http://theunderstatement.com/post/3999331289/us-wealth-distribution-visualized Really depends on what you tax. What if you taxed WEALTH instead of just income on the top 1%?
I am better off now than I was 4 years ago. I am unmarried, I manage my family's business in addition to consulting for a firm, and I make good money relative to the rest of America. Fortunately, I have a significant other who also rejects social pressures like keeping up with the Joneses, getting married, and having children without first having a very strong financial and career foundation. We bought our condo and cars with cash, and we save about 40% our income for paying back student loans, rainy days, children's education, etc. We also have strong ties to family willing to provide immediate financial relief in case we need it so that's a great safety net. My family's Pakistani and domestic investments in the stock market and real estate have all rebounded with changed market conditions. As a result, my income as well as my SO's increased substantially since '08. One of my college roommates had an $80k bonus versus $19k 4 years ago; another roommate made partner recently and had a $100k bonus versus $7k in 2008. We all agree it was partly because of the current admin's policies of saving us from a global financial meltdown. We don't mind paying higher taxes. All of us will vote for Obama.
I'm married and my wife is great. She still buys clothes, just like I still buy video games (kind of balances out)... probably will have to cut back once we have kids In the mean time, I'm saving as much as I can.
I agree that he isn't "barely getting by", but I also don't think he's being wasteful with his money and I'd bet he is feeling financial stress. At the end of the day, making $100K and living a middle class lifestyle is NOT as worry free as you are making it out to be.
You had kids way too early. If you're not exceptionally bright or talented, you need to plan life out a little more carefully. Wife should have had her mid life crisis out of the way - even a bare minimum salary of 25-40k would help with children's activities. Instead you lose 10-15% of your monthly salary to day care and she's likely to have some debt after college. Very middle class mindset. Work, eat, sleep, complain. Repeat. The single mother who makes 25k a year as an assistant teacher with 3 kids is someone who's barely scraping by. But you know what? She's still smiling and putting on a brave face. Excuse my French, but you're just another entitled, mediocre mid management white guy whose low ceiling frustrates him. So what if your vacations are trips to SeaWorld in a minivan instead of yachting around the Arab Gulf and snorkeling in Cairns. It is what it is and people need to fill their roles on this planet instead of scapegoating the govt and envying the brighter and more talented members of society. If you don't like slaving away for 72 hours a week to just get by, quit and see how else you can contribute to society. The problem is, in a work first, live second nation, the opportunity to really explore never comes around. You dive into the first offer you receive out of college and quickly assimilate, while letting the media instill delusions of grandeur in your head... building up an unjust sense of entitlement. There's a huge spiritual gap missing in the middle class that is causing a lot of unnecessary angst. Batman, curious. You're in the arts. What's your salary like and what do you mostly spend on?
Your suspicious choice of SO instead of girlfriend leads me to believe you're living with a guy ... but ... not judging ... I am currently living with 2 women myself ...
I feel weird about posting my specific salary here but it is within 10% of the mean U.S. salary and my girlfriend and I combined make more than the OP but only just. Apart from the expenses everyone has, we spend most of our money on my mental health care and her student loans. I have health insurance but it doesn't cover my mental health care, regarding which I have a pre-existing condition. My girlfriend and I live in a nice little house in the Heights. We don't have children. We rent, don't own. I drive a 2007 Toyota and she drives a beat up old pickup truck. She makes her living primarily as a college professor but she also made a decent chunk of money as a playwright this year. Every once in a while one or the other of us gets a modest individual artist grant, averaging maybe an extra 5K a year (some are 2K, some are 10, etc.). I feel for the OP but I am also pretty envious that he is able to own a home and put money into a 401K. Savings, to us, are like something kings have. We are doing better than average, and we are doing way better than average for artists, but the idea of money for retirement is ridiculous to us. Neither of us could ever afford to retire. I don't even know what we'd do if we had children. And we well may want to one day. I'm 43 but she's got plenty of childbearing years left in her. Our greatest creature comfort is shopping at Whole Foods half the time instead of Kroger. We go out to eat for a total of maybe $25 a week. Our vacations are like tubing down the river in New Braunfels or whatever, maybe once a year. We don't drink or smoke and we don't do drugs. We don't go to bars. We don't even go to movies but maybe once every three years. It's pretty much rent, bills, out-of-network health care, and college loans and we're living check to check. Still, I'm grateful to make a relatively comfortable living as an artist. And I grew up in a family that had real money when I was a teenager. Porsches and Ferraris and Yacht Clubs and all that BS. There wasn't anything I had then that I'm missing now.
