Anonymous wrote:Here is some errors: with a 36K mortgage, 7K in property tax, 182K will not have a 30% rate.

In Va, assuming some other deductions, ~26K feds, ~8k state, so you are paying 34K in taxes, not 54K.

So you will have 20K more left over.

Have you included the socialsecurity and Medicaid tax?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:18k to a 401k isn't a sign of being rich? That's more than many people earn in an entire year. It's amazing how oblivious rich people are to their own wealth. Just getting by is an insult to anyone who truly is just getting by.

rich

This'

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is people's definition of "rich"? Does taking 2 vacations, lessons for kids, and having 500/mo leftover = rich?

I grew up lower/middle class, and I wouldn't say that this is "rich".

Rich to me means you can buy expensive cars, go on more than 2 lavish vacations (like costing $10K per), have a mcmansion, etc.. and not be in debt.

To me, this couple in the article is well-off, comfortable, but not "rich'.

This is more like our lifestyle. But we make 650k. I don't think 200k is rich. Comfortable maybe but not rich. Fwiw I don't think we are rich either. For me rich = large net worth and we are only ~ 3 mil.

You hear that? 650k person doesn't think they're "rich"! This word just doesn't mean anything. Rich apparently means "what the other guy has." Unless you're the richest in your school or on your street, apparently you're not rich.

This is so insane. Remind me to never move where these people live. In Silver Spring in a community we love we make about $250k and feel rich, definitely. We vacation where we want, buy whatever gadgets and clothes we want, send the kids to whatever expensive camps they want, and still feel like there's always enough. Saving lots for retirement and college. We aren't sending kids to private school, though, and we don't have a house worth $700k+

Anonymous wrote:What is people's definition of "rich"? Does taking 2 vacations, lessons for kids, and having 500/mo leftover = rich?

I grew up lower/middle class, and I wouldn't say that this is "rich".

Rich to me means you can buy expensive cars, go on more than 2 lavish vacations (like costing $10K per), have a mcmansion, etc.. and not be in debt.

To me, this couple in the article is well-off, comfortable, but not "rich'.

This is more like our lifestyle. But we make 650k. I don't think 200k is rich. Comfortable maybe but not rich. Fwiw I don't think we are rich either. For me rich = large net worth and we are only ~ 3 mil.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That doesn't quite track since it has child care and only one spouse maxing out. Is this dual income or single? If it's single, there's no child care bill.

And also, $8,000 in vacations per year and still having nearly $6,000 left over is pretty comfy.

So this is rich? Having 6k leftover a year?

I'm pretty sure the "rich" part comes in where you have a $700,000 house and take two vacations a year for thousands of dollars each and pay $2,000 a month for childcare. Those things are discretionary, lovely, wonderful, desirable things to have. But if you bought a $400,000 townhouse further out, sent your kid to an in-home day care, and spent $1,000 for driving/camping vacations you'd have a heck of a lot more left at the end of the year and you'd probably feel rich because of that...and because the people in your neighborhood who you are now comparing yourself to are doing the same.

No one feels rich living in a town house in the far out suburbs. Sorry. Not desirable.

Anonymous wrote:We are terrible with money, have student loans, more medical expenses, make that income and can't afford to buy... But if we wanted to buy in DC at this point there's not a lot below 700k. There is some stuff... And some of it I like--but 700k seems to be the new 500k market here.

And wtf. People really spend that much on gasoline?? That's just sad.

This is ridiculous. The houses in my neighborhood are $350k. The schools are not the best, but they are fine. Your kid will go to a fine college. How can you say that you can not get anything below $700k? Are you demented? Do you think people living in $250k homes just are not human beings?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A Six-Figure Salary No Longer Means You're Rich

This is basically true and in the DC area a 700k house isn't much but that could mean a 700k mortgage!

the lesson is to stop labeling people as rich, by looking at this budget many people are in fact a pay check away from insolvency until they reach a much higher income.

The federal government doesn't consider you rich until past 400k when they take away all your deductions. If the government still allows personal deductions then you are considered in need of help therefore not rich.

That somebody would have the hubris to say this just makes me nauseous (and my HHI is about $250k). I know most people make far less than that. Can't you imagine what they are thinking when they read this? If I were them, I'd want to kill you, frankly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For starters, do not get a 3K mortgage (that is 36K/12 months).

You can save money on food simply by digital/paper coupons.

Who has time to mess around with coupons? Seriously.

