Why is $275k hhi now so poor?

[Anonymous]

If you feel poor on $275k, you're just clueless on how to budget.

[Anonymous]

Thank Biden. Inflation is out of control due to his social and economic policies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, show us your expenses and we’ll tell you how to live like a king. Clean your own house, cut your own lawn, stop streaming multiple services, stop it with the daily Starbucks. Bring your lunch.

What kind of car do you drive? Do you vape? Are you getting a new phone every year?

Stop keeping up with the Jones’s.

Do you believe that having a cleaning lady, lawn service, streaming and ability to spend $20 bucks daily on lunch/coffee signifies luxury extravagant lifestyle if one works full time in a professional job? It's funny you think this is extravagant and get mad at DINKs in professional jobs (IMO they should be easily able to afford these things) but there is no questioning of the sky-is-the-limit accumulation of wealth by the 0.1% who cannot even invent ways to spend their vast fortunes and buy enough luxuries you cannot even fathom. The trickle down from the uber rich class is only in form of charity and based on their personal values and opinions.

Good peasant, be happy things we used to take for granted in middle class upper layers are going extinct and we will be sifted into rich and poor happy to work most of their time and take on education debt just to pay for basic life not being able to afford a cup of coffee, happy hour drinks or a movie ticket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, show us your expenses and we’ll tell you how to live like a king. Clean your own house, cut your own lawn, stop streaming multiple services, stop it with the daily Starbucks. Bring your lunch.

What kind of car do you drive? Do you vape? Are you getting a new phone every year?

Stop keeping up with the Jones’s.

Do you believe that having a cleaning lady, lawn service, streaming and ability to spend $20 bucks daily on lunch/coffee signifies luxury extravagant lifestyle if one works full time in a professional job? It's funny you think this is extravagant and get mad at DINKs in professional jobs (IMO they should be easily able to afford these things) but there is no questioning of the sky-is-the-limit accumulation of wealth by the 0.1% who cannot even invent ways to spend their vast fortunes and buy enough luxuries you cannot even fathom. The trickle down from the uber rich class is only in form of charity and based on their personal values and opinions.

Good peasant, be happy things we used to take for granted in middle class upper layers are going extinct and we will be sifted into rich and poor happy to work most of their time and take on education debt just to pay for basic life not being able to afford a cup of coffee, happy hour drinks or a movie ticket.

How many middle class families had cleaning ladies when you were growing up?

[Anonymous]

Is $275K less money than it used to be? Yes. Fairly recently? Yes.

But referring to it as 'so poor' is just stupid and offensive. Do better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, show us your expenses and we’ll tell you how to live like a king. Clean your own house, cut your own lawn, stop streaming multiple services, stop it with the daily Starbucks. Bring your lunch.

What kind of car do you drive? Do you vape? Are you getting a new phone every year?

Stop keeping up with the Jones’s.

Do you believe that having a cleaning lady, lawn service, streaming and ability to spend $20 bucks daily on lunch/coffee signifies luxury extravagant lifestyle if one works full time in a professional job? It's funny you think this is extravagant and get mad at DINKs in professional jobs (IMO they should be easily able to afford these things) but there is no questioning of the sky-is-the-limit accumulation of wealth by the 0.1% who cannot even invent ways to spend their vast fortunes and buy enough luxuries you cannot even fathom. The trickle down from the uber rich class is only in form of charity and based on their personal values and opinions.

Good peasant, be happy things we used to take for granted in middle class upper layers are going extinct and we will be sifted into rich and poor happy to work most of their time and take on education debt just to pay for basic life not being able to afford a cup of coffee, happy hour drinks or a movie ticket.

We were higher earning DINKS in professional jobs in our 20s and early 30s. Never hired a lawn service or cleaning service until we had kids. Really didn't like wasting $$$ on Starbucks and lunches out. Took our lunches 3-4 out of 5 days.

Now we are rich. And part of the way we got there was by budgeting and not wasting on extraneous items. That extra $1-2K/month went into our retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, show us your expenses and we’ll tell you how to live like a king. Clean your own house, cut your own lawn, stop streaming multiple services, stop it with the daily Starbucks. Bring your lunch.

What kind of car do you drive? Do you vape? Are you getting a new phone every year?

Stop keeping up with the Jones’s.

