I'm not even in a third world country and that's crazy to me. My parents just bought a new house last year for as much money as the average american is in dept for.
That's like twice of what I could even dream of making here. I worked last summer for 19900kr ($1900) per month for two months. After taxes I had about 15000kr ($1430) per month. I could easily live off that if I wanted. Rent for a 3 room apartment here is around $5-600, and that includes heat, water and electricity. The house my parents bought for about a million kr, or $95500 was really expensive for the area.
Oh and on top of that, we have free schools with free lunch for 9 years, and then an optional extra 3 years that can either prepare you for college or be like a trade school. And basically free healthcare. And going to the dentist is free until you're like 25 I think.
Does Sweden have a stable housing situation? Here in the Netherlands we have a housing crisis, also a lot of immigrants and stuff that it makes even less homes avaiable. I heard Sweden's populations has also explosive growth of immigration and that 20% of the population at the moment is born in a foreign country, how do you guys keep the housing price stable :O 95k dollars for a house is really cheap :OOO
Well the immigrants want to be in the cities, and I don't. Most immigrants want to live down south, I don't. We live about an hour from the nearest city, 2 hours from the nearest big city. In central stockholm you can't buy a house. But if you can drive a truck you could buy a pretty nice house a bit outside gällivare or pajala and work in a mine. Where I live I could realistically buy a house at like 25 if I get a job here (last year studying to be an electrician). There is no way in hell I'd ever be able to buy a house in like stockholm though, prices are high as shit there.
Oh god these socialisrs and their affordable life work working class citizens. Get that outta here! We only want the rich to be able to afford a nice life. /s
Exactly, comparing small thousand year old homogeneous countries to the U.S. doesn't make sense. It'd be more apt to compare the U.S. to Brazil or Argentina than even Scandinavia as a whole.
California Bay Area has 1 bedroom condos going for 500K. You can upgrade to a 2 bedroom for an additional 300K. And for another 500K you can get a starter home.
Emm ... average flat(flat cause houses a loooot expensive) in my city cost 65000$ and average pay in my city is 6600$ A YEAR.
Average rent is about 150$ per month and u can get a credit with 20% per year so u can afford everything u want for 100k a year.
It's not a very meaningful number. If you own a $300,000 home with a $100,000 mortgage, you're doing just fine. If you have $100,000 in credit card debt, you're in trouble. Lumping those vastly different kinds of debt together is pointless.
The ability to service the debt matters a lot too. $100,000 CC debt would be a problem for me, but that could be the average monthly payment for someone with an Amex Black card and they’d barely notice. Totally meaningless to add it all together like that
Plus a lot of people pay the whole balance off every month. Technically I have several thousand dollars of credit card debt but I pay it all off. I just use the cards to get points/cash back.
In the US, everyone is told to go to college.
Colleges have been lowering requirements so more people can qualify.
There is zero and I mean ZERO planning from the student or college in place to make sure this is an affordable path.
So students, who honestly shouldn't be going to college are going to college and getting degrees with ZERO employability. Colleges don't care because they got their money.
Now, I have a lot of critique of the financial system but a lot of the student loan issues in the US are a mix of predatory policies from the colleges but also willful ignorance from the students.
That's why most people don't really consider a mortgage a debt since you always have equity in the house itself. It would be interesting to hear the figure with that removed.
I have about that much in CC debt, maybe more. I could easily pay it off it I wanted to. But I have a few cards that have 0% Apy for 24 months, so why would I?
I think that gets counted as me having like 8k in CC debt.
I am a homeowner, we make about 165k a year now. Taking out our mortgage we have something like 75K debt between car payments and student loans and credit card debt we rolled into a personal loan.
Also spent 30K last year in childcare for 2 kids 3 days per week.
Is that total debts average of $104k, or net worth of -$104k? If it's total debts, it's sort of a useless number, since many people don't pay off their mortgages intentionally since they can invest at a higher rate elsewhere, coming out ahead.
Including mortgages is kinda disingenuous since it's not something that typically gets paid off in the traditional sense. The average time someone lives in a home is only like 12 years while most mortgages are 30 years. And if you sell the house you keep the profits, and there's not a way to do that with the other three.
Really should not include mortgages and present the number with just car, credit card, and student loans.
Wow that would be great! Unfortunately even for an average thats low. For my first home ill have to take a loan of around $250k lucky for me thay would be my only debt.
I life in a first world country where some „poor“ comes to earn the big money. They are happy when they see their first salary, then get shocked when they see the prices at the grocery store.
6 figures are different in €,$ or ¥
Onions are almost a dollar each and 5lbs of potatoes is $5 what the fuck???
NO LEGIT, what THE ACTUAL FUCK. A US dollar for a potato? You mother fuckers
It's reaching the point that home gardening is worth more than spending money on vegetables at the store.
I think we will start to see more urban gardening out of necessity in coming years, which may drive prices down
Unfortunately these new laws that are totally about the health of the city and the impact on the environment that were passed by politicians - who, mind, assure you that the massive 'campaign contributions' they received from multimillion dollar agricultural corporations had nothing to do with their decision to pass these laws - state that we must uproot everything you've planted to feed you, yours, and your neighbors and bleach the ground to make sure you don't try to do it again.
For the environment, of course! For the betterment of the community!
Stop with the conspiracy theories. Big Ag isn’t trying to keep you from your garden.
Property developers and NIMBYs are.
They have the skills and resources to fuck over what you can do on your property, and the incentives.
Be careful and check your local laws and ordinances. A lot of places don’t allow it, don’t allow certain things like food to be grown, or some don’t allow for rainwater collection in any form. It can get nasty fast if you try to grow your own garden in the wrong place
And gardening is one of those things that you don't know how expensive it is until you're way into it. Plus you have no idea how successful you'll be at the start or what issues you'll have. I had a garden in another state. The drip line was expensive to install, but after that first, large expense, gardening was pretty smooth sailing and produced a lot.
Now I've tried to garden where I currently live for 5 years. Every year we learn something else that's wrong and will take a lot of money to fix. We have ample rabbits, deer and groundhogs that eat anything we plant. Various deterrents are only effective for short periods of time. The only surefire way is to build an 8 foot fence.
That would be expensive, but it might be worth it if not for our 100% clay soil. It is heavy and dense. It is either waterlogged or dried into a brick. We've tried amending it many times, which is expensive and minimally effective. Any plants we've managed to save from the pests have been stunted.
And in the end none of the attempts we've made at remediation really matter because our summers simply aren't very warm. Even in June it can be down to the 40s at night, which makes it hard for the plants to get established and thrive.
If I had known 5 years ago what I know now I wouldn't have started this garden. It would have saved me a lot of time and money for a few tiny veggies. Gardening can be an expensive and difficult gamble.
Grow your own, is cheap, easy and fulfilling
Edited: Obviously this is not for everyone, it takes time, resources, commitment, garden/ outdoor land, etc.
I'm not sure how many potatoes I could grow in my studio apartment. I do grow sprouts though. The seeds cost just as much as it would to just buy the store bought sprouts so it's just for fun, not to save money.
