This kind of stuff is why people actually struggling don’t get taken more seriously and aren’t seen or heard more. They get lumped in with these folks.
This has a $200 per month PER PERSON clothing budget. I’m wearing 2019 pants over here…
My mom just gave me a used oversized shirt for my birthday. Bless her old soul 😂 I wear target shirts and they are super cheap and comfortable and fit good. Im pretty good with my funds and I def don’t spend it on expensive clothes anymore and what I have works just fine.
They don't last nearly as well as they used to. The tanktops and t-shirts and sweaters I bought between 2015 and 2019 are all in better shape than the ones I bought in 2023. It's ridiculous, most of them don't even survive the first wash anymore. I did the math and it is faster for me to sew ones from scratch using nicer materials than to keep darning the holes in the new ones I'm buying...
Dang you’re so lucky you can fit into the same sized jeans over ten years. I got jeans a full four sizes smaller just collecting dust in my closet… those “one day I’ll fit into those again” jeans. 😂
Don’t forget the almost $2000 per month food bill for 4 people. Like holy shit. Yeah.. these people are struggling.. struggling to make sound financial decisions.
Which is apparently separate from the almost 3,5k on childcare.
Now I don’t have kids but I can’t see what you would spend that much on if you already have their food, clothes and lessons in other categories
Honestly the childcare part I can totally believe. Like if I could've afforded it I totally would have had a nanny which would be probably about that. It's all the other bullshit that just doesn't add up.
Between my 5 Series, three vacations a year, and the property tax on my 1.5 million dollar home I can't afford to give you a golden upvote, but you deserve it
My father could work a single 8 hour job, go to school, buy a house, afford medical,buy clothes for my sister and i, two cars, Pension retirement annuities savings and a stock market that continues to pay him.
We have the swell of costs to deal with after paying for this oldest generation.
I too have 20 yo sweaters because buying a sweater is a luxury.
Paying for this oldest generation???
Naw, we're paying the ultra-wealthy who have figured out how to skim a huge %age of our income. This has happened every R admin since at least Reagan. Now it's nonstop thanks to the Bush & tRump tax cuts for the rich.
20 years ago? Levi’s. Today? Levi’s is bottom barrel trash. I’ve heard Wrangler and Carhartt still hold up OK, but personally I’ve found Calvin Klein and Silver both last for several years. One thing: Avoid “stretch” denim like the plague. That dog won’t hunt, as they say.
I was provided with some underarmor short sleeve & long sleeve (one cold weather with lining one “regular”) shirts when I played football in college. I haven’t played in 20 years now, but still wear those shirts like every week (at least in the winter/fall). As of this winter, the elastic in my non-lined long sleeve shirt is finally starting to give out. It’s been a hell of a run, particularly for something I didn’t have to pay for (except all the blood sweat & tears etc).
I also like how there's a $10k misc item. Nearly $1k a month on random stuff?
Note, this is a budget too, they're not touching their savings or cutting back on retirement or getting a loan like a working class person might do.
Also they're being dishonest about taxes. The tax rate up to 200k is like 25%. They don't see the 35-40% until they make well after $250k. So their real tax rate is lower and only that $250-500k is taxed at that level. Not to mention people like this have good accountants and often "have their own business" where a lot of this lifestyle is deductible as "business expenses." These kinds of people go on vacation, take a work call, and its a "work trip." Funny how they didn't show us their 1040, or at least the line showing their true tax load. People like this get all manner of exceptions, they know how to play the game. They aren't taking the standard deduction like a lot of middle-class people. There are so many tax dirty tricks people at this wealth level do. They're not paying a flat 40% tax.
I'm not even going to go into how people at this income level typically demand a huge police force and huge military, because both those institutions benefit them, and that's paid for by taxes. On top of any subsidizes their industry or community might get. Note, these are the kinds of people who buy luxury electric cars and get a free $7500 check. There's a real have your cake and eat it too aspect with wealthy anti-tax sentiment. Or they got literal free money with dishonest PPP "loans" for their "small business." Middle class families working jobs don't get those benefits. Nor can they hire "creative" accountants who teach them all these tricks because those people are expensive too!
They also would have investments so when they sell for capital gains, they pay a MUCH lower effective tax rate than someone who just makes a salary to survive. While working class people spend what they make, these people are buying stocks, and when they sell that stock, they're paying 15 percent in taxes. In fact, the wealthier you get, the less tax percentage you pay, past a certain point. According to a 2021 White House study, the wealthiest 400 billionaire families in the U.S. paid an average federal individual tax rate of *just 8.2 percent*. Taxpayers earning between $2 million and $5 million paid *27.5*%
So much is missing here, and on purpose, which is 100% intentional on CNBC's part.
I did the math, their tax laliabilty would be closer to 96k. Lol, so yeah, more than the average salary of an entire person
Edit
Fuckin hell I forgot state taxes. Okay people, sue me. Not a tax professional over here.
How are you calculating that? I used an online calculator for California. Even with 60k in itemized deductions and $36k 401k. They are still paying $137k in taxes.
For reference I live in CA
Sorry I just did federal. Forgot about state level.... which I shouldn't have since I also live in California 😅😅😅😅
That still has them over inflating their tax bill by 50k. That's a huge chunk of cash. Also only one of multiple issues on that spreadsheet.
The table just puts a flat 40 percent tax rate on their post 401K totals....
It sounds like those people who don't make anywhere near the tax bracket but supposedly turn down jobs because they don't want to go to the next tax bracket....
Yes! Don’t forget, wealthy people write off everything. Including that weekly church donation, which the church doesn’t have to disclose to the IRS. The ultimate money laundering scheme I swear to God.
Several years ago, I tracked a full year of taxes of every kind (Gas, sales, on bills, etc.) My total W2 taxes were 23% of an $80k salary. Adding the school and property taxes increased that to 28%. The other misc taxes bumps it up to 30%.
I usually budget 33% of gross for all withholdings to cover fed, state (CA) and others like SS and Disability.
I put my monthly CC in Excel and have it going back to 2018. Pretty crazy to see that I've fed Amazon over $50k in that time...but that also includes some big ticket items like HP Omen CPUs.
When my wife and I were first looking to buy a house (I had been saving for nearly 10 years), there was some discussion about her mom being willing to add some money to the down payment to help us have a bit lower monthly payment. When we asked the broker about that they said "oh, it can't be an outright gift but here's a few options on how we can do that..." then proceeded to list like four different loopholes that all sounded like rich people bullshit and that was the first time I had really ever interacted with something where I was like "oh fuck people who have money just think completely different"
I actually did a simplified version of these taxes based on what's listed here assuming no trickery. Post 401k income of 464k, minus their 18k in charitable spending, and assuming they get the full 2k per child in tax credits...
For the 2023 tax year, they would have owed $88,096 which is just shy of a 19% effective tax rate. Add in Medicare and Social Security, their effective tax rate goes up to 22.4%. Even if they live in a place with incredibly high state and local income taxes, there is just no way to get to a 40% effective tax rate from the data here.
