Anyone Under 100k???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why does it turn your stomach? just because you do not agree?

To me it indicates a real lack of awareness of how most people live, and a startling lack of perspective. The fact is that if your household makes $250,000, whether you feel rich or not, you are within the top 1-2% of household incomes in the country. The top 1-2% should acknowledge that is wealth, regardless of how stretched they may feel. Yes, I am fully aware that you could easily feel stretched thin on such an income in a place like D.C. or San Francisco or New York even if you don't feel you are a lavish spender, but that shouldn't matter. One should still be able to recognize that it's still wealthy. Maybe it's not wealthy enough for you, and maybe you still can't afford all the things you'd like, but it's wealth nonetheless.

Yes, compared top the rest of the world, compared to most of the rest of this country, living on $250,000/year is rich. It is a lot of money if you look at it from that perspective. I dont agree however that saying it is NOT rich by Washington, DC, standards indicates a lack of awareness about the rest of the world. This thread is specifically addressing people who live in Washington DC. and visit DCUM.

$250,000 is a lot of money. Don't fool yourself.

The median household income in Montgomery County is $106,000.
The median household income in DC is $54,000.
The median household income in Fairfax County is $105,000.

I completely agree with this. I do realize that our incomes don't stretch as far here as they do elsewhere - it made me ill to visit my in-laws and see 5 BR brand new houses for the same price we paid for a dinky 2 BR 20 year old townhouse in the boonies here. BUT, a quarter million a year should afford you a comfortable lifestyle anywhere.

I sometimes think people in the upper brackets are just as victim to the Keeping Up with the Joneses mess as the rest of us. They HAVE to have the biggest house their income will afford them, they HAVE to have the nanny and the house keeper, they HAVE to send their children to THE best preschool/prep school/etc that money can buy.

I probably shouldn't talk - we're looking into a cleaning service right now and we make just over 6 figures combined. That is a luxury we finally feel we can afford (and may just save our marriage, but that is another discussion...) But we are staying in our tiny TH with a reasonable mortgage payment for a while, we buy our furniture at IKEA, I clip coupons - we try to live within our means.

As for the tax discussion, the IRS is already not getting their jobs done (apparently audits are NOT happening where they need to) - can you IMAGINE the bureacratic nightmare of adjusting for cost of living on every single return? There HAS to be a cutoff for "wealthy", and it has to be a countrywide standard.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP,

I make 106,000 / year. My husband plans to stay home, right now his business is struggling and so it makes more sense for us to have him stay home than to have him work just to pay for daycare. While we are far from rich, we are in a position right not to determine how we are going to live our lives, moving forward. With our investment income (money I tucked away, not related to my 401K while I was living a single life), we qualify for a mortgage up to 700K. If we were to take on that kind of debt, however, we would be extremely poor. So while I can't really say that I sympathize with those making 250K and above who want to play "I'm just as poor as anyone else," I do understand that sometimes people can be trapped not just by the lifestyle they want, but choices they have already made.

For us, though, finding a home in a safe neighborhood that is in bounds for a solid public school in this city for less than 600K has been very, very difficult. Thus, so far we have chosen to rent, while continuing to squirrel away as much money as we can to help us achieve our long-term goals. My husband will not stay home forever -- we will be a dual income family again within a year of our expected baby's birth, one way or another, even if he needs to think about a new career or just a "job," for now. So while it would be tempting to plan for that moment, and maybe struggle a bit with a higher mortgage now, we're not going to do it. I'd rather have all of that extra money be padding.

That said, making 100K now is different from how I lived when I was making 60K just a few years ago (big promotion recently). It's the difference between being able to go on a modest (not lavish) European or Carribean vacation vs. a much simpler but still lovely vacation in Florida; it's being able to stay in a hotel when we go to NYC vs. crashing on friends' floors, and so on. If we chose to do so, we could afford a housekeeper (not daily by any means). We could also probably swing a nanny share or a part time nanny, as well. We could NOT afford to take those vacations, have a housekeeper, AND have a nanny. In other words, 100K in this town still means many sacrifices; some relatively small (clean your own windows, mow your own lawn!) and some significant (do I want to stuff 5 people into 2 bedrooms or do I want to give up vacationing and dining out for good in order to pay for private school and live in a larger house).

I am not envious of people who make 250K and struggle. FWIW, I am truly envious of those of you who make 50K or so and do well. I was actually telling DH about a few threads that were on here where people seemed to be making 400K and were truly, genuinely, struggling, and how surprising and (frankly) refreshing it was to have people like Zumbamamma come on and explain how they make do with much less than that. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all make the solid choices of the latter and have the income of the former? As for us, we seem to split the difference in both categories.

Good luck to all!

You are the ones who should be telling us your secrets...

In other words, these are niceties, and far from necessities in life.

[Anonymous]

oops! Those last two fragments, while nice thoughts, were bits I thought I had deleted. Sorry if they didn't make sense!

[Anonymous]

It is interesting to read the different perspectives. We make $130,000 a year gross salary and I feel like we are doing very well. I feel so lucky that we have so much - though I grew up in a house that had a lot more $$$.

We live in a nice 3 bedroom home in a great neighborhood with a big back yard, we have really flexible jobs that don't require long hours, we have decent health insurance, are putting $ in 401k though probably could be putting more in, have a great childcare situation, and some modest savings.

