oh no. are those poor people ok? they cant budget 150k? i feel really bad for them. is there perhaps a venmo? I make less than 50k, but gosh, i didnt realize they had it so hard.

I remember talking with some Americans a few years ago, they worked in the tech industry, so definitely on the upper side of the income range. And even they said they were feeling the crunch around 2022-2023. I can only imagine how it felt for the regular people.

Quite the contrast with the official numbers which claimed the American economy is growing. Let's just say that the election outcome was not surprising.

$150k household income is not enough to afford a house, middle class standard of living, children, and retirement savings since you don't have a pension. at least in my area.

it'll get you lower middle class, maybe.

I'm not saying these people should be having money issues, they need to budget appropriately. but what used to be possible 20 years ago just isn't now, you need to choose one big thing to drop, whether that's a detached house, children, expensive hobbies, trips, etc

there's too much shifting of the goal posts for what middle class is, I think it has slipped too far downwards

About 38% of all new jobs created in the five years before the pandemic paid above-average wages, VantageScore's data shows. But this year that share has fallen to 7%, signaling that companies are creating fewer white-collar positions. That poses a challenge to higher-income Americans who suffer a job loss because it may be tougher to find new employment than in previous years.

I feels like this is very important as it actually the reason why they're struggling on repayment, because technically they aren't making 150k per year but 0 per year.

But the financial management criticism still sound.

I was curious what this might look like, so I ran some numbers. It would be easy to hit this in a high cost of living area where rent will easily run 5-6k per month, but what about a medium cost of living place? I assumed a family of 4 with both parents working for 75k each and a 20% total tax rate (FICA, federal, state). All of this is based on what I know of typical cost of living items in the US.

After Tax Income (monthly) 10000

Housing 2500 Child care 1500 2 Car Payments (25k each) 1000 Groceries 800 Medical (incl. insurance) 800 401k (6% deduction) 750 2 Student Loans (30k each) 700 Utilities 400 Auto Insurance 300 Total Core Expenses 8750 Leftover for Discretionary 1250

So, you'd have 1250 per month to cover clothing, auto fuel, dining out, pets, fun money, subscriptions, activities for the kids, gifts, etc. You could easily run that to zero or below every month.

Now, there may be some room to cut in this budget, like not funding your retirement and giving up your 401k match or living in a much smaller home. But I would also say some of these numbers are very generous. Rent could be over 3k, most people don't have a 25k car loan, if you own your home you can get hit with random major repair costs, and probably most parents would laugh at my estimated child care cost.

I think a key takeaway here is that kids are really expensive. Aside from the child care costs, most people with kids will want a little more living space than is doable in an apartment and kids go through food and clothes like crazy. You could probably chop at least 2-3k per month off this budget if it was a couple living in an apartment closer into the city core, with shorter commutes and maybe even options for public transit, biking, or walking.

What this article fails to mention is that all houses within 2hrs of the San Francisco Bay Area are close to a million dollars plus at least 1k a month in property taxes. With insufficient public transportation cars are a necessity

Not to detract from the statement being made but many people will sign away all their money regardless of their income.

I know this is going to go against the "everything is terrible" narrative. But unpopular opinion - these people are just dumb. If you are making 150k per year and struggling to pay your bills, then that is your own fault. Live somewhere cheaper. Buy a cheaper car and learn to do your own repairs and maintenance. Cook your own food. Dont rack up credit card debt. And dont have kids if you can't afford them.

I'm sure some people in the comments will all be like "no, no, you dont understand - it's impossible to save money even at $150k incomes!" Bullshit! There are people who manage to get by on minimum wage. Or on $50k per year. Or hell, on $100k per year. I managed to retire at 31 and never broke the six figure mark. Now, I'm a cheap bastard and basically dedicated my life for 8 years to giving my cubical the middle finger - but if it is possible for me to do that, then yes, it is completely possible for people making $150k to not go deep into debt. It is absurd that I have to not only say this, but defend it against delusional doomers who just want to say that literally everything is hopeless and no one can ever get ahead.

Yeah, no. You know all the brand spanking new lifted pavement-princess pickups you see everywhere? Those were bought on credit. You know how DoorDash and McDonalds continue being profitable despite being absurdly expensive these days? They can do that because people keep paying them! Or the shopping malls that continue churning out shit fast fashion clothing that will disintegrate in 6 hours? Lots of them are packed on the weekends!

Straight up: outside of some very unusual circumstances, if you are bringing in $150k and still can't keep up with your bills, You. Are. A. Dumbass.