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I want a raise!!! Most people don't need six figures to feel successful, but they aren't necessarily happy with their current pay.
Most workers don’t need to earn a really fat paycheck to feel like they are successful in their careers, a new survey finds.
More than half would be happy making under $70,000 a year.
The survey of more than 5,700 full-time U.S. workers, conducted in February and March for CareerBuilder, found that 25 percent of people would want to make more than $100,000 in a year to feel like they had made it.
But 23 percent said they would only need to reach a salary level of below $50,000 to be successful. The rest fell somewhere in between.
Men were more much likely than women to say that six figures was a measure of success. About 32 percent of men said they wanted to make more than $100,000 to be a success. That's versus 17 percent of women.
Older workers were more likely to say they wanted to reach six figures to be successful than younger people, but the gap wasn’t that great.
Still, most people haven't made it there yet.
About 45 percent of workers said they were close to their desired salary, while 32 percent said their paycheck was nowhere near where they wanted it to be.
Only 23 percent said they were earning their desired salary.
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The real question is: Do I have the education/skills that warrant my "feeling of success" number? Not just the "I want" attitude of American society in general.
This also shows that we shouldn't hesitate to tax 60% on those earning over $1 million - it obviously won't affect their happiness.
If we leveled the pay scale at $70,000 minimum - we'd all have a chance at happiness ( even if we couldn't buy a Hawaiian island )
If everyone makes $70k minimum, a gallon of milk would cost $500.
Also, just because I can take something from someone else, doesn't mean I should do it, or that there will not be negative consequences.
For me, part of the reason I've never made 6 figures is I look at where this country is going financially, and my conclusion is - eventually the government is going to take a large percentage of what I've saved. So, I no longer work as long or hard as I did 10 or 20 years ago. The lack of continued production from people like me is part of the hidden cost to society that some people do not understand when they talk about "taxing the rich". If you push too far, the rich leave or stop producing.
The 'great divide' in America (looking at various economic data) is between families making $40,000 per year and families making $70,000 per year. All our arguments revolve around that dividing line.
Eighty (80) per cent of us have TOTAL earnings less than $100,000. Ninety-five (95) per cent of us have TOTAL earnings less that $180,000 per year.
Before the recession, TOTAL family earnings of $380,000 meant you were in the 1 pct.
That is what separates us. We are arguing over peanuts - while the REALLY rich pick our pockets.
Nerm,
I know some in the 10's of millions category, and they got there by working harder and smarter than the rest of us - and doing so for several decades.
Personally, I don't envy them at all. Sure, it would be great to have $20 million, but I would not want to do the personal sacrifices they did for the 20+ years before they "hit it big". Also, keep in mind they never had any guaranteed success. I also know others that have made the same personal sacrifices, but they never make it big.
I'll take my sub-$100k salary and a personal life any day of the week.
Someone that averages an annual income $400,000 over a 40 year work life will have earned $16 million. That is the low end of the 1 pct.
Playing the stock market is not 'working' for it. Flipping houses is not 'working' for it. Charging exorbitant fees is not 'working' for it.
Having your money 'work' for you - is a lie.
Steve...Your statements are ridiculous. You want a 60% tax rate for over $1 million/year & pay leveled at $70K minimum for everyone. Congrats on the dumbest statement of the year.
First of all, what do you have against people earning over $1 million or $10 million or even $100 million per year? Instead of being a whining jealous loser why don't you strive to improve your skills/education, come up with a good or service that is needed, start your own business, & strive to attain those kind of income levels yourself? Oh yeah, I forgot that would actually take effort on your part. I suppose you think everyone who earns over $1 million/year just has it handed to them for absolutely no effort, right?
You also forget that rich people are the job creators in many cases. For example, if you tax the hell out of some small business owner earning over $1 million/year then they might decide not to expand their business/not give raises/not hire those extra employees or maybe even lay off some workers in order to cut expenses to help cover the cost of your 60% tax rate. If people get laid off in order to cut costs then the workers that are left end up having to pick up the slack for the workers who got canned & have to work that much harder for the same amount of pay. See how your higher taxes can play out...
Or maybe that business owner decides not to lay off anyone but ends up raising the costs of their goods/services, that we pay for, to cover the costs of the higher taxes. Either way the employees and/or the consumers lose.
