The point is not to chill and just burn through the savings and not work. How would having that much money saved, change the way you look for jobs?
The point is not to chill and just burn through the savings and not work. How would having that much money saved, change the way you look for jobs?
Or maybe they have a family with kids, they live in an expensive part of town, but moving is not an option due to job constraints, or maybe the kids are going to school there and moving would be disruptive. Maybe that area didn’t use to be so expensive 10 years ago. They need cars, not 80k cars, but large enough to haul said family around, cause maybe public transportation sucks where they live (ahem*LA*cough). Heck, maybe they bought those cars in cash, no payments, but gas, insurance & maintenance (maybe they’re old cars) are killing them. Car prices are too expensive to get a new car, so they keep spending 1000s in repairs instead. Maybe a hurricane, strong winds or just normal wear and tear made their house roof leak, thats $20k right there, ask me how I know.
Also, a 600k house is cheap and almost impossible to find in California, for example. No, moving to Texas is not an option, thanks.
Edit: the example above is hypothetical, not my current situation, but based on my experience.
There is no definition of being wealthy that does not include people that make $120k/year.
You are richer than 80% of the country at that point. Lots of people have families in high COL cities and live on significantly less money than that.
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/household-income-quintiles
I literally spent $24k on home repairs this summer, and I just pay it in payments, and I make 6 figures. No normal person pays this in cash, outright.
My roof replacement a few years back was $8k covered by home insurance.
There is no set amount of USD that defines the line between “wealthy” and “poor”. Your $120k figure would go a lot further in Mississippi or Texas that it would go in California or Massachusetts, where that would be barely enough for a large family.
There’s definitely a place (or two) in the US where a family struggles with $120k/yr. Sure, just move to Mississippi, I guess …
They would be considered “poor” there, or at least not wealthy.
Well good for you, I guess.
I guess I’m not normal.
Good for you, that would get you half a roof here, and insurance won’t cover if it’s considered normal wear and tear.
No you are definitely not normal and that is the entire duscussion
Those are all things you can scale back on. People who make less certainly are forced to. Not that they’re not entitled to live there, my point is I don’t feel bad at all that they’re claiming to live paycheck to paycheck, because they have the option to not be.