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$500k a Year yet Struggling? Let's Do a Double Take

bloomberg.com

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Re: $500k a Year yet Struggling? Let's Do a Double Take

#3
I'd like to point out this is an opinion piece, and verifies the intuitive claim that 500k/yr is not struggling to make ends meet even in nyc. The piece concludes with questioning why people feel like they're paycheck to paycheck when they're not, and cites wealth inequality (skewed idea of how well off one is by knowing wealthier people) and a lack in paycheck deposits because of other payments into things like 401k.

Re: $500k a Year yet Struggling? Let's Do a Double Take

#4
post #2

Mortgage payments: $60,000 $60K / year isn't going to pay for the mortgage on even a small house in Silicon Valley.

Sure it will. That's a $1.2M house with 20% down. There are plenty of 2-3 bedroom 1200-1500sq ft houses around here in that range. Sure, it would be an average school district and maybe have a bit of a commute, but you can find stuff in that range for sure.

Re: $500k a Year yet Struggling? Let's Do a Double Take

#6
When my wife and I had our first child, we lived in SF.

The neighborhood daycare in the Excelsior charged $1600/mo. This is five years ago.

We're about to have our fourth child. With the upcoming summer, if we still lived in SF, we'd have four children in daycare. $6,400/mo.

Re: $500k a Year yet Struggling? Let's Do a Double Take

#7
post #2

Mortgage payments: $60,000 $60K / year isn't going to pay for the mortgage on even a small house in Silicon Valley.

What does this have to do with the article about the couple living in NYC feeling average on 500k a year? In another separate market, in another region in the country... they'd pay more? OK.

Re: $500k a Year yet Struggling? Let's Do a Double Take

#8
post #2

Mortgage payments: $60,000 $60K / year isn't going to pay for the mortgage on even a small house in Silicon Valley.

Are you really sure about that? 60 000$ mortgage payment is probably more than 1 million in loan, and the property value can be double the loan (appreciation since they bought + initial payment outside of the loan). I don't exactly know the prices of houses but I guess 2 million dollar should buy you a house?

Re: $500k a Year yet Struggling? Let's Do a Double Take

#9
This is a surprisingly reasonable article from Bloomberg and it's certainly true that Mortgage and 401k doesn't feel like saving excess money, but it does essentially map to savings.

I'm not sure it's really a useful conversation to have though. We live in a world where there are essentially an infinite number of things you cannot have. So feeling rich is pretty much a choice once you're beyond probably double the average household income for the area you're in.

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