A rich business owner, in this example, isn't just going to sit there & pay your higher taxes. If they are used to paying a 35% tax rate & you raise their taxes to 60% then they are going to do whatever they need to in order to keep their net income at the level they are used taking home/living on. If that means firing people or raising the price of the goods/services that they provide then so be it.
Here is a news flash for you, people don't start businesses to give you or your neighbor a job. They go into business in order to make as much money as possible! That is a fact, whether you like it or not.
You're probably one of those people who thinks no one needs that much money. The amount of income someone needs/wants or the size of the house they live in or the number of cars they own or whatever is their personal decision to make & not yours. If you don't have the ambition or brains to make that kind of money then too bad. No one said life was going to be fair, so quit your whining.
As for $70k minimum for everyone are you serious? You want people to make $70K even if they are worthless, lazy, do nothing deadbeats who goof off at work all day or just do the bare minimum to get by. I don't think so.
If you want to make $70k then get the skills/education to get into a career where you have the potential to make $70K. Then make yourself an invaluable employee who goes above & beyond your co-workers & you'll quickly be earning $70k or much more per year.
In order to pay everyone $70K/year, just like with your higher tax idea, the companies would have to raise the price of all their goods/services through the roof to cover the costs. So you would make $70k but then the cost of everything would be really expensive so your money wouldn't go very far & I'm sure you would still be complaining & miserable.
You should think about some of the possible consequences before making ridiculous statements.
Oneslackr - you probably thought Michelle Bachman's idea to remove the minimum wage would help create jobs. You crack me up.
@Oneslackr -- According to 2008 IRS data, only 322,000 people in the United States earned $1 million or more. That number is estimated to have dropped to about 250,000 people at the low point of the recession - and - has rebounded to around the 2008 number today.
Your odds of earning $1 million or more per year is 1 in 1000. Just keep in mind that the deck is marked and the table is rigged.
You are arguing that 322,000 people create all the jobs in the United States.
The entire argument against 'taxing the rich' because they are the job creators is bogus. Jobs are created on Main Street - by the middle class - not in penthouses.
We have allowed the definition of 'success' to be hijacked. We are supposed to believe that 'success' is only measured by money.
The 'successful' have divided us - using their definition of 'success' - instead of our true Main Street American values. Is it class warfare? No, because we have allowed the 'successful' class to define us - to prosper from us.
Here is an interesting article on the subject. It is a rather long read but does show when we abdicated our future - our 'success' as a society.
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3629
Nerm_L
You sound like an intelligent person. If you have let others define success for you it's your problem, not theirs. And btw, the article you reference talks about income inequality. It didn't see the word "success" in it anywhere. If you're using that as an example of your premise you are reinforcing the idea that success is measured by money. I reject money as measurement of success.
@Brian-1075075 -- The definition of 'success' is based on income and wealth. Mitt Romney claims he is not ashamed of his 'success' and clarifies that by indicating he is rich.
The link I provided shows how we are becoming a stratified society - based on defining 'success' as earning money. We divide ourselves, argue among ourselves based on someone else's definition of us - that we have little hope of becoming. That game is rigged in favor of the 'successful'.
My point is that we have allowed the 'successful' to define us - and - the majority of us have little opportunity to become 'successful' by that definition.
What I am pointing out is that the 'great divide' over which we argue and divide ourselves is not that large. The difference between 'successful' and 'unsuccessful' is pretty small.
Money and success are not equivalencies. That is someone else's definition - and - we are suckers for believing it.
Nerm-L
You seem confused.
Which is it?
@Brian-1075075 -- 'Success' and success are not equivalencies, either.
@Steve...I never said anything about lowering the minimum wage. As for cracking you up, whatever...I gave you examples of some possible unintended consequences of your just tax the hell out of the rich mentality.
Sorry but there are many greedy people in the world & rich people remain rich by hanging onto their money, even if it means screwing over employees or consumers. I'm a heartless a**hole so I don't have a problem with it. It's a dog eat dog world. Currently I'm as far way from being rich as I can be but I'm going to keep working at it until I am.
You're the one with a chip on your shoulders about people who earn millions or have more than you. Deal with it. That's life. Like I said spend your time more productively trying to become one of them instead of complaining about them having more than you.
It's not easy to obtain that level of income but I don't think it should be up to you or anyone else to try to prevent someone from achieving that kind of income if that is what they want. Or to penalize them with taxes to point that no one is no longer interested in trying to become wealthy. Why don't you busy bodies get the hell out of everyone's business & just mind your own. The same goes for all of the thumbing sucking morons in government who try to control everyone & everything.