Understandable Batman. I brought it up because the US is going through a major reality check now .. in regards to their own economy and the lives of people overseas improving substantially. The entire culture is one based on work at the moment, with little scope of interest for matters outside of that. The historical prosperity they took for granted is gone .. and so many act as if they're somehow getting the short end of the stick. As an artist, I feel you would have a better scope of the intricacies of life, a soulful existence and appreciating the presence of those you like around you instead of living based on a pure survival (work, eat, breed, sleep) instinct. Paying the bills is a necessity, but there are equally satisfying ways to live than the "bigger is better" mentality and competing with your neighbors of all people. I've seen it in every place with a sense of authenticism and have been impressed time and time again at what I find behind rustic walls hidden away in obscurity. People need to get back to what's good - connecting with other people and being resourceful within their limits, instead of living in decadence and expecting things to be handed to them on a platter. Once the ignorance is shattered, the beauty of life is once again apparent to all around you.
Sorry but I exactly vacationed my kids to sea world in a minivan and I've never been on a yacht in my while life. I don't blame any president for my personal life. To me, they are basically the same, republican or democratic. Does not really make any difference what so ever. I also have friends making 40k a year for a family of four. The difference between us and them are they don't have a single family house to live in, they don't drive new cars and the wife stay home so no daycare to pay. In future, their children will probably be more qualified for education expense benefits and their kids will probably need to score less comprehensively to go to the same university as ours. Before having kids, we lived in a crappy apartment but life was so much less stressed. Lastly, not every managial professional is white but I wouldn't call you names for that.
So who is to blame for you just being able to "get by"? Lol, look at that. You already know what's going to happen in the future and are busy projecting "an unfair world" onto your kids. Live in the moment middle manager. Soak it up, positivity is infectious and your kids don't have to follow the same ebbs and flows in life as you did. Once again, this is part of a mediocre mindset. I am defeated so those who follow in my footsteps will be defeated. You're in a house with a wife who will soon be working. Healthy kids. A roof. Toothpaste. Floss. Don't take oral hygiene for granted. This is you, world, and you're kicking ass man! I am also jealous of your lower income!
Haha no. We've been together for many years now, but are not engaged yet (again, we're in no rush to get married). I prefer SO instead because she is more than a GF, and pretty much a fianceé without the label.
A fellow Pakistani woman? This is great news. The country of Pakistan has needed a power couple for quite some time now, since the days of Benasir.
Most of us will be middle class because that is where more than half of the population is. If everyone can be exceptional then no one is exceptional and if everyone is making a million dollars a year then middle class will be defined as making a million a year. Unless we want to go back to the old days of where the top 5% are the rich and 95% are poor, one of the major goal of the government should be making the middle class more prosperous.
Am I better off than I was two years ago? YES! Within the past two years, I've.... --scored the best day job I've ever had --make more money (and a bigger bonus) at my day job than ever --recovered all $$ lost in my retirement accounts due to the Great Recession (and then some) --doubled-up on the number of gigs I play at night and the money our band gets paid --produced and recorded my band's debut album --refinanced my house at a much lower mortgage rate So yes....I am much better off now than I was two years ago (and four years ago) and I will be voting to re-elect President Barack Obama.
Feel the hope. <iframe width="853" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lLelSaD1zHU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Between my wife and I, we make pretty good income that puts us in the top earner category. However, due to my son's medical condition, we are really drained. Even for us, an universal affordale health care plan will make sense. As compared to 2 years ago, I am just tired, very tired. I too work too much. 12 -14 hour a day, 6 - 7 day a week.
