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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no way to live have a solid lifestyle in NW DC with 2 kids, eg, privates, nannies, 2d home, 3d home, 2 cars over $125k each, on less than $1.5 million HHI. Once you exceed $1.5 million HHI, you can really start to live large.

LOL....funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you bought your house before 2003 or went to college before 2000 shut the fuck up. Costs have gone up exponentially and you can't live the middle class lifestyle on less than 250k.

You are so wrong.

+ 1 The first PP sounds like a spoiled, entitled millennial, with crass manners to boot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you bought your house before 2003 or went to college before 2000 shut the fuck up. Costs have gone up exponentially and you can't live the middle class lifestyle on less than 250k.

Funny. We're able to live quite nicely on 100k.

[Anonymous]

It. Is. Rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this what you are saying?

Below $50k= Poor

Between $50 and $100k = Middle class

Above $100k = rich

Middle class is roughly the 25th to 75th percentile. You know, the middle 50% of the earning curve. Nationwide the average HHI is around $60K, but in the DC metro region, it is closer to $90K. The 25th to 75th percentiles for this area are around $60-150K so that is essentially middle class. Over $150K you pass out of middle class and are affluent/upper class, but not rich/whatever you want to call it.

So over $150k is rich? Wow, I wish I could feel this way too. Unfortunately I've had glimpses behind the curtain and have seen of real wealth. It ruins you once you see it. Hedge fund wealth, executive wealth, small business owner wealth, etc. But keep telling yourself that $300k a year is rich. It makes getting through the day a lot easier not knowing the truth.

The fact that there are people out there who make a lot more money than $300,000 doesn't mean the $300,000 isn't rich. There are far more people who make less than there are who make more, even if the ones who make more make A LOT more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you bought your house before 2003 or went to college before 2000 shut the fuck up. Costs have gone up exponentially and you can't live the middle class lifestyle on less than 250k.

Funny. We're able to live quite nicely on 100k.

Maybe some of us just have higher standards.

And that is your biggest problem and will be your downfall

You sound unhinged. The fact that you make unfounded assumptions about a complete stranger shows that you might have bigger problems than PP. Come to think of it, I wonder if you are that crazy, old single lady who makes 100k and started a thread a while ago desperately trying to get other people to say she is rich.

You mean that woman in her 50s? She wasn't trying to get people to say that $100k is rich. As I recall, she was objecting that people - like you, I assume - kept saying that $100k was poor. Big difference.

That's the same thing, stated another way, in this thread. The only way people convince themselves that $300k is middle class is to insist someone earning $100k is poor. If they acknowledged that someone earning $100k (we are talking singe income, not a couple) is upper middle class, rather than struggling, they'd have to face the fact that they themselves are extremely affluent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you bought your house before 2003 or went to college before 2000 shut the fuck up. Costs have gone up exponentially and you can't live the middle class lifestyle on less than 250k.

Funny. We're able to live quite nicely on 100k.

Maybe some of us just have higher standards.

And that is your biggest problem and will be your downfall

You sound unhinged. The fact that you make unfounded assumptions about a complete stranger shows that you might have bigger problems than PP. Come to think of it, I wonder if you are that crazy, old single lady who makes 100k and started a thread a while ago desperately trying to get other people to say she is rich.

You mean that woman in her 50s? She wasn't trying to get people to say that $100k is rich. As I recall, she was objecting that people - like you, I assume - kept saying that $100k was poor. Big difference.

That's the same thing, stated another way, in this thread. The only way people convince themselves that $300k is middle class is to insist someone earning $100k is poor. If they acknowledged that someone earning $100k (we are talking singe income, not a couple) is upper middle class, rather than struggling, they'd have to face the fact that they themselves are extremely affluent.

Family of 4 making $88K in Arlington qualifies for subsidized benefits, which means they are a lot closer to "poor" than to "upper middle class".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you bought your house before 2003 or went to college before 2000 shut the fuck up. Costs have gone up exponentially and you can't live the middle class lifestyle on less than 250k.

Funny. We're able to live quite nicely on 100k.

Maybe some of us just have higher standards.

And that is your biggest problem and will be your downfall

You sound unhinged. The fact that you make unfounded assumptions about a complete stranger shows that you might have bigger problems than PP. Come to think of it, I wonder if you are that crazy, old single lady who makes 100k and started a thread a while ago desperately trying to get other people to say she is rich.

You mean that woman in her 50s? She wasn't trying to get people to say that $100k is rich. As I recall, she was objecting that people - like you, I assume - kept saying that $100k was poor. Big difference.

That's the same thing, stated another way, in this thread. The only way people convince themselves that $300k is middle class is to insist someone earning $100k is poor. If they acknowledged that someone earning $100k (we are talking singe income, not a couple) is upper middle class, rather than struggling, they'd have to face the fact that they themselves are extremely affluent.

