Ok can we stop saying $300k is "rich" in DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Yep. $300k is rich. In DC. In Boise. In Miami. In Dallas. In Phoenix. In Arlington.

No, no, no. It should be:
"DC, San Antone and the Liberty Town, Boston and Baton Rouge
Tulsa, Austin, Oklahoma City, Seattle, San Francisco, too
Everywhere there's money, real live money, bums with a middle class style..."

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I seriously fear for our country with the delusional entitlement of many PPs. It's approaching a kind of materialistic moral bankruptcy that is deeply disturbing.

You sound unhinged. How does thinking you're middle class if you make 300k make you "morally bankrupt?" Get a grip, there's worse things in the world to worry about.

How? Because you live on a big complex planet earth but have no perspective regarding your place on it. I do think it's morally bankrupt. Sure, there are worse things that are not only morally bankrupt but also evil. Be glad I'm not considering you evil.

Of all the insane things I've read on this forum, this takes the cake. Crazies like you led to the backlash known as Trump. To think of it, I do actually consider you and your kind evil for leading us to that.

Yall need to pick a story and stick to it. I thought the po' coal miners elected Trump to bring back their jobs so they could get off the meth/opiates and stop collecting disability checks? And that they were made with the elite who thought that $200k was poor?

Nah, I think that's the lib version

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:$300k in high COL areas is far from rich. You get all the negatives of actually being rich like high taxes. But none of the support of being poor like college financial aid for children. $250-$500k is an economic death zone. Sure you may get a better annual vacation or nicer car than someone making $50k, but the day to day quality of life is not that much different.

This

For a two-income couple in DC making 300k, if one makes 200k and the other makes 100k, the entire second income is taxed at 51.6 percent (35 percent federal - AMT phaseout bracket, 8.95 percent DC, 7.65 percent SS/Medicare).

What's your point? Progressive tax rate. Yours first 200k are not tax at that rate. Nice try. In the worst possible case (self employed, no deductions besides state tax, no kids) you get 44%, very easy to run the numbers. Doubt it's you.

Point is that we are taxed like rich people, but can't afford a four bedroom house with a small yard, decent public schools, and less than 45 minute commute - which seems like something rich people should be able to afford. And is something that is easily affordable in most parts of the country on 200k which has a much lower tax burden.

Huh, maybe it turns out that ignoring public infrastructure, failing to tax appropriately, and screwing the poor (who rely first and foremost on public infrastructure) has trickle-UP affects? So even the "rich" get screwed! Perhaps you ought to make common cause with the ACTUAL poor people and fight for things like denser development and better public transportation (to reduce commute); better schools (to increase location options); single-payer health care (to reduce insurance premiums); protect social security; and progressive housing policy?

#truth

+2

[Anonymous]

As usual, I think we throw around the word 'rich' too easily.

If you think that having some money left over at the end of the month, saving for your retirement and your kids education, and living in an area with good schools make you 'rich' then sure, 300K covers it. - GROUP I


If you think rich means very few concessions in life - vacation where you want, send your kids to school wherever you want, drive whatever you want, live wherever you want, then no. 300k does not make you rich - GROUP II


My sense is that if you are looking sharply up at the first group, you think they are both rich and that group I and group II are really the same

If you are firmly in Group I but are still making choices and don't think that you 'have it all' then you probably don't feel rich

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As usual, I think we throw around the word 'rich' too easily.

If you think that having some money left over at the end of the month, saving for your retirement and your kids education, and living in an area with good schools make you 'rich' then sure, 300K covers it. - GROUP I


If you think rich means very few concessions in life - vacation where you want, send your kids to school wherever you want, drive whatever you want, live wherever you want, then no. 300k does not make you rich - GROUP II


My sense is that if you are looking sharply up at the first group, you think they are both rich and that group I and group II are really the same

If you are firmly in Group I but are still making choices and don't think that you 'have it all' then you probably don't feel rich

Pretty sure the term Americans actually throw around way too easily is "middle class"...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As usual, I think we throw around the word 'rich' too easily.

If you think that having some money left over at the end of the month, saving for your retirement and your kids education, and living in an area with good schools make you 'rich' then sure, 300K covers it. - GROUP I


If you think rich means very few concessions in life - vacation where you want, send your kids to school wherever you want, drive whatever you want, live wherever you want, then no. 300k does not make you rich - GROUP II


My sense is that if you are looking sharply up at the first group, you think they are both rich and that group I and group II are really the same

If you are firmly in Group I but are still making choices and don't think that you 'have it all' then you probably don't feel rich

Pretty sure the term Americans actually throw around way too easily is "middle class"...

