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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:300k gets you a starter home and a used car. Dinners at Chain restaurants, clothes from Kolhs and occasional vacation. It is not rich at all for a family.

Then why do we have all that on 100k?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300k gets you a starter home and a used car. Dinners at Chain restaurants, clothes from Kolhs and occasional vacation. It is not rich at all for a family.

Then why do we have all that on 100k?

My guess is the starter homes are in different locations.

I will be the first to say (1) we are NOT poor or just getting by making $330K/year (we are in fact quite well off - but not wealthy in the high levels of assets sitting in investment accounts sense), and (2) we made the choice to spend a lot of money on our house so that we have short commutes and good schools and it is our salaries that allowed us that choice, (3) if we made less we would likely spend less on housing, prioritize schools, and have lousy commutes. Our house is quite nice, but that reflects improvements made after the daycare years were long over.

The second biggest drain on our resources are child activities, also a complete choice and we are thankful we have the resources to make those choices. We have paid off all student loans and our children are elementary and middle school aged so no daycare expenses (but aftercare and camp)

Also, we don't eat out a lot and when we do it is rarely a chain and I have never shopped at kohls. I am price conscious when I shop.

On the commutes front, I have been working short term at a location different than my long term norm and that is about to end. My normal commute is 30 minutes max, mostly 20. My current commute is 45 minutes. That extra time, recognizing it is not really that bad, adds noticeable stress to my daily life of juggling kids and activities and trying to have some downtime at home. We are paying for calm.

[Anonymous]

We make about $230k a year, but we bought our house in Georgetown for $200k in the 1880s, paid for our kid to go to private and then Ivy. We have over $2M in 401ks, so yes we feel rich.

[Anonymous]

Ha, meant 1990s above...feels like 1880 for that price!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300k gets you a starter home and a used car. Dinners at Chain restaurants, clothes from Kolhs and occasional vacation. It is not rich at all for a family.

Then why do we have all that on 100k?

Exactly. The other thread explains how $70,000 is fine for a single/no kids. How can families be making more than double that, so an additional $7,000 a month, be complaining? Even allowing for $2,000 for childcare and an extra $1,000 for a larger mortgage, that still leaves a $4,000 surplus. Add in another $2,000 a month for college and retirement savings, and you still have $2,000 left over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ha, meant 1990s above...feels like 1880 for that price!

Yeah, I was going to say....you are the oldest poster on this forum!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300k gets you a starter home and a used car. Dinners at Chain restaurants, clothes from Kolhs and occasional vacation. It is not rich at all for a family.

Then why do we have all that on 100k?

Exactly. The other thread explains how $70,000 is fine for a single/no kids. How can families be making more than double that, so an additional $7,000 a month, be complaining? Even allowing for $2,000 for childcare and an extra $1,000 for a larger mortgage, that still leaves a $4,000 surplus. Add in another $2,000 a month for college and retirement savings, and you still have $2,000 left over.

It's nutso. They weep over only having a few thousand dollars a month to live on after paying all their bills, saving a ton, paying for private school and an expensive mortgage. They feel badly about living in a starter home, then sniff that it's "in a different location" than the starter home of a couple living on $100k.

They live really well! But nothing is ever enough for some people.

Look, we have a HHI in the mid-100s, mostly because my husband has a good job while I toil away as a writer. Do we have every material thing we could ever want? No, of course not. We drive a crappy car, I will be paying off student loans till I am in my 50s, I haven't gone on an overseas trip in years now, etc etc etc. But I'd have to be in a real bubble to think that we have it hard. Knock wood, we have it so good I can't believe it sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We make about $230k a year, but we bought our house in Georgetown for $200k in the 1880s, paid for our kid to go to private and then Ivy. We have over $2M in 401ks, so yes we feel rich.

. 230k income combined for a couple is very low for Georgetown area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make about $230k a year, but we bought our house in Georgetown for $200k in the 1880s, paid for our kid to go to private and then Ivy. We have over $2M in 401ks, so yes we feel rich.

. 230k income combined for a couple is very low for Georgetown area.

....and even so, they were able to send their kid to the best schools and accumulate $2 million.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make about $230k a year, but we bought our house in Georgetown for $200k in the 1880s, paid for our kid to go to private and then Ivy. We have over $2M in 401ks, so yes we feel rich.

. 230k income combined for a couple is very low for Georgetown area.

No it is not. Some of you truly live in your own private bubbles.

The average HHI of Georgetown is $149,339, but the median HHI is $100,479. That means that the average is driven up by a smaller number of larger earners. But the median means that 50% of the households make under $100K and 50% make over 100K. $230K HHI is probably around 75th percentile or so for Georgetowne. That's not very low; it's not even low, it's on the high end, just not the very high end. You really should look up information before you try to bias a discussion around your preconceived notions.

https://www.point2homes.com/US/Neighborhood/DC/Washington-DC/Georgetown-Demographics.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300k gets you a starter home and a used car. Dinners at Chain restaurants, clothes from Kolhs and occasional vacation. It is not rich at all for a family.

Then why do we have all that on 100k?

