$89K + 10% yearly bonus (in theory). I’m at the high end of median household income for the southern portion of my state. This is the most I’ve ever made in my life. 5 years ago I would have thought I was rich. I just bought a house (my first) in the northern county, where the median household income is 57% of mine. The poverty here is appalling. Tomorrow or Tuesday I am knocking out half of the 30K in credit card debt that has been dragging me down. I will finally have enough to be comfortable, not have to penny pinch, buy some appliances, maybe some splurges, and maybe even save a bit. The thought of ever losing my job paralyzes me with terror.
I went grocery shopping a few weeks ago and went a little nuts because I hadn’t gone in a while (penny pinching). The cashier asked me if I was having a party. I said, “No, I just haven’t been shopping in a while, and I eat too many chips.”
I make about 135K but I’m 40. I feel wealthy. But my family/friends/girlfriends all think I’m living barely above poverty level and tell me that I am a ‘not doing well at life’ or claim ‘you lack any drive for success at life.’
It’s weird af.
I would feel extremely wealthy with 135k. That’s 250% of my salary, and I already feel like I’m able to save a bunch each month. You must live in a big city to make that much, if you’re just an employee.
where i live people think anything less than 500k/yr is not doing well.
That’s absolutely insane. That’s almost my yearly income every month. Disgusting amounts of money lol.
But that kind of cash is surely not expected of an employee, right? That’s CEO of a small to medium sized company kinds of cash.
nah most people in my city think making 250K a year is ‘barely getting by’ like that other poster. our local subreddit would have posts claiming that a single person needed a minimum of 200K+ to be ‘comfortable’. I was ‘comfortable’ living here on 50K (savings, retirement, healthcare, going out regularly, etc)… and that was only 6 years ago. and tons of people who were making 500K a year screaming how unfair and impoverished they were because they couldn’t afford 40ft boats or seven figure homes on the water. and getting heavily upvoted.
by buy ‘barely getting by’ they usually mean a giant suburban house, two luxury cars, expensive vacations, and a second home. people seem to think anyone who isn’t a millionaire by 35 is a failure at life. a lot of the people I meet often make same/less than me buy spend WAY more than I do. Like 15K on traveling per year easily.
I grew up poor though. I didn’t grow up in a big rich suburban house w/ a vacation home… like many people who live here and feel poor.
Sounds like an absolutely insufferable place to live. WTF lol
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Must be a very high cost of living area. I make less and am definitely comfortable.
My husband and I are raising a kid off $60k/yr.
His father helps with emergencies, for example the washing machine broke recently, so his grandmother actually bought it, as an early Christmas gift.
We’d be wrecked if we didn’t have at little help here and there.
The most I’ve ever made on my own was $42K for the year… These high salaries folks talk about blow my mind.
You might just have “the wrong friends”. Not really wrong, but theres a certain kind of personality where theres no such thing as enough.
You have to be gunning for the next promotion. You have to be monitoring your index funds. You have to be considering switching financial advisors. You have to be finding a way to monetise your hobby. You have to follow the trends to make sure you have the car that says you’re the man for the job. You cant just buy one house to live in, you have to start a portfolio of properties.
It sounds properly exhausting.
I feel like income needs to be divorced from spending and wealth. If you’re not in want and can save with your salary, you’re wealthier than someone with four times your income and yet is still drowning in debt.
If I was making that I would be going to Hawaii at least every couple of years.
My wife and I combined will make about $220k USD this year. We will spend about $120k and save about $80k and pay about $20k in taxes. We have 2 kids in elementary school.
We don’t have to worry about money, and that does make me feel wealthy. I am self employed and I work about 25 hours a week, and that makes for a pretty chill life.
That said, no I’m not wealthy by any standard aside from quality-of-life. We have two cars but they are 10 and 13 years old. We have a nice house in a nice area and we are lucky for that, but it is 60 years old, has a fuse box instead of circuit breakers, and is deteriorating faster than I can motivate myself to fix it.
Nice try digital profiling company.
“Wealth” isn’t a matter of earned income. You can get “rich” off working, if you’re smart and frugal, but true wealth takes at least one generation. Hell, even Bill Gates started merely “rich”.
Anyway, my top pay was $82K American. Even after $1,400/mo. child support, I could basically do whatever I wanted, good enough, live a simple life. I should add, I have a Habitat for Humanity mortgage, small house, big yard, no interest or taxes, $575/mo. My truck was paid in cash, 2004 F150, beat to hell, runs great, Millennium Falcon of trucks.
Unemployed now, but working Lowe’s got me <$30K. After child support took half, and my body was breaking into pieces with no insurance, had to quit. (They call Outside Lawn and Garden in the spring “100 days of hell”.) I was bringing home ~$500 bi-weekly. I can pick free crap off the road and sell if for more than that.
60k/yr
I’m the income in my household
I feel poor as shit, we live frugally but still barely get by
Savings are not possible
$250k annually, and we feel like we can afford not to worry as much as we used to, but not wealthy. We’re American.
I make enough that I don’t have to worry about things, but I had shit pay for long enough that I still don’t LIKE spending a lot of money.
$2,300 dentist bill? Fine. I can pay it, but I’m not HAPPY about it. Even after the HSA card, it was still $600 in “real” money.
I have no idea, but I’m better off that a lot of Americans. That knowledge makes me very sad— i don’t even make that much.
I can afford a one bedroom studio apartment on my own AND afford groceries. That is where I am at. That is better than most.
Fuuuuck…
Its weird to me that while I make twice as much as I did before college I feel not that much wealthier, since I now have to pay more for insurance, student loans, rent hikes to live in a hcol area, more is drawn out in my 401k, and I’ve spent five figures in medical expenses in that timeframe.
It is easy to spend in a way to feel poor at every level I guess, at least below the millionaire tier. I am not poor but I check my bank account constantly anyway and I have lots of big purchase anxiety.
Under $40k a year. But, it’s just me and it’s enough to cover food and rent and sometimes allows me to eat out once in a while but not enough to do anything else. So, I definately don’t feel rich.
Enough to be able to save 25% of my income and not be in want. I’m wealthy enough.
Just a bit above minimum wage in Spain, I’m lucky enough to not have to pay rent and I’m quite frugal, so I’m doing well enough. I don’t feel poor because I don’t lack anything but I know that I can’t afford lots of stuff.
Right where they want me. Treading water at way less than I’m worth.
I make nothing. I can no longer work thanks to Long Covid, but I’m not getting any benefits.
I is po’, to badly quote Sofia from Golden Girls.
How do you survive?
Everything is free if you’re fast enough 😏