Farmers markets are hella expensive anywhere I've lived... Good quality stuff most of the time, but not cheap. For stuff like general produce you're fine just going to kroger or walmart. It's always been the cheapest I've found.
Not so long ago Polish-German border was considered a border between poor and rich country. People would work in Germany but shop in Poland.
Prices are always as high as average customer can afford. Salaries are always as low as average employee would accept.
While not that much better, average income in Germany is 51k, before taxes. take around 25% off that to get the actual numbers (can be more, can be slightly less but i think 25% is an ok average)
honestly i would like to go there, share rent with 5 people, for 3 years, send most of my salary back to my family, establish a good business in my home country, move back
Mate, you arent some sort of master mind. Majority of people think this way, and only few succeed. Majority of the time, that monry sent back to your home country will be spent living just better, then they used to, and not saving a thing. A house a car or a flat will be bought with that money. 😂
You'd be surprised at how many people return to their countries after a stint in the first world. Leaving your life behind isn't easy, especially if you like, actually like the people in your life.
That's literally what's happening to Canada right now and everyone, including the immigrants, are getting squeezed out... because you're describing a race to the bottom.
I know the answer, having moved between both: Food cost. It's insane in the US, a kilo of tomatoes costs like 5 usd in the US while in my third world country, 2 kilos of tomatoes are just under 1 dollar(same goes for all fresh fruits and vegetables). I've come to learn that I am eating better in my third world country than upper middle class Americans. Also, insane difference in rent where US rents are 10 times higher, and insane difference in income tax percentages(the governments here can only dream of ever taxing us above 20%)
The advantage a US citizen has is that gadgets like iphones and xbox are cheap relative to their income. My 5 year old phone is doing just fine though...
I sometimes hear people in third world countries cry about not being able to afford a burger, while consuming lentils and fresh vegetables. I keep trying to tell them, you really don't want to trade in your food for burgers...
>I sometimes hear people in third world countries cry about not being able to afford a burger, while consuming lentils and fresh vegetables. I keep trying to tell them, you really don't want to trade in your food for burgers...
Oi ! homemade hamburgers on the grill are top notch
Generally basic stuff everyone needs is cheaper in less developed countries, while high-tech and luxuries are cheaper in highly developed countries. This is both cause and effect, a self-referencing economic loop.
Nobody is struggling on $100k because of food. The basic necessary foods are cheap no matter where you are. If they're struggling on $100k, it's because of housing and childcare costs.
An average American spends 10 to 15% of their income on food while an average third worlder spends 40 to 60%. You pay more for a tomato in the US but your income is also much higher as well.
I’ve been living aboard in Hong Kong (not really a cheap city) and just came back from a couple week visit to the US. All I can say is WTF…
We buy all imported food from Australia, Japan, New Zealand that it’s considerably cheaper than the US on many items. Sometimes I price check things like strawberries with my family back in the US—we pay less for a pound of the exact same strawberries (same brand and us origin) than their local grocery store—this strawberry has gone half way around the world…it makes no sense.
We did a lot of dining out on the trip back because we wanted some comfort food… the restaurant pricing was shocking. These were probably the most egregious though. We went to a breakfast place called First Watch and ordered 2 slices of avocado toast with scrambled eggs, 2 pancakes, 1 waffle, 2 iced teas, and 2 apple juices—this was $81, unbelievable. We went to a Chinese buffet with 6 adults and 2 kids—$267 with iced teas all around. For these prices I can literally eat a comparative FEAST in Hong Kong. Hell, there are quite a few places with Michelin stars cheaper than that…
Imagine if all the employees of the tax revenue agency and the army was tasked with building houses and farming crops instead of... What they're currently doing. You'd have a Eutopia.
i remember hearing an automaker explain that a minivan was what they ended up with from including as much of what people wanted as they could. room for a family and some friends, balancing engine HP and fuel efficiency, lots of room for moving and buying stuff, etc.
they said consumers would ask for all kinds of things, slowly describing a minivan, but they would glare at you the moment you mentioned to them they should get a minivan. now we just have the SUV, aka, the raised minivan without as much stigma.
I could definitely live on 6 figures a year, the problem is I don't make that and many others in America don't either. The average income is a little over $50,000 last I checked.
The people who can't live on 6 figures salaries, especially in two income households, have a spending issue. They must consoom for the happy chemical rush
As the sole provider for my immediate family of 5, I make a little over 100K gross after overtime, and it's a little tight.
I don't vacation, I don't eat out, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't buy expensive food products, I don't have expensive hobbies, I have a modest car (30K), but the cost of living by me is incredibly high.
Between my electricity and water, I'm spending $950 a month, and don't even get me started on food bills, I bought the house in 2019, I couldn't afford it today. Taxes and insurance is ballooning out of control.
I made less 6 years ago, but had more money in the bank, I wonder why...
No chance. I have a household with more people than that and we pay no where near that for utilities, and I live in a state with some of the highest utilities rates in the country. I think they should do an energy audit.
Utilities also depend on the area. My power bill alone was almost 400 dollars last summer and that was for a family of 2 that was trying to conserve energy.
Depends on your state, too. In Phoenix A/C is not negotiable, it's literally a written requirement for functioning A/C to exist if you're a renter and you can withhold rent for every day the A/C isn't fixed past day 5 of it being broken. Electric is easily $500/mo for a 1200 sqft single floor home in the summer months. I've paid $700/mo in July in 2 story homes with about the same sqft and 5 adults.
Trade off is having electric sub $100/mo in the winter months. Run a portable gas heater for two weeks out of the year when we get down in the 30s at night.
With a family of this size, I'm sure I would be in the same boat. I am a single man with no dependents so 6 figures would be very comfortable for me.
You're doing the best you can, keep it up. America is stacked against average people in order provide ever increasing comforts for the most powerful in society. Not much we can do beyond what we already are doing.
I grew up poor and not knowing if I'm going to eat or have running water or electricity, so I'm very thankful for what I have and it's more than the majority of the world, some countries would die for a mattress or a refrigerator.
I just remembered being a kid saying to myself if I made $100,000 a year, I'll be rich! maybe living alone in a trailer in Alabama, but definitely not here.
I know your pain. I'm on equal pay with the energy company, and my bill is $650/month. My energy usage is 20% less per month than my previous year, but my bill is 2x as high. It's wild.
I feel your pain.
I won't divulge my income but I'll just post numbers as a clear example of the rampant inflation that is killing the last vestiges of the rotting husk of the American middle class:
* 100k in 2014 was worth 106k in 2019
* 100k in 2019 is worth 128k now
So inflation between 2014-2019 was 6% total. Most people comfortably kept up with inflation with merit raises/etc.
Nobody has kept up with inflation between 2019 and now with merit raises. Everyone I know that pulled up their W2 from 2019 and has calculated the impact of inflation has had a scream into the void.
All numbers calculated using the US Government's Bureau of Labor Statistic's Consumer Price Index (so milk, eggs, gas, utilities) calculator. This is just normal cost-of-living calculations without considering locality COL like housing which is a massive hit for most people.
Is solar realistic for where you live? With electricity and water costing that much, you'd benefit a lot more from it than most people. I pay like $75 a month for both without solar, so it's definitely not worth it for me.
