It’s pretty crazy. Never thought I would make over 100k in my life. Now that I have, 100k seems like the minimum to get by if you have kids. And this isn’t in a HCOL area either.
That’s where you start to question whether it’s lifestyle creep or it’s really just that hard to get by and wonder how you used to do it on 1/2 or 1/3 of that income.
Then you realize your local bar still has beer for 3.25 a bottle just like the last 20 years and you realize inflation is a lie and it’s just corporate greed.
My anecdote: I make about the same as my dad did at this age and I have about the same QoL and a nicer, newer home. Our single experiences don’t add up to much.
Theirs is backed by easily reviewable wage vs cost data.
If you have the same income as your dad, you’re at a loss at every transaction, comparatively. There’s no trick to the price of gas or a stick of gum. Such things have straight gone up since our parents were young
A paycheck anywhere doesn’t go as far as one of 40 years ago. This is not my opinion
The suggestion that individual variance of experience could even remotely cover the perception that wages aren’t as effective as past decades is silly.
I made $100k in 2014. If I don’t make $133k in 2024, I’m being paid less than before for the same work, plus 10 years of additional experience.
It’s pretty crazy. Never thought I would make over 100k in my life. Now that I have, 100k seems like the minimum to get by if you have kids. And this isn’t in a HCOL area either.
That’s where you start to question whether it’s lifestyle creep or it’s really just that hard to get by and wonder how you used to do it on 1/2 or 1/3 of that income.
Then you realize your local bar still has beer for 3.25 a bottle just like the last 20 years and you realize inflation is a lie and it’s just corporate greed.
Bro same!
I’m making 5 times as much as I did when I was out of college. And I’m still nowhere near what my parents had.
Which either implies I was living in extreme poverty back then, or this is a hellhole.
My anecdote: I make about the same as my dad did at this age and I have about the same QoL and a nicer, newer home. Our single experiences don’t add up to much.
Theirs is backed by easily reviewable wage vs cost data.
If you have the same income as your dad, you’re at a loss at every transaction, comparatively. There’s no trick to the price of gas or a stick of gum. Such things have straight gone up since our parents were young
A paycheck anywhere doesn’t go as far as one of 40 years ago. This is not my opinion
Right. My point is anecdotes are just that.
…there’s anecdotes and then there’s anecdotes.
Some are confirmed by data, and some are fantasy.
The suggestion that individual variance of experience could even remotely cover the perception that wages aren’t as effective as past decades is silly.
Glad you get it.
One of us has to