[Sigequinox]

Originally Posted by JayCT

And yet many people live on $50,000 or less per year here without significant issue. And that is for more than one person in many cases. Only a very spoiled child would even dare to complain about "only" making $50,000 a year here. Jay

I assume your being somewhat facetious in the sense that female dogging about "50k/year" is "1st world problems". If not, that's completely disingenuous. 50k is NOT a lot of money in CT (or any high COL states), no matter what the household situation is. A comfortable American life is expensive. it's not THAT much to ask that houses with less than 100k be able to own those houses (mortgage them anyway), save a bit for retirement and college tuition for kids, afford to go out to dinner or visit the city, take a vacation etc. this is much more difficult to do in CT (needlessly so, not in that way that builds character) compared to many other regions in the US.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by JayCT

And yet many people live on $50,000 or less per year here without significant issue. And that is for more than one person in many cases. Only a very spoiled child would even dare to complain about "only" making $50,000 a year here. Jay

...but it's definitely a "paycheck to paycheck" salary unless the individual already has substantial savings.

[nep321]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

...but it's definitely a "paycheck to paycheck" salary unless the individual already has substantial savings.

And that's if the individual lives outside of FFC. If someone is single and making $50K in lower FFC, that's not a paycheck to paycheck salary. It's a sinking ship salary.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Sigequinox

I assume your being somewhat facetious in the sense that female dogging about "50k/year" is "1st world problems". If not, that's completely disingenuous. 50k is NOT a lot of money in CT (or any high COL states), no matter what the household situation is. A comfortable American life is expensive. it's not THAT much to ask that houses with less than 100k be able to own those houses (mortgage them anyway), save a bit for retirement and college tuition for kids, afford to go out to dinner or visit the city, take a vacation etc. this is much more difficult to do in CT (needlessly so, not in that way that builds character) compared to many other regions in the US.

Do people actually read what is written? I was responding to nep321's claim that a single person needed $60,000 a year to live in Connecticut. Many people live on less and manage to live a good life. It may not be the life he wants to live but he is different and most are happy enough with it. Jay

[ayoskillz]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Do people actually read what is written? I was responding to nep321's claim that a single person needed $60,000 a year to live in Connecticut. Many people live on less and manage to live a good life. It may not be the life he wants to live but he is different and most are happy enough with it. Jay

Its more poeple that aren't happy than who are happy

[nep321]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Do people actually read what is written? I was responding to nep321's claim that a single person needed $60,000 a year to live in Connecticut. Many people live on less and manage to live a good life. It may not be the life he wants to live but he is different and most are happy enough with it. Jay

I don't know what you're talking about, but I live a rather average lifestyle. I live in freeking New Britain. In a 600 square foot apartment building built in the 1960's with no dishwasher, no central air, total lack of storage and a tiny kitchen. Cell phone signal is very weak and I have to walk down a hallway and go up a stairwell just to get to my car outside. There are centipedes in my apartment every day. The only real positive is that the unit has been recently renovated/updated. But really, it's about as average as it gets.

I take occasional vacations and occasionally buy nice things like anyone else does. I have been driving the same car for 8 years now.

I don't see how my life is luxurious or high standards at all. Sorry.

[BicoastalAnn]

I gotta side with Jay on this one. $50k (for a single person with no debt/obligations) is an entry level salary that should get you a decent quality of life for a single person even in FFC. Obviously "decent" doesn't mean living in the top towns. It's renting a studio or having a roommate. To me this is a transitional lifestyle... one can't stay at this level for too long, but for someone young and building a career, it's doable for a few years. In this regard I don't think FFC is that different from places a similar distance to major cities like NYC/LA/SF/etc.

[BeyondtheHorizon]

Originally Posted by BicoastalAnn

I gotta side with Jay on this one. $50k (for a single person with no debt/obligations) is an entry level salary that should get you a decent quality of life for a single person even in FFC. Obviously "decent" doesn't mean living in the top towns. It's renting a studio or having a roommate. To me this is a transitional lifestyle... one can't stay at this level for too long, but for someone young and building a career, it's doable for a few years. In this regard I don't think FFC is that different from places a similar distance to major cities like NYC/LA/SF/etc.

