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People who browse these forums are likely to make more money than average.
I don't browse the 'how to live on $7.50/hr forum' because I don't need to and some people come here to get reinforcement about how much better off they are than others.
Am I one of those people? Maybe.
This actually made me laugh out loud. I'm glad that I'm at home with nobody around me or they would have looked at me like I was crazy.
To add to the thread, I've made over 100k myself for sometime now and everyone that reports to me makes over 100k that's in the US, but I'm in the technology field where 100k is the norm, not the exception for anyone with more than a few years of experience.
I don't think that other people saying that "most" are walking around with 6 figure incomes. However, it is not rare to either be one or to know someone that makes 6 figures.
It really depends on where you live and what you do for a living. If you live in a leafy suburb of a high cost of living city with the good school system, most of your neighbors likely make 6 figures. If you live in rural Mississippi, there might be a few professional people and business owners who make 6 figures but most people you know won't. People self-segregate along socioeconomic lines in the United States. If you make 6-figures, you probably live somewhere that 6-figures is pretty common. If you work in one of the well-known high paying fields... Doctor, dentist, lawyer, high tech, corporate exec, finance... everybody you work with makes 6 figures, you probably all live in the same towns, and you do a lot of the same social/leisure activities.
This actually made me laugh out loud. I'm glad that I'm at home with nobody around me or they would have looked at me like I was crazy.
To add to the thread, I've made over 100k myself for sometime now and everyone that reports to me makes over 100k that's in the US, but I'm in the technology field where 100k is the norm, not the exception for anyone with more than a few years of experience.
People often exaggerate on internet forums, but what good does it do? Nobody knows who I am anyway.
My field has a big discrepancy depending on the size of the company you work for. You start in the minors, basically, making $15-20/hr and then get hired on by the big boys where we currently top out at around $170k base.
Mass loss of jobs due to structure changes of society (outsourcing, automation, etc) which disproportionally hits working class
Truth is, poverty is a relative term. Although not an ideal situation, a poor people in the U.S. is of much better shape than some one else. And both bottom and top are being taken care of, while the low 6 figures are footing the bills.
Explain how people earning 6 figures are "footing the bills"? Most of the country earns much less then 6 figures actually less then 50k a year. So if anything these people are "footing the bills" because of the larger volume of people vs 6 figure earners.
Explain how people earning 6 figures are "footing the bills"? Most of the country earns much less then 6 figures actually less then 50k a year. So if anything these people are "footing the bills" because of the larger volume of people vs 6 figure earners.
Wasn't it established that over 40% of households do not pay into Income Taxes? They do not earn a high enough salary after Standard Deductions and Personal Exemptions for themselves, spouse and children.
Wasn't it established that over 40% of households do not pay into Income Taxes? They do not earn a high enough salary after Standard Deductions and Personal Exemptions for themselves, spouse and children.
Either that or their income is exempt from taxation
people often exaggerate on internet forums, but what good does it do? Nobody knows who i am anyway.
My field has a big discrepancy depending on the size of the company you work for. You start in the minors, basically, making $15-20/hr and then get hired on by the big boys where we currently top out at around $170k base.
Explain how people earning 6 figures are "footing the bills"? Most of the country earns much less then 6 figures actually less then 50k a year. So if anything these people are "footing the bills" because of the larger volume of people vs 6 figure earners.
Most households earning less than $50k pay little if any federal income tax. Many of them get back more that they pay through various tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and the American Opportunity Credit. Once you get over $100k and higher, more and more of your paycheck goes to federal (and often state) income taxes.
In addition, many tax breaks such as the IRA deduction phase out for households in the low $100s. Plus this group is more likely to get hit with the alternative minimum tax.
Income based repayment for student loans benefits low to middle income earners a lot more than $100k and higher earners. And the higher income group is more likely to have more education and more student debt when they are starting off.
In high cost areas, where most of the $100k plus jobs are, many $50k and in some cases higher income households are often eligible for other benefits such as below market rate housing. If you're making over $100k you're stuck paying full price.
Also, those high cost areas with most of the $100k plus jobs often also come with hefty property taxes and state taxes. So the $100k plus group is paying those in addition to a much higher cost of living relative to $50k earners in a low or moderate cost region.
Same thing when it comes to college. A $100k + family likely qualifies for nothing in terms of need-based aid but can't really afford a $40k (or higher) tuition bill plus living expenses.
Then there is Social Security. The lower your working income is, the higher percentage you get back from Social Security. Lower income people will get much more back than they paid in while the $100k plus earners are unlikely to get back what they paid in.
As a result, higher income earners have to save much more to maintain a similar standard of living in retirement than middle or lower income people do. Also, the higher earners are more likely to need things like Long Term Care insurance, in case they need a nursing home, or they will have to spend down potentially several $100k of their retirement savings before they qualify for Medicaid. On the other hand, lower earners with fewer assets only have to "spend down" a little bit to qualify for Medicaid.
ive argued the ops point before. statistics say that the average median income is 32,140 according to gov stats. ive seen threads where they'll be 50 responses to how much money you make, blah blah blah. 47 of the 50 responses will say i make above the average income and fully fund my roth and 401k.
its not realistic.
What? Why? Why's that "not realistic"?
Why would you think any given thread on C-D would have a perfectly representative sample size of all Americans?
... If you live in rural Mississippi, there might be a few professional people and business owners who make 6 figures but most people you know won't. People self-segregate along socioeconomic lines in the United States. ...
Indeed. The consequence is that our small-town Mississippi lawyer/doctor/business-owner is going to feel socially isolated. This is the reverse of the predicament of the glamour-city professional, who is surrounded by similarly affluent people, and who comes to believe that the whole world is similarly affluent.
Whom would this Mississippi outlier potentially date and marry? With whom would he/she socialize? Ought this person to go around practicing a stilted accent and self-limited vocabulary, to suitably pass for being a "man of the people"? Should this person take care to desist from peppering his/her speech with literary references? Should this person learn to love Bud Lite and NASCAR?
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