4 ms·

$60k is more than 88% of Americans make in total income. Having that for discretionary spending would place you well within the top 1-2% of Americans, regardles

by kec 10y ago

$60k is more than 88% of Americans make in total income. Having that for discretionary spending would place you well within the top 1-2% of Americans, regardless of how much or how little your living expenses are.

duzoajcgk 10y ago
Sure, you're right about the average American. I'm pretty sure most people in this discussion are taking about the perspective of someone who works in the tech industry in the bay area since that's what the article is about.
- kec 10y ago
  Right. Talking about that kind of money as merely "decently high" is only a slightly different kind of bubble as the one this medium post is satirizing.
onlyrealcuzzo 10y ago
The top 1% of earners make $450k/year [1]. Although they obviously spend a lot [2], at some point discretionary income gets pretty blurry. I'd hope any reasonable society would consider they have a lot more than $60k at their discretion, though. I make about a third of that, putting me just barely in the top 10%, and have more than $60k at my discretion. Wealth inequality is pretty insane in this country. [1] http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/income-rank/ http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/income-rank/ [2] https://douggollan.com/2015/05/02/how-do-the-super-rich-spend-their-money-ask-an-asset-manager/ https://douggollan.com/2015/05/02/how-do-the-super-rich-spen...
- timmaxw 10y ago
  The calculator you linked is measuring household income, not individual income. Rerunning your numbers with a calculator that uses individual income [1], I find that the top 1% of individual earners make at least $270k/year and an income of $150k/year would put you just barely in the top 5% of individual earners. [1] https://dqydj.com/income-percentile-calculator/ https://dqydj.com/income-percentile-calculator/
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
enraged_camel 10y ago
Living expenses make up the majority of most people's living expenses, and this person owns the house they live in, which means it's possible their expenses aren't that high to begin with. They imply as much in their post. So it's possible their salary is like $70-75k. The median salary in the US is $52k. In light of that, I, too, would call his salary "decently high".
- jonathansizz 10y ago
  $52,000 is the median household income, not median salary.
  - mcbits 10y ago
    For reference, "median net compensation" appears to be just shy of $30,000 (if it's safe to extrapolate from 2014). https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/central.html https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/central.html
- leksak 10y ago
  > Living expenses make up the majority of most people's living expenses True, true.
- superuser2 10y ago
  > owns It is customary to say you "own" a home you're paying a mortgage on, whether or not you have meaningful equity in it yet.

by kec 10y ago

duzoajcgk 10y ago

Sure, you're right about the average American. I'm pretty sure most people in this discussion are taking about the perspective of someone who works in the tech industry in the bay area since that's what the article is about.

kec 10y ago
Right. Talking about that kind of money as merely "decently high" is only a slightly different kind of bubble as the one this medium post is satirizing.

onlyrealcuzzo 10y ago

The top 1% of earners make $450k/year [1]. Although they obviously spend a lot [2], at some point discretionary income gets pretty blurry. I'd hope any reasonable society would consider they have a lot more than $60k at their discretion, though. I make about a third of that, putting me just barely in the top 10%, and have more than $60k at my discretion. Wealth inequality is pretty insane in this country. [1] http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/income-rank/ http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/income-rank/ [2] https://douggollan.com/2015/05/02/how-do-the-super-rich-spend-their-money-ask-an-asset-manager/ https://douggollan.com/2015/05/02/how-do-the-super-rich-spen...

timmaxw 10y ago
The calculator you linked is measuring household income, not individual income. Rerunning your numbers with a calculator that uses individual income [1], I find that the top 1% of individual earners make at least $270k/year and an income of $150k/year would put you just barely in the top 5% of individual earners. [1] https://dqydj.com/income-percentile-calculator/ https://dqydj.com/income-percentile-calculator/
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

enraged_camel 10y ago

Living expenses make up the majority of most people's living expenses, and this person owns the house they live in, which means it's possible their expenses aren't that high to begin with. They imply as much in their post. So it's possible their salary is like $70-75k. The median salary in the US is $52k. In light of that, I, too, would call his salary "decently high".

jonathansizz 10y ago
$52,000 is the median household income, not median salary.
- mcbits 10y ago
  For reference, "median net compensation" appears to be just shy of $30,000 (if it's safe to extrapolate from 2014). https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/central.html https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/central.html
leksak 10y ago
> Living expenses make up the majority of most people's living expenses True, true.
superuser2 10y ago
> owns It is customary to say you "own" a home you're paying a mortgage on, whether or not you have meaningful equity in it yet.