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I appreciate the critique - I'm not from the KC area, so I don't have local intuition. Seattle rents in the city are about $1.2k to $1.6k for a single-bedroom a

I appreciate the critique - I'm not from the KC area, so I don't have local intuition. Seattle rents in the city are about $1.2k to $1.6k for a single-bedroom apartment, and a 2-bedroom (as would befit a couple or small family) are north of $2k, so I don't have local context. Can I ask what you mean by "really should be plenty"? I left out costs which, in my part of the country, would vastly exceed the remaining $1.2k in our little exercise. I guess I should have been explicit about this assumption. I am better off than the average American by far, but even so, student loans from my grad school (an extravagance, I know) hurt to the tune of $1k/month. I don't have kids, but feeding/clothing/sheltering them would take a pretty penny too, nevermind the costs to time, commute, etc. Any one of the un-accounted-for expenses could vary wildly person to person, and could easily swallow up all that excess. I'm all for frugality and feel like folks have a lot to learn in that regard. Still, $52k for a household doesn't seem to math out without a whole lot of scrimping and luck.

lmm 11y ago
I'm not from KC either, so I may be off base there. I do live somewhere with a higher average salary than nationally though. Certainly there are places (SF in particular) where you're in a pretty bad place if you're making the national median, but I think anyone making the local median in those places is doing all right. The median is by definition not going to be a good place for keeping up worth the joneses. But if you opt out of the competitive things and just spend on what you need, I really think $52k is a pretty good place to be, and if you're struggling at that level (and aren't tied to a job in an expensive city) you should seriously look at downsizing your house/car/whatever your biggest expense is, because I have to wonder where all that money's going. Of course plenty of people really are struggling - half of the country is on less than $52k after all. Below about $40k I'd definitely say "it's not you, it's your income" or something on those lines.

lmm 11y ago

I'm not from KC either, so I may be off base there. I do live somewhere with a higher average salary than nationally though. Certainly there are places (SF in particular) where you're in a pretty bad place if you're making the national median, but I think anyone making the local median in those places is doing all right. The median is by definition not going to be a good place for keeping up worth the joneses. But if you opt out of the competitive things and just spend on what you need, I really think $52k is a pretty good place to be, and if you're struggling at that level (and aren't tied to a job in an expensive city) you should seriously look at downsizing your house/car/whatever your biggest expense is, because I have to wonder where all that money's going. Of course plenty of people really are struggling - half of the country is on less than $52k after all. Below about $40k I'd definitely say "it's not you, it's your income" or something on those lines.