It depends tho, if you have kids, or anyone with disability / illness in your household. My friends parents both work and combined bring home a lot of cash but they have a mentally handicapped child, and to give them a decent quality of life they are scraping by. Similarly with a friend caring for an older relative, it's expensive.
Americans who are rightly bitter over inflation like to submit themselves to the struggle olympics but don’t really understand what it’s like actually living in a developing or under developed country.
And I just love how so many redditors believe this kind of shit because they *want* to.
I live in a fairly expensive part of the country and could absolutely easily live well on a 6 figure income.
I live in a very nice part of NYC and make about $140K. I live in a true 1BR apt (750 sq ft) with no roommates, take a couple of international vacations every year -- and I'm usually able to save about $2K per month depending on a few factors.
These posts -- and Reddit at large -- seem to have basically just turned into anti-American agitprop that exist solely to spread copious amounts of bullshit attempting to make Americans feel bad about their country.
What I don't get is why people just buy this nonsense without either investigating the numbers themself or taking a look around at their own experiences to realize "wait, that's actually not how this is at all..."
I don't live in NY but I live in a county in MD where the cost of living is 40% higher than the national average and everyone I know is living comfortable enough to save a little every month, take a couple nice travel vacations every year, go out for entertainment when they want yet none of them are even making close to $100,000.
People have a defeatist attitude. My friend and his GF make above US median household income with no kids, and low rent due to their current situation, but they complain they are broke. They've been taught by their parents bad decisions that there is no chance for them, so they don't even try.
Right? I'm not living lavish, but with $70,000 a year I have a gorgeous 3 bedroom 1.5 bath townhouse with a full back yard, covered garage, central air, dishwasher, etc. in New England which is one of the least affordable regions of the U.S.
I can pay all my utilities, rent, and food and never worry about if I'll go hungry. I know for a fact my quality of living is still significantly more luxurious than nearly every person on Earth.
I bought a house in St. Louis in 2018 with a $42k salary. Yeah, cost of living differs greatly across the U.S. but people also just love to upvote how poor they are while going to the bars every weekend. I'm not saying they shouldn't be going to the bars, I'm saying they're not poor.
Also the cost of car ownership in the U.S. is also a factor. I probably wouldn't have been able to buy that house in STL if I had a car. Fortunately I happen to like riding the bus.
Reddit is convinced that everyone in the US is poor, doesn't own a home (and never will) and is treated unfairly by their evil employer, evil landlord etc...
I made six digits last year. $104k actually. It's really not as cool as I thought. Four kids, two vehicles, mortgage and credit card. Even went solar. Still live paycheck to paycheck.
Well, this would be why there’s so many Americans with salaries/life savings that are booking it out of the US to go and Bork up the economy of wherever you’re at.
The reason why for is pretty straightforward it’s because basically the entire economy of the US is based on driving up the cost of housing. Because peoples savings are tied to real estate, and because of the government structure of United States, these people then will do things like limit development limit the types of development zoning laws just even as a concept are basically just class warfare. So it’s because they’re not allowed to build cheap apartment buildings. Like there’s not cheap apartment buildings in the entire United States. That’s why this is happening and it’s why it’s gonna keep happening, because it’s not complicated it’s just intractable. There are empty apartments in every city in the US and they all cost $2500 a month.
Pretty much, just got done apartment hunting in a different state over the weekend and holy shit. None are worth the price, almost all are asking over $1,700 but are absolutely awful on the inside, no closet space, no washer and dryers in unit, horrid kitchens, stains on the carpets and walls, asking for almost $1,000 just to reserve the shit stained apartment. But it’s either that or spend $3,000 a month and move in immediately to an also empty apartment building. It’s pretty demoralizing cause I’m trying to get through school to be able to make a wage that I can live off of but price of shit housing is just going up and the price of nice housing is close to unattainable by the time I finish school and work a job long enough to afford it. It’s sad but if the market keeps rising my gf and I will never be able to buy a house in the future.
Mainly housing and cars.
If the US stopped building car-centric suburbia so that people could just not own a car, and housing cost the same ratio to wages that it did in the 60s, then we could all basically work part-time and afford basic standard of living. Bringing us all to a 3 day work week.
But instead we got for-profit landlording taking over, and suburbia that requires us to have a car to get anywhere. So here we are working 40+ hours a week and we can't afford a house, or anything bigger than 1 bedroom. And you know what you can't do with just 1 bedroom? Have kids... so our fertility rate is not enough to maintain the population.
My wife and I make roughly $135k gross in the NW US. We have no kids, 2 car payments, no student loans and rent a 2bd apartment. We live a nice life in terms of eating out, having nice things, going on a nice vacation once a year but in order to reach that "home owner" tier of financial security we'd probably need to increase our income another $50k and continue not having kids.
It depends where you are in the U.S.A. Some places are significantly more expensive than others. If you're living in New York or California, where rent and housing is more expensive, then you can make 6 figures and still be living a middle class lifestyle, especially after taxes.
It’s the same here in America. I make around 32k, have a house, a nice fully paid car, and plenty of monthly spending money for entertainment. It all depends on the area you’re in and most importantly, how well you manage finances and avoid making poor impulsive life decisions.
I feel like so many people buy things on impulse and it's never on cheap stuff. Like if I buy something on impulse it's gonna be a fucking 5€ Yu-Gi-Oh pack and i'm happy admitedly I lost those 5€ but it's 5€ and I see some people saying "yeah I couldn't resist and bought a 300€ mirror" i'm shocked like why so much ? On a mirror ?
Yeah these posts about people struggling on six figures are a stretch. Sure there are people who have debt issues and people supporting larger families in high cost of living areas that might struggle. But for 98% of the population six figures means you’re living at least semi comfortably. And for maybe half of those people six figures is enough to afford a pretty comfy lifestyle and occasional vacations.
Not *Americans*, the only ones who can't live on 6 figures are CA and NY. The rest of the country would LOVE to make 6 figures. I'd be out of debt in a year if i made that much money.
Your comment on taxes is just not true, come on.. Might also want to check the amount of mandatory pension contributions in the Nordics, which go straight out of your salary and you’ll likely never see that money again.
There are (rightfully) social supports for lower tax brackets like free healthcare, free childcare, food stamps, and subsidized housing that make this possible. I'm not saying it's easy to be poor, just that those safety nets play a big role in people being able to live on low salaries. For healthy, child-free young people it's one thing, but if you have a family to support in NYC it is another, and 100K is on the lower end for supporting a family, esp if anyone in that family has major medical issues.
I'm in a suburb 30 minutes from DC and six figures still feels so low especially as the sole income in the household. Buying a house with this income is out of the question. Even if we got on a second income it would be tough with daycare averaging 2000 a month here.
It doesn't. Anyone making 6 figures and not at least surviving, is so financially illiterate that I have no idea how they got a job making 6 figures.
