350K consider middle class here!

Two destination vacations, one staycation, weekly date night and $500/month entertainment on top of fully  funding a 529, 401K, the mortgage on $1.8m home, Toyota Highlander car payment and $500 a week on food all while handing the most expensive toddler years.

What a joke. More like $350K to have your cake and eat it too.
 
The 3 weeks of vacation seems like the norm here in Woodbury.  During the big breaks with year around, everyone is gone for at least a week. 

And the property tax is even higher with mello roos. 
 
nosuchreality said:
Two destination vacations, one staycation, weekly date night and $500/month entertainment on top of fully  funding a 529, 401K, the mortgage on $1.8m home, Toyota Highlander car payment and $500 a week on food all while handing the most expensive toddler years.

What a joke. More like $350K to have your cake and eat it too.

2 destination vacations for a total of $7,800?  All these numbers in this article are F'd up. 
 
I think the numbers track what I observe.  Fly a family of 4 to Aulani and Utah for skiing and throw in a wknd at Legoland and aren't you pretty much there with the vacation $?  Preschool is probably a tad high - even if you go the Montessori route, its <$2k per month. 
 
I think Aulani will run a bit more.  The $7800 on two trips and stay isn't too bad, but overall the entire budget is off.  All that said, annual Aulani type trip, is really quite comfortable.  :) I won't fault anyone for taking them, laments over the cost of middle class life in the expensive regions of the country while planning them ring a bit hollow.

I recognize the budget well as this was us before we exited the treadmill of consumption.  Food is the prime example in the budget of throwing money at solving the problems caused by the earning of the money.  $350 a month on baby/toddler stuff with multiple strollers and the best car seats etc. (That's the article's words). I won't fault buying quality to protect your kids however there seems to be a recurring entitlement being demostrated to the spend.  And while work clothing can be a bit expensive, $400/month on clothing and saying Old Navy not Gucci is FUBAR.  and yes a pair of Winter boots to go the snow for my kid is $40 but we also replaced the entire wardrobe at back to school with a two week plus supply for around $200.  I remember when ours was a toddler and how many clothes were donated that had never been worn or worn once.

Then there's the mindset that median house is middle class, in the most competitive housing markets in the country.

Top 5 expenses are telling:
Taxes (income/employment)
House (mortgage/tax)
Childcare/preschool
401k/529
Food

JIMHO, the house drives the need for dual incomes, which drives the taxes, childcare and food expenses.

Do the math, the additional taxes, the childcare expenses, the extra food expenses the other additional expenses, one of them is working for about $1/hr take home.



 
"Do the math, the additional taxes, the childcare expenses, the extra food expenses the other additional expenses, one of them is working for about $1/hr take home."

There are many people who would prefer to do work they enjoy than work they do not enjoy.  Food prep and child care isn't the ideal work for many people.  If that $1/hr person quit and did the food prep and child care, are they somehow better off financially? 
 
Child care is different than spending time with your child and enjoying time with them.
 
It?s a luxury to be able to take care of your children while they?re young and not having to have both parents work to make ends meet.

The amount of time spend with your kids as important as the quality of it. Studies shown kids less likely to get in troubles when parents spend more time with raising their kids vs. having child care or a baby sitter while both parents attempting to provide for their and their children lifestyles,,,so call middle class.

In the end no one care and teaches your children like you do.
 
nosuchreality said:
Two destination vacations, one staycation, weekly date night and $500/month entertainment on top of fully  funding a 529, 401K, the mortgage on $1.8m home, Toyota Highlander car payment and $500 a week on food all while handing the most expensive toddler years.

What a joke. More like $350K to have your cake and eat it too.

100% agree.  That article is shit clickbait.  It's a shit postulation using shit numbers and shit reasoning to support it.  The premise of the article is you need to make $350k a year in the coastal areas because the COLA is so high.  Granted, housing and child care cost more, but the rest of it is ridiculous.

"Oh, poor us, we live on the coast, and we're middle class, so we take 3 vacations a year."
"Oh, poor us, we live on the coast, and we're middle class, so we put $38k a year into our retirement funds."
"Oh, poor us, we live on the coast, and we're middle class, so we spend $26k a year just to feed ourselves."
"Oh, poor us, we live on the coast, and we're middle class, so we put $12k a year toward our kids' college funds."
"Oh, poor us, we live on the coast, and we're middle class, so we spend $5k a year on clothes from The Gap."

