5 ms·

Where is their $75k/year going? I totally get that the bay is ridiculously expensive, but they're living in his parents' garage. Are his parents charging him th

by dpark 9y ago

Where is their $75k/year going? I totally get that the bay is ridiculously expensive, but they're living in his parents' garage. Are his parents charging him that much rent? I'd think someone living in their parents' garage and earning $75k would be doing pretty well in terms of money. (Setting aside the fact that living with your family in a 2-car garage would definitely suck.)

austenallred 9y ago
They must be paying a lot of rent for the garage. Otherwise the numbers don't work (or... not work, as it were)
mattmanser 9y ago
Could be that they're not getting the hours to actually earn anywhere near $75k.
bluedino 9y ago
"Living in a garage" sounds a lot worse than "staying with your parents rent free"
rbanffy 9y ago
Maybe the parents also rent the house. At 29/26 the parents could easily be 49/46 and still working. Also, mind that poverty has a role in poor economic decisions (payday loans being one of them). https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/your-brain-on-poverty-why-poor-people-seem-to-make-bad-decisions/281780/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/your-br... (edit: added some extra info)
- robmass94 9y ago
  Unless this is referring to a different house, no, the parents do own it: >When Victor was growing up, his father was able to buy a small house in Menlo Park with his earnings a [sic] landscaper.
esMazer 9y ago
75K before taxes with 3 kids..
kayfox 9y ago
They have children. Raising children is expensive.
cmchien 9y ago
The Economic Policy Institute's Family Budget calculator, which is a better estimate of area-adjusted living costs than the federal poverty line "measures the income a family needs in order to attain a modest yet adequate standard of living"[1]. For the San Francisco, CA metro area (which in their model includes Menlo Park, where the family lives), they estimate that this "modest yet adequate" standard of living would cost ~$116K per year, inclusive of housing, food, child care, transportation, health care, other necessities and taxes. Even removing housing from the equation ($32K), that leaves about $85K to meet a basic family budget. So I think that their experience that their income is a real stretch to meet basic needs is not so far from reality as you might conjecture. [1] http://www.epi.org/resources/budget/ http://www.epi.org/resources/budget/

by dpark 9y ago

austenallred 9y ago

They must be paying a lot of rent for the garage. Otherwise the numbers don't work (or... not work, as it were)

mattmanser 9y ago

Could be that they're not getting the hours to actually earn anywhere near $75k.

bluedino 9y ago

"Living in a garage" sounds a lot worse than "staying with your parents rent free"

rbanffy 9y ago

Maybe the parents also rent the house. At 29/26 the parents could easily be 49/46 and still working. Also, mind that poverty has a role in poor economic decisions (payday loans being one of them). https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/your-brain-on-poverty-why-poor-people-seem-to-make-bad-decisions/281780/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/your-br... (edit: added some extra info)

robmass94 9y ago
Unless this is referring to a different house, no, the parents do own it: >When Victor was growing up, his father was able to buy a small house in Menlo Park with his earnings a [sic] landscaper.

esMazer 9y ago

75K before taxes with 3 kids..

kayfox 9y ago

They have children. Raising children is expensive.

cmchien 9y ago

The Economic Policy Institute's Family Budget calculator, which is a better estimate of area-adjusted living costs than the federal poverty line "measures the income a family needs in order to attain a modest yet adequate standard of living"[1]. For the San Francisco, CA metro area (which in their model includes Menlo Park, where the family lives), they estimate that this "modest yet adequate" standard of living would cost ~$116K per year, inclusive of housing, food, child care, transportation, health care, other necessities and taxes. Even removing housing from the equation ($32K), that leaves about $85K to meet a basic family budget. So I think that their experience that their income is a real stretch to meet basic needs is not so far from reality as you might conjecture. [1] http://www.epi.org/resources/budget/ http://www.epi.org/resources/budget/