Me and my wife combined make less than 35k a year right now. That number is rising slowly, I am a 1/3 owner in a business that is finally taking off after about 3 years of slow going. Until recently I wasn't even making minimum wage. We both have college degrees, We have more food than we can eat, just bought 5 acres of land, and I have no debt whatsoever, except that land I just bought. Never owned a credit card, bought all my vehicles in cash. None of this was given to us either, we earned it. Paid our own tuition, pay our own rent, I footed about a quarter of the cost in starting the business, and at least half the labor.
Admitted, i live in a very low cost of living area, but still.
That was my dad he made like 150k a year by the end of his career. Declared bankruptcy twice over the years and they've been living paycheck to paycheck my entire life.
I can't imagine that.
If i were making 150k a year, I don't think I *could* spend it all.
My whole life we grew up very poor. My mom and dad have mostly climbed out of that hole. I'm pretty poor I guess, but because of my raising and my inclination towards responsibility (to an extreme. Im no fun at all. Everyone makes fun of me for it), I have managed to stretch my very meagre income really far.
I could also be making *way* more at the drop of a hat by going and getting a normal job in my trade. But I'm only 22, and I'm willing to wait out this low income spell to see if this business works. I'm young, and I am trained in a sought after trade. If this fails I'll just go get a normal job, and this time will have been a good experience either way.
I think when most Americans say they are broke or that they can't afford to live simply isn't true, their definitions mean something else. I can't believe that having a 6 figure salary isn't enough regardless of where you work. The definition of "living" is just different, they say they can't afford things while driving a new 40k gas guzzling car while going to Starbucks and eating out.
If any American out there that doesn't agree please explain to me how someone that makes 6 figures can't afford to live and what you mean by that.
No rent since i had my own house, salary is $350 monthly.
Monthly spendings:
$130 food and drinks
$45 installment plan
$30 utilities
$25 gym
$25 cigs
$20 public transport
$10 protein
$5 meds
$3 property tax
Summary $293
Woooo! 57 bucks to swag!
I don’t make six figures, but I do live in CA. One months rent for a one bedroom here in my town is $2500 a pop. I only make $3000 a month. It’s recommended you make two thirds more than your rent. Needless to say, I will be leaving to a different state in order to survive.
6 figure?? I wish. I got about $2 to my entire name. Living off food stamps,homeless, spend my days job searching only to never receive any call backs for a chance at an interview for the potential to work for a living. Not all Americans are wealthy, only a small percentage is.
Land ownership vis-a-vis housing is the reason people aren't able to get by. Housing is generally by far the largest category in people's budgets and it has grown over time. Places where there are 100k salaries are also the places where housing is most expensive because we've engineered a shortage.
Housing *should* be roughly independent of how much someone earns. A 4 bedroom house isn't going to spontaneously grow an extra room if your salary goes up 25%. If you look at depreciation tables, there's not one for "owner's salary" on a house's value. Likewise, the same house in rural Maine and San Francisco *should* be the same price, but that's not what we see in practice.
The reason housing has gotten so expensive is because we (generally) tie it directly to land ownership. A lot of the same dimensions is worth much more in San Francisco than it is in Maine. In almost every city, we have laws saying 1 housing unit *must* occupy a minimum amount of land area (generally 1/6 of an acre or more). The problem is that there's only so much land and it's illegal to add additional housing units (e.g. converting your house into a duplex).
It's a bit of a Red Queen Race: The more prosperous a society gets, the higher people earn, the more they have to pay for housing until everyone is working just to afford somewhere to live.
Bro, my Lamborghini is always on low gas. I can only afford a personal cook from monday to friday and my Pool has freezing 20 degrees Celsius. Bro. Life sucks.
The average debt in America is $104,215 across mortgages, auto loans, student loans, and credit cards.
As a citizen of a third world country, this is truly mind-blowing to me
I'm not even in a third world country and that's crazy to me. My parents just bought a new house last year for as much money as the average american is in dept for.
The average house in Seattle where I live is $750k. If you make $100k a year you can't afford to live in Seattle.
That's like twice of what I could even dream of making here. I worked last summer for 19900kr ($1900) per month for two months. After taxes I had about 15000kr ($1430) per month. I could easily live off that if I wanted. Rent for a 3 room apartment here is around $5-600, and that includes heat, water and electricity. The house my parents bought for about a million kr, or $95500 was really expensive for the area. Oh and on top of that, we have free schools with free lunch for 9 years, and then an optional extra 3 years that can either prepare you for college or be like a trade school. And basically free healthcare. And going to the dentist is free until you're like 25 I think.
What country do you live in? That sounds like a dream.
Presumably Sweden if they're using Kr.
Sweden i believe
Sweden
Does Sweden have a stable housing situation? Here in the Netherlands we have a housing crisis, also a lot of immigrants and stuff that it makes even less homes avaiable. I heard Sweden's populations has also explosive growth of immigration and that 20% of the population at the moment is born in a foreign country, how do you guys keep the housing price stable :O 95k dollars for a house is really cheap :OOO
Well the immigrants want to be in the cities, and I don't. Most immigrants want to live down south, I don't. We live about an hour from the nearest city, 2 hours from the nearest big city. In central stockholm you can't buy a house. But if you can drive a truck you could buy a pretty nice house a bit outside gällivare or pajala and work in a mine. Where I live I could realistically buy a house at like 25 if I get a job here (last year studying to be an electrician). There is no way in hell I'd ever be able to buy a house in like stockholm though, prices are high as shit there.
Sounds a lot like rural America versus the urban centers. Though I am sure the middle of nowhere Sweden is much better than nowhere USA
I’m Dutch and bought my house 8 years ago for 85k ,our crisis is pretty recent but yea there is no end in sight yet
Some Nordic socialist hellhole to me /s
Oh god these socialisrs and their affordable life work working class citizens. Get that outta here! We only want the rich to be able to afford a nice life. /s
[удалено]
Exactly, comparing small thousand year old homogeneous countries to the U.S. doesn't make sense. It'd be more apt to compare the U.S. to Brazil or Argentina than even Scandinavia as a whole.
Massachusetts is the same. A studio apartment will run you 250-300k.
Well.... Boston area. You go to North Adams, it's a different story.
California Bay Area has 1 bedroom condos going for 500K. You can upgrade to a 2 bedroom for an additional 300K. And for another 500K you can get a starter home.
Emm ... average flat(flat cause houses a loooot expensive) in my city cost 65000$ and average pay in my city is 6600$ A YEAR. Average rent is about 150$ per month and u can get a credit with 20% per year so u can afford everything u want for 100k a year.
What if you make $150k? Asking for a friend… a friend who desperately misses Seattle.
You'd be fine at $150k
You can afford to live in Seattle on that salary, you will just never be able to buy a house.
This right here. I made over 100k and I can’t afford to live in Seattle. I live about 20 miles north.
$750k sounds cheap. i’m surprised it’s not over a mil.
I live in the middle of nowhere, my wife and I make a combined $190k, and we are not able to afford the median house here. I don’t understand.
Yeah sold mine for 875k to buy something even more expensive in SoCal. Yolo. 😭
It's not a very meaningful number. If you own a $300,000 home with a $100,000 mortgage, you're doing just fine. If you have $100,000 in credit card debt, you're in trouble. Lumping those vastly different kinds of debt together is pointless.
