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

[Anonymous]

Really rally dumb. We pull in about 170k and live in DC and I feel like we live like kings. I feel very fortunate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300k is still high income. You don't have to be a 1 percenter to be high income.

But why get angry at dual income couples making 300k who are struggling to buy a house in a nice school district and stupid enough to post on here asking for advice (and instead get told to sit down and STFU because you're RICH) when you could get mad at all the lobbyists and political consultants and contractors making 900k plus?

That's exactly correct. I don't care who's saying it, we make 200k a year and we're rich.

+1

+2. We make $200K and we have an amazing life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don't feel rich on 300k a year you need to leave your neighborhood to visit some other places and get some perspective.

That's exactly what I tell every American who b*tches about "income inequality."

Spend a year abroad and see how 6 billion people live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300k is still high income. You don't have to be a 1 percenter to be high income.

But why get angry at dual income couples making 300k who are struggling to buy a house in a nice school district and stupid enough to post on here asking for advice (and instead get told to sit down and STFU because you're RICH) when you could get mad at all the lobbyists and political consultants and contractors making 900k plus?

Here what I hear: "I don't feel rich because I'm trying to buy a freestanding SFH with stainless steel appliances and a yard and granite countertops in a neighborhood where the schools are really good. By good I mean as few FARMS kids as possible. I can't afford that." Those are all wants, not needs.

Is the definition of "rich" that you can almost afford a mediocre SFH with newish appliances and a decent school district? That sounds pretty middle-class to me

If that puts you in the top 10% of income in your region, sure, that's rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really rally dumb. We pull in about 170k and live in DC and I feel like we live like kings. I feel very fortunate.

Same here at $140k a year. I have a few family members living in actual poverty and many more living on the edge, I know how lucky we are to make what we do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the definition of "rich" that you can almost afford a mediocre SFH with newish appliances and a decent school district? That sounds pretty middle-class to me

We afford that on 150K and still save for retirement. Certainly by many people's standards we're rich.

[Anonymous]

Rich is 1% if , STFU with this under 1% rich crap

[Anonymous]

Retirement a generation ago could be funded almost entirely by pensions and or Social Security. These are not as stable or as present anymore. So yes. The reality for today's generation is that saving for retirement to continue your current lifestyle is in fact a luxury of the rich.

[Anonymous]

Okay, let's look at things a different way:
At $300K, you pay around 40-48% taxes. You take home roughly $180K or $15K per month after taxes.

According to the Census Bureau:

In MD, the median HHI is $74,551, 80th percentile is $140K,
In VA, the median HHI is $65,015, 80th percentile is $128K
In DC, the median HHI is $70,848, $148.8K

You already take home about 250% of median income pre-tax. You take home 130% of the bottom 80 percent of households make pre-tax.

Middle class is typically the middle 50% of the working population, roughly from 25th to 75th percentiles. You take home significantly more than these people even earn.

It doesn't matter how you spend your money, but your income makes you "rich". Just because you spend it, doesn't make you poor. Middle class is about making compromises and setting priorities to get the most important things and compromising on the less important. You have the luxury of being rich, of being able to fully fund retirement, buy a home with a shorter commute, in a good school district, buying newer cars, going on vacations, paying for daycare, for private school, for expensive summer camps/programs.

Middle class people cannot afford to make the choices you make. Owning property in good school districts of NW, Montgomery County, and pricier parts of NoVa is just not an option for the middle class. Being able to fully fund housing, retirement, college funds and still pay daycare and have leftover disposable income is not an option for the middle class.

The problem is that the middle class is not what it used to be. Too many people are trying to define middle class as "what my parents had when I was growing up". There are people who live in MoCo that grew up there that thing that on their $250K or $300K income, they should be able to afford what their parents did when the PPs were growing up. That's not the definition of middle class. The problem is that the population of the region has nearly doubled in the last 30 years. The influx of over 3M residents into the region means that the more desirable housing becomes much more expensive as demand increases. We have not doubled the avialable housing in the more desirable areas, so that means that the same income will not be able to buy into the same parts of town. So it means that areas that used to be middle class are no longer middle class. It doesn't mean that those who earn that amount are no longer middle class, only that middle class can not afford the same parts of town that their parents afford.

