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A comment on One-Third of Americans Making $250k Live Paycheck-to-Paycheck. Parent comment

Re:One-Third of Americans Making $250k Live Paycheck-to-Payc... by rayiner on Wednesday June 01, 2022 @11:10AM (#31582971)
There's also a lot of social pressure toward lifestyle creep. My parents hassle my wife and I regularly about our lifestyle choices. In their view, as two corporate attorneys, we should be living in a $2 million house in a posh DC suburb, driving a BMW and fighting with other people to get our kids into one of the "top" DC private schools. My wife and I couldn't bring ourselves to take on that kind of mortgage payment, and opted to buy a house that was less than one-quarter that price. We're not any further from D.C. than the expensive suburb where I grew up, but many of our neighbors have non-professional jobs or lack a college degree, which drives my parents nuts. Luckily my wife comes from a modest background and thinks our 10-year old paid-off Toyota 4Runner is a great car and would never let me buy a BMW (even though I really want one lol).

It's the best financial decision we ever made. Earlier this year when my wife decided she wanted to quit her job and bootstrap a business, we didn't have to spend months planning and downsizing. We just pulled the trigger.

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Re:One-Third of Americans Making $250k Live Paycheck-to-Payc... by neogodless on Wednesday June 01, 2022 @01:05PM (#31584837)
Even though we have lots of marketing tell us how happy we might be if we spend money we can "afford" on things we don't need, but we want, we're pretty bad at predicting how much actual happiness we'd get from it. The BMW is a great example. You're getting joy and fulfillment from living a modest life, where good relationships and the reduced stress from your practical budgeting give you continual real world benefits and peace. The alternative, where you sign over a huge chunk of money, often with interest, so you can take home that BMW might put a smile on your face from time to time, but you also give up some of the joy you had before from knowing how much other parts of your life benefit from those smart budget choices. Ultimately, were those few smiles worth $50, 60, 70k? Seeing that car payment leave your bank account?
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Re:One-Third of Americans Making $250k Live Paycheck-to-Payc... by ryandvm on Wednesday June 01, 2022 @01:27PM (#31585165)
"Comparison is the thief of joy" -- Teddy Roosevelt (maybe)
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Re:One-Third of Americans Making $250k Live Paycheck-to-Payc... by nunez on Wednesday June 01, 2022 @12:30PM (#31584336)
why won't she let you buy a BMW if you can afford it without compromising savings goals?
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Re:One-Third of Americans Making $250k Live Paycheck-to-Payc... by ac29 on Wednesday June 01, 2022 @01:24PM (#31585132)
> my wife decided she wanted to quit her job and bootstrap a business

Because, by saving the money, they had this opportunity.

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Re:One-Third of Americans Making $250k Live Paycheck-to-Payc... by rayiner on Wednesday June 01, 2022 @02:45PM (#31586308)
Apart from not needing it, it would be rather conspicuous in our neighborhood, and given our small lot we’d have to park it at the community lot a quarter mile away. Lifestyle creep is easier to avoid if buying stuff is inconvenient…
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Re:One-Third of Americans Making $250k Live Paycheck-to-Payc... by eternalban on Wednesday June 01, 2022 @06:57PM (#31589204)
> it would be rather conspicuous in our neighborhood

It's funny. In my gentrified lower income hood (eastern edge of Bushwick) what is conspicuous is the high percentage count of high end and expensive (e.g. Maserati SUV!) cars. So you guys just need to move to a lower income bracket neighborhood and you can have your BMW.

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Re:One-Third of Americans Making $250k Live Paycheck-to-Payc... by solarkraft on Tuesday June 07, 2022 @07:45AM (#31652733)
It's not a sound financial decision by many metrics and it seems like they get a lot more joy from financial independence allowing investments in more meaningful things.
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Re:One-Third of Americans Making $250k Live Paycheck-to-Payc... by emodendroket on Wednesday June 01, 2022 @12:34PM (#31584396)
Yeah that seems like it's getting into pathological territory.
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