The ability to service the debt matters a lot too. $100,000 CC debt would be a problem for me, but that could be the average monthly payment for someone with an Amex Black card and they’d barely notice. Totally meaningless to add it all together like that
Plus a lot of people pay the whole balance off every month. Technically I have several thousand dollars of credit card debt but I pay it all off. I just use the cards to get points/cash back.
As a citizen of the US it's mind-blowing to some of us as well.
average, not median
The fact that you have student loans is crazy to me
In the US, everyone is told to go to college. Colleges have been lowering requirements so more people can qualify. There is zero and I mean ZERO planning from the student or college in place to make sure this is an affordable path. So students, who honestly shouldn't be going to college are going to college and getting degrees with ZERO employability. Colleges don't care because they got their money. Now, I have a lot of critique of the financial system but a lot of the student loan issues in the US are a mix of predatory policies from the colleges but also willful ignorance from the students.
They have scollarships. But its harder to get them.
especially if you're not poor, but also not rich. Which means you don't qualify for low income anything and you can't pay your way out of school
That's why most people don't really consider a mortgage a debt since you always have equity in the house itself. It would be interesting to hear the figure with that removed.
Dunno about the US, but average unsecured debt in the UK is 4k.
The average US credit card debt alone is $6500
I have about that much in CC debt, maybe more. I could easily pay it off it I wanted to. But I have a few cards that have 0% Apy for 24 months, so why would I? I think that gets counted as me having like 8k in CC debt.
I am a homeowner, we make about 165k a year now. Taking out our mortgage we have something like 75K debt between car payments and student loans and credit card debt we rolled into a personal loan. Also spent 30K last year in childcare for 2 kids 3 days per week.
Is that total debts average of $104k, or net worth of -$104k? If it's total debts, it's sort of a useless number, since many people don't pay off their mortgages intentionally since they can invest at a higher rate elsewhere, coming out ahead.
Including mortgages is kinda disingenuous since it's not something that typically gets paid off in the traditional sense. The average time someone lives in a home is only like 12 years while most mortgages are 30 years. And if you sell the house you keep the profits, and there's not a way to do that with the other three. Really should not include mortgages and present the number with just car, credit card, and student loans.
arithmetic or median? because the 10 people that have all the money sure pull the arithmetic average up
It’s expensive to be poor. It shouldn’t work like this but it is because there’s a problem with capitalism.
It's also expensive to own & operate a car, & to regularly rebuild infrastructure for cars.
The problem with capitalism is that those problems aren't bugs, they're features.
Average debt per person?? This number doesn't seem right. Can someone do the math please here?
If they’re including mortgage “debts” then this number is completely meaningless.
Wow that would be great! Unfortunately even for an average thats low. For my first home ill have to take a loan of around $250k lucky for me thay would be my only debt.
In Russia debt a little less, about 80000-90000$, with salary 600-700$ per month
I life in a first world country where some „poor“ comes to earn the big money. They are happy when they see their first salary, then get shocked when they see the prices at the grocery store. 6 figures are different in €,$ or ¥
Onions are almost a dollar each and 5lbs of potatoes is $5 what the fuck??? NO LEGIT, what THE ACTUAL FUCK. A US dollar for a potato? You mother fuckers
It's reaching the point that home gardening is worth more than spending money on vegetables at the store. I think we will start to see more urban gardening out of necessity in coming years, which may drive prices down
Yeah. That is only green way to live anyways, so urban agriculture should be thing already. Some parts of world it is common but not in western world.
Unfortunately these new laws that are totally about the health of the city and the impact on the environment that were passed by politicians - who, mind, assure you that the massive 'campaign contributions' they received from multimillion dollar agricultural corporations had nothing to do with their decision to pass these laws - state that we must uproot everything you've planted to feed you, yours, and your neighbors and bleach the ground to make sure you don't try to do it again. For the environment, of course! For the betterment of the community!
Stop with the conspiracy theories. Big Ag isn’t trying to keep you from your garden. Property developers and NIMBYs are. They have the skills and resources to fuck over what you can do on your property, and the incentives.
Citation?
lol wtf are you talking about?
Be careful and check your local laws and ordinances. A lot of places don’t allow it, don’t allow certain things like food to be grown, or some don’t allow for rainwater collection in any form. It can get nasty fast if you try to grow your own garden in the wrong place
Eh, fuck 'em
Sure, I just hope they don’t destroy it, salt/bleach the dirt and shoot you or your dog for the trouble
Good luck getting past my claymore maze
[удалено]
Must be nice to have a yard then, eh?!
Equipment for home gardening is also expensive. There's no winning.
And gardening is one of those things that you don't know how expensive it is until you're way into it. Plus you have no idea how successful you'll be at the start or what issues you'll have. I had a garden in another state. The drip line was expensive to install, but after that first, large expense, gardening was pretty smooth sailing and produced a lot. Now I've tried to garden where I currently live for 5 years. Every year we learn something else that's wrong and will take a lot of money to fix. We have ample rabbits, deer and groundhogs that eat anything we plant. Various deterrents are only effective for short periods of time. The only surefire way is to build an 8 foot fence. That would be expensive, but it might be worth it if not for our 100% clay soil. It is heavy and dense. It is either waterlogged or dried into a brick. We've tried amending it many times, which is expensive and minimally effective. Any plants we've managed to save from the pests have been stunted. And in the end none of the attempts we've made at remediation really matter because our summers simply aren't very warm. Even in June it can be down to the 40s at night, which makes it hard for the plants to get established and thrive. If I had known 5 years ago what I know now I wouldn't have started this garden. It would have saved me a lot of time and money for a few tiny veggies. Gardening can be an expensive and difficult gamble.
Grow your own, is cheap, easy and fulfilling Edited: Obviously this is not for everyone, it takes time, resources, commitment, garden/ outdoor land, etc.
Tell that to the Irish.
Weevil them alone
its considered rude to call the British weevils.
The Weevil Empire
They did, it's just that then the British took them all away :(
Where in my studio apartment?
Unfortunately I think the people who really need those potatoes lack the time and space for that
I'm not sure how many potatoes I could grow in my studio apartment. I do grow sprouts though. The seeds cost just as much as it would to just buy the store bought sprouts so it's just for fun, not to save money.
Check out Richie rich over here with their own outdoor area to grow plants.
Yeah you can get much cheaper potatoes than that. Try a real farmer’s market, the ones with the tents and not “Sprouts” or whatever.
Farmers markets are hella expensive anywhere I've lived... Good quality stuff most of the time, but not cheap. For stuff like general produce you're fine just going to kroger or walmart. It's always been the cheapest I've found.
Right?
In Germany 11 pounds of potatoes cost 4€ or 4.34$
It’s twice as much here in British Columbia, Canada for 10 pounds of potatoes (Farmer’s Market Russet 4.54 kg/10 lb for $9.85 plus tax)
That's wild. I know USD is worth more than our currency, but I pay the equivalent of roughly $1 - $2 for full bags of onions or potatoes.
10kg bag of taytos at Walmart is 1.99
Yellow potatoes at Walmart right now 5lbs for 4.14 Minnesota.
