Reply to Not making it on $100K? NPR story

Forum Index » Money and Finances

Reply to "Not making it on $100K? NPR story"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]NPR story on morning edition about family in gaithersburg who can't make it on $100k (struggle to pay utilities/say they can't afford christmas.)  Link isn't up yet, sorry.

I don't get it.  Yes they have two special needs kids, but that did not seem to be the bulk of their expenses when the reporter asked about it (and i understand state and county programs are pretty good in this area for funding special therapy/school.)  She did describe some medical expenses leading to a bankruptcy.

We make not much more than 100K since both going part time to spend more time with our pre-schooler.  we live (i think) pretty luxuriously: part time nanny, rent an apt with pool and concierge on metro line, trips abroad, mostly organic groceries, too many starbucks drinks, smartphones.   we also have 6 figures in savings (admittedly from before we went part time) and fully fund our TSP's.  i can think of so many areas where we could cut back if we had too-cheaper groceries, switching to domestic only trips, moving to a cheaper apartment.  How could anyone not be making it on 100K?  I'm genuinely confused.  All i can think is they are mortgaged to the hilt and house poor.

Apparently this whole NPR series is about people not making it on 100K.  i find it a little ridiculous and really insulting to families who are making it on so much less.  What am i missing?
[/quote]

You sound like a jerk. Awesome that you can both work p/t and live large with your preschooler. The woman profiled has TWO SN kids. They are 19 and 20 and from the sounds of it, they won't be able to launch and go to work and live on their own. She isn't mortgaged to the hilt -- they're in a rental apartment, and I'm guessing it isn't as fancy as yours and doesn't have a concierge. Are you really so naïve as to think that ALL of the medical and educational costs for 2 SN young adults are neatly covered by insurance? Have you ever had to go to a specialist that was in network and everything and then you get all kinds of bills later for deductibles and co insurance and testing that was needed where the provider was covered but the facility wasn't or some other jazz like that? Well it's like that, except instead of being a 1 time incident, it's many times a month -- times 2 for 2 kids. Count your blessings and don't worry so much about judging others.[/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