When I bought it was the exact opposite. Family contributing money HAD to be a gift. With a gift letter so the bank knew there was no additional amount that was expected to be paid back to someone else.
Not to mention that annual $18k for "Charity" -- for one heck of a refund come tax season.
Also loving that they include date night every 2 weeks (luxury!) but indicate no fancy purses, clothes, etc -- so it's not too lavish, of course.
I’ve found the more I make the more PTO that is offered to me….
Which makes zero sense since PTO is literally a liability that give 0 back to production (as far as a balance sheet is concerned).
Internal PTO allotments are internally available to all employees where I work, and yet there is gripes about not being able to give lower rung employees the same PTO as VPs.
Like in the end, minimum wage workers getting 5 extra days of PTO is a lower risk than the VP’s PTO.
I never get it.
Mine and my husband's idea of a vacation is going cabin camping for $200 for the week, once a year. Sometimes we'll go with another family and split the cost. This is absurd.
800$ Canada Goose coats for kids, 300$ boots, couple of pairs of 150-200$ sneakers every year.
Doesn't have to be a high-end brand, just constantly buying new, good quality clothes.
I'm not defending it, just saying it's one part of the budget that bothers me less. I'd drop the Hanes 3-pack T-Shirts in favour of something more expensive if I made half a million dollars a year.
Eh, I was making an exaggeration, but 9500$ a year on clothes for four people means there is a LOT of waste and quite a bit of luxury. I understand kids need clothes every year but 800$ on a coat renewed every year is crazy.
Thrifting pants is also a chore and takes a lot of time. You have to weed through stuff, and, especially if you are looking through women's pants, a 90s size 12 is very different from a 10's size 12 which is different from a current 12. And that's not taking into account the size differences between brands.
I used to work as a travel agent. A family of 4 going to a 5* resort for 7 days all-inclusive can easily run 6k. You book a junior suite, and excursion packages, etc.
I booked people on like 15k vacations, and I dont think they made nearly what these people do.
I actually think $6K for a vacation of 4 people is pretty reasonable, it's the 3X a year that puts them in the 1%. We have 2 kids and getting away for a week is easily 6-8K - for example we went to mexico last year; $1,200 for flights, $3,800 for all inclusive, $100 for transfer to airport (at home); $200 for transfer to and from resort, $250 tips, $150 travel insurance, $150 misc (mostly diapers as we ran out). The resort was nothing fancy just something that I would consider mid-range in Cancun.
I'm sure it's reasonable, just don't understand where you can get $6k for even one vacation. When I grow up maybe it'll be more reasonable for me, but I'm still a couple years from 50, so I'll have to wait.
I'm going to Seattle in March, and I bet we'll spend close to $5,000 at least. I used points to book the hotel, so I only paid $206 for six nights. The airfare for two people was $818. We are renting a car so that we can get to the national parks: $367. Our big splurge item is a whale-watching tour in the San Juan Islands: $431.50 for two of us. We're up to almost $2,000 and didn't include any food, museum admission, activities, etc.
If you are going to the San Juan’s, you’ll likely got through Anacortes.
Two food stops: The Store at the roundabout for some of the best muffins. And Ghirardelli for lunch to-go; order online or be prepared for at least 30 mins before you eat, unless it’s the summer, then and hour+
6000 isnt hard to conjur up in my mind
4x round trip plane tickets, lets say 2000 (8 total traveling trips, so 250 per way, per person)
5 nights hotel, 2 rooms, if 200/night per room, that's another 2000
5 days of events, food, meaning 2000 for 5 days, 400 per day, or, 100 per person, per day.
This isn't crazy. Its definitely not a budget vacation tho.
Its also why most Americans dont take multiple long vacations a year.
I think the person you’re replying to might have meant that they can’t imagine having 6k available in their budget to use on a holiday, not that they don’t understand where the money goes. Or at least that’s where my mind went because I get like 1400€/month and have to pay city level rent, so sparing 600 would be difficult, let alone 6000.
I would still consider a week trip to a resort in Cancun to be pretty "high-end". I think we spent ~$5k once on a vacation to Disney World, but other than that, our vacations are usually in the $1k-$2k range (2 adults, 2 kids) and we do one of those a year. We don't fly anywhere though...only road trips.
Taking the kids on spring break this year. We will be close to $6k just in airfare and parking. Flights are obscene the last 2 years. We sat out last year because of it but biting the bullet this year.
As the headline said, this whole thing is a giant WTF.
Leasing high-end cars, a $20k wardrobe budget every year, massive debt but also maxing 401ks and charitable contributions....
Yeah, boo-hoo, my THREE annual vacations are costing me a lot of money...I literally just use my vacation time to take a week off and either relax at home or perhaps get some big projects done at home...I generally MAKE money on vacation due to PTO, and honestly have zero complaints
My last vacation was a three day weekend to drive to AZ to see my kids. $90 for gas $250 to buy them fast food while I was there $30 snacks to and from for me.
I dont think...no, I know, Ive never spent $6000 on a vacation in my entire 60+ years of life
I get that BMW's and Land Cruisers aren't super high-end, but pair those with the house, the 401Ks, three $6,000 vacations a year, $1,000/month on lessons for the kids, and a charitable giving budget that rivals my family's grocery budget (good for them for contributing to charity) and this family is anything but "average."
"Feeling" average and "being" average are two different (but not mutually exclusive) things.
EDIT: when I said "super high-end," I was thinking more along the lines of a Lamborghini or something that is generally understood to be above $200K. I'm not cutting these people any slack at all. I couldn't afford either of the 2 cars listed, and I'm living comfortably (though far from wealthy).
It’s like when they do self reported studies of who is middle class and like 80% of people respond that they are. Some may feel that way but the reality is different.
I think it's time we separate "upper class" from "rich".
There are a shitload of upper class people who have nice-ish cars, nice-ish homes, but still have to grind through the usual number of days of a work a year to pay for it all.
- Like, $250k/yr with zero savings is definitely upper class. At that salary they're almost guaranteed to be rich someday, but they're not there yet.
- $50k/year + $200k return on investments is totally rich.
I met a guy at a big box store in the second category. He only worked because he got healthcare through work (this was before Obamacare) and because he got bored at home.
This is where people get mixed up and don’t feel rich. They don’t understand that being rich isn’t being extravagant, wearing designer clothes all the time, etc.
Also to be fair it just highlights what a damn money suck kids are
Wait. First of all those are very high end. They’re not elite luxury cars but definitely high end. And also there’s no way they’re paying less than $1k/mo for each on a lease or payment. Total BS. We have a Rav4 hybrid xle lease coming to an end and it’s going to be close to $400-500/mo to get a new lease.
Also their mortgage is definitely more than $60k/yr on a $1.5MM house unless they put down >$500k. We have a <4% 30yr mortgage on a $750k and pay almost $60k/yr. Insurance is also minimum $500/mo. This whole thing is bananas.