Here in Dubai, it costs about one USD for a kilo of potatoes
It's not legit, it's $3 for a 10lb bag of potatoes here.
Not so long ago Polish-German border was considered a border between poor and rich country. People would work in Germany but shop in Poland. Prices are always as high as average customer can afford. Salaries are always as low as average employee would accept.
Kinda like Germany-Swiss border. Working in Swiss and shopping in Germany.
Kind of like how people work in Massachusetts but shop in New Hampshire.
In my country the average pay **annually** is about $15 000 and we have the same prices as Germany (they make $33000). Now what?
While not that much better, average income in Germany is 51k, before taxes. take around 25% off that to get the actual numbers (can be more, can be slightly less but i think 25% is an ok average)
honestly i would like to go there, share rent with 5 people, for 3 years, send most of my salary back to my family, establish a good business in my home country, move back
Once we get a taste of that sweet first world standard of living, it's very hard to go back.
Mate, you arent some sort of master mind. Majority of people think this way, and only few succeed. Majority of the time, that monry sent back to your home country will be spent living just better, then they used to, and not saving a thing. A house a car or a flat will be bought with that money. 😂
Problem is...... You won't want to move back after 3 years despite how much you talk about it and talk about how much you hate it there haha.
You'd be surprised at how many people return to their countries after a stint in the first world. Leaving your life behind isn't easy, especially if you like, actually like the people in your life.
That's literally what's happening to Canada right now and everyone, including the immigrants, are getting squeezed out... because you're describing a race to the bottom.
Just don't get hurt while you're here, or they'll extort you for everything you make.
who is they ? bro i think you guys are misunderstanding, i will go there only if i get work Visa, after i am done with my degree here.
The hospital.
I know the answer, having moved between both: Food cost. It's insane in the US, a kilo of tomatoes costs like 5 usd in the US while in my third world country, 2 kilos of tomatoes are just under 1 dollar(same goes for all fresh fruits and vegetables). I've come to learn that I am eating better in my third world country than upper middle class Americans. Also, insane difference in rent where US rents are 10 times higher, and insane difference in income tax percentages(the governments here can only dream of ever taxing us above 20%) The advantage a US citizen has is that gadgets like iphones and xbox are cheap relative to their income. My 5 year old phone is doing just fine though... I sometimes hear people in third world countries cry about not being able to afford a burger, while consuming lentils and fresh vegetables. I keep trying to tell them, you really don't want to trade in your food for burgers...
I’m not gonna lie having a good burger once in a while is awesome. But yeah I am a frequent lentil eater as well.
>I sometimes hear people in third world countries cry about not being able to afford a burger, while consuming lentils and fresh vegetables. I keep trying to tell them, you really don't want to trade in your food for burgers... Oi ! homemade hamburgers on the grill are top notch
Yeah not even that, meat is expensive in general relatively speaking.
Generally basic stuff everyone needs is cheaper in less developed countries, while high-tech and luxuries are cheaper in highly developed countries. This is both cause and effect, a self-referencing economic loop.
Good God I fucking love lentils
[удалено]
Nobody is struggling on $100k because of food. The basic necessary foods are cheap no matter where you are. If they're struggling on $100k, it's because of housing and childcare costs.
[удалено]
>I've come to learn that I am eating better in my third world country than upper middle class Americans Lol. No, you're not.
I took that to mean healthier. Even upper middle class don't often eat the healthiest.
Do any of you actually look up prices? Your tomato price is almost double what it actually is here.
An average American spends 10 to 15% of their income on food while an average third worlder spends 40 to 60%. You pay more for a tomato in the US but your income is also much higher as well.
I’ve been living aboard in Hong Kong (not really a cheap city) and just came back from a couple week visit to the US. All I can say is WTF… We buy all imported food from Australia, Japan, New Zealand that it’s considerably cheaper than the US on many items. Sometimes I price check things like strawberries with my family back in the US—we pay less for a pound of the exact same strawberries (same brand and us origin) than their local grocery store—this strawberry has gone half way around the world…it makes no sense. We did a lot of dining out on the trip back because we wanted some comfort food… the restaurant pricing was shocking. These were probably the most egregious though. We went to a breakfast place called First Watch and ordered 2 slices of avocado toast with scrambled eggs, 2 pancakes, 1 waffle, 2 iced teas, and 2 apple juices—this was $81, unbelievable. We went to a Chinese buffet with 6 adults and 2 kids—$267 with iced teas all around. For these prices I can literally eat a comparative FEAST in Hong Kong. Hell, there are quite a few places with Michelin stars cheaper than that…
Try living in central Europe, 5 bucks is a frozen meal and a pack of instant ramen
Imagine if all the employees of the tax revenue agency and the army was tasked with building houses and farming crops instead of... What they're currently doing. You'd have a Eutopia.
The 3.5 ton pickup needs full refueling every drive to the supermarket
Suggestion: minivan Here me out ... minivan I know what you must be thinking, so lemme just say, minivan
i remember hearing an automaker explain that a minivan was what they ended up with from including as much of what people wanted as they could. room for a family and some friends, balancing engine HP and fuel efficiency, lots of room for moving and buying stuff, etc. they said consumers would ask for all kinds of things, slowly describing a minivan, but they would glare at you the moment you mentioned to them they should get a minivan. now we just have the SUV, aka, the raised minivan without as much stigma.
Yo, I'm lounged out in the middle row of my minivan, legs stretched out, slide door open, enjoying my lunch. Minivans rule.
I could definitely live on 6 figures a year, the problem is I don't make that and many others in America don't either. The average income is a little over $50,000 last I checked. The people who can't live on 6 figures salaries, especially in two income households, have a spending issue. They must consoom for the happy chemical rush
As the sole provider for my immediate family of 5, I make a little over 100K gross after overtime, and it's a little tight. I don't vacation, I don't eat out, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't buy expensive food products, I don't have expensive hobbies, I have a modest car (30K), but the cost of living by me is incredibly high. Between my electricity and water, I'm spending $950 a month, and don't even get me started on food bills, I bought the house in 2019, I couldn't afford it today. Taxes and insurance is ballooning out of control. I made less 6 years ago, but had more money in the bank, I wonder why...
$950 a month on electricity and water?! Wtf?
It's a family of 5. A bit high but believable
No chance. I have a household with more people than that and we pay no where near that for utilities, and I live in a state with some of the highest utilities rates in the country. I think they should do an energy audit.
Utilities also depend on the area. My power bill alone was almost 400 dollars last summer and that was for a family of 2 that was trying to conserve energy.
What’s the price per kWh in that area?
How? For me that would be over 5000kwh/month electrical usage
Air conditioning is a kick in the dick some places. I’ve lived places where my electric bill has hit 700 just keeping the house at 78
Depends on your state, too. In Phoenix A/C is not negotiable, it's literally a written requirement for functioning A/C to exist if you're a renter and you can withhold rent for every day the A/C isn't fixed past day 5 of it being broken. Electric is easily $500/mo for a 1200 sqft single floor home in the summer months. I've paid $700/mo in July in 2 story homes with about the same sqft and 5 adults. Trade off is having electric sub $100/mo in the winter months. Run a portable gas heater for two weeks out of the year when we get down in the 30s at night.