Geez, I don't think I've spent $5k on clothes over my entire life.  And real middle class people, the ones making the actual median wages in this country, can't afford those things.  Living on the coast doesn't make someone more deserving of being able to do any of those things.  What, kids in flyover states don't deserve the vacations, the eating out or to go to the same colleges as coastal kids?  It all costs the same no matter where you live.  Anyone who agrees with that crap is out of touch.
 
daedalus said:
nosuchreality said:
Two destination vacations, one staycation, weekly date night and $500/month entertainment on top of fully  funding a 529, 401K, the mortgage on $1.8m home, Toyota Highlander car payment and $500 a week on food all while handing the most expensive toddler years.

What a joke. More like $350K to have your cake and eat it too.

100% agree.  That article is shit clickbait.  It's a shit postulation using shit numbers and shit reasoning to support it.  The premise of the article is you need to make $350k a year in the coastal areas because the COLA is so high.  Granted, housing and child care cost more, but the rest of it is ridiculous.

"Oh, poor us, we live on the coast, and we're middle class, so we take 3 vacations a year."
"Oh, poor us, we live on the coast, and we're middle class, so we put $38k a year into our retirement funds."
"Oh, poor us, we live on the coast, and we're middle class, so we spend $26k a year just to feed ourselves."
"Oh, poor us, we live on the coast, and we're middle class, so we put $12k a year toward our kids' college funds."
"Oh, poor us, we live on the coast, and we're middle class, so we spend $5k a year on clothes from The Gap."

Geez, I don't think I've spent $5k on clothes over my entire life.  And real middle class people, the ones making the actual median wages in this country, can't afford those things.  Living on the coast doesn't make someone more deserving of being able to do any of those things.  What, kids in flyover states don't deserve the vacations, the eating out or to go to the same colleges as coastal kids?  It all costs the same no matter where you live.  Anyone who agrees with that crap is out of touch.

clearly written by a coastal elite who wants to boast about their privileged lifestyle, while at the same time look for pity for feeling like they're "poor" because they have no money at the end of the month.  real middle class people don't live like that.
 
Hey we all forget people like to spend.
Someone recently told me he spends $10-$30 at Starbucks like everyday. (Breakfast, drinks, snacks, tip, drinks for coworkers) For lunch and dinner is the same but more.

(Keep in my mind that person still lives his parents. He complains he is not good with his finances. But we had the same classes in college. So what happened? Lol)
 
I still think the $7800 for 2 destination vacations and one staycation is not truly realistic.  1 Hawaii vacation (6-nights during the IUSD spring break) on Costco is ~$4,500 for a 2.5 or 3 star hotel. 

The daycare expense is probably reasonable for SF or NYC. 
 
In the NYpost article most of them are honest about wanting the lifestyle.  Yes, every month when I was in my late 20s and early 30s, I was counting my pennies too to make sure I'd have the rent and then mortgage covered, car paid and have the money forthe Vegas trip next month with the guys. 

The original Financial Samurai is a good example of lying to yourself financially.  The lies are scattered everywhere.  The biggest one is Food.  That's not really food.  That's the $25K slush fund of date night restaurants, weekend getaway restaurants, and I suspect a healthy dose of on the go grabs of Starbucks and Nekter smoothies. (Oh oh, I'm getting close to hatin' their avocado toast habit)

Childcare and 'occasional' baby sitter is another  Unless they have family they're dropping their date night kids off at or a much deeper network Parent Survival Night vendors, that may be a date night baby sitter and with two kids that easily weighs in at a C-note if not more given their Enterntainment budget demurely headed by netflix.

Yea, Netflix is listed first, premium is $15.99, as you read on, you see sporting events, weekend getaways. 

My jaded eye sees the date night with that baby sitter, restaurant and I'll hazard a guess some of those shows and sporting events in Entertainment, easily heading north of $200 a 'date' if not $300 and the line item for date night itself becomes $10-$15K.

You then bundle weekend getaways and 'vacations' together and I suspect you're also at $10-15K.  If not $20K if you bundle the food in while you're there.

Your food budget then falls more to the $10K which is still full of creature comforts.  Childcare is trimmed and two giant indulgences are laid bare.

But hey, child care is so expensive, and baby stuff and food.  Yes they are when you bury massive discretionary expenditures in them.

As for the Financial Samurai, apparently its no Coke only Pepsi and financial advice.


 
Moyenne bourgeoisie (upper middle class income people) complaining about not being able to afford pseudo-aristocratic lifestyle on Instagram, with avocado toast in one hand and french poodle in other.

I'm guilty of splurging on Sunday brunches at Le Petit Paris in LA (http://lepetitparisla.com), but you won't hear me whine about "oh life is so hard, I could only afford an used Lexus.  I deserve a new Masertai Ghibli for posting selfies on IG with my emotional support iguana".
 
Back
Top