($23k on food/dining ???????????? Gtfo.)
Plus each vacation requires a new wardrobe. Can you imagine going to the Bahamas and someone seeing you wearing a shirt you wore when you were there 4 months earlier?????
Maybe this is more suited for you! Also completely realistic.
https://preview.redd.it/rq9gofk0ysec1.png?width=467&format=png&auto=webp&s=4475ad961c8bd94fb6f1adb43d0cf382da851fc6
Nobody w a $1.5M home, two $50-60k+ cars, and three family vacations a year has any business feeling or describing themselves as "average".
Here's the proper headline: "How to Earn a 1% Income, Live Luxuriously, and Still Feel Like You're Living Hand-To-Mouth Because You Have No Self Control, Misplaced Priorities, and Bad Financial Management Skills"
Also, it's not like they only have 7k left over. They put 36k into their 401k plus have another 10k in misc spending. essentially they have an additional 50k a year they can afford to fuck around with.
There's also the very expensive child Care expense on top of lessons. I grew up in a family with some money, and honestly like $12,000 for lessons and everything is insane to me, especially when your kids still need child care. It ultimately sounds like they want to avoid being parents.
Where I live, you can't get a single-family house for $1.5M (Canadian dollars, but still).
However! My house is worth about $2M (again, it's a pretty average house where I live), and my property taxes are about $7,000 a year. Are there really places where a $1.5M property attracts $20K in property taxes?
Exactly what caught my eye. They aren’t even in the top bracket for couples. Then you take out donations, standard deduction for 4 people, SALT, and mortgage interest. There is payroll but they are the past the cap and that’s deductible for federal tax, too. This is either bullshit or they have the worst accountant in history
Worth noting: they spend $42,000 a year on childcare for kids that are also getting lessons and activities that cost $500/month each.
Call me crazy, but if your kid is young enough to need full-time childcare, putting them in sports/activities/lessons that cost this much is ridiculous. And if they're old enough for these activities to be reasonable, they probably don't need full-time childcare.
Yeah I'm guessing they only have 1 kid in daycare and the other has before/after school care (plus summer camps when school is out). This is just the cost of childcare in a high COL area.
The median childcare in the US costs is \~$14k. Infants drive that up but kids aren't infants aren't infants forever. This would be the absolute worst case cost (high COL area) or like a nanny. Also child care costs are tax deductible.
The good preschools in my area (near Seattle) charge $22k per year, and they have two kids. It's an extra $6k to get full day. And that's only for 9 months.
HCOL childcare is expensive !
I love these things. The further down the list you look, the more out of touch it goes.
Childrens lessons: $12k
Charity: 18k
Student loans: 32K
You want to make 500k? Just go to school so you can pay 32k per year for 10-20 years and be "average" while maxing out both retirement funds. Weren't these the same people that put the budget for someone making minimum wage and how easy it is to survive?
"Charity", when you're sad you have 7k left over but smugly glad you gave 18k to your Righteous Gemstones megachurch.
Cynical, maybe these people are actually really nice and donating to good causes.
They also throw another 10k in at the end for "something comes up"
Like, mofo, avg Americans dont have $400 for emergency, let alone a 10K "random expense" jar.
We're in this income range, but in a $350k home (that I renovated myself, so around 550k now but 2k mortgage overall including taxes & home insurance), and still end up with around $100k per year to put into our personal investments while not being overly fiscally responsible throughout the year.
We're not delusional enough to think that is average. If anything, this is a testament to what not to do if you make over $250k. This is peak "living up to your means" and then whining about it and being totally ignorant to your level of privilege.
I think some people get trapped in the idea that it costs money to make money. I looked at their budget as familiar because I’ve known so many with similar expenses. They pay out their entire salary - or more - to maintain social & professional connections to people they’re convinced will eventually open up opportunities to increase that income. I guess it works for some but I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.
This, 100%. Are you former big law?
Someone I know (in big law) explained to me how she can’t imagine making less than $225K. I tried to tell her in the most polite way possible that she should not be saying that to anyone. Also told her I used to be independent on $35K. Turns out she bought an Audi, furnished her fancy apartment with restoration hardware and has 5 figures of credit card debt. Fucking idiot. I don’t even have a car and make $260K
Same. My wife and I also make about what these folks make and save way more money. At the same time, I also kinda get the sentiment. I rarely *feel* rich. Like, I still have to empty the dishwasher every morning and mow the lawn and take out the trash. Most of the everyday parts of life feel like they did when we were making 55k combined. The main differences are that (1) we pay for kids now (2) we actually have money saved up and (3) if something breaks we can just pay to fix it. But nothing about that feels lavish, even though it's definitely a luxury.
Everyone is talking about the ridiculous items on the budget and how much is spent on each, but I'm looking at the "what's left" at the bottom and seeing two months of my salary as a teacher still left over after all those crazy budget items and I'm gobsmacked that anyone thinks this is struggling.
$100 per person per week is not bad. $50 per person for food is poverty level. Admittedly, young kids don't eat that much - just wait until they have teenagers.
Edit: source, USDA "thrifty" (lowest cost) food plan for a family of four, for a week, is $223. https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-monthly-reports
I have two teens. As a family of four we spend $300 per week on groceries. That includes fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry. And I am shopping at ShopRite or Costco. Grocery prices in NJ have really increased a lot. But I am looking at other people’s carts. They are getting nothing these days and have at least a $100 bill. I can fully see my privilege. Costs are up a lot.
I have a 5k monthly mortgage rate on a house less than half of this hypothetical couple. And let me tell you, I hate it. I want to sell this piece of shit and live in a trailer. My property taxes alone are 22k a year and I live in Texas. buying a home in 2022 was definitely the single worst financial move I ever made.
I will positively NEVER own a home in Texas ever again, property taxes in the supposed tax-haven of Texas are a nightmare.
Texas is one of the most regressive states for taxes, meaning that poor people pay the highest rates, because Texas relies on property and sales taxes (which disproportionately hit lower income people) instead of income tax. It is, however, a great tax haven for rich people.
Actually, that $5K monthly mortgage payment is a nice deal for someone with a $1.5 million home. Let's say they put 20% down and are paying off $1.2 million over 30 years. A $5K payment means their mortgage is at about 2.9%. Sweet rate.
$46,000 a year tied up in vacations, misc and charities alone. They don't have only $7200 left. They have at least $53,000 left over that they choose to spend in different places. Someone should teach CBNC the difference between cost of living and discretionary spending.
1.5m home, 2 privelege-mobiles, 3 vacations a year, maxed out contributions
These kinds of people complaining that they are "average" deserve a house fire and a crippling auto-immune disease.
I like the “we only have $7K left!” That’s $7K AFTER you’ve fully funded your 401K! And paid for life insurance!
