Reply to Being lower middle class and living well

Forum Index » Money and Finances

Reply to "Being lower middle class and living well"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The OP grossly mis-characterized the complaints voiced in this forum by people with higher HHI. These people are not complaining about lack of money for food, rent, gas, or other essentials. They are saying that even with the higher income, they live a very middle class lifestyle, and certainly not luxurious as one may imagine without first hand experience.  Close your eyes and [b]imagine if you had $170k a year, $300k a year, how would you live[/b], where would you vacation, the home you would live in, and etc. The people making these salaries have found out that the answer in all cases is "slightly better than average". When you were young, you might think that a 170k or 300k HHI means "you've made it". I know I did, and so did my wife. The reality is that people making $300k in the DC area have NOT  "made it". These people have exerted great effort to improve their financial condition. They are the over-achievers in life, with purpose driven personality, and willing to put in the hard work necessary to achieve their goals. The fact that this level of income doesn't bring absolute financial security is what worries these people. [/quote]

See the thing is - we wouldn't live that differently at those HHIs.  Therefore we would have a lot of savings.  Its the people who think they should have bigger and better who end up living paycheck to paycheck at those HHIs.  And that is a choice my friend.[/quote]

PP here. That's not the point. The point is, most people think with 170k or 300k HHI a year, you'll be rich or even wealthy, able to lead lavish life styles without much care for finances - financially secure, independently wealthy, etc. The reality is that 170k/300k a year gets you marginally better quality of life, but still middle class. You really can't afford that much more. This comes as a shock to most people who through hard work arrive at this income level. When one's assumptions turn out wrong, it becomes rather stressful - this is where the stress comes from. Not living paycheck to paycheck, etc. [/quote]

I don't expect lavish (and frankly you should not have either). But I sure don't buy that I wouldn't be A LOT more comfortable with twice my salary. (Which would be 170k).  To say you are only marginally better off is so disingenuous.  Try living on my salary for a while and you'll see how well off you are. [/quote]

We make around 350k and I feel we live very well.  We are able to save 7k a month, pay our mortgage, max out 401ks, drive luxury carss, dine out weekly and go on two upscale vacations a year (using miles and points).  [/quote]

This is what I would expect on 350k.  Not sure why people complain about that HHI so frequently on DCUM.  [/quote]

If you don't have a large inheritence or windfall, 350K HHI can easily be eaten up by a house payment, childcare and private schools (if you are in a low performing school district). [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics