If you make over 75,000 a year, are you rich? (hell)

[mball1297]

It all depends on where you live. As someone else said, it's all relative. My wife and I make in the 30's, and we can live comfortably. If I was living on my own, though, I'd have to live in a much worse part of town, or find one or more roommates. Around here I would consider 6 figures rich. Anything up to that is really just middle class anymore. It also depends on the time. Five years ago, I could have bought a nice 4-bedroom house in this part of town, which is particularly good, for $175,000. Now, we'd have to spend at least $250,000 to get a low-end, 2-bedroom townhouse in the same area. I still don't consider us poor, of course, but $30,000 went a lot further 5 years ago than it does now.

[Seyorni]

I used to live in Baltimore, mball. Whereabouts do you live?

[Draka]

You know, this is kind of perturbing me just a bit. This thought that people are poor because they are just bad with money and "live beyond their means". Bullcrap.

Let's say the area you are in doesn't have a whole lot for jobs, (and no you can't just pick up and move because moving requires money which you DON'T have) and you end up with a minimum wage job working just under full time at maybe 36 hours a week (because so many employers would rather keep you under full time so they don't have to provide any benefits).

Now, minimum wage is now $7.25/hr (a nice change from the freakin $5.15 it was last year and about a decade before!). Go ahead and figure that up. At 36 hours a week you make barely over a thousand a month. You pay about a third of that in taxes leaving you with almost $700. Now try and pay rent, groceries, electric bill, phone bill, gas for the old beater vehicle you probably drive just to get to and from work, and see how much you have left to buy your papertowels and your package of new underwear (totally forget seeing a doctor because you can't afford to). And goodness forbid you have a child. If you are lucky enough for the deadbeat other parent to actually pay childsupport then you might have a little cushion,...BUT...now you have to have the child in daycare just so you can go to work to take care of them. Daycare is no cheap thing and it's not unheard of to almost pay per hour what you are already making at your job. You are in a constant battle just to tread water. Luckily, you may qualify for foodstamps and medicaid and there are programs like WIC out there to assist. Otherwise you may end up like that woman with two small children you saw out behind the grocery store digging through the dumpster to find something to eat.

This is NOT exaggeration. This is life. I have been there. I have worked my butt off and barely made ends meet. And don't even ATTEMPT to tell me it was because I was "living beyond my means". Anyone who honestly thinks that there is no such thing as poverty or poor in America without just being horrible with money...IS A MORON and has no clue what real life is all about.

[Reverend Rick]

Originally Posted by Draka

You know, this is kind of perturbing me just a bit. This thought that people are poor because they are just bad with money and "live beyond their means". Bullcrap.

Let's say the area you are in doesn't have a whole lot for jobs, (and no you can't just pick up and move because moving requires money which you DON'T have) and you end up with a minimum wage job working just under full time at maybe 36 hours a week (because so many employers would rather keep you under full time so they don't have to provide any benefits).

Now, minimum wage is now $7.25/hr (a nice change from the freakin $5.15 it was last year and about a decade before!). Go ahead and figure that up. At 36 hours a week you make barely over a thousand a month. You pay about a third of that in taxes leaving you with almost $700. Now try and pay rent, groceries, electric bill, phone bill, gas for the old beater vehicle you probably drive just to get to and from work, and see how much you have left to buy your papertowels and your package of new underwear (totally forget seeing a doctor because you can't afford to). And goodness forbid you have a child. If you are lucky enough for the deadbeat other parent to actually pay childsupport then you might have a little cushion,...BUT...now you have to have the child in daycare just so you can go to work to take care of them. Daycare is no cheap thing and it's not unheard of to almost pay per hour what you are already making at your job. You are in a constant battle just to tread water. Luckily, you may qualify for foodstamps and medicaid and there are programs like WIC out there to assist. Otherwise you may end up like that woman with two small children you saw out behind the grocery store digging through the dumpster to find something to eat.

This is NOT exaggeration. This is life. I have been there. I have worked my butt off and barely made ends meet. And don't even ATTEMPT to tell me it was because I was "living beyond my means". Anyone who honestly thinks that there is no such thing as poverty or poor in America without just being horrible with money...IS A MORON and has no clue what real life is all about.

If I worked for 7.25 an hour, I would not own a car. I would walk to work. One crappy job is as good as another and I would live where I worked. If I had a job that only worked me 36 hours, I would have two jobs. Two part time jobs equal a full time one. If I had trouble with my rent, I would have a room mate.

I'm sorry, your living on one paycheck. Get a second job and put all that money in the bank. If you save and invest, 5 years from now, I'm willing to bet you could afford to buy a home or at least afford to move somewhere else or go to college and get a better job. It's not about right now, it's about your whole life ahead of you.

I'll tell you how I do math, 7.25 x 60 is 435 a week times 4 is 1,740.00 times two people working towards the same goal is 3,480 a month or 45,240 dollars a year.

[mball1297]

Originally Posted by Seyorni

I used to live in Baltimore, mball. Whereabouts do you live?

Catonsville

[nutshell]

Originally Posted by Reverend Rick

If I worked for 7.25 an hour, I would not own a car. I would walk to work. One crappy job is as good as another and I would live where I worked.

Living where you work is not always an option. While you're reasoning is sound, it ignores this fact.

Originally Posted by Reverend Rick

If I had a job that only worked me 36 hours, I would have two jobs. Two part time jobs equal a full time one.

Many of the working poor do have more than one job.

Originally Posted by Reverend Rick

If I had trouble with my rent, I would have a room mate.

Certainly that would help, but what if you were married with kids?

Originally Posted by Reverend Rick

I'm sorry, your living on one paycheck. Get a second job and put all that money in the bank. If you save and invest, 5 years from now, I'm willing to bet you could afford to buy a home or at least afford to move somewhere else or go to college and get a better job. It's not about right now, it's about your whole life ahead of you.

How can a person put money in the bank when they don't even have enough to meet the bare minimum expenses each month?

Originally Posted by Reverend Rick

I'll tell you how I do math, 7.25 x 60 is 435 a week times 4 is 1,740.00 times two people working towards the same goal is 3,480 a month or 45,240 dollars a year.

Again, what do you do if there is a family? The working poor usually has poor health and no insurance. What happens when they get sick?

[Reverend Rick]

Originally Posted by nutshell

Living where you work is not always an option. While you're reasoning is sound, it ignores this fact.

Good point, there might be public transportation.

Many of the working poor do have more than one job.

And I acknowledge not everyone is poor because of living beyond their means.

Certainly that would help, but what if you were married with kids?

I would let someone live in the home for free baby sitting while each member of the family worked. Not an ideal situation, but a temporary fix till things improved.

How can a person put money in the bank when they don't even have enough to meet the bare minimum expenses each month?

I would look at expenses line by line, there is fat in every budget.

Again, what do you do if there is a family? The working poor usually has poor health and no insurance. What happens when they get sick?

They fail. This holds true for folks with insurance. Deductibles can ruins someones credit and make affluent families bankrupt.

[Mister_T]

Originally Posted by 9-10ths_Penguin
If you're legally allowed to freely move to a cheaper area, have the financial means to do so and could still support yourself there (either with a job, or off your investments if you have enough of them), then couldn't [I

living in an expensive area[/i] be considered a "luxury"?

Since you're in the mood of playing semantics, living in North America could be considered a "luxory." Following your logic, no one in North America can complain about living conditions because they can legally move to a cheaper place like India, where they can live off there investments and live the good life by supporting themselves with a job that is crappy by North American standards (like customer service). Stop whining North Americans: You can easily move to India and live a better life.