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How can you compare living in Queens with living in Nassau? If room mate's mom 'purposefully lived in a house she could afford' it is a very good bet that she wasn't living in one of the nicer areas like Little Neck, Bayside or Douglaston and certainly not Forest Hills Gardens or Jamaica Estates.
Also folks in Queens are paying far less in RE taxes than they are in Nassau --despite having to pay NYC income tax. There's no mention of this college room mate's father, either. What did he do for a living? Did you see this woman's checkbook? Do you know for fact that said room mate wasn't the beneficiary of some sort of financial aid for city students who attending underperforming schools? (We see a lot of that at SBU) T
Rich is a relative term. A person coming from a poor country is certainly going to feel that $90K is rich. She worked hard to earn what she had and I have respect for her, but by no means would I consider her rich by any measure.
The bolded area is the point. When you purposely live somewhere that you cannot afford with your income (even less than 250K) it is your fault that you are poor. If you didn't make bad decisions with your money and try to live above your means when you make 250K and live in a 1.5 million dollar home, you are "house poor." Meaning that you spend too much money on your house and that is the only reason why you cannot get by on your VERY large income.
My roommates mother was not a dummy and knew that she couldn't afford a million dollar home so found a home that she could afford and that would allow her to save for her two children's education and take them on trips around the world. That is being smart with your wealth.
Also, wanted to add that I did look on zillow at Nassau county and there were plenty of houses 500K or less, so the person(s) making 250K and buying a million dollar home and knowing how exorbitant taxes are in NY is pretty dumb to buy a house of that price and in a "good" neighborhood when I bet pretty much all of Nassau County is pretty good and they shouldn't be trying to live in a place they cannot afford. They aren't poor by any means, they are just ignorant, one could say stupid because they should know better. And they are still well off and nearly rich based on their income.
ETA: My roommate in college was from NY, Queens in particular and her mom made over 90K per year as a guard at Rikers, her mom even admitted that she was very well off. She owned her home and purposefully lived in a house that she could afford. They took trips to different parts of the world at least twice a year and she paid the majority of my roommates college tuition by writing a check. They were very well off. Her mom was from Panama though and appreciated how "rich" she was and admitted as such.
oh I get it...the liberal defination of rich...being able to own your own home and send your kid to college....got it
The top 2% are Billionaires not $250,000 aires the top 450,000 Aristocrats in the country
The 2% comprises of households making $250k or more. There are less than a thousand billionaires in this country , so there is no way it can be all billionaires.
oh I get it...the liberal defination of rich...being able to own your own home and send your kid to college....got it
Um...I'm not a liberal so don't know the liberal definition of anything.
All I was saying was that a person who makes 250K is very well off in this country and if they chose to live somewhere that makes home ownership extremely expensive for themselves and which causes them to not be able to send their kids to school (if that is a goal they have) then they are stupid.
You are the one who brought up expensive areas of the country to live in. You stated some high rents/mortgage payments that people who earn a living in this range will have to pay (3-5K) I am saying they can afford to pay in that price range 3-5K and if they choose to buy a 1.5 million dollar home, which you said is the price of a home in Nassau County NW (and which I subsequently searched to see if I could find homes for under 600K, which I did and about 200 of them at that) then I say that they are still well off in regards to their income but that they make dumb decisions on where to live and make themselves "house poor."
I can say and do say the same things to people I know IRL who make the same income that my husband and I make (about 80K combined) and who chose to live in 500K homes.
Um...I'm not a liberal so don't know the liberal definition of anything.
All I was saying was that a person who makes 250K is very well off in this country and if they chose to live somewhere that makes home ownership extremely expensive for themselves and which causes them to not be able to send their kids to school (if that is a goal they have) then they are stupid.
You are the one who brought up expensive areas of the country to live in. You stated some high rents/mortgage payments that people who earn a living in this range will have to pay (3-5K) I am saying they can afford to pay in that price range 3-5K and if they choose to buy a 1.5 million dollar home, which you said is the price of a home in Nassau County NW (and which I subsequently searched to see if I could find homes for under 600K, which I did and about 200 of them at that) then I say that they are still well off in regards to their income but that they make dumb decisions on where to live and make themselves "house poor."
I can say and do say the same things to people I know IRL who make the same income that my husband and I make (about 80K combined) and who chose to live in 500K homes.
WAGES..in most cases are based on COST OF LIVING....ie a mechanic in FL might be only making $18/hr...while a mechanic on Long island is averageing $40/hr
facts are facts 250K in NY is not 250k in Mississippi
and in NEITHER place is 250k ...rich....well of maybe...uppermiddle class maybe..but certainly not rich
btw rich/wealth is not based on WAGES
I know a customer service person at Home Depot...been there from like 25 years..SHE HAS 1.5 MILLION in stock options...rich is not about youe WAGE,,,its about ASSETS
The 2% comprises of households making $250k or more. There are less than a thousand billionaires in this country , so there is no way it can be all billionaires.
No you are wrong. They do the top 10% hold the majority of wealth in the country.
Um...I'm not a liberal so don't know the liberal definition of anything.
All I was saying was that a person who makes 250K is very well off in this country and if they chose to live somewhere that makes home ownership extremely expensive for themselves and which causes them to not be able to send their kids to school (if that is a goal they have) then they are stupid.
You are the one who brought up expensive areas of the country to live in. You stated some high rents/mortgage payments that people who earn a living in this range will have to pay (3-5K) I am saying they can afford to pay in that price range 3-5K and if they choose to buy a 1.5 million dollar home, which you said is the price of a home in Nassau County NW (and which I subsequently searched to see if I could find homes for under 600K, which I did and about 200 of them at that) then I say that they are still well off in regards to their income but that they make dumb decisions on where to live and make themselves "house poor."
I can say and do say the same things to people I know IRL who make the same income that my husband and I make (about 80K combined) and who chose to live in 500K homes.
and quit with they "if the chose to live there"...I was born in brooklyn, and we moved out to WORKINGCLASS LONG ISLAND back in the early 60's when I was 5....
I love how people spin things
we talk about UNEMPLOYMENT, and suggest 'hey move to where the jobs are" and poeple say "dont taze me man"....then FLIP the page when we say how some area are more expensive and a 'one size fits all doesnt work" and you people say well move to a lower cost area....go figure
Do you think being within the 2% of income earners should be considered middle class?
The better question is whether that couple is rich. Obama in the past month has been going on about "millionaires and billionaires" paying their fair share. So his proposed tax increases start with the couple earning $250,000.00 per year. Has Obama just re-defined "millionaires and billionaires?"
in the 1950.. rich (the top bracket) was taxable incomes over 400k....that would be 3 million in today's dollars
so you are saying a nassau county cop (regualr PO) making 150k married to a teacher making 105k is rich....so liberals are defining a workingclass cop married to a workingclass teacher are rich....isnt that just swell
250k is middleclass
those are salary examples from high cost of living areas...
going off of 2006 tax data:
1- the minimum AGI of the top 1% of filers was $388,800
2- the AGI of filers at the $250k mark and above accounted for <3% of all filers
the poll has it correct. 97% of filers make less than $250k
scrap your example. it's not representative and yes, a married couple making $255k....that's rich by the vast majority of americans standards. now how they choose to live will be the tell-tale sign of whether your example couple struggle and live a happy life
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