What a boring mediocre world it would be if everyone was the same, everyone lived in the same kind of house, drove the same kind of car, earned the same amount of money. Sorry but no one guaranteed equal outcomes for everyone in life.
Some people have it easy because they are born into wealth. Others are born into poverty & never make it out. That's life. Yet others start off in poverty & through shear determination, won't take NO for answer, & hard work & long hours they end up becoming wealthy.
I'm sick of people like you, who obviously are envious of the rich, always trying to knock the rich down to your crappy level. Instead of knocking everyone down so everyone can be miserable like you, why don't you spend your time figuring out how you can help people who are at the bottom rise to the top. Oh yeah, that's right that would actually take effort on your part. I suppose it would also cut into your bong smoking time.
@ Nerm L. ....I never said 322,000 people created all the jobs. What I said was, "You also forget that rich people are the job creators in many cases." Then I gave old Steve some possible scenarios based on his initial statement of how things could turn out. Nothing more & nothing less.
As for the odds of being able to earn $1 million/year. Well, no one said it would be easy. It still doesn't discourage me from trying to get to that level one day & I'm starting from rock bottom (just read my post below).
America was built by risk takers. Now it's full of gutless wonders who want everything handed to them on a silver platter without effort. You know the ones who got trophies even when they lost. The ones who have been told lies all their lives by everyone about how special they are & how much they deserve. Then these self-inflated idiots get in the real world when they grow up & get slapped upside the head with reality & they can't deal with it. Then they sit around & whine about how they aren't getting paid enough & how the big bad companies & evil rich people are screwing them over.
The reality is they need to just look in the mirror to see who has caused most of the problems they have in life & where they are in life because of their dumb choices. Life is tough. Deal with it. If you don't like where you are at in life then figure out how to change it for the better instead of whining & complaining. You're not in debt up to your eyeballs or not earning enough money because some rich guy is cruising around on his yacht or living in a mansion. Damn cry babies. Quit spending your time sucking your thumb & instead spend the time figuring a way out of whatever mess you're in.
If making a pile of money doesn't motivate you & you're happy as an employee making $40K, $50k, $75K or whatever that is fine. I can totally respect that.
I personally am motivated by money & don't like working for others. Someone giving me some cheap trinket & telling me that I did a good job doesn't motivate me at all. I want as much income as I can possibly make. That is my choice. I don't need a bunch of busy bodies telling me that I'm bad or wrong for wanting or striving for that goal & if I achieve that level that I should be taxed out existence.
I also don't sit around & listen to a bunch of negative people who tell me a 1000 different ways why something won't work or can't be done or how I'll never make it or how the odds are against me. People like that are the ones who will never take a risk & will never become rich & they love to try & drag others down to their level. They are just filled with spite & jealousy. They couldn't make it so they don't want someone else to make it either.
@Oneslackr -- You did say that 322,000 people create most of the jobs.
You do realize that only about 1.2 million households represent the 1 pct. What that means is that only 1.2 million households earn more than $380,000 per year.
The richest 1 pct being the job creators is an urban myth.
The middle class is larger than the rich and poor combined. The rich can take care of themselves - they do not need any help. The middle class will take care of the poor - when the middle class can afford to.
The middle class does not need to be concerned about the rich - tax the rich out of existence and it will not change anything.
But the middle class will not tax the rich out of existence. That is not how middle class America does things. But the rich have no right to define 'success' in their favor - and - certainly has no right to take credit for something they have not earned.
@ Nerm L...I have no argument with you.
My example was just based on Steve's $1+ million dollar threshold. I think many people who owned a business & earned lets say $500k/yr. would make similar choices if someone like Steve came along & said hey your $500k/yr. puts you clearly in the top 1% (i.e. rich) so lets tax you at 60%. I believe the $500k/yr. business owner would also protect his own interests/income first at the expense of business expansion, employees, or the consumer of his products/services.
Of course there are probably business owners who are exceptions because not everyone is heartless & all about the bottom line. Some will put their employees/consumers above their own interest.
I have no doubt that Steve would consider someone making $500k/yr. rich & he probably thinks they should also pay 60% in taxes. To me $500k/yr. is a nice comfortable living but I wouldn't consider a person rich at that income level.
