1y ago

'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

finance.yahoo.com '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.

'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

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I make less than a third of that and make it work (barely). Some people need to seriously reassess their priorities or something.
- Many probably live in higher cost of living areas.
  And it's entirely possible/likely if they move to a lower cost of living area they will suddenly not make anywhere near as much and still live paycheck to paycheck.
- You don't get any sort of financial assistance?
  I grew up on the poverty line. Food Stamps and Affortable Housing programs got us by.
  I worked my ass off to get above the threshold of qualifying for any sort of assistance, and now I live at about the same level because food and rent eat up the difference between what I make and what my parents made.
  
  Nope, no direct financial assistance. Though my parents are close by, and do help with things like inviting me over to dinner like once a month and helping me buy used furniture, if that counts. I shop very frugally and don't have expensive hobbies. The only thing I'm really missing is savings.
  
  We are cut from different cloths.
  I hope you the best.
  
  Maybe. At least I'm not making $150k and somehow still struggling lol
  
  Ya.
  You can't figure out how to make 150k, but you think you are better than people who have.
  Tried to end it nice, but fuck you are a raging asshole.
  
  Do you make $150k and are struggling to make ends meet? Please clue me in to the struggles, I'm all ears.
  
  Household, not solo, income of about 150k.
  About same quality of life as I had growing up.
  No kids.
  Bottom barrel health insurance is a LOT more expensive than it is for people who make less. Drive a Honda Civic, but I still pay more for car insurance than my buddies that make less and drive Mustangs/Chargers/etc. My mom got WIC. I don't. My mom qualified for Affordable Housing. I don't.
  I mean... I endorse you punching up, but I don't think you aim those punches high enough, which makes you look like the kind of asshole who it makes sense that you can't find actual gainful employment to advance yourself.
  If this conversation proceeds, I need to know if you have reproduced, if you have been divorced, and if you are on any form of public assistance.
  I'm no divorce/no kids/ can't qualify for public assistance and my rent, food, and insurance costs have me living paycheck to paycheck.
  At a current household income of, specifically, about 130k, far higher than I ever thought I'd pull off, there is NO shot at me getting a mortgage and I'm still living at the standard of life whose tax statements include kids, divorces, far lower paying jobs, and public assistance.
  
  Aha so you ARE taking it personally, I had a feeling. I'll go through the math with you for the sake of discussion, name calling aside.
  I have no kids, no marriage, no car payment, no student loans, no public assistance.
  Take home pay after taxes and benefits is about $2500. Housing is $1500. Utilities are $250 including A/C during summer. Car insurance I'm rounding up to $150. Gas is $150. Food is ridiculous of course, looks like $250 for groceries and let's say $150 for combined coffee/sometimes lunch/maybe a pizza here and there. Add em all up and I'm at... $2450. Like I said, I barely make it work. :)
  There are many other details I'm leaving out for the sake of anonymity, and I will admit I did get lucky in some regards, but I can imagine my figures are quite extendable with someone who has a roommate or two, who got handed down a family member's car, who has a decent side hussle, who reaps the benefits of minimizing their bills, etc.
  If made 3x as much as I did, with the same monthly costs, I would be in a ridiculously better place financially. I would have a decent amount of savings and could eventually have enough for a mortgage down payment. I could even have a good set of investments that would further contribute to my income. There would be no excuse to still be struggling, hence my hostility. Not saying to not eat the rich, also not saying our system isn't fundamentally fucked and that our current and future generations might not ever be homeowners, but I feel my original point still stands.
- What's even the point of your comment, I'm not trying to be rude it just seems unhelpful and the attitude is prevalent. Sure, if people adjust their habits they could make due, but the problem is the fucking robbery of all working people so it's just wasting time bickering with points like this.
  
  The point is that there is something fishy going on if you make $150k and still can't make ends meet.
  My hunch is that there is obvious excess spending on things that aren't needed, and downsizing is the best solution. Families don't need a $80k SUV when a sedan would do for example. Joneses be damned.
  
  Your 150k number continues to highlight how oblivious you are to the current state of the economy.
  1 mil... maybe that has gotten past the orphan crushing machine/boring dystopia threshold, but there is almost no physical quality of life difference between someone making 50k a year and someone making 150k a year.
  How does the old adage go?
  Mo money mo problems.
  
  The $150k was literally in the OP lol?
  You've called me an asshole multiple times yet you've been incredibly toxic in this comment thread.
- Yeah, I was making a flat 50k a few years ago, and seeing some college classmates making three times as much complaining about how poor they were could only make me laugh.
  I'm doing much better now, but it still drives me nuts when people don't know how to appreciate what they have.
  
  Someone can appreciate what they have and still struggle to support a family, repair and maintaine a house, pay deductibles and co-pays for medical treatments, support an unemployed or ailing family member, pay student loans, pay car loans, send remittances to family in a home country, etc. They could simply live in a HCOL area. There are many not unusual scenarios that could have a household making $150k/year struggle.
  
  It drives me nuts when people think their circumstances define someone else's, too.

274 comments