Over half of Millennials earning 250K or more a year lives paycheck to paycheck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not the same as lower-income people living paycheck to paycheck. These people are reporting having no money left at the end of the pay period after paying mortgages, paying their CC bill in full, and saving for retirement.

"Living paycheck-to-paycheck doesn’t necessarily mean hardship, and LendingClub makes the distinction between those can pay their bills easily and those who can’t. Only a fraction of high earners -- roughly one in ten -- reported issues covering all their household expenses in April, according to the survey."

You are correct that it dovetails neatly with the DCUM "I feel so poor after I purposely spend all my money on expensive bills I chose to take on and also save more than most people make in a year" posts.

The thing is if they lose their job they’re in a really bad situation.

Don’t see it much different than lower income people living paycheck to paycheck.

Your first comment really reflects the behavior so many umc people have. Umc people are closer to low income people than the wealthy and affluent.

Then you are an . . . well, never mind. I'm trying to be kinder on DCUM.

There plenty of people who make 250k and have no savings!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not the same as lower-income people living paycheck to paycheck. These people are reporting having no money left at the end of the pay period after paying mortgages, paying their CC bill in full, and saving for retirement.

"Living paycheck-to-paycheck doesn’t necessarily mean hardship, and LendingClub makes the distinction between those can pay their bills easily and those who can’t. Only a fraction of high earners -- roughly one in ten -- reported issues covering all their household expenses in April, according to the survey."

You are correct that it dovetails neatly with the DCUM "I feel so poor after I purposely spend all my money on expensive bills I chose to take on and also save more than most people make in a year" posts.

The thing is if they lose their job they’re in a really bad situation.

Don’t see it much different than lower income people living paycheck to paycheck.

Your first comment really reflects the behavior so many umc people have. Umc people are closer to low income people than the wealthy and affluent.

If they are saving, they have a cushion if they lose there job. That is very, very different from those who truly live paycheck to paycheck. I agree that UMC have more in common with lower income people than wealthy people, but its disingenuous to compare the "living paycheck to paycheck" between the 2.

Exactly! If you are making 250K, even in a VHCOL, you can definately make choices to live on a bit less. And you should be able to save some $$ and build a 3-6 month emergency fund. It's about choices---Save and build an emergency fund or take vacations/eat out/grab Starbucks daily/buy a new car/etc. Taking your lunch to work and own coffee can save an individual $100/week easily; $200/week for a couple. Lower income people are often truly living paycheck to paycheck and simply don't have the ability to save as they are not spending on "non-essentials" that can be cut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We keep upping our retirement contributions so we have nothing left at the end of the month. On top of 401ks we contribute to backdoor Roth IRAs. It's a good tax strategy. How was the question worded?

Hopefully you have a 3-6 month emergency fund, as 401ks or Roth's are not easily accessible should you need $. However, once you have an EF, retirement is the best thing to fund, IMO

[Anonymous]

I live “paycheck to paycheck” because all my money is accounted for. I don’t have extra money sitting at the end of the month - savings and investments are as much a part of the budget as food and mortgage.

[Anonymous]

Damn, from that article/chart, once again Gen X doesn’t even exist.

Whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not surprising with millennials need to constantly keep up with the Jones’s. That’s why a high income means nothing if you can’t even balance a checkbook.

What a joke. I am 37. My parents live in a 55+ community. The level of "keep up with the Joneses is way higher among that set. The term originated in the early 1900s. This is not a Millennial-specific issue.

It’s not a joke. I’m 35. I have so many friends my age who buy the latest Audi or Tesla or Rolex and wonder why they have no savings and expect Biden to pay back their student loans. People just don’t know how to budget at all. I see it all the time


This^^^^ You took the student loans, you need to budget to pay them off. And if you took 100K worth of loans, you need to plan for that and live accordingly. Drive a beater car for 15 years, live in a cheaper apartment, don't take fancy vacations, etc.

We had over $60K in student loans when we got married (25+ years ago). We used one salary over 1.5 years to pay off ALL of the loans. We didn't take fancy vacations (drove somewhere and stayed for $100/night for 3-4 days type of vacations), we lived simply in a 1 bedroom apartment, with the furniture we had from grad school (not nice, but it worked). Drove basic cars, not fancy/luxury. Had a budget for eating out and kept to it. packed our lunches and took them almost daily to work, etc. Simply put, we made it a priority to pay off the student loans before we stopped living like miserly grad students. Would have done it for 3-4 years if that's what it took (but we were able to do it in 1.5 years). Then we could move on to live like normal adults and save for first home, and purchase one we could qualify for with only 1 income (in case we wanted to stay home with the future kids). And continued to save save save rather than spend spend spend. But that meant at age 30 we could purchase a luxury car with cash, as we had driven a car for 12 years and put the car payment into savings once it was paid off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not the same as lower-income people living paycheck to paycheck. These people are reporting having no money left at the end of the pay period after paying mortgages, paying their CC bill in full, and saving for retirement.

"Living paycheck-to-paycheck doesn’t necessarily mean hardship, and LendingClub makes the distinction between those can pay their bills easily and those who can’t. Only a fraction of high earners -- roughly one in ten -- reported issues covering all their household expenses in April, according to the survey."

You are correct that it dovetails neatly with the DCUM "I feel so poor after I purposely spend all my money on expensive bills I chose to take on and also save more than most people make in a year" posts.

The thing is if they lose their job they’re in a really bad situation.

Don’t see it much different than lower income people living paycheck to paycheck.

Your first comment really reflects the behavior so many umc people have. Umc people are closer to low income people than the wealthy and affluent.

Then you are an . . . well, never mind. I'm trying to be kinder on DCUM.

There plenty of people who make 250k and have no savings!

OK? Setting aside how dumb *that* is, it's still not the same as a low income person living paycheck to paycheck. If you can't appreciate the difference, I don't know what to tell you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not the same as lower-income people living paycheck to paycheck. These people are reporting having no money left at the end of the pay period after paying mortgages, paying their CC bill in full, and saving for retirement.

"Living paycheck-to-paycheck doesn’t necessarily mean hardship, and LendingClub makes the distinction between those can pay their bills easily and those who can’t. Only a fraction of high earners -- roughly one in ten -- reported issues covering all their household expenses in April, according to the survey."

You are correct that it dovetails neatly with the DCUM "I feel so poor after I purposely spend all my money on expensive bills I chose to take on and also save more than most people make in a year" posts.

The thing is if they lose their job they’re in a really bad situation.

Don’t see it much different than lower income people living paycheck to paycheck.

Your first comment really reflects the behavior so many umc people have. Umc people are closer to low income people than the wealthy and affluent.

Then you are an . . . well, never mind. I'm trying to be kinder on DCUM.

There plenty of people who make 250k and have no savings!

OK? Setting aside how dumb *that* is, it's still not the same as a low income person living paycheck to paycheck. If you can't appreciate the difference, I don't know what to tell you.

Why does everything have to turn into a whose poorer contest. American poors are rich compared to the world poors, so what. It doesn’t make their experience of living paycheck to paycheck less real for them.

[Anonymous]

My H is on track to make about $380k this year and we live paycheck to paycheck with no EF, embarrassingly low retirement and no 529s for our three kids. My H has an executive role in his area of study where he double-majored in... finance and accounting.

FML

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My H is on track to make about $380k this year and we live paycheck to paycheck with no EF, embarrassingly low retirement and no 529s for our three kids. My H has an executive role in his area of study where he double-majored in... finance and accounting.

FML

Does he have a gambling problem? Another family? Serious questions. We have an HHI of 130k, contribute to retirement and college savings monthly, and a 60k in cash reserves. If we were making 380k we’d be aiming to fully find 529s then planning for early retirement with some kind of relatable passive income sources. Your DH sounds like an idiot or a conman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not the same as lower-income people living paycheck to paycheck. These people are reporting having no money left at the end of the pay period after paying mortgages, paying their CC bill in full, and saving for retirement.

"Living paycheck-to-paycheck doesn’t necessarily mean hardship, and LendingClub makes the distinction between those can pay their bills easily and those who can’t. Only a fraction of high earners -- roughly one in ten -- reported issues covering all their household expenses in April, according to the survey."

You are correct that it dovetails neatly with the DCUM "I feel so poor after I purposely spend all my money on expensive bills I chose to take on and also save more than most people make in a year" posts.

The thing is if they lose their job they’re in a really bad situation.

Don’t see it much different than lower income people living paycheck to paycheck.

Your first comment really reflects the behavior so many umc people have. Umc people are closer to low income people than the wealthy and affluent.

Then you are an . . . well, never mind. I'm trying to be kinder on DCUM.

There plenty of people who make 250k and have no savings!

OK? Setting aside how dumb *that* is, it's still not the same as a low income person living paycheck to paycheck. If you can't appreciate the difference, I don't know what to tell you.

Why does everything have to turn into a whose poorer contest. American poors are rich compared to the world poors, so what. It doesn’t make their experience of living paycheck to paycheck less real for them.

No one making 250k is poor. I don’t care if you have 100k in loans, live in Manhattan, and have to pay child support. Not poor.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, but are they broke? No. When I hear paycheck-to-paycheck, I assume broke.

I married into money and one of the most surprising things I learned is that the wealthy have very little money in their bank accounts. Their money is all tied up and working to make them more money.

Me? I was chugging along, watching my bank account rise each month, totally pleased with myself. I had no idea I was being so ignorant with my money.

I grew up with actual paycheck-to-paycheck parents where sometimes a paycheck for that month was shorter, so you didn't have power or water for a few days. Or one parent getting laid off in a bad economy meant that you got evicted to live in your car for a few weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Damn, from that article/chart, once again Gen X doesn’t even exist.

Whatever.

<slow clap>

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Damn, from that article/chart, once again Gen X doesn’t even exist.

Whatever.

So long, and thanks for all the music!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My H is on track to make about $380k this year and we live paycheck to paycheck with no EF, embarrassingly low retirement and no 529s for our three kids. My H has an executive role in his area of study where he double-majored in... finance and accounting.

FML

WTH are you doing with that $380K?!?!?! Even in a VHCOL, you should be able to save for retirement and 529s and a 3-6 month Emergency fund with that income. Even more astounding is that you are living like this with one of you being a finance/accounting person.