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CNBC: Budget breakdown of a couple making 500K a year who still feels average.

samoyed

samoyed

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
15,191
ShinAmano said:
Just looked at a 1 week trip for 4 to Scotland (2 adults and 2 kids under 5). Flight and hotel per person looks about 1200 per person on the low side. That leaves 1200 for expenses on the trip...its not crazy.
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I was referring to the dude who said he spent nearly $6k on his own vacations which is really puzzling.

I agree the "3 vacations a year" is silly but the cost of travel of a family of four would take up $3k-$4k so they are not taking expensive trips.
 
Doctoglethorpe

Doctoglethorpe

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,214
It's easy to feel average when your rich when you got it in your head that you should be super rich. That success and happiness as a human being is shown in wealth. To have a New York pent house and vacation homes and a half dozen sports cars and maybe a private jet, that's what rich people define rich as, so that they can justify their hunger for morenever being quenched.
 

Deleted member 11822

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,644
Is this supposed to make me feel something?
There are so many line items on that list that can be scaled back on. These people come across as complete morons.
 
ShinAmano

ShinAmano

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,860
samoyed said:
I was referring to the dude who said he spent nearly $6k on his own vacations which is really puzzling.

I agree the "3 vacations a year" is silly but the cost of travel of a family of four would take up $3k-$4k so they are not taking expensive trips.
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Oh ha...yeah a 6k solo trip would be insane.
 
Strike

Strike

Member
Oct 25, 2017
27,565
Saya said:
original.jpg


instant classics
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Came here for this.
 
Darknight

Darknight

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,037
pj- said:
These people don't sound like public education types to me, but who knows
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We really don't know these people so it's hard to say one way or the other. You could be right, but the fact is with two working parents, child care is often unavoidable regardless of how you plan to deal with public or private school and it's damn expensive in places were cost of living is high.
 
natjjohn

natjjohn

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,625
60k on mortgage payments was instant checkout zone. Nowhere near "average." Neither is both parent able to drop 18k a piece towards 401k.
 
Mercurial

Mercurial

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
985
Having a 5-figure "Miscellaneous" fund every month made me laugh out loud for real.

These average plebs are never going to have a 14k gold house and a rocket car.
 
tabris

tabris

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,267
Phreaker said:
That's cool, but what will you do when you are old/retired and have no income?
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I'm not in the US, I'm Canada where there's a bit more options with pension and unemployment insurance (which I've been capping contributions for over a decade). So as long as I keep one of my real estate investments I've gone through I'm fine. Plus My girlfriend who I will probably propose to is a marketing executive who is a lot more of saver then me so she can be my sugar mamma :)
 
Lunar15

Lunar15

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,647
I'm confused. They have really nice cars, go on 3 $6000 vacations a year, save into their 401K, pay towards their children's college fund... I'm confused... what's the takeaway?
 
Chirotera

Chirotera

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
4,314
They spend more on food than I make in a year.

Eat the rich! This article pisses me off so much. These people have no clue. They're paycheck to paycheck but if something happens, they can cover. If something bad happens to the rest of us, it's game over.

I could live a happy life on 1/5th of what they're making and complaining about feeling average.
 
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Frozenprince

Frozenprince

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,158
Lunar15 said:
I'm confused. They have really nice cars, go on 3 $6000 vacations a year, save into their 401K, pay towards their children's college fund... I'm confused... what's the takeaway?
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That if you're wealthy you can literally just burn money on frivolous dumb shit all year long and still have almost $7500 left over every year just to spend on whatever.
 
Tfritz

Tfritz

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,533
Lunar15 said:
I'm confused. They have really nice cars, go on 3 $6000 vacations a year, save into their 401K, pay towards their children's college fund... I'm confused... what's the takeaway?
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if i remember the actual original article that's from, there is a message about how you shouldn't try to keep up with the jones and instead focus on a budget that works for you
 
nullref

nullref

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,080
What a person feels is an average or expected lifestyle tends to be based on what their peers and social group are doing—that's not really news. They're obviously providing a relatively luxurious lifestyle for themselves and their children, which has plenty of room to cut back to free up more money for savings and investments. They're just choosing their lifestyle instead. And even with that, they're still maxing out their 401ks, giving a substantial amount to charity, and have a small surplus/misc. fund. Not exactly under duress.
 
Lunar15

Lunar15

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,647
Tfritz said:
if i remember the actual original article that's from, there is a message about how you shouldn't try to keep up with the jones and instead focus on a budget that works for you
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I read the article. It was pretty fluffy. I almost got the sense that it was an underhanded jab at taxes.
 
PopsMaellard

PopsMaellard

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
3,373
Frozenprince said:
Fucking dying. "Average" lol.
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Almost two milly on the house. Three vacations a year. Three milly life insurance policy. Classically trained musician children.

Average! Joe six pack. The guy who wakes up every morning in his four hundred dollar a month apartment, wonders how he's gonna pay his mortgage that month. Wonders how he's gonna fill his car up, with oil. Wonders "how am I gonna pay my kids' orphanage bills".
 
FeliciaFelix

FeliciaFelix

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,778
How high up are these lawyers that they can vacation 3 times a year? Probably own the firm cuz otherwise they ought to be sleeping under the desks, not vacation.
 

turtle553

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,286
Ricelord said:
how the fuck do they feel average?
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Because they hang around with people just like themselves, so in their group they are average. They probably know they make good money, but don't feel they are getting ahead like they should. Lots of people feel this way.

They still need to work and pay bills and occasionally worry about money. They would be screwed if one person lost their job. That is why they feel average.

Not to say they aren't doing very well, but human psychology can be weird.
 
BubbaKrumpz

BubbaKrumpz

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
3,462
Yay Area
Everyone focusing on the 5 series but that landcruiser was probably more expensive than the bmw. 3 vacations and a shitload of money on clothes. Jesus.

The money the spend on food is also ridiculous tbh
 
Surfinn

Surfinn

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
28,590
USA
23k/12/4 = $479 a month per person on food..? Holy shit. That's easily twice what I spend and I don't even cook.
 
PKrockin

PKrockin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,260
I think there's an important difference between someone living paycheck to paycheck whose entire income is already spoken for by bills and low cost essentials, and someone living paycheck to paycheck who has massive discretionary spending (tens of thousands in vacations, tens of thousands in charity, tens of thousands in retirement savings, etc.)
 
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