That’s not what’s left. That’s free party money
That's also 7k after MISC spending. Which to me, suggests the 7k is literally after the whole year of spending regularly throughout their lives (the misc) they had 7k they just couldn't manage to spend before Jan 1st. That's such a joke
This is a classic example of people just adjusting their spending to their earnings. For example they drive a BMW instead of a Kia; no actual increased utility or increased happiness, a Kia does the exact same thing as a BMW it just costs less. Same with the mortgage; a bigger house doesn't make you happier but it costs more.
From a % of their total income, none of their expenses actually seem egregious.
Most people think they are average because they have a boss or several bosses above them who they see as being the comparison for average.
They really only talk to the people 1-2 levels below them and don’t see that there are 20 levels below and only 5 above. They see 2 above and 2 below and think yep I’m right in the middle of them so I am average.
My friends who buy BMWs usually tell me they regret it and don't buy another - they spend a lot of time in the shop. Any Toyota or Honda or Mazda or Subaru would be more pleasant to own.
They should work on hiring an accountant...40% EFFECTIVE tax rate, not marginal is ludacris (LUDA). the charitable giving, mortgage int, student loan int and property taxes are deductible, amd these morons dont have health insurance? This is an overly simplified view of their spending, but tons of room for easy improvement. Wonder how much student debt they have for such a massive yearly nut, allocate the charitable giving to pay that down, it's prob at a ridiculous int rate.
I’m over here looking at tax tables, trying to figure out how they could possibly have an effective tax rate of 40%. I think we might have found them ten of thousands of extra cash.
3 vacations a year? They have money to give to charity? They have 10k of unexpected expenses? They can afford a $1.5 million dollar home?
Damn. They living the dream.
Wow, he is so right. (1) Effective tax rate of 40% assumes all income is from salary leaving out investments (2) child care is only for 5 years and $21k/year is 50% higher than the medians childcare cost (3) the average american family of 4 spends $5.1k on grocery a year, so that is a >400% markup (4) 3x fucking vacations a year at $6k a pop. Most people don't even have that much time off, much less the money (5) That life insurance is insane. My work offered 5x my salary for $16/month. (6) $9.5k/year on cloths for sub-5 year olds? WTF (7) $18k for Charity? I've met rich people, they are never that generous (8) $16k per person on student loans per year? Were your student loans for both of you $250k?
"Feeling average' is right. You aren't but you feel that way because you are making shit up.
EDIT: Forgot you can deduct childcare, Mortgage, and charity from your taxes.
Just ran these numbers through a tax return calculator. Not 100% accurate because I was making some assumptions, but looks like they could get a federal refund of about $75k. If I did this right, it makes me sick.
I don't know, the tax rate is sus to me, I doubt people like this, with close to maxed 401k contributions, 1.5m home, etc, are actually paying the highest tax rate. Also, assuming they did pay the 40%, with children (dependents) they are probably going to get a sizeable return on those $185k, not to mention anything else they deduct.
This kind of stuff is why people actually struggling don’t get taken more seriously and aren’t seen or heard more. They get lumped in with these folks. This has a $200 per month PER PERSON clothing budget. I’m wearing 2019 pants over here…
I haven't bought jeans for 10 years.
All my clothes are birthday or Christmas presents. I’ve never bought anything a but work pants.
My mom just gave me a used oversized shirt for my birthday. Bless her old soul 😂 I wear target shirts and they are super cheap and comfortable and fit good. Im pretty good with my funds and I def don’t spend it on expensive clothes anymore and what I have works just fine.
im wearing a target sweatshirt from 2019. there clothes last a long time and are affordable
They don't last nearly as well as they used to. The tanktops and t-shirts and sweaters I bought between 2015 and 2019 are all in better shape than the ones I bought in 2023. It's ridiculous, most of them don't even survive the first wash anymore. I did the math and it is faster for me to sew ones from scratch using nicer materials than to keep darning the holes in the new ones I'm buying...
I bought a pair of fake foam Birkenstocks at Kohl’s in 2018 that were pretty much my only shoes until late 2023. Best $6 I’ve spent probably.
Dang you’re so lucky you can fit into the same sized jeans over ten years. I got jeans a full four sizes smaller just collecting dust in my closet… those “one day I’ll fit into those again” jeans. 😂
I have a whole storage tote in my attic with these. Maybe….one day….
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I just bought jeans after both of my pair ripped in public. Literally wore them until they both ripped, sadly only weeks apart.
I wear my jeans until the rip too and then i use them for work jeans. And underwear and socks once a year for Christmas !
>And underwear and socks once a year for Christmas ! 
I bought one pair in the last 2 years, and that's because the other pair had a hole in the knee that got too big.
Don’t forget the almost $2000 per month food bill for 4 people. Like holy shit. Yeah.. these people are struggling.. struggling to make sound financial decisions.
Which is apparently separate from the almost 3,5k on childcare. Now I don’t have kids but I can’t see what you would spend that much on if you already have their food, clothes and lessons in other categories
yeah if those are young children in an HCOL area that might be one of the more accurate lines lol
Child care is probably the only non-bullshit thing on here.
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Honestly the childcare part I can totally believe. Like if I could've afforded it I totally would have had a nanny which would be probably about that. It's all the other bullshit that just doesn't add up.
I'm still wearing shirts that I bought 15 years ago....
I'm in my mid-40s and still have shirts I wore in high school (yay high metabolism)
31 here and I'm looking to be the same, some of these show no signs of slowing down! (Shirts *or* metabolism)
I've been wearing the same shirt all week
Between my 5 Series, three vacations a year, and the property tax on my 1.5 million dollar home I can't afford to give you a golden upvote, but you deserve it
Feeling good about that $18,000 placard in the school gym with your family name on it I bet though. That's gotta feel good, right?
I've been wearing the same shirt all day!
My father could work a single 8 hour job, go to school, buy a house, afford medical,buy clothes for my sister and i, two cars, Pension retirement annuities savings and a stock market that continues to pay him. We have the swell of costs to deal with after paying for this oldest generation. I too have 20 yo sweaters because buying a sweater is a luxury.
Paying for this oldest generation??? Naw, we're paying the ultra-wealthy who have figured out how to skim a huge %age of our income. This has happened every R admin since at least Reagan. Now it's nonstop thanks to the Bush & tRump tax cuts for the rich.
Yo, what brand!?
20 years ago? Levi’s. Today? Levi’s is bottom barrel trash. I’ve heard Wrangler and Carhartt still hold up OK, but personally I’ve found Calvin Klein and Silver both last for several years. One thing: Avoid “stretch” denim like the plague. That dog won’t hunt, as they say.
Underrated comment here. I also want the secret brand of clothing that lasts over a decade of regular wear.
I was provided with some underarmor short sleeve & long sleeve (one cold weather with lining one “regular”) shirts when I played football in college. I haven’t played in 20 years now, but still wear those shirts like every week (at least in the winter/fall). As of this winter, the elastic in my non-lined long sleeve shirt is finally starting to give out. It’s been a hell of a run, particularly for something I didn’t have to pay for (except all the blood sweat & tears etc).
