One-Third of Americans Making $250,000 Live Paycheck-to-Paycheck, Survey Finds

[88m3]

If people are living paycheck to paycheck on 250k salaries shouldn't we cut salaries? -tlr hot take

 

[Lord Beasley]

Are we talking single no kids or people with familiies? Because having kids will wipe out your paycheck quick.

i'm telling you right now, if my family pulled $250K a year, we wouldn't be living paycheck to paycheck. we'd be on a summer vacation

 

[alybaba]

if you were living paycheck to paycheck, you wouldnt have a six figure emergency fund or am i missing something here

The framing of the article and conversation are fundamentally flawed.

This conversation can never be fruitful, because the reality is 250K is "more than enough" to live. It's also a far cry from what is considered POVERTY.

People who are truly living check to check, are also typically food insecure and overridden with debt. Their money flaws out of their checking account a day or two after its processed. .

The ability to put money into an investment / savings account, is a disqualifier.

Now if the framing of this article and conversation was about how 250K in a high income neighborhood, doesnt go as far as many people think, now that's a fair assumption to make.

I was giving my example to demonstrate that despite not living lavishly and with no student debt, you can have little to no savings if you make 250k+ if you live in a VHCOL area and have kids. 100% acknowledge I don’t fit into that category and am super privileged.

 

[shonuff]

In NYC or SF 250k even in the suburbs is not a lot of money

Say you take out for taxes- 150k gets cut quick

Mortgage can easily be 3k property taxes even in a place like Westchester or yonkers or Suffolk County or in NJ can be in the 18 to 25k range so that 50 k gone- if you're a family of say 4 childcare can be about 1000 a month - so a child underage knocks you down another 12k - and if you're saving for a kids college via a 529 that's another 12k to 15 k gone- health unsurace under a generous carrier will run you about 600 a month - braces or extracurricular activities for teens can easily be 10k cars and car insurance can run into the 1000 range ( 2 late model cars full coverage in NYC Metro is not cheap even in the suburbs ) by that time.i think you're down to about 60k left to spread between travel to work - utilities and food which can take down about 20k maybe 30k if you have a oil heat ...


So that leaves what like 40 or 50 k to spread over 12 months which seems like a lot but when you think about it 40 to 50k divided by 12 - is 3000 to 4000 a month which is not really a lot if a car break down happens or a summer vacation has to be paid for or something fukked up major happens to the home ( roof dmg fire or septic tank electrical or major plumbing issue which can all easily go from 2000 to 10,000 dollars )

 

[alybaba]

if you're a family of say 4 childcare can be about 1000 a month

This is an underestimate for sure. Decent preschool is like 1200 per month per child and then you tack on before school and after school care and you’re looking at more like 3k per month in total for 2 kids at an absolute minimum. In NYC Bright Horizons charges like 2.5k per child lol

 

[CrimsonTider]

then we gotta redefine paycheck to paycheck. that term has always meant "i'm fukked/gonna barely scrape by if i get laid off tomorrow". if you got six figures worth of liquidable assets (taxable brokerage accounts and cash, not retirement accounts) you're not living paycheck to paycheck as you can pay your bills just fine for a few months if you lost your job tomorrow. people living paycheck to paycheck dont have the cash to float them during tough times.

Facts

Living pay check to paycheck making 50k is totally different than living paycheck to paycheck making 250k