200k HHI is just getting by Six-Figure Salary No Longer Means You're Rich 5k leftover see this chart

[Anonymous]

A Six-Figure Salary No Longer Means You're Rich

This is basically true and in the DC area a 700k house isn't much but that could mean a 700k mortgage!

[Anonymous]

That doesn't quite track since it has child care and only one spouse maxing out. Is this dual income or single? If it's single, there's no child care bill.

And also, $8,000 in vacations per year and still having nearly $6,000 left over is pretty comfy.

[Anonymous]

For starters, do not get a 3K mortgage (that is 36K/12 months).

You can save money on food simply by digital/paper coupons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For starters, do not get a 3K mortgage (that is 36K/12 months).

You can save money on food simply by digital/paper coupons.

At 200k you don't want to be in bad school districts or a shack

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That doesn't quite track since it has child care and only one spouse maxing out. Is this dual income or single? If it's single, there's no child care bill.

And also, $8,000 in vacations per year and still having nearly $6,000 left over is pretty comfy.

So this is rich? Having 6k leftover a year?

[Anonymous]

There is a lot of fat in that budget. $5k in children's lessons and $8k on vacations? This person is hardly struggling.

The childcare is a bit steep as well, even if I had to pay a full year of infant care at my downtown center (which no one does since you can't start a 0 day old in daycare) it's still only $21k for a full year.

That's a hefty car payment as well and the $3k in consumer debt on top of everything else?

And the budget makes no sense since it appears to only be one income with the one 401k, yet they have childcare.

[Anonymous]

Man, I see a LOT of cuts I could make here to make that 200k go pretty far. Some of the obvious ones:

Who buys a 700k house on a 200k HHI without a massive down payment? Too much house.

Vacations is a bit high for a yearly average, IMO.

Car payment? Who goes into debt buying a car and a 700k house on a 200k HHI? Lots of bad decisions in this table...

Consumer debt on a 200k HHI? More bad decisions..

5k in children's lessons for one child each year? That's over 400/mo in lessons. Snowflake city..

I'd skip the charity for sure if this was my "budget".

[Anonymous]

These threads make me angry. If those people making $200k are just getting by then how do we describe the significant majority of people who make less?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That doesn't quite track since it has child care and only one spouse maxing out. Is this dual income or single? If it's single, there's no child care bill.

And also, $8,000 in vacations per year and still having nearly $6,000 left over is pretty comfy.

So this is rich? Having 6k leftover a year?

I'm pretty sure the "rich" part comes in where you have a $700,000 house and take two vacations a year for thousands of dollars each and pay $2,000 a month for childcare. Those things are discretionary, lovely, wonderful, desirable things to have. But if you bought a $400,000 townhouse further out, sent your kid to an in-home day care, and spent $1,000 for driving/camping vacations you'd have a heck of a lot more left at the end of the year and you'd probably feel rich because of that...and because the people in your neighborhood who you are now comparing yourself to are doing the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These threads make me angry. If those people making $200k are just getting by then how do we describe the significant majority of people who make less?

They aren't and get taxed less

[Anonymous]

I saw this article. I believe it's a dual income household living in SF area. We used to live around there. Yes, they take vacations and provide lessons for their kid. But, I think what this chart is showing is that 250K can give you a comfortable life, no doubt, but it's not as extravagant as people might think if you live in a high COL area. The chart also shows 1 child. Imagine if you had 2. And they haven't even started saving for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That doesn't quite track since it has child care and only one spouse maxing out. Is this dual income or single? If it's single, there's no child care bill.

And also, $8,000 in vacations per year and still having nearly $6,000 left over is pretty comfy.

So this is rich? Having 6k leftover a year?

I'm pretty sure the "rich" part comes in where you have a $700,000 house and take two vacations a year for thousands of dollars each and pay $2,000 a month for childcare. Those things are discretionary, lovely, wonderful, desirable things to have. But if you bought a $400,000 townhouse further out, sent your kid to an in-home day care, and spent $1,000 for driving/camping vacations you'd have a heck of a lot more left at the end of the year and you'd probably feel rich because of that...and because the people in your neighborhood who you are now comparing yourself to are doing the same.

Since 200k is rich to you people I thought a mcmansion was in order

[Anonymous]

There's whole lot that's not represented here - utilities, phone, household goods, student loans, personal care, medical expenses, health insurance, restaurants, entertainment, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's whole lot that's not represented here - utilities, phone, household goods, student loans, personal care, medical expenses, health insurance, restaurants, entertainment, etc.

So you could actually be negative

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's whole lot that's not represented here - utilities, phone, household goods, student loans, personal care, medical expenses, health insurance, restaurants, entertainment, etc.

So you could be negative