My personal income definitions go something like this - Most pro athletes (muti-millions/yr.) are rich but the team owners (100s of millions/billions) are wealthy. Then $380k - $1 million well off (comfortable), $200k - $379k upper middle class. It might not be the true definition of middle class but I really consider someone earning up to $200k middle class in today's world.
I just wanted Steve to consider some possible ramifications of what he was stating. It is easy for someone who is not happy with their own lot in life to blame it on others, especially the rich, & just make moronic statements like everyone needs to earn $70k/yr. minimum & tax the rich at 60% without any further thought.
What is funny is the average millionaire has an income of 75-250K and are in their 50's, they never paid more than 30K for a vehicle and most own an f-150, most are married to the same person never divorcing, most never inherited more than 10K, most are first generation, most of their kids will not be as successful, you would most likely never recognise them because they have been living in the same house for 20 or more years.
This article says nothing. If I gave everyone a raise to what they want, next year they would be asking for more. We all make choices in life everyday on what we spend money on and this will never change no matter how much you have. Some of us make decessions on the food we buy to eat or 1% of us make choices if I should buy that second home. I read some comments that some people would love just to have a job and make 35K. that maybe true for a month or a year but if you never got a raise your happiness turns sour. There is nothing wrong with that we should all strive to be better everyday. But this article is just taking a snap shot in our thoughts today not tomorrow and the next day.
The high unemployment rates these days is a reflection of this. people who need so much money to feel successfull would rather be unemployed then take a job that is "beneath them." The jobs are out there, people just need to be willing to take what they can get.
If I made $50,000.00 dollars a year, I would think I died and went to heaven. If I made $35,000.00 a year I could live. If you have a job, then you should be ecstatic!!!!!!!! I have been unemployed for a year. My life sucks!!!!!!!!
how sad to think you have to have $250k a year to live. my husband and i take home around $50k but with a paid for (nice) home, owe nothing and paying cash for everything, we still spend less than we make. we are deliriously happy.
Yep, I wish I could convince more people how satisfying it can be to live within your means. I know people that make 10 times more than I do, but all they do is increase their spending (and debt) every time they get more income. This adds stress and generally seems to make the less happy. I also know poor people that blow through money whenever they get it. Both sets of people seem equally unhappy in most cases.
I don't know why people want to keep up with the Jones family down the street when they are more broke then they are.
Unfortunately, we live in a society where the accumulation of things is desired more than the accumulation of wealth. I guess the silver lining will be that all of these knuckleheads will have to work and spend their entire life which will stimulate the economy and allow me and others like me to quietly live the dream. I'm pretty much done trying to give constructive advice to people who bitch and moan about being broke. I generally get told that I am either "rich" or "lucky".
And it's not about depriving yourself of the good things in life. I live in a big house, nice neighborhood, 3 cars (paid for), golf cart, take nice vacations, etc. etc. It's about deciding on the kind of lifestyle you want to live and then putting a plan together to make it happen. It's really not complicated. Debt is the #1 driver that causes people to be (figuratively) enslaved in our society.
Someone stated in another post that by eliminating debt, you will be amazed at how cheaply you can live and live well in our society. That is so true.
It depends on where you live and your circumstances. If you have two kids, for instance, you would need a 3-4 bedroom home. In the Boston area, where the cheapest you can get for anything decent and relatively close to your job is about $300k, which equates to $2k a month when you consider the mortgage, taxes and insurance (not including utilities, which could easily run an extra $400, especially in the winter)...all post tax (yes, interest and taxes are tax deductible). Add the cost of cars ($300/month plus maintenance, gas and insurance), skyrocketing food bills, and of course day care, and $100k won't make it (after taxes, health insurance and a small 401(k) contribution, it's more like $60k). You definitely need two incomes to make it in these parts.
Honestly, I don't know how the average household income (roughly $45-50k) makes it in this country. Yes, housing is cheaper, but many of the other expenses are just as expensive if not more. If you are a single person, that would be doable in most spots. But once you have a family, this is really insufficient...even in the cheapest spots (unless you are OK with slowly getting into more and more debt and/or never retiring).
more reasons to never live anywhere but the south! 3000 sf home and average of $150 utility bill a/c or heat! No day care costs if mommy stays home with the kids. I didn't want some minimum wage girls raising my children! start with a sound financial plan and keep it up. Were smart when our kids were little and it really paid off.
If you have two kids of the same sex, you need 2 BR; 3 if a boy and girl. No reason for a fourth. Two baths should suffice a combo LR/DR and kitchen. If a family in the 1950s made it in this configuration w/ 1200 sq. ft., so can you, and it will help bring the mortgage down.
