re: 64% of Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck

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A coworker said our boss needs to increase everyone’s wages to keep up with cost of living

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We finally got a 5% COL increase after not getting one for the past two years. Ironically, health insurance went up $50, my property tax increased, car insurance went up(no tickets or wrecks) and gas is sky high so I was actually able to save more last year with making less money hourly.

Take all your savings and planning etc , and add my wife’s spending and you are still broke bro.

Here is how American women calculate spending

what you make is Y

Y times 1.2 to 1.5 is what they can spend unless they have good friend that spends more

This is all according to plan for our oligarchs.

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Keeping a corporation in business is a net positive to society, it provides jobs, products and services, enables ordinary people to build wealth by being a shareholder. I would rather my tax money bail out a corporation than go to individuals that contribute nothing I society.

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Go see what great things corporations have done for communities as soon as they can find a better deal. A crappy job that will disappear in the next streamlining kick doesn't do much and certainly not as much as have a healthy ecosystem of large, mid-sized, and small businesses. "Company towns" very rarely help their denizens for long.

And 100% of that is by choice.

We often times run across couples that seem to be living way above their means considering what they do for a job. The ones that really make me scratch my head are the ones that I KNOW make less than me and my wife, and they are in a house that's $400k, have new cars, lots of toys like RVs, side by sides, deer leases, fishing camps etc.

More often than not, I eventually find out that they are being heavily subsidized by their parents. These are grownass men and women with children who are still leaching off their parents. Some of them have their mortgage paid for, or cars, or latest smart phones with unlimited plans.

It blows me away.

My parents are retired and my dad worked his arse off. He ended up setting their retirement up really well and he's got way more money than he spends. I would never dream of asking him to pay for my expenses on anything. Hell, when I go to visit them he takes us all out to dinner and I feel bad when he pays the check.

There are also a LOT of people in debt up to their assholes. A neighbor of mine fits the description above to a T. He's got three different toy hauler trailers, motorcycles (road and dirt), a really nice ATV, an RV, and just put in a pool. We were talking and he let slip that they were financing all that shite. If I had his debt I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

A local news story was done about a group raising money for military families struggling because of the covid pandemic. They were giving groceries away on military bases. The lines of cars were crazy. Cadillac, lexus, acura, honda were all well represented. It was laughable. Were these people struggling? Probably. But not because of any factor beyond their control.

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I make a little more than six figures.

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So seven figures?

I just had to adjust my W4 because I didn’t realize I was under witholding. My take home after 401k, health insurance, and $250 per check to savings/brokerage account is approximately $5-5.5k a month. I’ll know more when I get the W-4 right.

$1550 mortgage with utilities and internet ($2k)
$1760 daycare
$250 car insurance
$200 life insurance and disability
$1000 food and household supplies and medicines, haircuts, etc
$200 to the church

What’s that like $5400. Before any of your typical non anticipated expenses. I’m ballparking everything abs not being to detailed.

I’m just pointing out the fact that I ain’t living in luxury. I’m content and the Lord has provided well for me. This doesn’t include my wife’s salary which has allowed us to pay off our student loans, build up an emergency fund, buy a house etc, but what would it be without that.

I’m just saying as a professional in America doing the right things and going into STEM doesn’t mean your entitled to be able to have a family and live a comfortable life on that income alone. More of a personal eye opener to me.