this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2024

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A Boring Dystopia

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Americans say they need to earn $186K to live comfortably — but is it enough? (www.thehill.com)

submitted 5 months ago by return2ozma to c/aboringdystopia

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[–] [email protected] 75 points 5 months ago (2 children)

About ten years ago or so that number was 75k to live comfortably without any worries.

[–] FenrirIII 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I was so excited when I got a big raise (10%), thinking it would change things. Then inflation happened and I'm back to watching my finances.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

I got a decent raise. Multiple required insurances I have immediately inflated.

[–] RememberTheApollo_ 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I don't think that $75k was to live comfortably, I think the $75k was to feel happy about your income.

Ninja edit: found it:

...Daniel Kahneman, who in 2010 published an influential study with fellow Nobel Prize-winner Angus Deaton. The 2010 study found that money could only boost happiness up to a point — about $75,000 in annual earnings. Beyond that figure, the researchers concluded, money had little impact.

but...

Now, new research from a Nobel Prize-winning economist and fellow researchers provides a fresh answer. Money does appear to boost happiness — at least for most people — up to earnings of $500,000, according to the new paper published in this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/money-happiness-study-daniel-kahneman-500000-versus-75000/

[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 months ago

Wow, yeah that headline gave me that nausea of despair feeling

[–] TargaryenTKE 4 points 4 months ago

Uhm, is that supposed to be achievable?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

My annual income is barely 13k Canadian. While a level of income that produces crushing poverty here, it is in fact roughly the global median income.

[+] [email protected] -7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (10 children)

$186k? Yeah, uh, where exactly in the US? I'd venture a guess in most places anything over $100k is pretty comfortable, if you're financially responsible.

EDIT: I've come to the conclusion that a good chunk of Lemmy users either live in Seattle, or have no actual concept of money.

[–] dariusj18 44 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Housing prices have gone insane

[–] [email protected] 29 points 5 months ago (1 children)

But my housing prices in Bum Fuck Nowhere are fine, so that must mean it's true every where else. /s

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (2 children)

That's the whole point; location. The amount necessary to be comfortable is very dependent on your location.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago

Property prices correlate strongly with local income levels. Owners know how much you make and they fix prices of wages, rent and other cost.

Hence why u can make objectively high income and feel like a peasant.

Buying power is eroded to the point where 100k is just getting by wage in Seattle or some shit

[–] Mojave 4 points 5 months ago

Yeah and I'm not getting this fat ass cloud SE job while living in fucking Yoder, Wyoming

[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Here's my experience. I make $180,000/yr. Family of five. Wife stays home and has a consulting gig she does when she wants to. We live in Northwest Arkansas. Far from the most expensive place in the country but experiencing massive growth and becoming increasingly expensive. Our only debt is our mortgage and a loan on our minivan. We own our other vehicle outright.

We live reasonably comfortably. Definitely not extravagant. We're also tightwads and I stay in top of our finances. We paid $345k for a fixer-upper home. Average home price in our area for similar homes is probably closer to $450k. It's liveable but ultimately needs a full remodel. I figure it will take about 5 years doing most of it myself. If I had to pay contractors to do all of it, it would not be feasible. Most of them are so busy they don't even give you the time of day anyways.

Material costs are insane. I mean absolutely bonkers. I would guess I'm spending double what I did for the same materials I used for my last remodel project on our previous house, four years ago. The five year plan is partly because we can't afford to go any faster.

If I made $100k/yr, we would never have bought a house. Wouldn't have even been able to save enough for the down payment. I also seriously doubt we would have had our last two kids.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm pretty fortunate. I have things I worry about but money isn't one of them. I know where my next paycheck is coming from and if it doesn't come, we have enough money in the bank to get by for a while.

The same cannot be said for the vast majority of Americans, even ones making $100k/yr, which is not nearly as good a salary as it used to be.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

I mean… lots of people would refuse to live in Arkansas even if you straight up gave them a house.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago

I've come to the conclusion that a good chunk of Lemmy users either live in Seattle, or have no actual concept of money.

More likely that most of the people making 6 figures are living in moderate to high cost of living areas plus the inherent draw of tech-minded people on a platform such as this.

[–] return2ozma 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

cries in Los Angeles

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

hides the inner pain in Boston

[–] themeatbridge 8 points 5 months ago

Where most people live. That's how averages work.

[–] shalafi 5 points 5 months ago

or have no actual concept of money

Right here.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Nailed it

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

I agree, but a significant portion (maybe even most) of our country's population do live in very high cost of living areas such as the west cost, DC, Boston, and Miami.

The situation is vastly different in most of the country's less remarkable cities, like San Antonio, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, or Nashville, and I think articles like this only ever account for one side of the equation or the other.

To someone living in DFW (my home), "needing" almost $200k is insane. Honestly I doubt I'd know what to do with that money unless I just bought a bunch if shit I don't want.