What a STUPID article. I would feel like a success if my country and society were less selfish and shared instead of each little child clinging to their own pile of coins. We are all slaves of big corporations and consumerism - and we'll never find happiness while we are in their shackles. no more bailouts - let the present economic system crumble and we can rebuild from the ashes.
Did Albert Einstein ever make "$100K a year"?
I think he's more "successful" than Bill Gates...
In today's dollars, he probably did...
I hate anything that assumes a correlation between money and success or happiness. Money and security?? Ok, I can accept that but not happiness. There are a few variables that come into play. Where you live is a huge deal. 75k in New York is way different than 75k in South Carolina. Being single, married with kids or without kids plays a role. Does your spouse work or stay at home?
I have never made over 80k/year but I live in the South so that's a good salary based on the lower cost of living. My spouse works and makes a decent salary too. We have no debt. We don't buy every "must have" gadget (no smartphone, iPad, etc). Cars are paid for and have age on them. We splurge on high speed internet and fancy cable. We'll splurge a little when we go on vacation. We are happy and secure. For us, free time and flexibility is far more important than a big salary and bigger headaches.
Sounds like paradise to me.
In 1996 I, making about $70K in today's dollars, and a companion, making about $300K in today's dollars. did a two-week tour of the Aegean. When we stood in the bedroom of King Agamemnon in Mycenae, I said, "Imagine, we're standing on the same floor stones on which the leader of the Greeks in the Trojan War once stood." An amazed, "Really?" was the reply. From the Parthenon to the Palace of Knossos on Crete to the Temples on Delos to the Library of Ephesus to the Walls of Troy to the Saint Sophia in Istanbul, my companion muttered similar surprises as I pointed out the significance of each place.
Some years later, in the Luxor Temple in Luxor, Egypt, I pointed out that a hieroglyphic inscription meaning "Given Life Forever" was repeated higher and higher on certain pillars as you circled them, leading your eyes up to the Sun: the object the ancient priests claimed that life came from. A three thousand year message was being passed on! Several in our group had higher incomes than my Aegean companion, yet they had no clue what they were looking at.
My idea of "success," starts with the accumulation of knowledge and the ability to use it for some benefit for mankind. I never made more than $75K. But I was very smart with my money, allowing me to live comfortably, travel extensively, and retire comfortably able to do most of the things I find fascinating. When I was in college, I was jealous of the rich kids who could pursue music, creative writing, sculpture, etc. without a care as to whether those careers would pay the bills to keep them going. I retirement, I've finally achieved the same status!
But I should point out I would not feel successful if I hadn't given something to my society: I developed the industrial process for the first replacement for the cancer-causing fibers in children's flame-proof clothes. I also had something to do with the Tomahawk Cruise Missile, though I can't say more than that. I developed low-cost manufacturing processes for pharmaceutical intermediates. And when I changed careers and became a teacher, I taught chemistry and physics to a few thousand students, many of whom went well-prepared into college and are now in science and engineering careers - something our nation has a shortage of.
If I had not accomplished the latter, I don't think I'd deserve the financial comfort.
I'd like to make a $100K just so I can pay off my students loans which are $53K. My salary is in the mid $50's. I'm not an extravagant person, I live in a small two bedroom home (rent) and my son is in college. I've been a single mom for many years and I have a car and a few bills. But it's still barely enough to save $. I even sew my own skirts to save money! I rarely ever eat out - I cook at home and I take my lunch with me everyday. I'm actually trying to sell homemade items to make extra cash. I don't take vacations (only days off to relax at home) and I do not own iPads, or iPhones or any of that stuff. But with all that said - I am happy. I think the quality of my life overall is much better than when I lived in NY and made a lot more $. My life is much simpler now.
Obviously the answer to this question greatly depends on where you live. $50,000 is great for Mississippi but doesn't cut it in New York
First of all we have to remember that inflation is just another tax. Fifteen years ago if you were making 50K a year you were well off but that figure has increased to the point that it takes 75-100K to feel the same way. Second, by the time we reach our golden years, our children are gone, our houses are paid and our bills more manageable and you have savings and pensions to sustain you. Young people don't have these assests. The uncertainty comes from media generated by insurance companies on the T.V. The truth is the more you make the more you spend. Once you have what you need you spend less. Go look at your parents homes. They are the same as when you left them. Happiness comes from inside. I have what you need, then you are happy. the rest is hype which generates insecurity.