Do you believe that having a cleaning lady, lawn service, streaming and ability to spend $20 bucks daily on lunch/coffee signifies luxury extravagant lifestyle if one works full time in a professional job? It's funny you think this is extravagant and get mad at DINKs in professional jobs (IMO they should be easily able to afford these things) but there is no questioning of the sky-is-the-limit accumulation of wealth by the 0.1% who cannot even invent ways to spend their vast fortunes and buy enough luxuries you cannot even fathom. The trickle down from the uber rich class is only in form of charity and based on their personal values and opinions.

Good peasant, be happy things we used to take for granted in middle class upper layers are going extinct and we will be sifted into rich and poor happy to work most of their time and take on education debt just to pay for basic life not being able to afford a cup of coffee, happy hour drinks or a movie ticket.

How many middle class families had cleaning ladies when you were growing up?

Didn't know any. That's the thing. What most of us grew up with as MC did not involve McMansions, cleaning ladies, lawn service, etc. We were our parents cleaning service and lawn service on Saturdays. We lived in a 3 bed 1.5 if lucky 2.5 bath home. And we ate out once every 2 weeks at a "cheap" place.

We didn't uber eats, dine out 3-4 nights per week, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you feel poor on $275k, you're just clueless on how to budget.

They feel poor because there is no adequate disposable income. And probably because they are in the area where there is a lot of excess wealth or around people who earn a lot more or just have more. Not having any spending money makes many people feel poor even if they realize that they are funding their retirement, have emergency money and even own their home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, show us your expenses and we’ll tell you how to live like a king. Clean your own house, cut your own lawn, stop streaming multiple services, stop it with the daily Starbucks. Bring your lunch.

What kind of car do you drive? Do you vape? Are you getting a new phone every year?

Stop keeping up with the Jones’s.

Do you believe that having a cleaning lady, lawn service, streaming and ability to spend $20 bucks daily on lunch/coffee signifies luxury extravagant lifestyle if one works full time in a professional job? It's funny you think this is extravagant and get mad at DINKs in professional jobs (IMO they should be easily able to afford these things) but there is no questioning of the sky-is-the-limit accumulation of wealth by the 0.1% who cannot even invent ways to spend their vast fortunes and buy enough luxuries you cannot even fathom. The trickle down from the uber rich class is only in form of charity and based on their personal values and opinions.

Good peasant, be happy things we used to take for granted in middle class upper layers are going extinct and we will be sifted into rich and poor happy to work most of their time and take on education debt just to pay for basic life not being able to afford a cup of coffee, happy hour drinks or a movie ticket.

We were higher earning DINKS in professional jobs in our 20s and early 30s. Never hired a lawn service or cleaning service until we had kids. Really didn't like wasting $$$ on Starbucks and lunches out. Took our lunches 3-4 out of 5 days.

Now we are rich. And part of the way we got there was by budgeting and not wasting on extraneous items. That extra $1-2K/month went into our retirement.

How rich?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, show us your expenses and we’ll tell you how to live like a king. Clean your own house, cut your own lawn, stop streaming multiple services, stop it with the daily Starbucks. Bring your lunch.

What kind of car do you drive? Do you vape? Are you getting a new phone every year?

Stop keeping up with the Jones’s.

Do you believe that having a cleaning lady, lawn service, streaming and ability to spend $20 bucks daily on lunch/coffee signifies luxury extravagant lifestyle if one works full time in a professional job? It's funny you think this is extravagant and get mad at DINKs in professional jobs (IMO they should be easily able to afford these things) but there is no questioning of the sky-is-the-limit accumulation of wealth by the 0.1% who cannot even invent ways to spend their vast fortunes and buy enough luxuries you cannot even fathom. The trickle down from the uber rich class is only in form of charity and based on their personal values and opinions.

Good peasant, be happy things we used to take for granted in middle class upper layers are going extinct and we will be sifted into rich and poor happy to work most of their time and take on education debt just to pay for basic life not being able to afford a cup of coffee, happy hour drinks or a movie ticket.

How many middle class families had cleaning ladies when you were growing up?

Didn't know any. That's the thing. What most of us grew up with as MC did not involve McMansions, cleaning ladies, lawn service, etc. We were our parents cleaning service and lawn service on Saturdays. We lived in a 3 bed 1.5 if lucky 2.5 bath home. And we ate out once every 2 weeks at a "cheap" place.

We didn't uber eats, dine out 3-4 nights per week, etc.

