4 ms·

A lot of it is about lifestyle. The lifestyle you could have with one income in the 1950s would be a house that was tiny by today's standards, built shabbily, n

A lot of it is about lifestyle. The lifestyle you could have with one income in the 1950s would be a house that was tiny by today's standards, built shabbily, no HVAC, etc etc Anecdotally I know a family of five that survived on one income that is half of a common tech salary, while in a fairly high cost of living area. You know how they did it? Frugality, and sacrifice, of anything unnecessary. The mother keeps up the home and homeschools the kids. The dad learned to maintain cars by watching YouTube every time their old car broke down. Mom could've gotten a job, but they made a choice to sacrifice a more luxurious lifestyle for the ability to keep the kids out of public schools. It is a choice. It's just a choice most people don't want to make. They want the lifestyle that comes with two incomes, and the benefits of being a stay at home spouse, and it's just not realistic.

darth_avocado 3y ago
> It's just a choice most people don't want to make Buddy, in California, you need $208K of income to just QUALIFY for a mortgage for a median house. [1] No matter how much frugality people live in, most people won’t even come close to that number on a single income. Average car payments are $700+ a month and $500+ on used one. [2] Average cost of a 4 year attendance in a public college is $100k and for a private college it is $200k [3]. Average monthly premium for non subsidized health insurance for a family of 4 is around $1700, which drops to $500-$800/month with employer or state sponsored subsidies. [4] It’s very convenient to blame things on lifestyle, but the reality is that even the basics are way out of reach of a median household on single income. It ain’t the 50s anymore for a reason. [1] https://www.ocregister.com/2023/08/11/only-16-of-californians-can-afford-to-buy-home-as-mortgage-rates-rise/amp/ https://www.ocregister.com/2023/08/11/only-16-of-californian... [2] https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/auto-loans/average-monthly-car-payment#:~:text=The%20average%20monthly%20car%20loan,to%20credit%20reporting%20agency%20Experian https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/auto-loans/average-.... [3] https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college [4] https://www.anthem.com/individual-and-family/insurance-basics/health-insurance/cost-of-family-health-insurance#:~:text=Average%20Cost%20Of%20Family%20Health,four%20was%20%241%2C437%20per%20month https://www.anthem.com/individual-and-family/insurance-basic....
- nataliste 3y ago
  (In California)
  - darth_avocado 3y ago
    Only the mortgage is from California, rest of the numbers are average in United States. People are still paying $1000 monthly payments for their trucks in Arkansas.
  - darth_avocado 3y ago
    Not really. Sure, the mortgage number is California specific, but it’s not much lower in the whole country and the rest of the numbers are for the whole country. You also should take a look at the BLS numbers I shared and you’d know it’s not pretty elsewhere either.

darth_avocado 3y ago

> It's just a choice most people don't want to make Buddy, in California, you need $208K of income to just QUALIFY for a mortgage for a median house. [1] No matter how much frugality people live in, most people won’t even come close to that number on a single income. Average car payments are $700+ a month and $500+ on used one. [2] Average cost of a 4 year attendance in a public college is $100k and for a private college it is $200k [3]. Average monthly premium for non subsidized health insurance for a family of 4 is around $1700, which drops to $500-$800/month with employer or state sponsored subsidies. [4] It’s very convenient to blame things on lifestyle, but the reality is that even the basics are way out of reach of a median household on single income. It ain’t the 50s anymore for a reason. [1] https://www.ocregister.com/2023/08/11/only-16-of-californians-can-afford-to-buy-home-as-mortgage-rates-rise/amp/ https://www.ocregister.com/2023/08/11/only-16-of-californian... [2] https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/auto-loans/average-monthly-car-payment#:~:text=The%20average%20monthly%20car%20loan,to%20credit%20reporting%20agency%20Experian https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/auto-loans/average-.... [3] https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college [4] https://www.anthem.com/individual-and-family/insurance-basics/health-insurance/cost-of-family-health-insurance#:~:text=Average%20Cost%20Of%20Family%20Health,four%20was%20%241%2C437%20per%20month https://www.anthem.com/individual-and-family/insurance-basic....

nataliste 3y ago
(In California)
- darth_avocado 3y ago
  Only the mortgage is from California, rest of the numbers are average in United States. People are still paying $1000 monthly payments for their trucks in Arkansas.
- darth_avocado 3y ago
  Not really. Sure, the mortgage number is California specific, but it’s not much lower in the whole country and the rest of the numbers are for the whole country. You also should take a look at the BLS numbers I shared and you’d know it’s not pretty elsewhere either.