Reply to A massive income required to live the idealized american dream around here?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Middle class 50 years ago was a small ugly house with road trips to the beach as a summer vacation and sending the kids to public school. [/quote]

There is nothing wrong with this. Not sure why you think everyone is entitled to private school and European travel simply for having a job. [/quote]

If you want a job that pays more, you have to do something to earn that job.  You have to work to achieve it.  But mainly,  you need to learn to live within your means.  If you want to be a social worker, unless you marry rich, odds are you are not traveling to Europe every year or sending your kids to private schools. So have goals in line with what you earn.  If you want to earn more, then choose a career path and advance up it so you can.

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I think that misses the point, though. For example, DH and I made 110K when we had our first dc in 2012 (we were living in Vermont). I worked 80% time at a law firm, he was a resident. We each made about 55K. We had a very nice life - we paid off our student loans faster than we accrued new ones (mortgage, etc.) If we were to be in that same situation today, we'd make about 150K, and we would not have been able to afford the same things we had (a 3BR house - for 180K plus 10K cash first time homebuyer credit; a little fenced yard for the dog; 2 cars paid off (Honda/Toyota sedans); we took a lot of road trips throughout New England/Montreal; we took days off work here and there to learn to ski; our daughter was in a wonderful daycare 4 days a week with the same teacher the entire 3 years she attended.) We would still be just fine, have a nice middle class life, maybe we would rent a smaller house, or we would not have renovated our 1950s bathroom that had insulation made of wallpaper, or I would go back to work a 5th day, or we would find a home daycare. But a lot of Americans (understandably) have this feeling that things are getting worse and it's scary to them. [/quote]

We moved to the area in 2007 when DH graduated law school and began work in Big Law. He made $160k then. Current Big Law starting pay is $225k. We could afford to buy our same starter townhouse at today's prices with that increased salary. I only worked briefly until we had our first child and we didn't factor my income into the purchase. [/quote]

Sounds like you could have afforded more if you actually brought in income, life style choices affect your income.  But you know this, why didn't you move to a more affordable area if you wanted to be a SAHM?[/quote]

The PP wasn't complaining.  Was just pointing out that they could afford to live there on a single income, and the current starting income has gone up for those posts as well.

Also they could afford their life even with a SAHP.  That is what people need to learn to do.  You make choices and live with them.

If you need to live in a suburb that borders DC proper, then you can except to pay more.  But you don't have to spend $1M to get a decent home with decent schools. I can go on zillow/redfin and find plenty of homes for $400-600K.  Sure it's not a 3K sq ft newer home, but that's not MC/what entry homes are supposed to be

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The problem with people saying "move farther out" is that it's not comparable at all. You then have to have at least 2 cars, housing is not that much cheaper, and you spend hours each day commuting. Not to mention the fact that you are then generally forced to live a much less healthy lifestyle. You must drive EVERYWHERE and your stress level is generally increased from long commutes.

Personally, we stayed in our city apartment because that's how we were happiest. Yes, it's great we can all make different choices, but why is it that our HHI is 400k and we can't afford a 3br home anywhere in NW DC despite a history of financial responsibility? Food is too expensive (and farmers aren't seeing any of the profits), housing is too expensive (thanks to shady practices and corporate greed etc), and each year my insurance company sends me a letter with a list of things they will no longer cover. But hey, I'm glad the billionaires will soon be trillionaires.[/quote]

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