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What blows my mind is the people who keep racking up credit card debt while making only the minimum monthly payments. They have NO clue that their instant gratification purchases are going to cost them multiple times the original price due to compounding interest on the outstanding balance.
That would be an easy thing to teach. In general, schools don't teach it, but parents should unless they want their kids to be financially handicapped for most of their adult lives.
Guess where our 22-year old learned it (besides from us)...church! Yes, they taught a Dave Ramsey course at the youth ministry he attended each Sunday during his high school years. I was shocked by that.
Higher wages are not paid by the employer or the government. They are paid by the consumer and the taxpayer. Higher wages always result in higher prices, resetting the entire formula back to the original ratio, or often even worse for the consumer. This cycle is the engine of inflation.
The only way to survive long term in the real world is to spend less than you make. It is too bad everyone these days thinks they deserve a lifestyle they can't afford. It is time to jerk the rug out from under them regarding freebies and bailouts and make them suffer the consequences of their own poor decisions.
This is not always true. If the equation is right, employers eat profit loss rather than going out of business/profit abolishment. It's a function of the supply/demand curve and the percentage of costs coming from labor at all points of production vs raw material cost. If what you say is true, then the wage/COL ratio would invariably be improved by everyone taking wage cuts (all the way to zero?). Fortunately, it's all corporate propaganda BS. There is some truth to your statement, but it's not that simple. Rather, a complex equation.
1) Every one of the 64% living paycheck to paycheck, are much better off than the federal gov't is....financially speaking.
2) What happens to these poor souls when interest rates normalize? These folks typically carry a lot of consumer debt.
3) Inflation is still rising, & will not return to 1.5% anytime soon, so the 64% from this January study is likely 67% today...and rising. It will easily reach 70% by the end of 2022.
I find it amusing that so many of you think $100,000 is some insane amount and should be easy to live off of. Granted if you don't want to do anything, have no life, your kids have no lives, you can do it comfortably.
If you take a family of four though and after taxes, medical insurance, 401K the net is not the largest amount. Now throw in housing costs, groceries, car payments, car insurance, utilities, activities for the kids................how much do you really think you have left?
Assume you make $100,000 on 26 pay period schedule in a high tax state. Net you'll bring home about $2,600 every pay period. Housing eats up probably $2,000 of that, groceries the remainder. That leaves you with another $2,600 check. Now figure in car payments, utilities, car insurance, kids activities, and maybe you go out twice a month to eat that pretty much eats up the rest of your money.
It's a common problem I've noted on this forum many times.
Most of the posters lack geographical diversity. They don't understand how 100k can be a lot of money or very little.
My childhood home, a very nicely kept 3 br ranch with updates etc. would sell for under 200k. It would easily fetch 750k in other parts of the country.
It's a common problem I've noted on this forum many times.
Most of the posters lack geographical diversity. They don't understand how 100k can be a lot of money or very little.
My childhood home, a very nicely kept 3 br ranch with updates etc. would sell for under 200k. It would easily fetch 750k in other parts of the country.
That brings up another problem. Building code/zoning law control freak NIMBYs. And guess in which areas that is worst? Left-wing enclaves.
The survey found that among those earning more than $100,000, 48 percent said they were living paycheck to paycheck, an increase from 42 percent in December 2021. The number has increased since May 2021 when 39 percent of six-figure earners said the same."
Interesting that they don’t go back to pre-Pandemic shutdowns. Remember that Fauci Shut Down for 2 weeks to Flatten the Curve” Fairytale. Whatever happened to that guy? He just went Poof! After Daily TeeVee pronouncements.
Back in 2019 under that OrangeManBAD meany tweeter … only 10% of that $100,000 bunch were living “Paycheck to Paycheck” - which translates to Above their Means & not saving. It’s important to note that the article is 2019, the data is 2017 and it was done right after a Government Shutdown.
I remember the years we lived “paycheck to paycheck” —- we always had savings and always added to the savings every single month. It’s not that difficult if you set up the savings as automatic and it never shows up in you monthly budget.
Been retired a dozen years and still have it set up that way.. Too many businesses, small businesses were forced to close in the last 2 years. Small Business has always been a Major Economic Indicator.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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We are in a city near Seattle where the median family income is $183k now, thanks to Amazon and Microsoft. We are one family that lowers that a bit but we are doing fine, and saving money every month, buying whatever we need or want without debt. The reason is that we bought our house in 1993 and stayed in it. When your mortgage payment stays the same over 27 years with promotions and pay raises that are far exceed the increases in property tax, you have a chance of coming out ahead. I couldn't afford to buy my own house today, now that the value has increased by more than a million.
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These folks typically carry a lot of consumer debt.
