Anonymous wrote:Stop with the "just surviving" stuff on $300k.

You have no idea what"just surviving" is and it's incredibly insulting to people who actually struggle to make ends meet

Agree - it is amazingly out of touch with most of how the US lives.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300k is still high income. You don't have to be a 1 percenter to be high income.

But why get angry at dual income couples making 300k who are struggling to buy a house in a nice school district and stupid enough to post on here asking for advice (and instead get told to sit down and STFU because you're RICH) when you could get mad at all the lobbyists and political consultants and contractors making 900k plus?

Here what I hear: "I don't feel rich because I'm trying to buy a freestanding SFH with stainless steel appliances and a yard and granite countertops in a neighborhood where the schools are really good. By good I mean as few FARMS kids as possible. I can't afford that." Those are all wants, not needs.

Yep -- completely agree.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300k is still high income. You don't have to be a 1 percenter to be high income.

But why get angry at dual income couples making 300k who are struggling to buy a house in a nice school district and stupid enough to post on here asking for advice (and instead get told to sit down and STFU because you're RICH) when you could get mad at all the lobbyists and political consultants and contractors making 900k plus?

Here what I hear: "I don't feel rich because I'm trying to buy a freestanding SFH with stainless steel appliances and a yard and granite countertops in a neighborhood where the schools are really good. By good I mean as few FARMS kids as possible. I can't afford that." Those are all wants, not needs.

Is the definition of "rich" that you can almost afford a mediocre SFH with newish appliances and a decent school district? That sounds pretty middle-class to me

Anonymous wrote:This again?

No kidding. I honestly can't believe how often this topic comes up....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you distorting the facts OP?

Entry level for the top 1% in MD is $421,188/year. In VA it's $406,412/year. In DC it's $554,719/year.

I'd say if you're ANYWHERE in the top 1% you're rich.

If you're not rich when you make more than 99% of your fellow citizens I don't what planet you live on. You don't have to be in the top .01% to be "rich".

Wow, where did you get such specific numbers? Genuinely curious.

These are not the #s quoted in OP's article.

Yes, they're the numbers from OP article.
What are you reading?
They're right there on every state's page.

No.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300k is still high income. You don't have to be a 1 percenter to be high income.

But why get angry at dual income couples making 300k who are struggling to buy a house in a nice school district and stupid enough to post on here asking for advice (and instead get told to sit down and STFU because you're RICH) when you could get mad at all the lobbyists and political consultants and contractors making 900k plus?

That's exactly correct. I don't care who's saying it, we make 200k a year and we're rich.

+1

I would define "rich" more as an attitude. I know people who have over $5M in wealth who do not consider themselves rich. I know people who make under $100k who are rich.

Rich means you do not have to worry about money. You have complete confidence in financial security. You can afford and do the things you want to do without financial limitations.

Here is a handy tool so you can see that you actually ARE rich at 300k. Assuming that you have a graduate degree, are married, and have kids, that puts you in the top 4% of households in the area ... and also in the top 25% of other families with graduate degrees.

http://www.dcfpi.org/interactive-how-does-your-household-income-compare-to-other-dc-households-2-2

My guess is that the 300k-ers who don't feel rich are actually comparing themselves WITHIN their own demographic, to the people with graduate degrees who have HHIs closer to $1 mil.

Anonymous wrote:I know 'couples' making $150K together living in group homes because COL plus student loans plus commute = insane expenses. What's rich in one part of this country is only surviving in D.C. A couple making 300K and a mortgage on a house with constant repairs is just middle class to me. Add kids and once more you're back to square one of surviving.

I'm submitting this to Webster now as an alternative definition of "entitled."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop with the "just surviving" stuff on $300k.

You have no idea what"just surviving" is and it's incredibly insulting to people who actually struggle to make ends meet

This. The privilege in this area blinds people to reality.

More like the Liberal guilt brainwashing has reached unprecedented heights.

Anonymous wrote:Stop with the "just surviving" stuff on $300k.

You have no idea what"just surviving" is and it's incredibly insulting to people who actually struggle to make ends meet

This. The privilege in this area blinds people to reality.

We make 300K. We have one kid (spent over 20K trying to have a second, but it didn't happen and that ship has sailed). I feel like we have plenty of money. We own a reasonably-sized house in a neighborhood with good schools, take vacations, own two cars, buy new clothes. We have no student debt (both went to grad school in science fields).

I just did this survey this am. At $300k, my family has a higher income than 97% of all people in DC.

Because I have a graduate degree, am married and make this income, we have a 75% higher income than people in DC with the same background.

Basically, the rich people here are really rich.

But in no way am I poor. High mortgages and high child care might make it feel that way, but I'm able to cover both and not struggle.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you distorting the facts OP?

Entry level for the top 1% in MD is $421,188/year. In VA it's $406,412/year. In DC it's $554,719/year.

I'd say if you're ANYWHERE in the top 1% you're rich.

If you're not rich when you make more than 99% of your fellow citizens I don't what planet you live on. You don't have to be in the top .01% to be "rich".

Wow, where did you get such specific numbers? Genuinely curious.

These are not the #s quoted in OP's article.