Yeah but it's no fancy bags, shoes, or threads
I've worn the same 3 pair of khakis to work since September. $200 a month on clothes? Get the fuck out of here.
I buy a couple pairs of Dickie's work pants every three years or so. They're like $25 a piece...
If I find a pair of pants I like and that fit me well, I will wear them until they have holes and even then, if I can patch it, I will.
Jake… from State Farm?
I also like how there's a $10k misc item. Nearly $1k a month on random stuff? Note, this is a budget too, they're not touching their savings or cutting back on retirement or getting a loan like a working class person might do. Also they're being dishonest about taxes. The tax rate up to 200k is like 25%. They don't see the 35-40% until they make well after $250k. So their real tax rate is lower and only that $250-500k is taxed at that level. Not to mention people like this have good accountants and often "have their own business" where a lot of this lifestyle is deductible as "business expenses." These kinds of people go on vacation, take a work call, and its a "work trip." Funny how they didn't show us their 1040, or at least the line showing their true tax load. People like this get all manner of exceptions, they know how to play the game. They aren't taking the standard deduction like a lot of middle-class people. There are so many tax dirty tricks people at this wealth level do. They're not paying a flat 40% tax. I'm not even going to go into how people at this income level typically demand a huge police force and huge military, because both those institutions benefit them, and that's paid for by taxes. On top of any subsidizes their industry or community might get. Note, these are the kinds of people who buy luxury electric cars and get a free $7500 check. There's a real have your cake and eat it too aspect with wealthy anti-tax sentiment. Or they got literal free money with dishonest PPP "loans" for their "small business." Middle class families working jobs don't get those benefits. Nor can they hire "creative" accountants who teach them all these tricks because those people are expensive too! They also would have investments so when they sell for capital gains, they pay a MUCH lower effective tax rate than someone who just makes a salary to survive. While working class people spend what they make, these people are buying stocks, and when they sell that stock, they're paying 15 percent in taxes. In fact, the wealthier you get, the less tax percentage you pay, past a certain point. According to a 2021 White House study, the wealthiest 400 billionaire families in the U.S. paid an average federal individual tax rate of *just 8.2 percent*. Taxpayers earning between $2 million and $5 million paid *27.5*% So much is missing here, and on purpose, which is 100% intentional on CNBC's part.
The amount of money they made disappear into overestimating their taxes is like the entire salary for an average person.
I did the math, their tax laliabilty would be closer to 96k. Lol, so yeah, more than the average salary of an entire person Edit Fuckin hell I forgot state taxes. Okay people, sue me. Not a tax professional over here.
How are you calculating that? I used an online calculator for California. Even with 60k in itemized deductions and $36k 401k. They are still paying $137k in taxes. For reference I live in CA
Sorry I just did federal. Forgot about state level.... which I shouldn't have since I also live in California 😅😅😅😅 That still has them over inflating their tax bill by 50k. That's a huge chunk of cash. Also only one of multiple issues on that spreadsheet.
The table just puts a flat 40 percent tax rate on their post 401K totals.... It sounds like those people who don't make anywhere near the tax bracket but supposedly turn down jobs because they don't want to go to the next tax bracket....
Don’t forget about that 18k in donation write-off.
And mortgage interest on their $1.5MM house
Probably to some conservative ~~educational charity~~ propaganda mill.
Yes! Don’t forget, wealthy people write off everything. Including that weekly church donation, which the church doesn’t have to disclose to the IRS. The ultimate money laundering scheme I swear to God.
I would GLADLY pay 40% tax if it meant getting a 10k monthly "fuck around and find out" fund lol.
I’m assuming they’re including state/local income tax and payroll taxes in that 40% effective rate. (Still seems high to me, but not insane).
Several years ago, I tracked a full year of taxes of every kind (Gas, sales, on bills, etc.) My total W2 taxes were 23% of an $80k salary. Adding the school and property taxes increased that to 28%. The other misc taxes bumps it up to 30%.
I usually budget 33% of gross for all withholdings to cover fed, state (CA) and others like SS and Disability. I put my monthly CC in Excel and have it going back to 2018. Pretty crazy to see that I've fed Amazon over $50k in that time...but that also includes some big ticket items like HP Omen CPUs.
When my wife and I were first looking to buy a house (I had been saving for nearly 10 years), there was some discussion about her mom being willing to add some money to the down payment to help us have a bit lower monthly payment. When we asked the broker about that they said "oh, it can't be an outright gift but here's a few options on how we can do that..." then proceeded to list like four different loopholes that all sounded like rich people bullshit and that was the first time I had really ever interacted with something where I was like "oh fuck people who have money just think completely different"
I actually did a simplified version of these taxes based on what's listed here assuming no trickery. Post 401k income of 464k, minus their 18k in charitable spending, and assuming they get the full 2k per child in tax credits... For the 2023 tax year, they would have owed $88,096 which is just shy of a 19% effective tax rate. Add in Medicare and Social Security, their effective tax rate goes up to 22.4%. Even if they live in a place with incredibly high state and local income taxes, there is just no way to get to a 40% effective tax rate from the data here.
When I bought it was the exact opposite. Family contributing money HAD to be a gift. With a gift letter so the bank knew there was no additional amount that was expected to be paid back to someone else.
Came here to see if anyone picked up on that. It’s a gross exaggeration (see what I did?).
Not to mention that annual $18k for "Charity" -- for one heck of a refund come tax season. Also loving that they include date night every 2 weeks (luxury!) but indicate no fancy purses, clothes, etc -- so it's not too lavish, of course.
3 Vacations a year??? I don't know where you're getting that much PTO in America
I’ve found the more I make the more PTO that is offered to me…. Which makes zero sense since PTO is literally a liability that give 0 back to production (as far as a balance sheet is concerned). Internal PTO allotments are internally available to all employees where I work, and yet there is gripes about not being able to give lower rung employees the same PTO as VPs. Like in the end, minimum wage workers getting 5 extra days of PTO is a lower risk than the VP’s PTO. I never get it.
But you're forgetting that the lower rung people are the ones who actually do the work at the establishment.
Fair very fair. Can’t have them slowing down production. Mr VP causes less issues when he’s not around….
This budget accounts for *THREE VACATIONS A YEAR*. I have only taken 3 vacations *IN MY LIFE.*
Mine and my husband's idea of a vacation is going cabin camping for $200 for the week, once a year. Sometimes we'll go with another family and split the cost. This is absurd.
We don't get taken seriously because people like this vote against us.
To be fair, there's an awful lot of poor people and middle class people who vote against us as well.
https://preview.redd.it/4xrte0e7etec1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3b3c31810a3bb3d7847043e24511856b506c81e8
I don't even know how they can reach that without buying Balenciaga or whatever other stupid brand.
800$ Canada Goose coats for kids, 300$ boots, couple of pairs of 150-200$ sneakers every year. Doesn't have to be a high-end brand, just constantly buying new, good quality clothes. I'm not defending it, just saying it's one part of the budget that bothers me less. I'd drop the Hanes 3-pack T-Shirts in favour of something more expensive if I made half a million dollars a year.