Let's see, digital coupons, you can use your phone or go on the stores website, shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to add the products you want. More often than not, I can clip coupons and it doesn't take more than a few minutes.

I think too many people on this site have major time management problems.

I saved (I kept track) over $500 last year between electronic and paper coupons, and items that were on sale. I felt it was "worth" my "time" to go through the "trouble" to make it happen. I am not like the people on "Extreme Couponing", whatever the min. amount of items required to use a coupon, that is all I get, nothing more.

No, don't may 20K more in taxes than required....

Didn't they say recently that the median income in DC was $120K? This article is about a dual income household, so let's say each person makes $125K. So, individually, their income is about the same as the median income in DC, which means around here, they would also not be considered rich.

There is a reason why even the Federal gov't offers a col adjustment in salaries, though it's nowhere near actuality. I am from SF area. The salary I got there is almost double what I get paid here. But then again, my house there costs almost double what my house cost here, but the house here is double the size of the house I had there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For starters, do not get a 3K mortgage (that is 36K/12 months).

You can save money on food simply by digital/paper coupons.

Who has time to mess around with coupons? Seriously.

Let's see, digital coupons, you can use your phone or go on the stores website, shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to add the products you want. More often than not, I can clip coupons and it doesn't take more than a few minutes.

I think too many people on this site have major time management problems.

I saved (I kept track) over $500 last year between electronic and paper coupons, and items that were on sale. I felt it was "worth" my "time" to go through the "trouble" to make it happen. I am not like the people on "Extreme Couponing", whatever the min. amount of items required to use a coupon, that is all I get, nothing more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For starters, do not get a 3K mortgage (that is 36K/12 months).

You can save money on food simply by digital/paper coupons.

At 200k you don't want to be in bad school districts or a shack.

I knew someone would say this.

I grew up in the DC area, elementary through HS, and I felt all the public schools were the same. I have friends in the town I grew up in and they do not complain about schools, and their mortgage is not 3K or remotely close to it.

Define shack, in terms of square footage. I have seen houses under 2K in square feet that are a lot nicer than the houses that are valued at 500K simply because of where it is.

There is a poster here who's obsessed with shitshacks, Great Schools, and says that $350K is the "minimum" needed to get by. That's probably who OP is.

Figures....thanks for the info.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People, people, people.
Each post from above is indeed a post by a person whom is NOT rich. It is the situation we live in, where there is no real wage growth. Sure, I agree, $200K looks great on paper. But it is in no way rich. I make about $350K and I am by no means rich.
However, take note, voters:
if you make $250K or more, Obama and his pals consider you part of the 1%, and, somehow, the govt is trying to tax you more. Pay attention. You aren't rich, but, if the govt feels you are rich, then the PC wage gap people will do something about it.

You're nuts. Unless you have three kids or bought an overly expensive home then you're doing something wrong. We make over 350k and save over 140k in a bad year. We weren't able to save this much in a higher col city than DC because housing costs were much higher and so were taxes.

Also taxes really haven't increased much over Obama. There's the Medicare surcharge and that's really it. Also check out trump's platform because he also thinks you're rich at 250k.

Saving over 140k every year does not make you financially rich. Having a multimillion dollar house, multiple vacation houses, buying million dollar cars without batting an eye are some of the things that make you qualify as rich. The world has changed and most of us are wage slaves, some doing marginally better than others financially. FWIW we save over 200k annually apart from 401k and 529s and I would never say we are rich. The truly rich are out of our league.

Anonymous wrote:

To me, "rich" means you can afford to fly first class, heck, even business class, on vacations. I can't afford that even though our HHI is $200K, well I suppose I could if I went into debt and didn't want to contribute to my 401k, kids' college funds and savings.

Well, that's a weirdly specific definition of rich, though I guess it's concrete.

I think the whole point of this and every other thread of this ilk is simply that "rich" is relative, and you might be a lot happier if you compared yourself to those with less instead of those with more. Yes, to many/most people in the world, having a roof over your head, a meal whenever you want one, and access to medical care makes you rich beyond measure. This isn't to say that someone who is earning that amount in the US and wants more for their kids (activities, private colleges, whatever) is able to do so easily on a $200K income, but it also doesn't make them "poor" or middle class. Middle class people have never been able to easily afford those things.

We are terrible with money, have student loans, more medical expenses, make that income and can't afford to buy... But if we wanted to buy in DC at this point there's not a lot below 700k. There is some stuff... And some of it I like--but 700k seems to be the new 500k market here.

And wtf. People really spend that much on gasoline?? That's just sad.