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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.
I live 30 minutes outside Charlotte…not long ago $100k/year was pretty much rich.
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.
Yeh -- I love the people blaming people for not budgeting well.
That is no longer the case. At least 40% of my pay is taken by taxes. At least 40% of my pay is taken by housing costs (and even though I don't rent I can't control the INSANE property tax hikes). And so all I have to live on is 20% of my pay...
And when every single expense suddenly goes up 40%?
Car payments, house payments, credit card debts, private schools tuition, property taxes, higher income tax brackets, medical insurance, etc.
Told you all that if you are middle income earners, the Democrats were gunning for your wallets but you suburban folks thought you were immune to their policies and thought it was more important to virtue signal your liberalism to your friends and neighbors.
You get what you voted for.
Read a thread in the Economic forum yesterday from a guy whose wife got a promotion and a $10,000 / year raise. His point was lifestyle creep. Nothing more or less.
Wife now has to drive a 50 mile round trip to work 3 days a week instead of working from home. They also hired a housekeeper. Not much left from the net $10,000 raise.
How is it "economic health" when a higher percentage of people than ever at ALL income levels are living paycheck to paycheck? That's economic stagnation. Plus with Biden's high inflation rate, we have...
People don't know how to budget. They don't want to delay gratification. I belonged to a new home building group and could not get over the amount of money young people (late 20s/early 30s) were spending on (to me) unnecessary upgrades on the houses they are having built, and then complaining about how much it costs to build a home. If either spouse were to lose their job, it would devastate them financially. I also belong to a Toyota group (well a couple of them) and one person just posted that she purchased and then traded in 4 brand new vehicles in a year, because she didn't like the first 3 she purchased. Many people there post that their car payment is $900/month. For a Toyota Highlander. That's why people earning $100K are living paycheck to paycheck.
The methodologies of this poll or survey are unknown beyond it included 2,633 consumers. ( Maybe it’s in the download that requires registration)
A huge percentage of US people have always lived beyond their means and this includes many earning $100,000 +.
I know many that make right under 100k a year that complain about not having enough money and they they need to be paid more. They work in my office.
I take a good look at them and see the following....
Many of them have cars that are nearly new or within a year of new. Many of these cars are premium cars or trucks (Lexus, Infinti, King Ranch F150s...etc). Many have the latest I-phone and I pad. Many eat out for lunch every day. Many wear designer clothes and expensive shoes. Many of them have expensive watches (TAG Heurers, Omegas, etc.). Many live in newer houses that are way bigger than mine. Many vacation in places like Hawaii and go skiing at Christmas time. Many have kids that have expensive activities like golf or horseback riding and the teenager drive nice newer cars.
So are these people REALLY on the skids? Do they REALLY need to be paid more?
Of course not! They need to re-arrange their spending! They make plenty of money.
So yeah...I am not really buying the results of that survey.
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