Reply to Family of Four on 90k - An Upper Middle Class Existence

Forum Index » Money and Finances

Reply to "Family of Four on 90k - An Upper Middle Class Existence"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It is a common trait of unsuccessful people to ascribe the success of others to luck.
 [/quote]

This TED talk seems particularly relevant to this discussion. Attributing others success to luck is a trait of the unsuccessful? Where did you make that up from? I attribute a majority of my own success to the numerous ways I've been lucky in life.

http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_piff_does_money_make_you_mean/transcript?language=en[/quote]

Just read this transcript and wow, I find this to be a fascinating topic.  I tend to agree more with the findings that those who are given advantages in life tend to downplay the effect this has had on their success.  And I say this as someone whose parents paid for college and a good chunk of law school.  Of course I was hardworking, made good grades, stayed out of trouble, managed to get a sizable merit-based scholarship to a top tier law school, etc., but I would never try to attribute everything I have achieved solely to my own grit and determination.

There is something to be said for having an intact family that pushes the importance of education and can help pay for schooling.  I have also been blessed with good health and parents who can fund their own retirement.  I think life is a mix of opportunity and hard work.

In some way though, I feel I have been disadvantaged.  When I began applying to law school in 2005, it was a great investment still.  By the time
I graduated in 2009, the legal market had collapsed.  This has had at least some impact on my earning potential so far.  nd because I was in school through my mid-20s, I didn't have the opportunity to buy until closer to my late 20s.  I'm now pregnant with my first at 30 and don't want to gamble with a bad school district in a high crime area like OP did (I don't think taking chances on safety and schools classifies one as upper middle class).  And I married someone with student loans, which is something I couldn't exactly plan for years ago.

My point is that OP took some risks that paid off, has been blessed with no loans, etc.  So far things have been working out in her favor, but I think one of the best sayings to remember is "But by the Grace of God there go I."  All it takes is one cancer diagnosis, one job loss, a few expensive rounds of IVF, a flooded basement not covered by insurance, or having been born into poverty that could change it all.[/quote]

You are confusing me (the PP who in bought in downtown DC in 2004 in a bad school district) with OP who lives in the burbs and homeschools.  I am an immigrant who moved to the US with nothing more than a suitcase of belongings and $2k in cash (no job, only the name of a family friend to stay with for a few days).  I do have a BA from an overseas university and I graduated during a recession, like you.  I do not have parents or family nearby, beyond the family I have created here.  To be honest, any "advantages" I've had have been minimal.

Somehow, in the midst of this thread, I am now being treated like someone who "won the lottery" when the reality is that my income is considerably lower than yours, and there is little scope for it to increase significantly.  However, I consider myself very lucky and very well off to have an HHI of almost $100k.  This is wealthy in my book.  We have everything we need.  Do you have any idea what most people live off in this city?  Try taking a look outside of your enclave of rich white folks at the real people in this city.  If I earned $400k, I certainly wouldn't be on this thread complaining that it was hard to make ends meet because I made poor choices that left me with little wiggle room in my budget or that I couldn't buy the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood, or that other people had more money than me and it wasn't fair.

If I hadn't bought the house I did in 2004, I would have found another house in another neighborhood that had potential and I'd have lived through making it livable and invested in the community and made it my home -- even if I'd been doing that 10 years later in 2014.  These houses exist if you can just drop your own prejudices and make it work.

[/quote]

:roll: [/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