We do have one car, and we don't go out very often. We clean our own house, and I try to pack lunch 3 of the 4 days I work. I'm not a shopper and was just commenting to my mom that I wore a sweater to work that I remember buying sophomore year in college - 13 years ago! And I don't find great joy in buying shoes, handbags, etc. so I rarely do.

But I feel lucky to belong to a gym, be able to spend on some luxuries like a treadmill, don't feel guilty buying Starbucks, etc.

Now that we have started a family I am way more careful about $$$, but I still feel so lucky to have what we have! I can't imagine feeling that $250,000 isn't much in this area. If we are doing well with $130, I can't imagine how we would live with $250! I'd feel like a queen.

[Anonymous]

THIS is the key to feeling wealthy or not on a higher salary.

We purchased our house when we made a combined income of just around 100K. We also had a car payment, though small. It was tight, buy doable.

Fast forward 5 years and now we are making a combined income of 170K, with an extra 45K bonus potential. However, we live in the same modest home and still drive that now paid off car from years back. We have not taken on any additional obligations. So, that extra 70K plus bonus is just cream on top. We feel very well off. However, if we had rushed out and bought a larger house and took more mortgage then we would feel like we are "struggling" even with nice salaries. On the outside we look soildly middle class and modest, but from a personal finance perspective we are in a great cash flow situation.

Your salaries WILL go up. The key is, will your tastes go up too? It is very hard to keep your lifestyle at a 100K income, when bringing in 200K, but if you manage to do this, the feelings of freedom are so rewarding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You CAN live in NW DC and make under 100K, you just can't live in the three or four west of the park neighborhoods that everyone assumes is all that makes up NW DC.

DH makes $70K and I was a SAHM for a while but just went back to work making $60K (gov atty) and we live west of the park in Georgetown.

We chose not to stretch ourselves too thin and spend $600K+ to buy a place and instead got a great deal renting a 2-br apt. We have a nanny share and a bi-weekly cleaning lady (cheaper than divorce). We have 1 decent, non-fancy car that we bought with cash. We rarely go out to eat for anything more than a decent burger place and I rarely buy new clothes, never any that arent from Old Navy, Target or something less than $20-30.

I pack our lunches, clip coupons, and save money whenever possible. I definitely think we are doing well, but I worry about money all the time (grew up in a family that had little money and a constant worrying mom). I appreciate that we could go out and buy a car when we needed one, when my parents struggled with 10 yr old cars for years.

We have many friends who are lawyers and make $160K+ and all of them live fairly frugally like we do.

[maynie]

Yep, my hubby and I bring in a combined 95,000. When we were living in DC we were only at about 60,000. We have one child, two cars, and no loans. We do ok.

[Anonymous]

I make almost $38K as a nanny. Planning on buying my first place (a very tiny condo) soon. I have one child and I do alright.

[Anonymous]

People who think $250,000 isn't a lot shoudl read "The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle Class Mothers and Fathers are Going Broke". $250K doesn't seem like a lot around here because there were huge bidding wars in the past for houses in so-called "good school districts". Once you are paying themortgage at one of those really expensive houses, you really don't have a lot of extra cash.

http://www.amazon.com/Two-Income-Trap-Middle-Class-Mothers/dp/0465090826

[Anonymous]

To 17:24 and other comparable posters who make 6 figures from one income while the other parent stays home: you have an enviable position since you don't have to pay childcare costs. Imagine making just over $100k and then having to pay anywhere from $800-$1500 a month for child care -- would you still feel like you had enough money to maintain your current lifestyle? Probably not. Many of us can't afford to stay home and it takes 2 salaries to clear the $100k mark -- and montly child care costs are a big financial burden. In defense of those making $250: pretend it's a young married couple with huge student loan debt and zero help from their parents (ie: no nest egg to put 20% or more down for a home) so they will likely have a pretty sizeable mortgage even if they buy a modest home. Add a baby or two to the mix plus the requisite childcare costs and the money can go pretty quickly. I'm not in the $250 bracket -- DH and I make under $150 combined -- and while we're doing okay, I can still see how some other 2 income folks with more money and less help (no financial gifts from parents at any time; no help with child care from relatives) may be struggling. Being able to have one parent at home while the other can bring in $100k is a luxury -- consider yourselves fortunate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I make almost $38K as a nanny. Planning on buying my first place (a very tiny condo) soon. I have one child and I do alright.

Congratulations! That's great!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who think $250,000 isn't a lot shoudl read "The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle Class Mothers and Fathers are Going Broke". $250K doesn't seem like a lot around here because there were huge bidding wars in the past for houses in so-called "good school districts". Once you are paying themortgage at one of those really expensive houses, you really don't have a lot of extra cash.

http://www.amazon.com/Two-Income-Trap-Middle-Class-Mothers/dp/0465090826

This is the fault of the consumer. I'm not at 250K, but close enough, just breaking the 200K mark on a good year and a PP. I simply bought a small SFH house farther out in the burbs. We have a 2,200/mo mortgage and no other debt, not even a car payment. We did not fall into a trap, because we can preform simple mathmatical calculations and understand that a low mortgage and older cars=financial freedom and very little stress. It is much easier to cope with working and finances when you know you don't actually need the job. With us we can literally save thousands a month. I can't sympathize with people in my tax bracket who complain, but then choose to live in an area where private schools are a must and the average cost of a home is 600K+. Cry me a river.