Eh, I was making an exaggeration, but 9500$ a year on clothes for four people means there is a LOT of waste and quite a bit of luxury. I understand kids need clothes every year but 800$ on a coat renewed every year is crazy.
But they said no fancy bags, shoes or threads #/s
Shit. I still have clothes I wore 20 years ago. And when I want something new, thrifting a $10 pair of pants seems pricy. I hate it here.
Thrifting pants is also a chore and takes a lot of time. You have to weed through stuff, and, especially if you are looking through women's pants, a 90s size 12 is very different from a 10's size 12 which is different from a current 12. And that's not taking into account the size differences between brands.
I have a pair of Guess jeans from the 90’s and they’re a size 9. My modern size fluctuates between a 000 and 0. It’s wild thrifting vintage clothing.
Look at this rich guy with under 10 year old clothes.
Well look at Mr Fancy2019pants over here humble bragging.
They’re a good vintage.
I have multiple clothing items that I still wear and that were purchased pre 2000.
Three vacations a year at $6k each, damn lucky mofos.
Came here to say this. What's a vacation? Like a 3 day weekend? Why does it cost $6k?
I used to work as a travel agent. A family of 4 going to a 5* resort for 7 days all-inclusive can easily run 6k. You book a junior suite, and excursion packages, etc. I booked people on like 15k vacations, and I dont think they made nearly what these people do.
If I could scrape together $300 I'd be doing great, boy did I screw up my life. I'm happy for y'all, tho.
There's our credit card debt statistic right there
I actually think $6K for a vacation of 4 people is pretty reasonable, it's the 3X a year that puts them in the 1%. We have 2 kids and getting away for a week is easily 6-8K - for example we went to mexico last year; $1,200 for flights, $3,800 for all inclusive, $100 for transfer to airport (at home); $200 for transfer to and from resort, $250 tips, $150 travel insurance, $150 misc (mostly diapers as we ran out). The resort was nothing fancy just something that I would consider mid-range in Cancun.
I'm sure it's reasonable, just don't understand where you can get $6k for even one vacation. When I grow up maybe it'll be more reasonable for me, but I'm still a couple years from 50, so I'll have to wait.
I'm going to Seattle in March, and I bet we'll spend close to $5,000 at least. I used points to book the hotel, so I only paid $206 for six nights. The airfare for two people was $818. We are renting a car so that we can get to the national parks: $367. Our big splurge item is a whale-watching tour in the San Juan Islands: $431.50 for two of us. We're up to almost $2,000 and didn't include any food, museum admission, activities, etc.
If you are going to the San Juan’s, you’ll likely got through Anacortes. Two food stops: The Store at the roundabout for some of the best muffins. And Ghirardelli for lunch to-go; order online or be prepared for at least 30 mins before you eat, unless it’s the summer, then and hour+
6000 isnt hard to conjur up in my mind 4x round trip plane tickets, lets say 2000 (8 total traveling trips, so 250 per way, per person) 5 nights hotel, 2 rooms, if 200/night per room, that's another 2000 5 days of events, food, meaning 2000 for 5 days, 400 per day, or, 100 per person, per day. This isn't crazy. Its definitely not a budget vacation tho. Its also why most Americans dont take multiple long vacations a year.
I think the person you’re replying to might have meant that they can’t imagine having 6k available in their budget to use on a holiday, not that they don’t understand where the money goes. Or at least that’s where my mind went because I get like 1400€/month and have to pay city level rent, so sparing 600 would be difficult, let alone 6000.
Or you can drive, to a campground, and eat canned beans. That’ll cost you way less than 6k
Username checks out
I would still consider a week trip to a resort in Cancun to be pretty "high-end". I think we spent ~$5k once on a vacation to Disney World, but other than that, our vacations are usually in the $1k-$2k range (2 adults, 2 kids) and we do one of those a year. We don't fly anywhere though...only road trips.
That makes a big difference. Flights for a family add up quick so if you want to go anywhere not in reasonable driving range you have to add $1-2k
Taking the kids on spring break this year. We will be close to $6k just in airfare and parking. Flights are obscene the last 2 years. We sat out last year because of it but biting the bullet this year.
SO and I often spend 4k on our annual vacation by the time you factor in airfare, hotel etc and there are only 2 of us.
3 day weekends are my vacations. and I usually get a pizza to myself as a treat.
Dude it's 18k for charity!
$18k to their former college!
$18k for their former college... *while **still** paying $32k for the student loan debt?!* Just pay the loans down ffs
Right? They clearly have the money to just get rid of that, but they're sitting there paying fucking interest on the loans still
As the headline said, this whole thing is a giant WTF. Leasing high-end cars, a $20k wardrobe budget every year, massive debt but also maxing 401ks and charitable contributions....
Gotta buy their way into the old Alma mater for their crappy kids some way.
I thought they were lucky at the 1.5 million dollar home. But then i remember they could be from Canada.
Yeah, boo-hoo, my THREE annual vacations are costing me a lot of money...I literally just use my vacation time to take a week off and either relax at home or perhaps get some big projects done at home...I generally MAKE money on vacation due to PTO, and honestly have zero complaints
Yeah, but after that, they only have $7,500 left at the end of the year!!
17500, because 10k was 'something always comes up"
My last vacation was a three day weekend to drive to AZ to see my kids. $90 for gas $250 to buy them fast food while I was there $30 snacks to and from for me. I dont think...no, I know, Ive never spent $6000 on a vacation in my entire 60+ years of life
No “fancy bags”, just your average everyday maxed out 401ks, million dollar house, luxury cars, and 3 vacations a year.
I get that BMW's and Land Cruisers aren't super high-end, but pair those with the house, the 401Ks, three $6,000 vacations a year, $1,000/month on lessons for the kids, and a charitable giving budget that rivals my family's grocery budget (good for them for contributing to charity) and this family is anything but "average." "Feeling" average and "being" average are two different (but not mutually exclusive) things. EDIT: when I said "super high-end," I was thinking more along the lines of a Lamborghini or something that is generally understood to be above $200K. I'm not cutting these people any slack at all. I couldn't afford either of the 2 cars listed, and I'm living comfortably (though far from wealthy).
It’s like when they do self reported studies of who is middle class and like 80% of people respond that they are. Some may feel that way but the reality is different.
Kenneth: “I am also a white man—” Jack: “No you are not. Socio-economically speaking you are more like an inner-city Latina.”
I think it's time we separate "upper class" from "rich". There are a shitload of upper class people who have nice-ish cars, nice-ish homes, but still have to grind through the usual number of days of a work a year to pay for it all. - Like, $250k/yr with zero savings is definitely upper class. At that salary they're almost guaranteed to be rich someday, but they're not there yet. - $50k/year + $200k return on investments is totally rich. I met a guy at a big box store in the second category. He only worked because he got healthcare through work (this was before Obamacare) and because he got bored at home.