I think the point of OPs post is that they expected to live UMC life, not MC on this money because at some point it did used to buy you UMC lifestyle. You earn professional salary and you should be able to afford to outsource a few things to get some time off on weekends away from chores to get some social time with peers at happy hour, go to a few dinners and grow connections to lead to better jobs, etc. It meant you had some disposable income (to dine a few times, to travel on the budget, to buy a few nice things like electronics, furniture and car that are not beat up, clothes that aren't all from deeply discounted or thrift stores, etc. It's not an extravagant life. But it does require something is left after you paid your bills and put your retirement portion away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, show us your expenses and we’ll tell you how to live like a king. Clean your own house, cut your own lawn, stop streaming multiple services, stop it with the daily Starbucks. Bring your lunch.

What kind of car do you drive? Do you vape? Are you getting a new phone every year?

Stop keeping up with the Jones’s.

Do you believe that having a cleaning lady, lawn service, streaming and ability to spend $20 bucks daily on lunch/coffee signifies luxury extravagant lifestyle if one works full time in a professional job? It's funny you think this is extravagant and get mad at DINKs in professional jobs (IMO they should be easily able to afford these things) but there is no questioning of the sky-is-the-limit accumulation of wealth by the 0.1% who cannot even invent ways to spend their vast fortunes and buy enough luxuries you cannot even fathom. The trickle down from the uber rich class is only in form of charity and based on their personal values and opinions.

Good peasant, be happy things we used to take for granted in middle class upper layers are going extinct and we will be sifted into rich and poor happy to work most of their time and take on education debt just to pay for basic life not being able to afford a cup of coffee, happy hour drinks or a movie ticket.

We were higher earning DINKS in professional jobs in our 20s and early 30s. Never hired a lawn service or cleaning service until we had kids. Really didn't like wasting $$$ on Starbucks and lunches out. Took our lunches 3-4 out of 5 days.

Now we are rich. And part of the way we got there was by budgeting and not wasting on extraneous items. That extra $1-2K/month went into our retirement.

Now you are also old. Enjoy trying to catch up on all the missed fun, outings with friends, travel. You will never get that time you spend cleaning your starter home and mowing its lawn back, time you *could afford* to have. You will not remember bagging these lunches on your death bed. You can bury your money with you, or give all the millions to your kids, so that they have all the things you didn't allow yourself to have without any effort whatsoever. But keep judging those kids who grew up without wealthy parents and want to enjoy some little fruit of their own labor.

DCUM at its finest. Let's glorify austerity in youth (when it concerns other kids, not your own), but we also need many millions to retire because we want to live the high life as geezers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, show us your expenses and we’ll tell you how to live like a king. Clean your own house, cut your own lawn, stop streaming multiple services, stop it with the daily Starbucks. Bring your lunch.

What kind of car do you drive? Do you vape? Are you getting a new phone every year?

Stop keeping up with the Jones’s.

Do you believe that having a cleaning lady, lawn service, streaming and ability to spend $20 bucks daily on lunch/coffee signifies luxury extravagant lifestyle if one works full time in a professional job? It's funny you think this is extravagant and get mad at DINKs in professional jobs (IMO they should be easily able to afford these things) but there is no questioning of the sky-is-the-limit accumulation of wealth by the 0.1% who cannot even invent ways to spend their vast fortunes and buy enough luxuries you cannot even fathom. The trickle down from the uber rich class is only in form of charity and based on their personal values and opinions.

Good peasant, be happy things we used to take for granted in middle class upper layers are going extinct and we will be sifted into rich and poor happy to work most of their time and take on education debt just to pay for basic life not being able to afford a cup of coffee, happy hour drinks or a movie ticket.

How many middle class families had cleaning ladies when you were growing up?

Didn't know any. That's the thing. What most of us grew up with as MC did not involve McMansions, cleaning ladies, lawn service, etc. We were our parents cleaning service and lawn service on Saturdays. We lived in a 3 bed 1.5 if lucky 2.5 bath home. And we ate out once every 2 weeks at a "cheap" place.

We didn't uber eats, dine out 3-4 nights per week, etc.

I think the point of OPs post is that they expected to live UMC life, not MC on this money because at some point it did used to buy you UMC lifestyle. You earn professional salary and you should be able to afford to outsource a few things to get some time off on weekends away from chores to get some social time with peers at happy hour, go to a few dinners and grow connections to lead to better jobs, etc. It meant you had some disposable income (to dine a few times, to travel on the budget, to buy a few nice things like electronics, furniture and car that are not beat up, clothes that aren't all from deeply discounted or thrift stores, etc. It's not an extravagant life. But it does require something is left after you paid your bills and put your retirement portion away.

