Over half of Americans say they're not even close to financial freedom
I finally got a job that broke six figures.
Housing boom made houses twice as expensive in five years. Monthly grocery bill doubled. Renting doubled. Cost of cars doubled. Every day expenses doubled.
Now consider the majority of people who do not have 6 figure incomes.
It’s basically a similar experience except you live in harsher conditions.
I don’t see a considerable difference between poverty line me and six figures me. I have a slightly nicer place (but in debt to the bank instead of renting) and I can buy games on Steam rather than waiting for a sale.
No it's not similar in any way, shape or form. Good try tho.
It’s a completely similar experience, mainly because your status as a wage slave basically doesn’t change as your income increases. Your discretionary income changes your purchasing power but you tend to incur more debt and go on more vacations and consume more, but your financial security doesn’t change significantly.
I’ve been at the bottom of the barrel economically, and now somewhere around $140k (before taxes, so really more like $80-90k) and the main differences are negligible. I can be more flexible with my diet, can afford to vacation, I can put some money into savings, and I can outright purchase larger consumer items without saving.
But at the end of the day this financial advantage is only marginal; I’m dependent on my employment continuing. With rising costs for everything, my debt-to-savings ratio is still not where I’d like it to be. I’m nowhere near ready for retirement despite being 49 already. I still feel overall trapped within the system of capitalist wage slavery and do not have the freedom to pursue interests or activities that I would with true “financial freedom.”
I have worked since I was 12 yrs old, went to both college and university, and have never once made over $100k per year.
Currently I'm on a fixed income, have limited job opportunities and recently had to downsize to a rooming house as I couldn't afford my bachelor apartment anymore.
Do not equate your hardships with those of us who are facing living on the streets with one missed cheque.
I will equate my hardships with yours because I’ve been there. I know exactly what it’s like. And that’s why I know what it feels like to get a little breathing room from that situation.
But I also can’t pretend that six figures is some kind of luxury experience. It’s still largely hand-to-mouth, you can still live relatively insecure and underhoused (especially with this market), and with the cost of living even a person earning six figures is very vulnerable if you’ve set up a lifestyle that can’t weather unemployment. If my income is $6,000 a month and my outgoing expenses are $5,600 and I lose my job, I’m maybe 3 months from calamity.
Lastly, I’ll say that six figures isn’t what it used to be. It’s a fairly common salary in 2023 to meet the basic needs and costs of the modern world.
You do you I guess.
Do not equate your poor planning to a universal hardship