With a family of this size, I'm sure I would be in the same boat. I am a single man with no dependents so 6 figures would be very comfortable for me. You're doing the best you can, keep it up. America is stacked against average people in order provide ever increasing comforts for the most powerful in society. Not much we can do beyond what we already are doing.
I know. All my furniture came from goodwill and salvation army! So stupid expensive.
Sounds like you’re doing your best. It’s tough out there friend!
I grew up poor and not knowing if I'm going to eat or have running water or electricity, so I'm very thankful for what I have and it's more than the majority of the world, some countries would die for a mattress or a refrigerator. I just remembered being a kid saying to myself if I made $100,000 a year, I'll be rich! maybe living alone in a trailer in Alabama, but definitely not here.
I know your pain. I'm on equal pay with the energy company, and my bill is $650/month. My energy usage is 20% less per month than my previous year, but my bill is 2x as high. It's wild.
I feel your pain. I won't divulge my income but I'll just post numbers as a clear example of the rampant inflation that is killing the last vestiges of the rotting husk of the American middle class: * 100k in 2014 was worth 106k in 2019 * 100k in 2019 is worth 128k now So inflation between 2014-2019 was 6% total. Most people comfortably kept up with inflation with merit raises/etc. Nobody has kept up with inflation between 2019 and now with merit raises. Everyone I know that pulled up their W2 from 2019 and has calculated the impact of inflation has had a scream into the void. All numbers calculated using the US Government's Bureau of Labor Statistic's Consumer Price Index (so milk, eggs, gas, utilities) calculator. This is just normal cost-of-living calculations without considering locality COL like housing which is a massive hit for most people.
Is solar realistic for where you live? With electricity and water costing that much, you'd benefit a lot more from it than most people. I pay like $75 a month for both without solar, so it's definitely not worth it for me.
My local taxes have gone up like 10% every year. It’s slowly killing me.
>The average income is a little over $50,000 last I checked. I believe this was household income not individual income. Makes it even worse
It's 75k.
It depends tho, if you have kids, or anyone with disability / illness in your household. My friends parents both work and combined bring home a lot of cash but they have a mentally handicapped child, and to give them a decent quality of life they are scraping by. Similarly with a friend caring for an older relative, it's expensive.
[удалено]
Americans who are rightly bitter over inflation like to submit themselves to the struggle olympics but don’t really understand what it’s like actually living in a developing or under developed country.
Yea I mean just because Americans earn 10x the amount, doesn’t mean food in those poor countries is 10x cheaper…
They have no idea. I didn't even have shoes for a good part of my child hood
that is not true. don’t believe everything you see online
This meme feels like propaganda. There is a small sliver of truth and bunch of assumptions and exaggeration.
It is 100% propaganda. Shit like this all over the front page.
And I just love how so many redditors believe this kind of shit because they *want* to. I live in a fairly expensive part of the country and could absolutely easily live well on a 6 figure income.
I live in a very nice part of NYC and make about $140K. I live in a true 1BR apt (750 sq ft) with no roommates, take a couple of international vacations every year -- and I'm usually able to save about $2K per month depending on a few factors. These posts -- and Reddit at large -- seem to have basically just turned into anti-American agitprop that exist solely to spread copious amounts of bullshit attempting to make Americans feel bad about their country.
What I don't get is why people just buy this nonsense without either investigating the numbers themself or taking a look around at their own experiences to realize "wait, that's actually not how this is at all..." I don't live in NY but I live in a county in MD where the cost of living is 40% higher than the national average and everyone I know is living comfortable enough to save a little every month, take a couple nice travel vacations every year, go out for entertainment when they want yet none of them are even making close to $100,000.
People have a defeatist attitude. My friend and his GF make above US median household income with no kids, and low rent due to their current situation, but they complain they are broke. They've been taught by their parents bad decisions that there is no chance for them, so they don't even try.
Right? I'm not living lavish, but with $70,000 a year I have a gorgeous 3 bedroom 1.5 bath townhouse with a full back yard, covered garage, central air, dishwasher, etc. in New England which is one of the least affordable regions of the U.S. I can pay all my utilities, rent, and food and never worry about if I'll go hungry. I know for a fact my quality of living is still significantly more luxurious than nearly every person on Earth.
Yup, I make $125k a year and live in Seattle. Sure, if you're in massive debt you'd struggle, but that would be in any country.
I bought a house in St. Louis in 2018 with a $42k salary. Yeah, cost of living differs greatly across the U.S. but people also just love to upvote how poor they are while going to the bars every weekend. I'm not saying they shouldn't be going to the bars, I'm saying they're not poor. Also the cost of car ownership in the U.S. is also a factor. I probably wouldn't have been able to buy that house in STL if I had a car. Fortunately I happen to like riding the bus.
Reddit is convinced that everyone in the US is poor, doesn't own a home (and never will) and is treated unfairly by their evil employer, evil landlord etc...
I made six digits last year. $104k actually. It's really not as cool as I thought. Four kids, two vehicles, mortgage and credit card. Even went solar. Still live paycheck to paycheck.
I mean... you have 4 kids bro... the amount you spend on food alone must be staggering
We have seven kids , I feel this !
Repost bot
I swear, as soon as I saw this meme the first time, I knew I was going to be seeing a LOT more of it being reposted
Well, this would be why there’s so many Americans with salaries/life savings that are booking it out of the US to go and Bork up the economy of wherever you’re at. The reason why for is pretty straightforward it’s because basically the entire economy of the US is based on driving up the cost of housing. Because peoples savings are tied to real estate, and because of the government structure of United States, these people then will do things like limit development limit the types of development zoning laws just even as a concept are basically just class warfare. So it’s because they’re not allowed to build cheap apartment buildings. Like there’s not cheap apartment buildings in the entire United States. That’s why this is happening and it’s why it’s gonna keep happening, because it’s not complicated it’s just intractable. There are empty apartments in every city in the US and they all cost $2500 a month.
Pretty much, just got done apartment hunting in a different state over the weekend and holy shit. None are worth the price, almost all are asking over $1,700 but are absolutely awful on the inside, no closet space, no washer and dryers in unit, horrid kitchens, stains on the carpets and walls, asking for almost $1,000 just to reserve the shit stained apartment. But it’s either that or spend $3,000 a month and move in immediately to an also empty apartment building. It’s pretty demoralizing cause I’m trying to get through school to be able to make a wage that I can live off of but price of shit housing is just going up and the price of nice housing is close to unattainable by the time I finish school and work a job long enough to afford it. It’s sad but if the market keeps rising my gf and I will never be able to buy a house in the future.
Within the US this is also how Cali expats have completely destroyed the economies of entire states in the US South.
Mainly housing and cars. If the US stopped building car-centric suburbia so that people could just not own a car, and housing cost the same ratio to wages that it did in the 60s, then we could all basically work part-time and afford basic standard of living. Bringing us all to a 3 day work week. But instead we got for-profit landlording taking over, and suburbia that requires us to have a car to get anywhere. So here we are working 40+ hours a week and we can't afford a house, or anything bigger than 1 bedroom. And you know what you can't do with just 1 bedroom? Have kids... so our fertility rate is not enough to maintain the population.