This article assumes that you have a job to begin with. IN a world of part-time jobs paying less than $10/hour anything is an improvement. Therefore I don't think we'll have to worry about making $100K as it is anyway.
Who's idea is it that we should measure success by dollars anyway? Success is finishing things that you start. Do that enough times and you are successful. A short order cook who can cook over easy eggs without breaking the yolk is successful. A multi-million dollar earning executive who causes his firm to loose billions of dollars is not successful.
Excellent point. Was Ghandi a success? How about Sargent York or Issac Newton or Louis Pasteur?
I personally would consider these people (and obviuosly there are many others) more successful that Warren Buffet
I don't make $100K....yet. I like to challenge myself and I went to college for my Master's degree so I think I should be making $100K+ eventually because that is what I am worth. If you put the time to train efficiently in your career field and to learn academically then you deserve to make what you are worth and not apologize for it. As someone stated in a previous post "success is finishing what you started". I set out to be a success, putting myself through college after leaving the Army and working my way up the Corporate ladder without any shortcuts and sheer hard work. I don't make $100K today but I feel successful because I have accomplished MANY goals that I set forth for myself. I look forward to reaching more goals and accomplishing those which includes making $100K+ a year. I live in the DMV where the cost of living is through the roof and everyone drives luxury vehicles and wears designer clothes. I grew up here but I am a self-described "bohemian". I do my own natural hair, wear clothes from "middle class" stores for work. Off work, I wear jeans and t-shirts. My car is a good car but definitely not luxury and I live in an apartment with my family of four. And I have NEVER been happier. As so many stated before, I feel most successful when I am doing EXACTLY what I want to do in my life (e.g. vacations, taking time off for school functions, visiting relatives and giving back to the World). This is my take on what I believe is personal success..
Income and Wealth are two different things. To the plebes, it is all about making a big paycheck, which they spend as fast as they make it. Sure, they have all the nicest toys and a fancy house - and are in debt up to their eyeballs.
ACCUMULATING WEALTH is really independent of income, and anyone who makes a reasonable income (national median, $50,000) can accumulate a half-million to a million dollars, over their lifetime - which is more than enough to retire comfortably, if they save just a few thousand dollars every year.
Income is rarely "satisfying" to most folks. I see people go into fields for the money, and the money is never enough. If you love your work, the money finds a way. If you are in it for the money, you are never happy, and there is never enough money, it seems.
I hardly make $100,000 anymore. When I did, I was broke all the time, spending it faster than I made it. Today, my income is not even near the median, but I do live on an island, have a net worth over a million, and drive two BMWs.
How can I do that? No debt. I pay cash for everything. I spend less than I earn. And when you are not in debt up to your eyeballs, you'd be surprised how cheap life really is. And a comfortable life, too - not living like a Monk.
Oh, and my tax bill is pretty darn small, too. Owning money is better than earning money. But most folks chose to earn big bucks, pay Uncle Sam a ton, and then save very little. It is sad. The potential for wealth, handed to them on a platter, sacrificed for smart phones, cable TV. meals at chain restaurants, and a leased Acura. Dumb.
Um, I think I'll keep what I got, and you can have the big salary and the leased cars and the nasty house in the subdivision in the suburbs, the $10 designer coffees, and the commute to work, and the latest cell phone and all that JUNK - because no one is happy with that stuff. They are all just desperately trying to show off to others. Look at me! I have a designer coffee and an iPhone! Whoo-wee!
Dumb.
Less is more. Accumulating money is REAL wealth. Earning a big salary and spending it all is just running like a hamster on a wheel - and is not wealth, but just middle-class poverty.
You'd be shocked (or maybe not so) how many people making over $100,000 a year complain they are living "paycheck to paycheck" - even one Republican Congressman! (who complained that $172,000 a year wasn't enough to live on).
Spend less than you make - the rest sorts itself out.
love it! 2 thumbs up for that comment!
Very good post. I always find it amusing the way people look at me like I'm crazy when I pay cash for something. You get these looks like.... "what is that ancient form of trade this person is using? He must be a pauper."
I own a small service related business. Very small. I'm the only employee. I have built up a good customer base over the past 4 years since I started. My business is open 7 days/week, 7am-7pm Mon.-Fri. & 9am-6pm Sat./Sun (78 hours/week, holidays included).
