^ I should add we clean our own house and rake our own leaves. When DS goes to college next year we might change that to the tune of a few thousand a year, but for now it's important he have some chores and see us doing them too. Just our take.

Anonymous wrote:I assume at that income level they mean they aren't very liquid and therefore rely on each paycheck to pay their bills. They just don't want to sell off property or stock/bonds, but they could if they lost their income, so it's not really paycheck to paycheck like it would be for low-income families.

That comp might also not be salary but a considerable about of it in bonus. So they live paycheck to paycheck until they get that annual bonus.

We make about $450k. We max out most deductions, have a $4,800 mortgage payment, no daycare or debt and we pay cash for cars and vacations, and I can not fathom paying for a nanny, dual private, country club, and cleaning. When college comes we have savings. No quarterly tax payments (we're regular employees).

It's easy to actually be paycheck-to-paycheck with this kind of income when you end up over-leveraged. That mortgaged McMansion and mortgaged beach house with several financed highest-trim-level range rovers along with some prof school loans and you are going to be paycheck to paycheck.

Keeping-up-with-the-Joneses spending is so much more common than people realize. Those well-off seeming neighbors can't really afford the Porsche Cayenne the DW is getting for Christmas nor can they afford the ski trip with the kids to Aspen where they are using the ski instructor So-and-So who lives up the block recommended, but they are spending on them anyway. There are plenty of folks doing this who are not only not saving what they should for retirement, but who don't even have an emergency fund (beyond the ability to sell that Birkin etc, lol).

Anonymous wrote:I mean, we save about 150K a year through deductions from our checks. There are months we're sort of paycheck to paycheck (neber doing without, but making different decisions) but this is just not accurate in terms of what paycheck to paycheck means, unless someone has taken out a 3m mortgage.

I can definitely see it with people who have $1.3M mortgage, dual private school, nanny, country club, home cleaning, and maybe quarterly tax payments. Business owners/partners run close to the line all the time - chunky income that dwindled down with regular expenses

I mean, we save about 150K a year through deductions from our checks. There are months we're sort of paycheck to paycheck (neber doing without, but making different decisions) but this is just not accurate in terms of what paycheck to paycheck means, unless someone has taken out a 3m mortgage.

Anonymous wrote:I assume at that income level they mean they aren't very liquid and therefore rely on each paycheck to pay their bills. They just don't want to sell off property or stock/bonds, but they could if they lost their income, so it's not really paycheck to paycheck like it would be for low-income families.

Yes, I bet a lot of them probably at least have a 401k they could tap into if needed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s hard to know what is accurate in this area. High end shops here seem filled with buyers. Are there that many wealthy people, or are people throwing money away that they can’t afford? I assume both.

What kind of high end shops are you talking about?

I’m specifically talking about the 20-30 minutes waits to get help at Chanel, Gucci and Louis Vuitton I experienced on Saturday. Lots of men and women walking out with big bags. Mostly young people in the line.

Anonymous wrote:I assume at that income level they mean they aren't very liquid and therefore rely on each paycheck to pay their bills. They just don't want to sell off property or stock/bonds, but they could if they lost their income, so it's not really paycheck to paycheck like it would be for low-income families.

I assume the same thing.

A lot of people in this bracket are the ones trying to keep up with the Joneses. So they have multiple car notes, possibly two mortgages if they want a second place, etc.

I think they mean after they max out their 401ks, fund 529s and HSAs, and pay private school tuition, and the mortgage they have no cash flow left.

I assume at that income level they mean they aren't very liquid and therefore rely on each paycheck to pay their bills. They just don't want to sell off property or stock/bonds, but they could if they lost their income, so it's not really paycheck to paycheck like it would be for low-income families.

Anonymous wrote:It’s hard to know what is accurate in this area. High end shops here seem filled with buyers. Are there that many wealthy people, or are people throwing money away that they can’t afford? I assume both.

What kind of high end shops are you talking about?

It’s hard to know what is accurate in this area. High end shops here seem filled with buyers. Are there that many wealthy people, or are people throwing money away that they can’t afford? I assume both.

This is crazy to me, see page 20:

https://am.gs.com/cms-assets/gsam-app/documents/insights/en/2025/am-retirement-survey-102025.pdf?view=true

Lots of wild details in this document on “The Future of Retirement”