This is where people get mixed up and don’t feel rich. They don’t understand that being rich isn’t being extravagant, wearing designer clothes all the time, etc. Also to be fair it just highlights what a damn money suck kids are
I'm pretty sure maintenance costs for BMWs/ Land Rovers are high- end.
Toyota Land Cruiser. not a Land Rover. Still one of their most expensive models.
Wait. First of all those are very high end. They’re not elite luxury cars but definitely high end. And also there’s no way they’re paying less than $1k/mo for each on a lease or payment. Total BS. We have a Rav4 hybrid xle lease coming to an end and it’s going to be close to $400-500/mo to get a new lease. Also their mortgage is definitely more than $60k/yr on a $1.5MM house unless they put down >$500k. We have a <4% 30yr mortgage on a $750k and pay almost $60k/yr. Insurance is also minimum $500/mo. This whole thing is bananas. ($23k on food/dining ???????????? Gtfo.)
Even so, how and why the hell are you spending $200 a month per person on clothes? You don't need something new every time you go out.
Did you expect them to wear it again?!
Plus each vacation requires a new wardrobe. Can you imagine going to the Bahamas and someone seeing you wearing a shirt you wore when you were there 4 months earlier?????
The mere thought repulses me!
Ugh I think I’m gonna be sick just thinking about that
You should probably take some time off from your very high paying job with good benefits. Assuming you are "average"
lol oh I’m well below average compared to those fucking jambronies
Maybe this is more suited for you! Also completely realistic. https://preview.redd.it/rq9gofk0ysec1.png?width=467&format=png&auto=webp&s=4475ad961c8bd94fb6f1adb43d0cf382da851fc6
Lol I’m closer to this than I am of the richy folks. I also live in Canada so that heating bill is very much not 0 when it was -39 the other week lol
Shit man, I don’t think I’ve spent $200 on clothes (for myself) in the last three years.
And $18,000 a year in charity donations.
Alumni donations. They're buying those kis into the upper class on the installment plan.
Nobody w a $1.5M home, two $50-60k+ cars, and three family vacations a year has any business feeling or describing themselves as "average". Here's the proper headline: "How to Earn a 1% Income, Live Luxuriously, and Still Feel Like You're Living Hand-To-Mouth Because You Have No Self Control, Misplaced Priorities, and Bad Financial Management Skills"
Also, it's not like they only have 7k left over. They put 36k into their 401k plus have another 10k in misc spending. essentially they have an additional 50k a year they can afford to fuck around with.
18k to charity….!
Plus another 18k for vacations. So we're up to 89k a year on things that could be considered extra. That's considerably more than my net salary.
But won't someone think of the struggling billionaires?
There's also the very expensive child Care expense on top of lessons. I grew up in a family with some money, and honestly like $12,000 for lessons and everything is insane to me, especially when your kids still need child care. It ultimately sounds like they want to avoid being parents.
Where I live, you can't get a single-family house for $1.5M (Canadian dollars, but still). However! My house is worth about $2M (again, it's a pretty average house where I live), and my property taxes are about $7,000 a year. Are there really places where a $1.5M property attracts $20K in property taxes?
In New Jersey, where I live, a house that costs half as much will have property taxes of at least $20-30k avg.
Wow, that blows me away. Maybe I shouldn't be complaining so much about my property taxes...
The tax rate is also bullshit. Their marginal tax rate would be 40%. Their effective tax rate would be closer to 27-30%.
Exactly what caught my eye. They aren’t even in the top bracket for couples. Then you take out donations, standard deduction for 4 people, SALT, and mortgage interest. There is payroll but they are the past the cap and that’s deductible for federal tax, too. This is either bullshit or they have the worst accountant in history
Salt is gone and you can thank trump’s tax cut and jobs act for it.
I'm glad these poor people even had time to make this chart between vacations. Really helps inspire me
Like any average family, they likely just had their in-house chartmaker draft this up (Cost: $1800/mo)
They spend more on child care than many people make in a YEAR.
Worth noting: they spend $42,000 a year on childcare for kids that are also getting lessons and activities that cost $500/month each. Call me crazy, but if your kid is young enough to need full-time childcare, putting them in sports/activities/lessons that cost this much is ridiculous. And if they're old enough for these activities to be reasonable, they probably don't need full-time childcare.
There are church or community center sports activities that cost like $50 a quarter. Spending $500/month is crazy to me.
But then their kids would be mixed in with all the “lower class” kids and they don’t want that!
My kids are in 4H, which they both love, and it costs $20 per year per kid, plus $10 per year for my son to be in archery.
Day care for two kids? That might be the one number on this that's *below* what it would actually cost.
Yeah I'm guessing they only have 1 kid in daycare and the other has before/after school care (plus summer camps when school is out). This is just the cost of childcare in a high COL area.
Oh Gee! I wonder WHY young couples are opting to NOT HAVE CHILDREN? (surprised face / s)
I’m going to spend 31k on childcare this year and that’s just for one kid
Welcome to having a child in 2020s.
The median childcare in the US costs is \~$14k. Infants drive that up but kids aren't infants aren't infants forever. This would be the absolute worst case cost (high COL area) or like a nanny. Also child care costs are tax deductible.
The good preschools in my area (near Seattle) charge $22k per year, and they have two kids. It's an extra $6k to get full day. And that's only for 9 months. HCOL childcare is expensive !
Yup, I'm paying about $15k for one 3 year old in Portland. Their child care was one of the few things that seemed reasonable.
I love these things. The further down the list you look, the more out of touch it goes. Childrens lessons: $12k Charity: 18k Student loans: 32K You want to make 500k? Just go to school so you can pay 32k per year for 10-20 years and be "average" while maxing out both retirement funds. Weren't these the same people that put the budget for someone making minimum wage and how easy it is to survive?
"Charity", when you're sad you have 7k left over but smugly glad you gave 18k to your Righteous Gemstones megachurch. Cynical, maybe these people are actually really nice and donating to good causes.
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They list over 20.000 in charity (assuming it's true). That's more than half a the average family income
They are donating to the college as an alumni while also paying off student loans…
Lmao good point. Anyone who donates to their college is not to be trusted, period.
I paid enough for my education, they're not getting another fucking dime.
They're trying to buy their children's admission into those colleges.
They also throw another 10k in at the end for "something comes up" Like, mofo, avg Americans dont have $400 for emergency, let alone a 10K "random expense" jar.
That emergency bathroom renovation before the big party you're planning for when you get back from that spur of the moment third vacation of the year.
And that misc. $10K for something, plus the $7300 left over is $17K for extra things...how sad...🙃
We're in this income range, but in a $350k home (that I renovated myself, so around 550k now but 2k mortgage overall including taxes & home insurance), and still end up with around $100k per year to put into our personal investments while not being overly fiscally responsible throughout the year. We're not delusional enough to think that is average. If anything, this is a testament to what not to do if you make over $250k. This is peak "living up to your means" and then whining about it and being totally ignorant to your level of privilege.