I don't make a lot of money, so it's good my wife still has her full time job & health insurance coverage. I never have time to go anywhere or do anything other than work. Between what the business & what my wife makes we have just enough to pay our bills every month. There isn't anything left over to save for retirement or for vacations or anything else. Every time we get a few dollars saved up something emergency comes up & there goes the money (i.e. the entire HVAC system needed to be replaced in our house back in March. Original system was 20+ yrs. old)
Now you might think we are living beyond our means. Well, not really. We don't have any credit card debt. Our cars are old & paid off (8 yr. old Honda Pilot w/177K on it now & a 10yr. old scratched, dented truck w/130k on it because I use it as a truck). We live in a small 1,620 sq. ft. house that was built back in 1985 (it doesn't even have a garage). The last time we took a vacation/trip for fun was in September 2002. Our furniture is 10+ yrs. old & worn out & we don't have any expensive electronics. Even our laptops are 5-6 years old. We rarely go out to eat (maybe once or twice per year). We don't spend much on clothes. In fact many of my clothes are 5+ years old. I wear my shoes & boots until they are literally falling apart & look like hell.
We are in the process of selling our other house which has been a rental property for the past 3.5 years. Unfortunately, we won't make any money from it. We built it in 2001 & paid $151K for it. Now we can only sell it for $140k. My tenants are buying it. Should close on it next week.
Yep, I'm happy as hell with my life....What more could I want...Even though I don't have anything nice, can't afford anything, & never go anywhere I'm not jealous of people making millions. I think it's great that they were able to figure out how make that kind of money. It gives me hope that maybe one day I can claw my way up to their level & improve my life. Because believe me everything in my life needs improvement. LOL
Hang in there. you are doing all the right things.....
Having a salary over $100,000 allows me to donate to a variety of charitable causes...
I retired in 2005 and my wife and I make less than $50,000 a year. We live comfortably and still manage to save. You do not have to make six digits to feel successful. I feel that I meant my retirement goals, which was to pay off my home, save over $100,000 and make at least $2,000 a month, when you accomplish your goal, then you will feel successful.
"when you accomplish your goal, then you will feel successful."
Very true. This is the best & most concise statement yet.
If our government spends $810,810 Dollars per job created, what I’m asking is peanuts.
If I can't refinance my paid home since banks are asking for residency status,
employment with not less than 2 years of continuous work records.
FICO Scores really are not permitting anybody to get a descent loan approval; we’re
all going down the drain.
Make it simple, if you have a job and you can afford to pay for a new car, go for it
and have these institutions and entities that have corralled our money, our government money should learn new economics.
When our country is down, any paying job is a good job with some food stamps help from our government.
Companies are only hiring part time jobs and are abusing the hiring power to have the employee begging for a couple of more hours of work.
Companies are afraid of investing in the labor force since they can’t compete with the
Chinese market.
If we don’t build, produce and consume American made, we’ll be in trouble, so buy American made and have our government stop importing foreign made products for about 4 years till our economy is back on our feet again.
Banks will have to redefine what’s like to lend money to move up our economy again,
since our economy starts at the home construction index, the car manufacturing
and lastly the retail industry. If we can’t refinance our home value, we can’t
buy a new car but we’ll have enough of cash from the low paying jobs for the
retail industry.
Think big people, we don’t need to buy clothing every 10 years?, I have enough
clothes for 100 years like anybody else, I need a bigger closet instead and I’m
not buying anything I don’t need any more, but I can’t put food on my table
which is the most important thing in life, otherwise the crime factor increases
exponentially in low income targeted area neighborhoods.
The price of renting apartments has to come down significantly, for example in Fort
Myers there’re no apartments for rent and realtor companies can’t offer the
empty ones hoarded by banks waiting to place them in the for sale market. There’re
so many empty place where I live, across my apartment, how about 5 apartments
among 24 apartments in just 3 buildings waiting to be sold at a later date.
We know people used to own in South Florida from one to six places that were
turned back to their mortgage lenders as short sale or foreclosure since people
went back to the nanny old family tradition and left this area unpopulated. We
need incentives for people to go back and repopulate empty apartment areas.
Another problem in the South Florida construction disgrace was the import of 600
million tons of the Chinese dry wall, they say after Hurricane Katrina August 28, 2005 and other say it was imported before hurricane Charlie August
9-15, 2004, and our government fines 2 millions to the importer instead of going
after the manufacturing company in China.