41–50 of 62 posts
Keep in mind that zero Americans were actually surveyed to arrive at this figure. The methodology was simply extrapolate from price indexes of things we think people pay for . https://www.onemainfinancial.com/personal-loans/where-americ...
I don't know why this would be unbelievable or "whopping." $3.3M over 60 years of adult life (age 20 to 80) is $55k/year. That's pretty close to the median American income.
Which … would be exactly what you expect, even though it’s likely inflated a bit - if I buy a house for $400k this year and sell it in ten for $500k and buy another one for $600k did I spend $600k overall or $1m? You could even argue for $500k.
I would be more interested in the median. Also note that, as a back of the envelope calculation, $15/hour x 40hour/week x 52week/year x 40years = $1.248M.
I would be more interested in the median. Also note that, as a back of the envelope calculation, $15/hour x 40hour/week x 52week/year x 40years = $1.248M.
After taxes probably looking at closer to 900K. After paying off a 30 year mortgage, probably left with 500k? For simple math let’s say I 400k over 40 years that’s 10k left over per year to cover food and all the necessities of life. They’re living on a knifes edge and an inevitable emergency completely derails them.
> Our greatest ongoing financial priority is our home, with the average cost of a single-family house totaling $428,700,” the study states. “Americans tend to change residences every 15 years, pushing the average amount borrowed on housing to a staggering $1.5 million in a lifetime.” Why are they counting homes like that? If I sell and buy my investments in my 401k, they don't count it twice.
Because they're counting spending, not consumption. This is incidentally why house prices are not directly included in the CPI basket of goods: neither the purchase price of a house, nor the monthly payments are what people consume (= used up) in housing per year.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, but after people stop working it's common for them to replace their working income with Social Security, other pensions, and withdrawals from retirement accounts in which their savings compounded over time. And the median household income is actually $75k now. I'm just saying that $55k is very much in the ballpark for the median person. Does it really matter if that's before or after taxes?
But they're also counting retirement as an expense category. Which would imply that money is being spent twice?
"401k" is obviously not an "expense" independent of the things that 401k savings are actually spent on (I mean, unless one is counting the expense ratio on their mutual funds).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, but after people stop working it's common for them to replace their working income with Social Security, other pensions, and withdrawals from retirement accounts in which their savings compounded over time. And the median household income is actually $75k now. I'm just saying that $55k is very much in the ballpark for the median person. Does it really matter if that's before or after taxes?
> Sure, but after people stop working it's common for them to replace their working income with Social Security, other pensions, and withdrawals from retirement accounts in which their savings compounded over time. Agreed, but there was no room for savings in your model as you used the whole income as spending (median income * 60 years). Taxes makes a big difference too since it doesn't count as spending. E.g. someon…
I don't know why this would be unbelievable or "whopping." $3.3M over 60 years of adult life (age 20 to 80) is $55k/year. That's pretty close to the median American income.
Which … would be exactly what you expect, even though it’s likely inflated a bit - if I buy a house for $400k this year and sell it in ten for $500k and buy another one for $600k did I spend $600k overall or $1m? You could even argue for $500k.
Breaking: Americans don't eat food?