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Photos of items from families in different countries with different incomes

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Re: Photos of items from families in different countries with different incomes

#41

Note that some of the entries here are clearly outdated. I've cycled through some "global south" countries that I'm familiar with and what's shown may have been true maybe 15-20 years ago. GDP has 4x since then and at the same salary level the lifestyle is either equivalent or better than the richer countries.

I observed the same. There are "poor" countries listed here that would make large swaths of Americans look like they still lived pre-WWII, and were destitute.

Edit: Sorry, to be more explicit: by global standards large swaths of Americans DO live pre-WWII lives and have poorly constructed homes and lifestyles.

Re: Photos of items from families in different countries with different incomes

#42

To give context on my other comments, where I live in Scotland, median full time wage is around $55k. You can live a perfectly comfortable life on that; you don't have to worry about bills or medical expenses, and you can afford to get a mortgage and buy a house (probably costing around $300k or so) That's why I'm surprised about people from a richer nation saying they can't afford things.

How can you afford a 300k mortgage at 55k a year. That would be a very large percent of monthly pay right?

Mortgages are generally paid over 30 years.

Re: Photos of items from families in different countries with different incomes

#43

To give context on my other comments, where I live in Scotland, median full time wage is around $55k. You can live a perfectly comfortable life on that; you don't have to worry about bills or medical expenses, and you can afford to get a mortgage and buy a house (probably costing around $300k or so) That's why I'm surprised about people from a richer nation saying they can't afford things.

How can you afford a 300k mortgage at 55k a year. That would be a very large percent of monthly pay right?

Yes, houses are expensive, but it's not out of reach. You can afford a mortgage on the average home.

Re: Photos of items from families in different countries with different incomes

#44
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In every thread about housing people on HN post wildly outlandish claims about expenses that belie their totally out of touch perspectives. If you make 100K a month (the lower bound of what you just wrote). Let's say you put 25K into retirement. You eat out every meal so 4K food/living budget. That leaves 60K (I'll give you 10K slush fund for savings money or as a general keeping-up-with-the-jones' fund). 60K per mon…

> 60K per month will pay a 4.5 million dollar mortgage A mortgage is NOT owning! So many people are poisoned by this propaganda promoted by American society and banks. They prey on the masses by infiltrating the public with this live-on-borrowed-money ideology. Your 60K/month may end NEXT month and become 0/month if you are subject to the next round of Zuck's layoffs, or you end up stack ranked and PIPed at Amazon du…

You’re playing with words here. Mortgages are considered ownership around the world.

It’s only fair I throw a creative wrench in your idea of ownership then: eminent domain. You can never own something if it can just be taken away even if you are compensated.

Re: Photos of items from families in different countries with different incomes

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you afford a 300k mortgage at 55k a year. That would be a very large percent of monthly pay right?

Mortgages are generally paid over 30 years.

Long mortgages are a really really bad idea with high interest percentages. Unless you've locked in a low percentage from before corona you're going to pay almost as much in interest as you'd be paying for the house...

To pay off 300k within 30 years at current mortgage interest of 4% you'll have to pay 1432/month (215k of interest will be necessary)

Depending on the amount of taxes you have to pay, thats likely > 50% of netto wage

Re: Photos of items from families in different countries with different incomes

#46

Modern lifestyle seems to start at $700-$800 per month per adult pretty much everywhere and doesn't get much better even at few k.

It depends. In a ridiculously cheap country like India where food prices are hilariously low you can get quite far on $200/month. Fresh vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, onion, garlic, spinach, squashes, gourds, eggplants etc) are literally an order of magnitude cheaper than what you would find in a cheap American grocery store. You can also get full meals from restaurants for about 30-40c. Medical care is also dirt cheap with most regular doctor visits costing between $1-$2. High end medical care and surgeries for less than $1000 for the whole procedure and stay. The PPP multiplier is something like 6-7x.

Re: Photos of items from families in different countries with different incomes

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget taxes. In that bracket, in California, you're paying 50% of your income in taxes, and so $100K/month is actually $50K/month. I think OP is overselling the point, but not by nearly as much as people think.

That's not how tax brackets work. The effective tax would be about 26%.

It's quite a bit more than that. I get total taxes paid of:

Federal: 1240 + 0.12 * (50400 - 12401) + 0.22 * (105700 - 50401) + 0.24 * (201775 - 105771) + 0.32 * (256225 - 201776) + 0.35 * (640600 - 256226) + 0.37 * (1200000 - 640601) = 399938.83

State: 0.01 * 11078 + 0.02 * (26264 - 11080) + 0.04 * (41452 - 26265) + 0.06 * (57542 - 41453) + 0.08 * (72724 - 57543) + 0.093 * (371479 - 72725) + 0.0103 * (445771 - 371480) + 0.0113 * (742953 - 445772) + 0.0123 * (1200000 - 742954)

SF property tax on a $4.5M property: 1.18268325% for a total of about $53,220.75

Total: about $493K for an effective tax rate of about 41%, assuming this hypothetical SF resident is single and just purchased their $4.5M property this year.

Re: Photos of items from families in different countries with different incomes

#48
post #21
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I promise you not. Houses here cost $2M+ for something livable and $1M for something with mold and other safety issues. When half that $50K gets taxed, half of what's remaining has to be saved up for retirement in a place that deeply discriminates against age, you don't have much left to save up for buying a $2M house.

I am not even sure if you are being sarcastic. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/80-Prentiss-St-San-Franci... check this out.

Man, that's nicer than houses in Redmond for the same money (though the SF one is a touch smaller), and you won't get that view. Bay Area house prices are insane, ya say?

Re: Photos of items from families in different countries with different incomes

#49
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In every thread about housing people on HN post wildly outlandish claims about expenses that belie their totally out of touch perspectives. If you make 100K a month (the lower bound of what you just wrote). Let's say you put 25K into retirement. You eat out every meal so 4K food/living budget. That leaves 60K (I'll give you 10K slush fund for savings money or as a general keeping-up-with-the-jones' fund). 60K per mon…

> 60K per month will pay a 4.5 million dollar mortgage A mortgage is NOT owning! So many people are poisoned by this propaganda promoted by American society and banks. They prey on the masses by infiltrating the public with this live-on-borrowed-money ideology. Your 60K/month may end NEXT month and become 0/month if you are subject to the next round of Zuck's layoffs, or you end up stack ranked and PIPed at Amazon du…

Never go full crazy.

Re: Photos of items from families in different countries with different incomes

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not how tax brackets work. The effective tax would be about 26%.

It's quite a bit more than that. I get total taxes paid of: Federal: 1240 + 0.12 * (50400 - 12401) + 0.22 * (105700 - 50401) + 0.24 * (201775 - 105771) + 0.32 * (256225 - 201776) + 0.35 * (640600 - 256226) + 0.37 * (1200000 - 640601) = 399938.83 State: 0.01 * 11078 + 0.02 * (26264 - 11080) + 0.04 * (41452 - 26265) + 0.06 * (57542 - 41453) + 0.08 * (72724 - 57543) + 0.093 * (371479 - 72725) + 0.0103 * (445771 - 371480…

Sorry, I'm used to people quoting annual salaries and misread the GP.
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