Reply to 200k is not much money

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]200K is the top 20% of HHI in the DC metropolitan area.  If you feel you need to "compromise", you are an entitled spoiled brat whose completely out-of-touch with reality.[/quote]

I'd love for you to link us a 4br+ 4000sf+ single family home in a top school district and low crime with a big yard, garage, and a 15 minute commute to downtown DC that you could afford on a $200K income while maxing out 2 401Ks, Roth IRAs, and 529s for 3 kids.

Because if you can't find all of that, you're going to have to give some of it up to be able to find something you can afford. And what's another word for giving things up to be able to get some of what you want? It starts with a "C..."[/quote]

Agree.  A comfortable, middle class to upper middle class lifestyle to me means:

- max out 401k(s) or IRA(s)
- adequately save in a 529 plan
- mortgage on a ~3000 SF house with a 2-car garage and a yard in a safe neighborhood in a good school district
- 2 vacations a year
- kids' activities (and child care if both parents work)
- family car(s)

$200,000 / year isn't enough for the above-described lifestyle.  No chauffeurs or other extravagant expenses mentioned above. 
[/quote]

That's not a middle class lifestyle, not in the US right now. Maybe it was for boomers but not today.[/quote]

Who said anything about middle class?  The PP said you don't have to compromise on housing if you earn $200K.  Middle class is basically the definition of requiring compromise. Not having to compromise means getting absolutely everything you want in a house - size, location, commute, schools, etc.   [/quote]

PP defined a comfortable middle class Lifestyle as including at least 20k for retirement, half that or more for college savings, a house that will probably cost close to a million dollars in any major metro area, and thats before you even get to the vacations. That is not even close to middle class anymore unless you define middle class so expansively that you make everyone middle class. [/quote]

It's location specific (you could live that lifestyle in the mid west on $200k, but not here) so if you live in a metro area, $200k isn't that much money.  A family making $200k in any location probably isn't sending their kids to private schools, going on ski vacations or to Hawaii or Europe, or driving a luxury SUV, which are all indicators of UMC.  Wealthy families are differentiated from UMC families by things like a net jets account, expensive art, full time housekeepers, multiple homes, country club memberships, etc.  I agree with OP's friend that $200k isn't a lot of money around here.  [/quote]

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