How much income is enough?

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Vinen

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AladainAF said:
This is something else I was going to delve into, but this is also very true, it seems. I was "comfortable" making 65k a year 7 years ago with me and my wife. Even after our son, we found it pretty easy to manage.

But now my wife and I are making more than 6 times that we're worrying about money more than ever before. It's bizarre. But it seems the more you make the more you start to worry. It's certainly nothing we think about every day, but its in our minds more than it used to be.

I think it goes from (in order from poor to uber rich) scared shitless... worrying... sorta comfy... comfy ... scared shitless... worrying... sorta comfy... comfy.
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I think the biggest cause is lifestyle inflation. I know I always fear losing my job (even though I have it well where I am) just due to how difficult it may be to find a job that pays as absurdly well as my current one does. My wife and I are paying ~1/8th of our monthly income to our mortgage at this time and we like it that way.
 
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Noodleface

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AladainAF said:
This is something else I was going to delve into, but this is also very true, it seems. I was "comfortable" making 65k a year 7 years ago with me and my wife. Even after our son, we found it pretty easy to manage.

But now my wife and I are making more than 6 times that we're worrying about money more than ever before. It's bizarre. But it seems the more you make the more you start to worry. It's certainly nothing we think about every day, but its in our minds more than it used to be.

I think it goes from (in order from poor to uber rich) scared shitless... worrying... sorta comfy... comfy ... scared shitless... worrying... sorta comfy... comfy.
Click to expand...
Does some of the worry come from what you do for work? Do you think it is sustainable long term? Or can you easily apply those skills to another market?
 
AladainAF

AladainAF

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Noodleface said:
Does some of the worry come from what you do for work? Do you think it is sustainable long term? Or can you easily apply those skills to another market?
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We have enough to retire tomorrow, so long-term sustainability isn't the issue. I fully admit that we have nothing to worry about, but that's the feeling. WHY we feel this way, I honestly don't know for sure. I think it's just difficult in that... while one might have millions ready for retirement before you're even 40 years old, or millions in things like general assets/property/etc you dont -see- that. All we "see" are things like "fuck, our checking dropped under 10k" knowing we have 4 mortgages to pay next month (Will we get that one vacancy filled, and will our other tenants pay us?), insurance payments coming up in March/April, Car insurance in May, quarterly income tax payment just went out friday, etc. It brings worries to the table. It shouldn't, but it does. It's weird, and I actually don't like it. It's like totally white people problems, and I almost feel SJW-like guilt feeling the way I do about it (lol). Money absolutely doesn't bring you happiness. That's for sure.
 
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iannis

iannis

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I've never experienced it but I have always heard that. The more money you have the more you worry about money. That falls apart at the low and high end, but it seems to apply very well to the middle.

I'm kinda like Mist. I throw it in the bank. I'm sure I could have a lot more of it than I do. But I've got enough for me and my brother if he needs it.

Also, I don't have kids. And that's a huge difference.
 
Noodleface

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The kid isn't really as expensive as people think. But we don't pay for childcare (2k a month at least)
 
lurkingdirk

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The difference in property taxes from state to state and county to county is crazy. I've got 40 acres and 5 buildings with an assessed value somewhere over $800K and I pay less than $4,000 in taxes. I can't remember the exact numbers off the top of my head, but that's stupid cheap.

I miss big-city living in many ways. Toronto is a great city to live in, I love it. It's hard to beat having your own property to do what you want, though.
 
T

Tenks

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ZyyzYzzy said:
Pre-school, dance, ice-skating, spanish, soccer, random activities run us $700ish a month
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I'd assume a kid Noodle's age is pretty inexpensive if childcare is off the table. The expenses probably skyrocket more around when they're 8+.
 
Shonuff

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wormie said:
Wealth is relative to the wealth of people around you.
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I could give less than a single fuck what other people make that live around me. When I worked for an automanufacturer, I used to get a new car every three months (no expense to me). I remember, I was straight out of college. I had a neighbor (who I didn't know), come up to me a year later complaining about how he was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy trying to get a new car every three months, just to keep up with me. At that point, I asked him what his name was. He ruined himself financially over me, and I didn't know his name! He asked if I'd noticed that he was keeping up me, and I told him I didn't even know which house he lived in.

I learned a long time ago that people will go bankrupt trying to keep up with their neighbors. I determined to not fall into that trap. Be happy with what you have. And if you don't have it, go get it.
 
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Noodleface

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With my $1M income and $36M yearly bonuses plus all my dividends and shit I really just feel depressed with how little I make. So what if I live in Elon musks neighborhood. I feel poor.
 
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wormie

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Shonuff said:
I could give less than a single fuck what other people make that live around me. When I worked for an automanufacturer, I used to get a new car every three months (no expense to me). I remember, I was straight out of college. I had a neighbor (who I didn't know), come up to me a year later complaining about how he was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy trying to get a new car every three months, just to keep up with me. At that point, I asked him what his name was. He ruined himself financially over me, and I didn't know his name! He asked if I'd noticed that he was keeping up me, and I told him I didn't even know which house he lived in.

I learned a long time ago that people will go bankrupt trying to keep up with their neighbors. I determined to not fall into that trap. Be happy with what you have. And if you don't have it, go get it.
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Your neighbor sounds batshit insane. But what I am talking about is ingrained in all of us, not just one guy's mental issues. There have been studies done on this. The utility of our incomes is relative to the incomes of others around us. Or at least thats the hypothesis.
 
Cad

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wormie said:
Your neighbor sounds batshit insane. But what I am talking about is ingrained in all of us, not just one guy's mental issues. There have been studies done on this. The utility of our incomes is relative to the incomes of others around us. Or at least thats the hypothesis.
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Sort of, I think people are just status-obsessed and always have been and always will be.

If people aren't worried about their status monetarily or socially, then they make it a point to let you know it; they dress fringe, they get a face tattoo, they throw it in your face how they saved money on this or that and aren't you an idiot for buying x y or z. They're now just obsessed with the status of being "more thrifty" than you because they see that as superior. They want to feel superior in whatever way gives them satisfaction. For some people, thats money and always will be. They want more money than you, they want to buy goods to prove they have more money than you and can light it on fire to show you how much they have. For others its looks (can't go anywhere without my tits hanging out!) this is social status in terms of attractiveness.

Literally nobody, nowhere simply doesn't care about status unless they just don't live around other people. As soon as you have two people, one of them is trying to prove he's superior to the other one in some way.
 
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