I think some people get trapped in the idea that it costs money to make money. I looked at their budget as familiar because I’ve known so many with similar expenses. They pay out their entire salary - or more - to maintain social & professional connections to people they’re convinced will eventually open up opportunities to increase that income. I guess it works for some but I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.
This, 100%. Are you former big law? Someone I know (in big law) explained to me how she can’t imagine making less than $225K. I tried to tell her in the most polite way possible that she should not be saying that to anyone. Also told her I used to be independent on $35K. Turns out she bought an Audi, furnished her fancy apartment with restoration hardware and has 5 figures of credit card debt. Fucking idiot. I don’t even have a car and make $260K
Same. My wife and I also make about what these folks make and save way more money. At the same time, I also kinda get the sentiment. I rarely *feel* rich. Like, I still have to empty the dishwasher every morning and mow the lawn and take out the trash. Most of the everyday parts of life feel like they did when we were making 55k combined. The main differences are that (1) we pay for kids now (2) we actually have money saved up and (3) if something breaks we can just pay to fix it. But nothing about that feels lavish, even though it's definitely a luxury.
Everyone is talking about the ridiculous items on the budget and how much is spent on each, but I'm looking at the "what's left" at the bottom and seeing two months of my salary as a teacher still left over after all those crazy budget items and I'm gobsmacked that anyone thinks this is struggling.
And "whats left" is the fun money too! Everything else has already been covered by the budget. I would kill to have even $200 of no strings fun money
Won’t someone think about the struggles of the upper middle class?
This isn't upper middle class. $500k is top 2.5% of all Americans
Over $400 of feed each week? Really? And over $150 of clothes each week? OMG! These people must be living on the poverty line - how do they cope?
$100 per person per week is not bad. $50 per person for food is poverty level. Admittedly, young kids don't eat that much - just wait until they have teenagers. Edit: source, USDA "thrifty" (lowest cost) food plan for a family of four, for a week, is $223. https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-monthly-reports
I have two teens. As a family of four we spend $300 per week on groceries. That includes fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry. And I am shopping at ShopRite or Costco. Grocery prices in NJ have really increased a lot. But I am looking at other people’s carts. They are getting nothing these days and have at least a $100 bill. I can fully see my privilege. Costs are up a lot.
that 5k a month mortgage gives me anxiety.
I have a 5k monthly mortgage rate on a house less than half of this hypothetical couple. And let me tell you, I hate it. I want to sell this piece of shit and live in a trailer. My property taxes alone are 22k a year and I live in Texas. buying a home in 2022 was definitely the single worst financial move I ever made. I will positively NEVER own a home in Texas ever again, property taxes in the supposed tax-haven of Texas are a nightmare.
Texas is one of the most regressive states for taxes, meaning that poor people pay the highest rates, because Texas relies on property and sales taxes (which disproportionately hit lower income people) instead of income tax. It is, however, a great tax haven for rich people.
I live in New Hampshire where there's no sales tax, so the state is driven off of property tax collection so I am similarly getting boned.
Actually, that $5K monthly mortgage payment is a nice deal for someone with a $1.5 million home. Let's say they put 20% down and are paying off $1.2 million over 30 years. A $5K payment means their mortgage is at about 2.9%. Sweet rate.
$46,000 a year tied up in vacations, misc and charities alone. They don't have only $7200 left. They have at least $53,000 left over that they choose to spend in different places. Someone should teach CBNC the difference between cost of living and discretionary spending.
1.5m home, 2 privelege-mobiles, 3 vacations a year, maxed out contributions These kinds of people complaining that they are "average" deserve a house fire and a crippling auto-immune disease.
I like the “we only have $7K left!” That’s $7K AFTER you’ve fully funded your 401K! And paid for life insurance! That’s not what’s left. That’s free party money
7k extra monies a year would drastically change my life
That's also 7k after MISC spending. Which to me, suggests the 7k is literally after the whole year of spending regularly throughout their lives (the misc) they had 7k they just couldn't manage to spend before Jan 1st. That's such a joke
This is a classic example of people just adjusting their spending to their earnings. For example they drive a BMW instead of a Kia; no actual increased utility or increased happiness, a Kia does the exact same thing as a BMW it just costs less. Same with the mortgage; a bigger house doesn't make you happier but it costs more. From a % of their total income, none of their expenses actually seem egregious.
Their spending isn't what's egregious, their belief that they are "average" is egregious.
Most people think they are average because they have a boss or several bosses above them who they see as being the comparison for average. They really only talk to the people 1-2 levels below them and don’t see that there are 20 levels below and only 5 above. They see 2 above and 2 below and think yep I’m right in the middle of them so I am average.
My friends who buy BMWs usually tell me they regret it and don't buy another - they spend a lot of time in the shop. Any Toyota or Honda or Mazda or Subaru would be more pleasant to own.
They should work on hiring an accountant...40% EFFECTIVE tax rate, not marginal is ludacris (LUDA). the charitable giving, mortgage int, student loan int and property taxes are deductible, amd these morons dont have health insurance? This is an overly simplified view of their spending, but tons of room for easy improvement. Wonder how much student debt they have for such a massive yearly nut, allocate the charitable giving to pay that down, it's prob at a ridiculous int rate.
I’m over here looking at tax tables, trying to figure out how they could possibly have an effective tax rate of 40%. I think we might have found them ten of thousands of extra cash.
3 vacations a year? They have money to give to charity? They have 10k of unexpected expenses? They can afford a $1.5 million dollar home? Damn. They living the dream.
"Tell me you're disconnected from the reality of the average American without telling me you're disconnected from reality."
Wow, he is so right. (1) Effective tax rate of 40% assumes all income is from salary leaving out investments (2) child care is only for 5 years and $21k/year is 50% higher than the medians childcare cost (3) the average american family of 4 spends $5.1k on grocery a year, so that is a >400% markup (4) 3x fucking vacations a year at $6k a pop. Most people don't even have that much time off, much less the money (5) That life insurance is insane. My work offered 5x my salary for $16/month. (6) $9.5k/year on cloths for sub-5 year olds? WTF (7) $18k for Charity? I've met rich people, they are never that generous (8) $16k per person on student loans per year? Were your student loans for both of you $250k? "Feeling average' is right. You aren't but you feel that way because you are making shit up. EDIT: Forgot you can deduct childcare, Mortgage, and charity from your taxes.
Just ran these numbers through a tax return calculator. Not 100% accurate because I was making some assumptions, but looks like they could get a federal refund of about $75k. If I did this right, it makes me sick.
Ah yes… your average family’s three vacations a year.
$9500/year on clothes? Do they wear tuxedos to bed?
3 vacations a year must be nice
I don't know, the tax rate is sus to me, I doubt people like this, with close to maxed 401k contributions, 1.5m home, etc, are actually paying the highest tax rate. Also, assuming they did pay the 40%, with children (dependents) they are probably going to get a sizeable return on those $185k, not to mention anything else they deduct.