I don't get the whole "fake rich $250k" thing. We make just under 200k and are more than comfortable

[Anonymous]

But we also live in Silver Spring, send our kids to public, chose daycare over a nanny. We also only buy used (nice) cars. I guess by some standards I would be considered cheap;
I only need 4 pairs of jeans, I refuse to pay more than $60 for each pair
I would never spend $500 on a purse
We have a cleaning lady once a week and a landscaper
We go skiing and sometimes go to Europe and the Carribean (only every few years, our yearly trip is just md beaches)
We buy organic food
Our kids go to camps in the summer (through the county) and we are members of the local pool
We fund our 401k's and our kids 529's
I'm not really sure how much more we would need.
Obviously people make different choices, but it seems to me that once you start making better $ you start thinking you deserve a certain level of things "I work very hard therefore I deserve this $800 Banana Republic jacket" etc, I have done this myself.
It just seems like if you are having trouble living on this amount of $ then maybe you need to reassess your priorities
Wants vs needs

[Anonymous]

What is your mortgage and do you have huge student loans? If you have a smaller mortgage and no student loan debt that makes a difference. We were similar to you when we lived in the DC area and if we'd had a large mortgage payment and/or student loan payment we would have been very stretched.

[Anonymous]

It really doesn't matter if it's a "want" or a "need". If you earned it, it's YOURS. No one should be able to take that away from you.

It's also yours to give away if that's what you believe is the right thing to do. No one will stop you from writing a check out to the government in whatever amount you would like.

[Anonymous]

Op here our mortgage is $2700 and place paid off our student loans in 2006 (we both went to state schools). Would we like a big nice house in Bethesda, sure! But we know we don't earn enough to afford it. Its just not feasible in this area...

[Anonymous]

We not place, sorry fat fingers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It really doesn't matter if it's a "want" or a "need". If you earned it, it's YOURS. No one should be able to take that away from you.

It's also yours to give away if that's what you believe is the right thing to do. No one will stop you from writing a check out to the government in whatever amount you would like.

You know, I don't totally agree with the argument "I earned this money and it's all mine." Have you ever sat down and thought about all the advantages most of us with money had at one point or another? In many cases, we got here through a combination of family privileges, federal loans, public schools, etc. This isn't to deny that those working hard deserve to be rewarded, but just to make clear that the notion of a "self-made" man or woman is mostly myth.

[Anonymous]

The other issue is who is being taxed and how they earn their income. You might feel comfortable but there is a big difference between your lifestyle (which is similar to mine) and Mitt Romney's. he is paying 13% on his passive income while we will be asked to pay 39% on the income that we earn by going to work every day. I actually have no problem with the coming tax hike on my considerable income, but I am miffed that actual rich people (who live a very different lifestyle from me and you) are not expected to carry the same weight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really doesn't matter if it's a "want" or a "need". If you earned it, it's YOURS. No one should be able to take that away from you.

It's also yours to give away if that's what you believe is the right thing to do. No one will stop you from writing a check out to the government in whatever amount you would like.

You know, I don't totally agree with the argument "I earned this money and it's all mine." Have you ever sat down and thought about all the advantages most of us with money had at one point or another? In many cases, we got here through a combination of family privileges, federal loans, public schools, etc. This isn't to deny that those working hard deserve to be rewarded, but just to make clear that the notion of a "self-made" man or woman is mostly myth.

I'm not one of the "most of us with money"...Our HHI is FAR below 200k. I still think YOU deserve to keep your own money, regardless of whether you got in on your own merit or if you inherited it from generations before you that earned it themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The other issue is who is being taxed and how they earn their income. You might feel comfortable but there is a big difference between your lifestyle (which is similar to mine) and Mitt Romney's. he is paying 13% on his passive income while we will be asked to pay 39% on the income that we earn by going to work every day. I actually have no problem with the coming tax hike on my considerable income, but I am miffed that actual rich people (who live a very different lifestyle from me and you) are not expected to carry the same weight.

I agree with everything you've said here.

[Anonymous]

Me too OP. Single mom of two making it on less than you. I'm doing fine, saving for college, putting money into 401k, paying mortgage. I don't get the whiners either.

[Anonymous]

HHI 100K, house next to good public school, walkable to everything we like to do. Happy in our day-to-day life and retirement prospects.

One detail: I would like more money and time to travel to gorgeous places like the Galapagos islands with the children, or Machu Picchu, or St Petersburg.
But our travel potential is wholly taken up by boring cities like Paris or Tokyo to visit family (we're happy to see them, of course).

[Anonymous]

I think the point a lot of people are trying to make is, sure $250K a year is a lot of money. But $250K earned by going to work every day is very different from $40 million received from investments or whatever.

[Anonymous]

What is your monthly take home income? I am in the same boat as you except I have 2 kids that go to a school for kids with learning difficulties and we have therapy that costs us about $1000/month.

Don't feel poor but don't feel rich either. Just comfortable.

I'd like to replace my 17yo carpet but I would rather my kids learn how to read. It's all about choices.

Anonymous wrote:But we also live in Silver Spring, send our kids to public, chose daycare over a nanny. We also only buy used (nice) cars. I guess by some standards I would be considered cheap;
I only need 4 pairs of jeans, I refuse to pay more than $60 for each pair
I would never spend $500 on a purse
We have a cleaning lady once a week and a landscaper
We go skiing and sometimes go to Europe and the Carribean (only every few years, our yearly trip is just md beaches)
We buy organic food
Our kids go to camps in the summer (through the county) and we are members of the local pool
We fund our 401k's and our kids 529's
I'm not really sure how much more we would need.
Obviously people make different choices, but it seems to me that once you start making better $ you start thinking you deserve a certain level of things "I work very hard therefore I deserve this $800 Banana Republic jacket" etc, I have done this myself.
It just seems like if you are having trouble living on this amount of $ then maybe you need to reassess your priorities
Wants vs needs

[Anonymous]

more than comfortable...is that the same thing as rich?

I make less than you do, and consider myself very very comfortable financially, but I'm not sure I consider myself rich.

[Anonymous]

Well OP I like to buy nice things with the money I work hard for. Same goes for DH.

I prefer $150 jeans. So what, its my money.

We all make choices and just because I choose to enjoy my money and spend it on things that we can afford but are expensive, does not meanI should be taxed the hell out my earnings.

We are right under $250k and sure we are comfortable but not rich.