3 ms·

These kinds of articles tell maybe half the story. In my early 20s, I was earning $120K a year while living in rural Texas. I had an expensive apartment (3 bed

These kinds of articles tell maybe half the story. In my early 20s, I was earning $120K a year while living in rural Texas. I had an expensive apartment (3 bedroom), a leased Lexus IS, and spent lavishly. I also got a second car (a Honda Fit) for grocery store runs. If this sounds absurd, yeah I know. 2 years of this and I had some 401K savings but no after tax investments. I wasn’t even maxing out the company match. Just before each pay day, I might have had $800 in my checking account on a good day. My case might be extreme (I don’t know), but it was certainly poor financial decisions.

ed25519FUUU 5y ago
This is a hard story to hear because even a little bit of investment over the past 10 years of quantitative easing means you'd have some pretty big returns. Real-estate, stock market, bonds, literally anything you could throw a dart at is up big over the last 10 years.
sparksparkapach 5y ago
Yes, definitely an extreme. 120k in rural texas and you can live quite lavishly. That's 4x the median income in texas, probably even more that that for the area you are in if you described it as rural. You'd have to spend quite a bit on stuff to be living paycheck to paycheck on that salary in texas. the median income in texas was 30k in 2019, probably even lower during the time you are talking about. The people making 100k and living paycheck to paycheck are in high cost of living areas, and can probably only get that salary because they are in that area
gaspard234 5y ago
Texas is very diverse. I was born in El Paso in west Texas where my high school peers making $70k can still buy a house and support a stay at home parent. Median home price is $182k and meals and labor are so much cheaper. Most of my college peers moved to Austin or Dallas where cost of living and housing is extremely different. Austin median home price is now $575k in the city and $480k for the 5 county metro region. Growing up in a working class family (dad worked at a kitchen, mom as a part time hair dresser) we always had a maid from mexico come in once a week for $60 for ~8hours. She cleans, does laundry, and even cooks a meal and makes a big pot of beans during her time. In Austin I pay $150 for a 2hr cleaning session with no extras.

ed25519FUUU 5y ago

This is a hard story to hear because even a little bit of investment over the past 10 years of quantitative easing means you'd have some pretty big returns. Real-estate, stock market, bonds, literally anything you could throw a dart at is up big over the last 10 years.

sparksparkapach 5y ago

Yes, definitely an extreme. 120k in rural texas and you can live quite lavishly. That's 4x the median income in texas, probably even more that that for the area you are in if you described it as rural. You'd have to spend quite a bit on stuff to be living paycheck to paycheck on that salary in texas. the median income in texas was 30k in 2019, probably even lower during the time you are talking about. The people making 100k and living paycheck to paycheck are in high cost of living areas, and can probably only get that salary because they are in that area

gaspard234 5y ago

Texas is very diverse. I was born in El Paso in west Texas where my high school peers making $70k can still buy a house and support a stay at home parent. Median home price is $182k and meals and labor are so much cheaper. Most of my college peers moved to Austin or Dallas where cost of living and housing is extremely different. Austin median home price is now $575k in the city and $480k for the 5 county metro region. Growing up in a working class family (dad worked at a kitchen, mom as a part time hair dresser) we always had a maid from mexico come in once a week for $60 for ~8hours. She cleans, does laundry, and even cooks a meal and makes a big pot of beans during her time. In Austin I pay $150 for a 2hr cleaning session with no extras.