If it's "transitional" then that is not comfortable.

If you have to have a roommate then that's kids stuff. If you've gone to college for 4 years then you shouldn't need to have a roommate. Can you imagine being without a degree? How are people supposed to live.

Adults with a professional entry level job should be able to afford an small apartment on their own. I read this article about people with MD's in Britain complaining because their salary was too low to afford a house in London metro area and I'm not talking just ritzy areas. Anywhere. Salaries were lower than U.S. doctors.

How pathetic is that? Do you have any idea how rigorous and difficult a medical degree is to get? It's nearly impossible and you have to be borderline gifted. People don't realize how difficult that course load is just for pre med. And then not to be able to afford to buy a small house after all that work? And then people were calling them "entitled" for expecting to be able to buy a starter house after going to school/training for nearly a decade.They spend their time saving lives. All the while the guy who invented snap chat so you can send disappearing porno pics walks away with 2 billion and miranda kerr on his arm. Go figure

[BicoastalAnn]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheHorizon

If it's "transitional" then that is not comfortable.

If you have to have a roommate then that's kids stuff. If you've gone to college for 4 years then you shouldn't need to have a roommate. Can you imagine being without a degree? How are people supposed to live.

Adults with a professional entry level job should be able to afford an small apartment on their own. I read this article about people with MD's in Britain complaining because their salary was too low to afford a house in London metro area and I'm not talking just ritzy areas. Anywhere. Salaries were lower than U.S. doctors.

How pathetic is that? Do you have any idea how rigorous and difficult a medical degree is to get? It's nearly impossible and you have to be borderline gifted. People don't realize how difficult that course load is just for pre med. And then not to be able to afford to buy a small house after all that work? And then people were calling them "entitled" for expecting to be able to buy a starter house after going to school/training for nearly a decade.They spend their time saving lives. All the while the guy who invented snap chat so you can send disappearing porno pics walks away with 2 billion and miranda kerr on his arm. Go figure

I did mean it's comfortable for a transitional lifestyle for a single person. I just don't think anyone can expect to come out of college and be ready to buy a house with your first or even second salary these days. I wish I could but I don't know anyone else who did, unless you really lucked out. About needing to have a roommate after college - this is like the new normal for ultra-expensive cities these days. One of my old roommates was a Harvard MBA who was making well into the six figures. It's sucks but at the same time what can you do? Double everyone's salaries in NYC, SF, LA, and any place where people can't afford a home?

[BeyondtheHorizon]

Originally Posted by BicoastalAnn

I did mean it's comfortable for a transitional lifestyle for a single person. I just don't think anyone can expect to come out of college and be ready to buy a house with your first or even second salary these days. I wish I could but I don't know anyone else who did, unless you really lucked out. About needing to have a roommate after college - this is like the new normal for ultra-expensive cities these days. One of my old roommates was a Harvard MBA who was making well into the six figures. It's sucks but at the same time what can you do? Double everyone's salaries in NYC, SF, LA, and any place where people can't afford a home?

That's the point! New normal is terrible. Downward trajectory in quality of life is not a good thing.

No doubling everyone's salary would be a terrible idea. They'd just jack up the rent. Control the out of control item. Rent cost controls. Don't let a small fraction of a percentage(developers) of people make a ton of money speculating. Also, the gap between the rich and the poor is FAR too large causing a huge vacuum of money. There is no trickle down effect. Poor service workers don't do any better in Greenwich than in poor areas. The gap you're seeing is getting to be what t you see in central/south american countries.

Income inequality and increased federal taxation on rich people back to early 80s levels. Income redistribution is what's needed or it's only going to get worse. A new version of the "new deal". People used to have to pay for high school, no overtime, have no social security or medicare before the 30s. This finally led to a great depression, which was lifted by the implementation of these policies and led to a huge increase of people in the middle class.

Now all the free market ayn rand repubs can tell me how I know nothing about economics and trickle down is the way to go! Any purist ideology is usually not right including pure socialism or capitalism.