I make $228K and am paycheck to paycheck after contributing $37K to retirement, $7K to FSA, $400/m for health insurance, $400/m for disability, 1/3 to taxes, $1000/m for food, $3000/m for rent. The rest goes to utilities, routine medical bills, normal non extravagant bills & student loans and very little to anything else. Own my car (paid $28K cash) and kids attend public school with few extracurriculars. We do not vacation, do not shop and I have no hobbies or social life.

Anonymous wrote:What happened to living below your means? I have no sympathy. $250k is an excellent income.

in 1989

Anonymous wrote:I would jizz my pants to make $250k/year!

Well, that escalated quickly.

I would jizz my pants to make $250k/year!

I make $62k/year as a single person and struggle in this area without picking up side gigs from time to time.

I've thought about moving south where it's cheaper, but all my family and friends are in this area. I'm not an outgoing or social person, so my fear is I'd become a total shut-in and depressed if I moved.

Fidelity cash management account is pretty decent replacement for a traditional checking account it yields 2.6% right now. It also can automatically pull in cash if needed form brokerage account where that cash can be in some money market account yielding 4+ % at the moment. It's all done automatically once specified threshold is met. Bogleheads had a giant thread about it and consensus was that it is a good option.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly this all makes so much more sense. Our household income with no kids is over 250k, but we max 401k/IRA/stock purchase and live in just a ‘decent’ place. I always wonder how these people can afford multiple luxury vacations, new cars, designer clothing, etc.

Bunch of Weekend Millionaires ™️ in this city I suppose!

https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/06/01/more-than-a-third-of-250k-earners-live-paycheck-to/

We make $1m and we barely save. we live in NYC and once we pay for 2 kids in private ($120 so $240 pre tax income), give half of salary away to tax, pay mortgage, pay maintenance, it's mostly gone. we will 'make' more money by qualifying for a big mortgage and buying a house that is a good investment. but we certainly are not saving big.

Let’s get this straight: you’re rich and so you can afford the mortgage on your $3M+ house and drop a few hundred $K on private schools, and you’re resentful of the huge sums you’re “giving” to tax, and somehow these things make you feel not rich?

They’re not rich if they spend it all. Rich = millions in the bank or investments.

Rich is having time to do the things you like, see the people you like. Having millions and no time for yourself is not rich!

The more money you have, the more time you have.

It’s people busting their butt, who don’t have time unfortunately

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people who take those expensive vacations have lots of credit card debt.

And lots are just making great money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly this all makes so much more sense. Our household income with no kids is over 250k, but we max 401k/IRA/stock purchase and live in just a ‘decent’ place. I always wonder how these people can afford multiple luxury vacations, new cars, designer clothing, etc.

Bunch of Weekend Millionaires ™️ in this city I suppose!

https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/06/01/more-than-a-third-of-250k-earners-live-paycheck-to/

We make $1m and we barely save. we live in NYC and once we pay for 2 kids in private ($120 so $240 pre tax income), give half of salary away to tax, pay mortgage, pay maintenance, it's mostly gone. we will 'make' more money by qualifying for a big mortgage and buying a house that is a good investment. but we certainly are not saving big.

Let’s get this straight: you’re rich and so you can afford the mortgage on your $3M+ house and drop a few hundred $K on private schools, and you’re resentful of the huge sums you’re “giving” to tax, and somehow these things make you feel not rich?

They’re not rich if they spend it all. Rich = millions in the bank or investments.

Rich is having time to do the things you like, see the people you like. Having millions and no time for yourself is not rich!

I feel seen

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly this all makes so much more sense. Our household income with no kids is over 250k, but we max 401k/IRA/stock purchase and live in just a ‘decent’ place. I always wonder how these people can afford multiple luxury vacations, new cars, designer clothing, etc.

Bunch of Weekend Millionaires ™️ in this city I suppose!

https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/06/01/more-than-a-third-of-250k-earners-live-paycheck-to/

We make $1m and we barely save. we live in NYC and once we pay for 2 kids in private ($120 so $240 pre tax income), give half of salary away to tax, pay mortgage, pay maintenance, it's mostly gone. we will 'make' more money by qualifying for a big mortgage and buying a house that is a good investment. but we certainly are not saving big.

Let’s get this straight: you’re rich and so you can afford the mortgage on your $3M+ house and drop a few hundred $K on private schools, and you’re resentful of the huge sums you’re “giving” to tax, and somehow these things make you feel not rich?

They’re not rich if they spend it all. Rich = millions in the bank or investments.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live from paycheck to paycheck because most of our networth is in real estate. We are not poor but you can’t eat brick for dinner.

Then sell your bricks and purchase food.

We are not starving living from paycheck to paycheck. And why does it bother you that I use up my paycheck?

You aren't living paycheck to paycheck, unless your mortgage is interest-only.

Lots of people who take those expensive vacations have lots of credit card debt.

Anonymous wrote:Did the survey define "paycheck to paycheck." People understand this term very differently so if it's not define, then this is garbage data.

Right?

My HHI is right around $250K and we live "paycheck to paycheck" in the sense that there's very little cash income left over at the end of the month, but that's because so much has already been taken out to fund our retirement accounts, investment accounts, to pay our 15 year mortgage building equity that we could cash out and move to a smaller place if we needed, to pay for our Tesla that we could sell and replace with a used Civic at any time, to pay for gig internet and every streaming service we could cancel at anytime, etc. Not to mention that we spend way more than we probably should on wine, restaurants, and takeout which we could reduce at any time by simply cooking more at home or buying cheaper wine.

Sure, we don't have much in the way of cash reserves but we have tons of "lifestyle reserves" we could implement if we needed them, and plenty of available credit to tide us over while we implement those lifestyle changes.

Did the survey define "paycheck to paycheck." People understand this term very differently so if it's not define, then this is garbage data.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly this all makes so much more sense. Our household income with no kids is over 250k, but we max 401k/IRA/stock purchase and live in just a ‘decent’ place. I always wonder how these people can afford multiple luxury vacations, new cars, designer clothing, etc.

Bunch of Weekend Millionaires ™️ in this city I suppose!

https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/06/01/more-than-a-third-of-250k-earners-live-paycheck-to/

We make $1m and we barely save. we live in NYC and once we pay for 2 kids in private ($120 so $240 pre tax income), give half of salary away to tax, pay mortgage, pay maintenance, it's mostly gone. we will 'make' more money by qualifying for a big mortgage and buying a house that is a good investment. but we certainly are not saving big.

Stop counting your taxes in what you spend. Everyone pays taxes so it is assumed you also pay them.

not everyone pays nearly half their paychck in taxes.