Exactly. The other thread explains how $70,000 is fine for a single/no kids. How can families be making more than double that, so an additional $7,000 a month, be complaining? Even allowing for $2,000 for childcare and an extra $1,000 for a larger mortgage, that still leaves a $4,000 surplus. Add in another $2,000 a month for college and retirement savings, and you still have $2,000 left over.

Word.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300k gets you a starter home and a used car. Dinners at Chain restaurants, clothes from Kolhs and occasional vacation. It is not rich at all for a family.

Then why do we have all that on 100k?

Exactly. The other thread explains how $70,000 is fine for a single/no kids. How can families be making more than double that, so an additional $7,000 a month, be complaining? Even allowing for $2,000 for childcare and an extra $1,000 for a larger mortgage, that still leaves a $4,000 surplus. Add in another $2,000 a month for college and retirement savings, and you still have $2,000 left over.

It's nutso. They weep over only having a few thousand dollars a month to live on after paying all their bills, saving a ton, paying for private school and an expensive mortgage. They feel badly about living in a starter home, then sniff that it's "in a different location" than the starter home of a couple living on $100k.

They live really well! But nothing is ever enough for some people.

Look, we have a HHI in the mid-100s, mostly because my husband has a good job while I toil away as a writer. Do we have every material thing we could ever want? No, of course not. We drive a crappy car, I will be paying off student loans till I am in my 50s, I haven't gone on an overseas trip in years now, etc etc etc. But I'd have to be in a real bubble to think that we have it hard. Knock wood, we have it so good I can't believe it sometimes.

I'm happy you're a writer, because I enjoyed your phrasing in this (especially the "sniff") Another reality-based post here (we need more of these).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300k gets you a starter home and a used car. Dinners at Chain restaurants, clothes from Kolhs and occasional vacation. It is not rich at all for a family.

Then why do we have all that on 100k?

Exactly. The other thread explains how $70,000 is fine for a single/no kids. How can families be making more than double that, so an additional $7,000 a month, be complaining? Even allowing for $2,000 for childcare and an extra $1,000 for a larger mortgage, that still leaves a $4,000 surplus. Add in another $2,000 a month for college and retirement savings, and you still have $2,000 left over.

It's nutso. They weep over only having a few thousand dollars a month to live on after paying all their bills, saving a ton, paying for private school and an expensive mortgage. They feel badly about living in a starter home, then sniff that it's "in a different location" than the starter home of a couple living on $100k.

They live really well! But nothing is ever enough for some people.

Look, we have a HHI in the mid-100s, mostly because my husband has a good job while I toil away as a writer. Do we have every material thing we could ever want? No, of course not. We drive a crappy car, I will be paying off student loans till I am in my 50s, I haven't gone on an overseas trip in years now, etc etc etc. But I'd have to be in a real bubble to think that we have it hard. Knock wood, we have it so good I can't believe it sometimes.

I'm happy you're a writer, because I enjoyed your phrasing in this (especially the "sniff") Another reality-based post here (we need more of these).

Ditto this. We live a life of almost unbelievable luxury by the standards of anywhere else in the world and in most of this nation, but we don't vacation overseas or drive luxury cars. We do live in fear that a medical crisis could take it all away. Medicare for all!

[Anonymous]

We live in the Midwest and live like kings on a ~100k HHI. I've used COL converters for DC and that puts us at 158k (e.g., http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/index.html). The "300k is close to poverty" crowd is laughable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300k gets you a starter home and a used car. Dinners at Chain restaurants, clothes from Kolhs and occasional vacation. It is not rich at all for a family.

Then why do we have all that on 100k?

Exactly. The other thread explains how $70,000 is fine for a single/no kids. How can families be making more than double that, so an additional $7,000 a month, be complaining? Even allowing for $2,000 for childcare and an extra $1,000 for a larger mortgage, that still leaves a $4,000 surplus. Add in another $2,000 a month for college and retirement savings, and you still have $2,000 left over.

It's nutso. They weep over only having a few thousand dollars a month to live on after paying all their bills, saving a ton, paying for private school and an expensive mortgage. They feel badly about living in a starter home, then sniff that it's "in a different location" than the starter home of a couple living on $100k.

They live really well! But nothing is ever enough for some people.

Look, we have a HHI in the mid-100s, mostly because my husband has a good job while I toil away as a writer. Do we have every material thing we could ever want? No, of course not. We drive a crappy car, I will be paying off student loans till I am in my 50s, I haven't gone on an overseas trip in years now, etc etc etc. But I'd have to be in a real bubble to think that we have it hard. Knock wood, we have it so good I can't believe it sometimes.

I'm happy you're a writer, because I enjoyed your phrasing in this (especially the "sniff") Another reality-based post here (we need more of these).

Ditto this. We live a life of almost unbelievable luxury by the standards of anywhere else in the world and in most of this nation, but we don't vacation overseas or drive luxury cars. We do live in fear that a medical crisis could take it all away. Medicare for all!

Agreed with everything. And Medicare for all is coming eventually (just like college tuition reform); fingers crossed that it's sooner rather than later.