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Fascinating, since that's several times what I make and I have so much money that I never worry about it. I have difficulty conceiving of an emergency expense l

Fascinating, since that's several times what I make and I have so much money that I never worry about it. I have difficulty conceiving of an emergency expense large enough to drain my bank account, let alone other places I keep my money. The only reason I'd ever want more is if it were enough that I could stop working. As much as I think it is obvious that rent and housing costs are completely insane right now, I'm not sure that (and inflation as the article suggests) is sufficient to explain why so many (apparently millennial) people making nearly four times the national median income are in this situation. In some ways maybe I'm lucky I grew up in a barely-lower-middle-class family as it kept my lifestyle expectations low.

bombcar 4y ago
The vast majority of those large salaries go to taxes and housing costs, the first is mainly avoided by not having a large salary and the second can be avoided by location. Once you're willing to gasp live somewhere where houses don't cost $1.7 million, things suddenly start to work out.
- bradlys 4y ago
  Problem is that often gasp the high compensation doesn’t follow to BFE!
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
    If you're living paycheck to paycheck on "high compensation", then what f'ing good is it anyway? I'm out here in south central Wisconsin making a poverty wage by the standard of SV-types and I own my own home with a couple retirement accounts, some investments, and significant savings. I don't even have a fancy bachelor's degree, just 3 associates.
    - bradlys 4y ago
      Because most people don't want to live in the middle of nowhere. Especially if you have an Ivy League degree, come from an upper class household, and like to be surrounded by similar. SV isn't full of the same type of people that you'd find in software in BFE. It's a different class of people entirely. It's more similar to doctors, lawyers, and IBs.
      - AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
        > Especially if you have an Ivy League degree, come from an upper class household, and like to be surrounded by similar. Right, so, entitled. Sorry if I don't cry over their entirely self-induced money troubles. > SV isn't full of the same type of people that you'd find in software in BFE. It's a different class of people entirely. It's more similar to doctors, lawyers, and IBs. And as arrogant as everyone outside of SV thinks they are, apparently.
        bradlys 4y ago
      - bombcar 4y ago
        > Especially if you have an Ivy League degree, come from an upper class household, and like to be surrounded by similar. The key to diversity is make carefully sure it happens to someone else somewhere else.
        bradlys 4y ago
        Having come from a poor rural background - I have no intention of going back. The brain rot that exists in those communities is beyond toxic. At least there's a chance in cities of interacting with someone reasonable. I have no intention of putting my kids through the hell that is the extremely xenophobic racism that exists in rural areas either. But - no - I'm just intolerant because I won't tolerate intolerance.

bombcar 4y ago

The vast majority of those large salaries go to taxes and housing costs, the first is mainly avoided by not having a large salary and the second can be avoided by location. Once you're willing to gasp live somewhere where houses don't cost $1.7 million, things suddenly start to work out.

bradlys 4y ago
Problem is that often gasp the high compensation doesn’t follow to BFE!
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
  If you're living paycheck to paycheck on "high compensation", then what f'ing good is it anyway? I'm out here in south central Wisconsin making a poverty wage by the standard of SV-types and I own my own home with a couple retirement accounts, some investments, and significant savings. I don't even have a fancy bachelor's degree, just 3 associates.
  - bradlys 4y ago
    Because most people don't want to live in the middle of nowhere. Especially if you have an Ivy League degree, come from an upper class household, and like to be surrounded by similar. SV isn't full of the same type of people that you'd find in software in BFE. It's a different class of people entirely. It's more similar to doctors, lawyers, and IBs.
    - AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
      > Especially if you have an Ivy League degree, come from an upper class household, and like to be surrounded by similar. Right, so, entitled. Sorry if I don't cry over their entirely self-induced money troubles. > SV isn't full of the same type of people that you'd find in software in BFE. It's a different class of people entirely. It's more similar to doctors, lawyers, and IBs. And as arrogant as everyone outside of SV thinks they are, apparently.
      - bradlys 4y ago
    - bombcar 4y ago
      > Especially if you have an Ivy League degree, come from an upper class household, and like to be surrounded by similar. The key to diversity is make carefully sure it happens to someone else somewhere else.
      - bradlys 4y ago
        Having come from a poor rural background - I have no intention of going back. The brain rot that exists in those communities is beyond toxic. At least there's a chance in cities of interacting with someone reasonable. I have no intention of putting my kids through the hell that is the extremely xenophobic racism that exists in rural areas either. But - no - I'm just intolerant because I won't tolerate intolerance.