'An economic divide that is widening': Almost one third of Americans earning $150,000 a year or more say they're living paycheck to paycheck and many rely on credit cards to close the gap
'An economic divide that is widening': Almost one third of Americans earning $150,000 a year or more say they're living paycheck to paycheck and many rely on credit cards to close the gap
Some say they won’t be able to pay off their credit cards by the end of the year.
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Stop arguing if people making 150k a year should be fine.
It's the billionaires. Look at them.
I mean by all standards they should be completely fine.
I make less than $30k/year and make it work without credit. I honestly want to see their bills and what their living situation looks like because if you can't manage $150k/year comfortably you're definitely doing something wrong.
Other places may have higher cost of living. Hard to tell. But it does sound like a lot of money.
I make a lot less than $150k in CAD and live in one of the most expensive cities in the world and I'm doing fine. But yeah obviously billionaires are the problem.
I don't disagree, but $150k is just not that much money any more for a household. My wife and I make probably around $110 or so. I got lucky and bought a house 6-8 years ago (I'd never be able to afford interest rates or what that house appraises at now) we have a couple of <$20k used cars with good rates, and a household of 6-8 depending on which of my kid's friends basically live with us this week.
if I were buying my house today, we'd need to make much closer to the 150 just to maintain our current middle class lifestyle, and trust me, it's not like we're eating steak every night (or probably even every month.) I mean, sure, there are things we can do to make that money go further, and we will likely have to do as my kids get older/more expensive.
You get used to the money and spend more until you are broke. Maybe it's peer pressure, irresponsibility or a lack of financial education.
In other words, something within your control.
You can't budget your way out of the income from a minimum wage job, but at $150k it's very easy to manage.
I mean by all standards they should be completely fine.
I read it as whether it's fine (moral) that they make that much money, not whether they could live off it. Else, what context for billionaires being mentioned?
I'm a software developer, a couple years outta college. My girlfriend and I are living together, and make about $120k/yr combined. We have no problem, I save a lot of my income and still have a bunch left over for hobbies. She has maybe a couple grand in student debt left and I've never been in debt in my life. I'd be willing to bet that a large portion of the issue is car payments and payments on a house that's fancier than they need.
It's also wild that roughly the same percentage (36%) of people making $50k-$150k are also living paycheck to paycheck. Live within you means. It isn't hard.
Now live in San Francisco, have 2 kids and a house.
Probably not even possible on 120k
Edit: im not in San Francisco, but I don't think you could own where i am with a dual income of 120k and have a place that would work for 2 kids. At least moving here today. 5-10 years ago it'd work no problem. Cheapest 3 bedroom condo is 525k with $620 monthly fees, but almost all of them are 700k+ (in CAD)
If I had kids, I wouldn't live there. If I lived there I wouldn't have kids until I was able to move.
It obviously isn't as simple as that, and it's a personal choice, but that's how I see it. Kids isn't just an emotional choice, you've gotta be able to raise them within your means.
Where I live, we could own a house and have a couple kids, but it makes more sense to rent right now. Where we currently live, we could have a couple kids, and they'd each have their own room, but it'd be a bit tight.
That's part of the problem though. We should all be able to have a house and kids. Those are not luxuries. The fact that you're arguing that income is fine if you forego those means the corporations and billionaires have successfully convinced you to fight against your own class and self interests.
I'm not arguing that it isn't bullshit, I'm just arguing that it's possible, considering the situation. Just because it's bullshit that I can't afford kids doesn't mean I'm going to accumulate credit debt by having kids.
Yes and no.
Yes the economic rigging is the billionaire class. But at 150k assuming. Single and not joint income, this is interesting. At that point you are 78th percentile of income. How is the top 25 percentile not able to cover expenses? I think that is a question worth asking.
Also read the article. It talks about paycheck to paycheck as not being able to cover full credit card expenses monthly.
I think a more apt question is: what is it about our economic system that creates a situation where the people in the top 25 percentile of earners are incapable of supporting themselves financially?
That said, with a few lifestyle changes, I believe someone making $150k per year could make it work in most, if not all, major US cities. It might be a small one bedroom apartment, and you might need to walk or take a subway to work, but it can probably be done.
I think a lot of people who grew up in the 90s and early 00s working class kind of saw $100k/year something to aspire to (at least where I grew up). Like, if you could make that much, then that would mean you'd be more than set. These days, not so much. It's hard (for me at least) to remember sometimes that it's really not that much money anymore.
I think a lot of people who grew up in the 90s and early 00s working class kind of saw $100k/year something to aspire to
Oh absolutely. Looking at median home prices by state and even then choosing a lowball estimate for a mortgage ($275k, 0 down) at today's rates (7-8%) you're looking at nearly a $3k/mo house payment. So, like 30-40% of your income. This doesn't include taxes/insurance, so that $3k is probably $3500 being again extremely generous, so that's just about half of your income. And that's for a house with no heat, water, electric...
I have a family of 6-8, and make just over this amount between our incomes, and it's tricky. Absolutely wouldn't be possible for us if we hadn't bought our home 6-8 years ago.
Exactly. People need to remember that $100k in 2023 is different than $100k in 2003.
They don't realize that they're falling right into the trap of class infighting. You can absolutely make $150k and still be a "working class family" in certain areas of the US in 2023. These aren't the people we should be focusing on.