You are in the top 2% of the household income in the region. You make more money that 98% of the households in the region. You are rich.

References:
https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml?src=bkmk
http://statisticalatlas.com/state/Maryland/Household-Income
http://statisticalatlas.com/state/Virginia/Household-Income
http://statisticalatlas.com/state/District-of-Columbia/Household-Income

[Anonymous]

I've learned something interesting from all this fighting, which is that apparently the people most convinced they *aren't* rich are conservatives. Some have argued here that people who think they have more than enough on $200k are "social justice warriors." This helps me understand why our republican senators are currently throwing sick children under a bus just so rich people can get tax breaks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've learned something interesting from all this fighting, which is that apparently the people most convinced they *aren't* rich are conservatives. Some have argued here that people who think they have more than enough on $200k are "social justice warriors." This helps me understand why our republican senators are currently throwing sick children under a bus just so rich people can get tax breaks.

Not the conclusion I will make. I don't know about your healthcare costs, but mine grew astronomically with obamacare (9% for premiums per year and new coinsurance that makes you hit your deductible fast, which I never had till this year).

[Anonymous]

The worldwide median household income is $10,000 a year.
Ten. Thousand. Dollars a year.
Please, you have food and a roof, running water and a bed. You probably have pest control and organic food in your fridge.
I lived in DC on $150,000, we were house poor in a nice neighborhood (for the schools) and I felt so poor.
Then I got a grip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don't feel rich on 300k a year you need to leave your neighborhood to visit some other places and get some perspective.

That's exactly what I tell every American who b*tches about "income inequality."

Spend a year abroad and see how 6 billion people live.

Typical clueless, neoliberal comment. What do you know about how people live abroad? I'm an immigrant and I travel back to the homeland every year (and vacation at other places). Friends and family back home may have lower income if you convert to dollars but a MUCH higher standard of living. Our family friend from there came to visit us this year and he was shocked at how pitiful our lifestyle is here compared to back home. So newsflash, not everyone abroad is living in dirt huts and starving. People across the world would laugh at you idiots calling yourselves rich while shouldering massive student loans, huge mortgage for a shitshack, and hardly able to afford Chipotle. I agree with OP- we should quit the infighting and expect better for ourselves and from our leaders.

Agreed.

My in-laws live like royalty at home in West Africa - nannies for their kids, cooks, drivers, live-in maids. Its not like what you think, particularly if you actually venture to a city or two (hint: most countries have them). You will quickly learn that borders don't matter when you're talking about wealth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don't feel rich on 300k a year you need to leave your neighborhood to visit some other places and get some perspective.

That's exactly what I tell every American who b*tches about "income inequality."

Spend a year abroad and see how 6 billion people live.

Typical clueless, neoliberal comment. What do you know about how people live abroad? I'm an immigrant and I travel back to the homeland every year (and vacation at other places). Friends and family back home may have lower income if you convert to dollars but a MUCH higher standard of living. Our family friend from there came to visit us this year and he was shocked at how pitiful our lifestyle is here compared to back home. So newsflash, not everyone abroad is living in dirt huts and starving. People across the world would laugh at you idiots calling yourselves rich while shouldering massive student loans, huge mortgage for a shitshack, and hardly able to afford Chipotle. I agree with OP- we should quit the infighting and expect better for ourselves and from our leaders.

But, are their kids on travel soccer and in SAT prep? Do they get Blue Apron? Have two eight passenger SUVs? lifestyle is about choices and people who live in foreign countries don't make the same choices we do.

...I hope you're joking. I mean I think you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have to explain to my kids all the time... we are rich!

We don't drive a Tesla, we don't go to huge vacations, we don't go to $48K schools. But we are rich. Period!

If you have to keep trying to make your kids believe it, you probably aren't really rich. Except you are rich in family.