+1 Yes. If we define "rich" as people who can afford designer homes, cars, vacations, and educations, with no real compromise to be made between them; and we define the poor as totally destitute; then the middle class turns out to encompass almost everybody except that mean rich girl in school. This says a lot about American identity (the great "we," to whom almost all of us assume we belong). But it doesn't help these economic / social conversations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yep. $300k is rich. In DC. In Boise. In Miami. In Dallas. In Phoenix. In Arlington.

No, no, no. It should be:
"DC, San Antone and the Liberty Town, Boston and Baton Rouge
Tulsa, Austin, Oklahoma City, Seattle, San Francisco, too
Everywhere there's money, real live money, bums with a middle class style..."

Hahaaaa

[Anonymous]

DH and I earn a little less than 200k together and we are rich. We save about 60k for retirement every year, and can cover all of our expenses, like private school for our kids, and a lot of what we want, even in this area. No, we don't live in a prestigious zip code, and my commute is about 45 minutes, but that's because of choices that we made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I earn a little less than 200k together and we are rich. We save about 60k for retirement every year, and can cover all of our expenses, like private school for our kids, and a lot of what we want, even in this area. No, we don't live in a prestigious zip code, and my commute is about 45 minutes, but that's because of choices that we made.

Damn. I'd love to see your budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I earn a little less than 200k together and we are rich. We save about 60k for retirement every year, and can cover all of our expenses, like private school for our kids, and a lot of what we want, even in this area. No, we don't live in a prestigious zip code, and my commute is about 45 minutes, but that's because of choices that we made.

Damn. I'd love to see your budget.

I earn $110,000 as a single and am very comfortable. Save about 20% of my income for retirement, with plenty left over for travel, entertainment, designer shoes, a nice property in an UMC neighborhood, and charitable donations. And did I mention the shoes?

I don't see how a couple earning $300,000 doesn't recognize that they are in the top 2% or 3%. That's wealthy in my book.

[Anonymous]

Affluent

Not wealthy

Wealthy is making 300K a year by earning 3% on $10 million.


300K as a wage earner is affluent - doing amazingly well. We aren't going to feel rich until we can do it all without earning a wage each week

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Affluent

Not wealthy

Wealthy is making 300K a year by earning 3% on $10 million.


300K as a wage earner is affluent - doing amazingly well. We aren't going to feel rich until we can do it all without earning a wage each week

By the way, this doesn't mean we aren't grateful for what we have - to me, rich is the destination that keeps us motivated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I earn a little less than 200k together and we are rich. We save about 60k for retirement every year, and can cover all of our expenses, like private school for our kids, and a lot of what we want, even in this area. No, we don't live in a prestigious zip code, and my commute is about 45 minutes, but that's because of choices that we made.

Damn. I'd love to see your budget.

I earn $110,000 as a single and am very comfortable. Save about 20% of my income for retirement, with plenty left over for travel, entertainment, designer shoes, a nice property in an UMC neighborhood, and charitable donations. And did I mention the shoes?

I don't see how a couple earning $300,000 doesn't recognize that they are in the top 2% or 3%. That's wealthy in my book.

You are misssing the point. You don't live IN Washington DC. If you did, you could not exist on your budget. Private schools IN Washington DC for two kids is easisly $75,000/year. So you may be rich in Laurel or Olney or wherever you live. But not IN Washington DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I earn a little less than 200k together and we are rich. We save about 60k for retirement every year, and can cover all of our expenses, like private school for our kids, and a lot of what we want, even in this area. No, we don't live in a prestigious zip code, and my commute is about 45 minutes, but that's because of choices that we made.

Damn. I'd love to see your budget.

I earn $110,000 as a single and am very comfortable. Save about 20% of my income for retirement, with plenty left over for travel, entertainment, designer shoes, a nice property in an UMC neighborhood, and charitable donations. And did I mention the shoes?

I don't see how a couple earning $300,000 doesn't recognize that they are in the top 2% or 3%. That's wealthy in my book.

You are misssing the point. You don't live IN Washington DC. If you did, you could not exist on your budget. Private schools IN Washington DC for two kids is easisly $75,000/year. So you may be rich in Laurel or Olney or wherever you live. But not IN Washington DC.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Affluent

Not wealthy

Wealthy is making 300K a year by earning 3% on $10 million.


300K as a wage earner is affluent - doing amazingly well. We aren't going to feel rich until we can do it all without earning a wage each week

$320 here. My husband commutes three hours a day to earn half of that. He certainly doesn't feel rich, but yes, we are comfortable, at least on the weekends.