I'm pretty sure the definition of "paycheck-to-paycheck" doesn't mean having "difficulty" (only $4500 of cushion!) affording discretionary and luxury expenses like "weekly date nights, 3 weeks of vacation, luxury 3 row SUV, Coach & Banana Republic clothes, and $7 grand for entertainment).
Yeah I've seen a breakdown similar to this for a couple with kids making about 450k in NY. I see it as the whole 'keeping up with the Jonses'' kinda middle class lifestyle that was more commonplace through the 50's and 70's is now much harder to reach.
I don't think its idiotic, I mean even with 100k a year single its hard to meet the traditional milestones of I own my own place [that used to be home but a lot of areas like SF its increasingly out of reach to just own your own studio] and can afford to have a kid and take care of daycare or a spouse.
Things that were formula education-work obtainable previously are increasingly out of reach for a large population.
[+] [-] xiaosun|7 years ago|reply
I'm pretty sure the definition of "paycheck-to-paycheck" doesn't mean having "difficulty" (only $4500 of cushion!) affording discretionary and luxury expenses like "weekly date nights, 3 weeks of vacation, luxury 3 row SUV, Coach & Banana Republic clothes, and $7 grand for entertainment).
[+] [-] idDriven|7 years ago|reply
I don't think its idiotic, I mean even with 100k a year single its hard to meet the traditional milestones of I own my own place [that used to be home but a lot of areas like SF its increasingly out of reach to just own your own studio] and can afford to have a kid and take care of daycare or a spouse.
Things that were formula education-work obtainable previously are increasingly out of reach for a large population.