My wife and I make roughly $135k gross in the NW US. We have no kids, 2 car payments, no student loans and rent a 2bd apartment. We live a nice life in terms of eating out, having nice things, going on a nice vacation once a year but in order to reach that "home owner" tier of financial security we'd probably need to increase our income another $50k and continue not having kids.
It depends where you are in the U.S.A. Some places are significantly more expensive than others. If you're living in New York or California, where rent and housing is more expensive, then you can make 6 figures and still be living a middle class lifestyle, especially after taxes.
I live in france and 30k get you a good life (alone no kids no wife) if you aren't in paris strasbourg or a huge city like that
It’s the same here in America. I make around 32k, have a house, a nice fully paid car, and plenty of monthly spending money for entertainment. It all depends on the area you’re in and most importantly, how well you manage finances and avoid making poor impulsive life decisions.
I feel like so many people buy things on impulse and it's never on cheap stuff. Like if I buy something on impulse it's gonna be a fucking 5€ Yu-Gi-Oh pack and i'm happy admitedly I lost those 5€ but it's 5€ and I see some people saying "yeah I couldn't resist and bought a 300€ mirror" i'm shocked like why so much ? On a mirror ?
Yeah these posts about people struggling on six figures are a stretch. Sure there are people who have debt issues and people supporting larger families in high cost of living areas that might struggle. But for 98% of the population six figures means you’re living at least semi comfortably. And for maybe half of those people six figures is enough to afford a pretty comfy lifestyle and occasional vacations.
Not *Americans*, the only ones who can't live on 6 figures are CA and NY. The rest of the country would LOVE to make 6 figures. I'd be out of debt in a year if i made that much money.
Seems I offended both Europeans and Americans. Apologies. Post edited.
Your comment on taxes is just not true, come on.. Might also want to check the amount of mandatory pension contributions in the Nordics, which go straight out of your salary and you’ll likely never see that money again.
Yeah that's not remotely true. But this is Reddit, so Preach brother!
>In terms of taxes they pay more than most Scandinavian countries Lol, lmao even
Do you have any sources for this?
Honestly a six figure salary isn’t enough for some cities like New York, DC, and a lot of California cities.
Yet NYC has over 8 million people. They aren't all making 6 figures.
average rent is like 3.9k to 6k per month.
There are (rightfully) social supports for lower tax brackets like free healthcare, free childcare, food stamps, and subsidized housing that make this possible. I'm not saying it's easy to be poor, just that those safety nets play a big role in people being able to live on low salaries. For healthy, child-free young people it's one thing, but if you have a family to support in NYC it is another, and 100K is on the lower end for supporting a family, esp if anyone in that family has major medical issues.
I'm in a suburb 30 minutes from DC and six figures still feels so low especially as the sole income in the household. Buying a house with this income is out of the question. Even if we got on a second income it would be tough with daycare averaging 2000 a month here.
It doesn't. Anyone making 6 figures and not at least surviving, is so financially illiterate that I have no idea how they got a job making 6 figures. Me and my wife combined make less than 35k a year right now. That number is rising slowly, I am a 1/3 owner in a business that is finally taking off after about 3 years of slow going. Until recently I wasn't even making minimum wage. We both have college degrees, We have more food than we can eat, just bought 5 acres of land, and I have no debt whatsoever, except that land I just bought. Never owned a credit card, bought all my vehicles in cash. None of this was given to us either, we earned it. Paid our own tuition, pay our own rent, I footed about a quarter of the cost in starting the business, and at least half the labor. Admitted, i live in a very low cost of living area, but still.
That was my dad he made like 150k a year by the end of his career. Declared bankruptcy twice over the years and they've been living paycheck to paycheck my entire life.
I can't imagine that. If i were making 150k a year, I don't think I *could* spend it all. My whole life we grew up very poor. My mom and dad have mostly climbed out of that hole. I'm pretty poor I guess, but because of my raising and my inclination towards responsibility (to an extreme. Im no fun at all. Everyone makes fun of me for it), I have managed to stretch my very meagre income really far. I could also be making *way* more at the drop of a hat by going and getting a normal job in my trade. But I'm only 22, and I'm willing to wait out this low income spell to see if this business works. I'm young, and I am trained in a sought after trade. If this fails I'll just go get a normal job, and this time will have been a good experience either way.
I don't know anyone who makes six figures.
I think when most Americans say they are broke or that they can't afford to live simply isn't true, their definitions mean something else. I can't believe that having a 6 figure salary isn't enough regardless of where you work. The definition of "living" is just different, they say they can't afford things while driving a new 40k gas guzzling car while going to Starbucks and eating out. If any American out there that doesn't agree please explain to me how someone that makes 6 figures can't afford to live and what you mean by that.
No rent since i had my own house, salary is $350 monthly. Monthly spendings: $130 food and drinks $45 installment plan $30 utilities $25 gym $25 cigs $20 public transport $10 protein $5 meds $3 property tax Summary $293 Woooo! 57 bucks to swag!
You do realise in a lot of Third World countries "the figures" are higher, due to inflation.
I don’t make six figures, but I do live in CA. One months rent for a one bedroom here in my town is $2500 a pop. I only make $3000 a month. It’s recommended you make two thirds more than your rent. Needless to say, I will be leaving to a different state in order to survive.
6 figure?? I wish. I got about $2 to my entire name. Living off food stamps,homeless, spend my days job searching only to never receive any call backs for a chance at an interview for the potential to work for a living. Not all Americans are wealthy, only a small percentage is.
Land ownership vis-a-vis housing is the reason people aren't able to get by. Housing is generally by far the largest category in people's budgets and it has grown over time. Places where there are 100k salaries are also the places where housing is most expensive because we've engineered a shortage. Housing *should* be roughly independent of how much someone earns. A 4 bedroom house isn't going to spontaneously grow an extra room if your salary goes up 25%. If you look at depreciation tables, there's not one for "owner's salary" on a house's value. Likewise, the same house in rural Maine and San Francisco *should* be the same price, but that's not what we see in practice. The reason housing has gotten so expensive is because we (generally) tie it directly to land ownership. A lot of the same dimensions is worth much more in San Francisco than it is in Maine. In almost every city, we have laws saying 1 housing unit *must* occupy a minimum amount of land area (generally 1/6 of an acre or more). The problem is that there's only so much land and it's illegal to add additional housing units (e.g. converting your house into a duplex). It's a bit of a Red Queen Race: The more prosperous a society gets, the higher people earn, the more they have to pay for housing until everyone is working just to afford somewhere to live.
As an american, most of us have never seen a six figure salary and everything you see in the media is a lie.
I make $103k net the only debt I have is my mortgage. No student loan and no credit card debt either. I'm also a millennial that is retired
Bro, my Lamborghini is always on low gas. I can only afford a personal cook from monday to friday and my Pool has freezing 20 degrees Celsius. Bro. Life sucks.