parents in assisted living that you pay for, you should be more than OK.

This sounds awesome. I am just happy to order off Amazon. (Not kidding). I do think people need to get a grip - usually because they have rich relatives or are surrounded by rich people - main cause for causing unhappiness (ie: never-enoughness")