OP is UMC, but lower/starting UMC. Upper class probably starts around 1M+ salary, so they're far from being able to be extravagant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, show us your expenses and we’ll tell you how to live like a king. Clean your own house, cut your own lawn, stop streaming multiple services, stop it with the daily Starbucks. Bring your lunch.

What kind of car do you drive? Do you vape? Are you getting a new phone every year?

Stop keeping up with the Jones’s.

Do you believe that having a cleaning lady, lawn service, streaming and ability to spend $20 bucks daily on lunch/coffee signifies luxury extravagant lifestyle if one works full time in a professional job? It's funny you think this is extravagant and get mad at DINKs in professional jobs (IMO they should be easily able to afford these things) but there is no questioning of the sky-is-the-limit accumulation of wealth by the 0.1% who cannot even invent ways to spend their vast fortunes and buy enough luxuries you cannot even fathom. The trickle down from the uber rich class is only in form of charity and based on their personal values and opinions.

Good peasant, be happy things we used to take for granted in middle class upper layers are going extinct and we will be sifted into rich and poor happy to work most of their time and take on education debt just to pay for basic life not being able to afford a cup of coffee, happy hour drinks or a movie ticket.

We were higher earning DINKS in professional jobs in our 20s and early 30s. Never hired a lawn service or cleaning service until we had kids. Really didn't like wasting $$$ on Starbucks and lunches out. Took our lunches 3-4 out of 5 days.

Now we are rich. And part of the way we got there was by budgeting and not wasting on extraneous items. That extra $1-2K/month went into our retirement.

How rich?

Started at 80-90K combined in 1990s. Making 300K combined by 27 (this was in 90s, so that's worth 500K+ now)

Spouse is exec, we are UHNW, and when they go to the office they take their lunch and snacks (unless they have a lunch meeting)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, show us your expenses and we’ll tell you how to live like a king. Clean your own house, cut your own lawn, stop streaming multiple services, stop it with the daily Starbucks. Bring your lunch.

What kind of car do you drive? Do you vape? Are you getting a new phone every year?

Stop keeping up with the Jones’s.

Do you believe that having a cleaning lady, lawn service, streaming and ability to spend $20 bucks daily on lunch/coffee signifies luxury extravagant lifestyle if one works full time in a professional job? It's funny you think this is extravagant and get mad at DINKs in professional jobs (IMO they should be easily able to afford these things) but there is no questioning of the sky-is-the-limit accumulation of wealth by the 0.1% who cannot even invent ways to spend their vast fortunes and buy enough luxuries you cannot even fathom. The trickle down from the uber rich class is only in form of charity and based on their personal values and opinions.

Good peasant, be happy things we used to take for granted in middle class upper layers are going extinct and we will be sifted into rich and poor happy to work most of their time and take on education debt just to pay for basic life not being able to afford a cup of coffee, happy hour drinks or a movie ticket.

How many middle class families had cleaning ladies when you were growing up?

Didn't know any. That's the thing. What most of us grew up with as MC did not involve McMansions, cleaning ladies, lawn service, etc. We were our parents cleaning service and lawn service on Saturdays. We lived in a 3 bed 1.5 if lucky 2.5 bath home. And we ate out once every 2 weeks at a "cheap" place.

We didn't uber eats, dine out 3-4 nights per week, etc.

I think the point of OPs post is that they expected to live UMC life, not MC on this money because at some point it did used to buy you UMC lifestyle. You earn professional salary and you should be able to afford to outsource a few things to get some time off on weekends away from chores to get some social time with peers at happy hour, go to a few dinners and grow connections to lead to better jobs, etc. It meant you had some disposable income (to dine a few times, to travel on the budget, to buy a few nice things like electronics, furniture and car that are not beat up, clothes that aren't all from deeply discounted or thrift stores, etc. It's not an extravagant life. But it does require something is left after you paid your bills and put your retirement portion away.

And for someone making $275K, even in DCUMland, there SHOULD be something left for use as disposable income for outsourcing. However, if you have two 900/month car payments, that is where some of your "disposable" income has gone. Choices are key because yes at 275K you are not getting "everything you want as extras" Or they have a mortgage at the upper limits for their salary. They can choose as DINKS to live in a condo or townhome, and then much of that is already "outsourced" and mortgage would be much lower. But if they "need a 3K home that is less than 5 years old" then that is also a choice for where to direct "disposable income"

[Anonymous]

If you feel poor while earning 275k because you live in a high cost of living area, you have two choices. 1) Stop smoking weed and revert to reality. 2) Move to a different area and see how people in the real world live (because DC and the area is a far cry from the real world).