Family of 4 making $88K in Arlington qualifies for subsidized benefits, which means they are a lot closer to "poor" than to "upper middle class".

..... FAMILY OF FOUR is the magical word here. Not Dinks, not one kid, not single. Four kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you bought your house before 2003 or went to college before 2000 shut the fuck up. Costs have gone up exponentially and you can't live the middle class lifestyle on less than 250k.

Funny. We're able to live quite nicely on 100k.

Maybe some of us just have higher standards.

And that is your biggest problem and will be your downfall

You sound unhinged. The fact that you make unfounded assumptions about a complete stranger shows that you might have bigger problems than PP. Come to think of it, I wonder if you are that crazy, old single lady who makes 100k and started a thread a while ago desperately trying to get other people to say she is rich.

You mean that woman in her 50s? She wasn't trying to get people to say that $100k is rich. As I recall, she was objecting that people - like you, I assume - kept saying that $100k was poor. Big difference.

That's the same thing, stated another way, in this thread. The only way people convince themselves that $300k is middle class is to insist someone earning $100k is poor. If they acknowledged that someone earning $100k (we are talking singe income, not a couple) is upper middle class, rather than struggling, they'd have to face the fact that they themselves are extremely affluent.

Family of 4 making $88K in Arlington qualifies for subsidized benefits, which means they are a lot closer to "poor" than to "upper middle class".

..... FAMILY OF FOUR is the magical word here. Not Dinks, not one kid, not single. Four kids.

Ding, ding, ding! That's the breakdown here. An individual earning $100,000 is upper-middle class. A family of four is going to get subsidizes.

People are mixing up individual incomes and HHI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
..... FAMILY OF FOUR is the magical word here. Not Dinks, not one kid, not single. Four kids.

Self-correction: I guess the family of four includes the parents. So, two or three kids. Point is: one working person with 3 dependent persons, or 2 working people with two dependent persons, and $88k or less between them all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you bought your house before 2003 or went to college before 2000 shut the fuck up. Costs have gone up exponentially and you can't live the middle class lifestyle on less than 250k.

Funny. We're able to live quite nicely on 100k.

Quite nicely? You can't max out on retirement on that, nor can you save for college. Do you mean you have money left over at the end of the month? To me, living "quite nicely" is maxing out two 401(k) plans annually and saving enough to fund four years of state college education for each of my children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rich is having enough food to eat, clothes to wear, a safe place to sleep , decent medical care, being able send your children (especially female children) to school AND having enough leftover to save for tomorrow, go on an occasional vacation to visit family, eat at a restaurant once in a while or buying anything on a whim.

That's the minimum standard for lower middle class

You are so privileged, you don't even know you're privileged.

You probably believe the notion that everyone in America always has enough to eat, and there is no real poverty in America.

A very typical American family has a HHI income in the $50s and rents a two-bedroom apartment - with their young children sharing the second bedroom - in a so-so area (not crime-ridden, but not among educated professionals), visits Grandma for vacation, and eats out once a week at IHOP or Red Lobster, and drive a 10-year-old car they bought used.

But DC has the highest number of advanced degrees of any metropolitan area. The average American family probably has zero or one college degrees among the adults who are in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would define "rich" more as an attitude. I know people who have over $5M in wealth who do not consider themselves rich. I know people who make under $100k who are rich.

Rich means you do not have to worry about money. You have complete confidence in financial security. You can afford and do the things you want to do without financial limitations.

We have $4.8 million in net worth, but we are old (in our mid 50s) and both still work full time. No debt, two college educations yet to pay for. Are we rich? Yes, of course. Do I worry about money? Not in the day to day sense, but I do not have "complete confidence in financial security," and we certainly do have financial limitations. Not many, but the limits are there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you bought your house before 2003 or went to college before 2000 shut the fuck up. Costs have gone up exponentially and you can't live the middle class lifestyle on less than 250k.

Funny. We're able to live quite nicely on 100k.

Quite nicely? You can't max out on retirement on that, nor can you save for college. Do you mean you have money left over at the end of the month? To me, living "quite nicely" is maxing out two 401(k) plans annually and saving enough to fund four years of state college education for each of my children.

Maybe we can't do all that --- but my point was that you CAN live the middle class lifestyle on 250 (per the PP) -- because we do it on less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you bought your house before 2003 or went to college before 2000 shut the fuck up. Costs have gone up exponentially and you can't live the middle class lifestyle on less than 250k.

Funny. We're able to live quite nicely on 100k.

Maybe some of us just have higher standards.

And that is your biggest problem and will be your downfall

You sound unhinged. The fact that you make unfounded assumptions about a complete stranger shows that you might have bigger problems than PP. Come to think of it, I wonder if you are that crazy, old single lady who makes 100k and started a thread a while ago desperately trying to get other people to say she is rich.

You mean like assuming you have "higher standards" than me??