36% Of Americans Making $250,000 Are Living Paycheck To Paycheck

People that make that much money should be smarter.

You'd think so, but you'd be mistaken.

I may be the exception to this, but a lot of people want to live in nice neighborhoods in nice houses...so they can send their kids to nice public schools. (Me, though I made well in the 6-figures, I lived in a blue-collar neighborhood until I retired as I had other priorities)

I may be the exception to this, but a lot of people want to drive a car that's less than 5 or 6 years old. Me, before I retired at the end of 2020/beginning of 2021, I had a 2002 and a 2013 and simply did the prescribed maintenance on them...both worked great up until the point I retired and moved.

And that's not even talking about with the draw of getting "nice" (the "keep up with the Joneses" phenomenon)

In most cases, people wouldn't want to be seen wearing "Walmart" or "Costco" clothes. They'd rather pay $50+ for a pair of Levis rather than paying $17 for a pair of Wranglers from Walmart...even though both are fine jeans. Keep up with the Joneses.

I can't tell you how many people feel like they have to have the newest high-end iPhone or Samsung every year...for well over $1,000 a pop.

And then you have Dentist visits. Ever had a root canal, crown, or a bridge? That can bust a budget in a heartbeat and insurance may only cover a tiny fraction of the expense. And the work's got to be done...so what do you do? Even getting teeth pulled these days costs a ton of money (for those who would say, just pull your teeth and get dentures)

And then we have credit cards. Dangerous as ****, because they can sneak up on you due to the convenience. Even as a retiree making less than $2,000 a month, I have enough credit card runway where I could buy a brand-new Lexus on credit card if I wanted. That's dangerous as ****. (Do I use them, yes. But I pay them off online almost as soon as I make a charge with them. I never ever even wait for the monthly statement)

This may sound overly-cynical, but we sadly have had this syndrome in America for the past several decades that I call the "Modern American Dream" (MAD for short):

Buy crap you don't want
With money you don't have
To impress people you really don't like anyway

(I'm not taking credit for the saying, just the acronym)

It is extremely easy to fall into that trap and far too many people of all incomes do so.

Back around 2012, WaPo did a story of a local Fairfax couple making $400k a year (guy was a former military officer with a GS job, and wife was a contractor). They were living paycheck-to-paycheck.

As somebody who lived in the DC metro area, I can 100% see that scenario.

When I retired from the military back in 2002 from Andrews, I was faced with a choice: where to live. I didn't want to live too far away because I knew the commute would be miserable, so moving to someplace like Waldorf or La Plata was completely off the table. I didn't settle in Fairfax County because even in 2002, the neighborhoods that would've been within my budget were already overrun with people I wouldn't want to live near (illegals, etc). After a long hunt, I decided to buy a house in a neighborhood near Laurel. I ended up signing for $225k worth of mortgage. Another place I looked at was in Aspen Hill (Rockville). Same exact house, same exact lot size...but because it was in Montgomery County, the price was $650k.

Now at the time, my (now ex-) wife was working as a teacher and I already had a decent job lined up for when I retired as a contractor. So we qualified for mortgages on either, but the mortgage payments for the $650K house would've really crimped our style (have you heard the expression "house poor" before? It's when you buy a house with too high a monthly mortgage payment and can't afford to have a life and still make the mortgage).

Funny thing is that after the Bush wave of illegal aliens, the Aspen Hill neighborhood we were considering was overrun by MS-13 affiliated gang members along with other assorted illegals and became utterly unliveable. Our neighborhood outside of Laurel was virtually unaffected -- I guess off the radar.

Fairfax County is even worse. (My last job had its offices in Springfield, so I'm intimately familiar with that). Even someplace remote like Charles County MD or Prince William County VA have been largely overrun by undesirables.

We were fortunate that we chose where we chose as we didn't have to abandon the place for greener pastures. But otherwise, you're going to move rather than subjecting your family to that stuff. Even those who are apartment-dwellers have to deal with this: you need to go for a relatively expensive apartment in order to avoid having to live with the dregs that would take over more affordable rental options (by more reasonable, in terms of the DC area, we're talking $1,700 a month or less)

I lived in Arlington and worked at the Pentagon (2010 to mid-2013). It was my one and only experience with DC.

I lived quietly in a studio apartment (keeping my house in Germany)...just 10 minutes driving from the Pentagon. It was ‘safe’ (two murders within a mile in that period). I had daily chats with long term locals...a mixture of DCers, the Richmond crowd (thrilled with 85-min drive each way), the METRO group (going by train to work) and the Maryland folks. I collected enough stories to probably write a 500-page book over the period and the lifestyles people are forced to accept.

My general impression...it’s a harsh reality you have to accept, and it’s a pace to burn out most folks. You worry about incompetence with METRO (management/drivers). You worry about infrastructure. You worry about DC/Baltimore crime affecting you. You worry about the drug cartel business.

You eventually start to understand the economic relationship with the illegals in the area. I would eat breakfast twice a week that was served by illegals...because it was the only way for the restaurant to survive with reasonable prices.

I worked with a guy who’d had his new house built to the 60-percent level with professional builders. The remainder? All illegal...probably saving about $150,000 via this method.

I sat and talked one afternoon at work with a guy who’d arrived there in 1974...describing in great detail how things were safe and fixed to work in that era. He went through the 1980s/1990s...where the corruption factor doubled/tripled. He grinned as he described coming to work on METRO in 2010 time-period with the doors on the subway unable to close...people just standing there and shaking their heads.

If you tried to explain the DC government, or the crime/corruption business, or the MS-13 effect on the landscape...no one would believe you.

I left in 2013...no desire to stay. My final day...I got picked up for a taxi-ride by a Jamaican lady (illegal of course) on a hot July day (temp near 97) and she kept trying to sell me ice cold water for $5 a bottle. I left the city via Amtrak, and spent 3 hours waiting at Union Station...around tranny folks and the homeless crowd. The last cheesecake and coffee ran around $12, which I considered a crazy price.

Yup.

After 24 years in the DC metro, I was utterly burned out from it all. Seeing first hand how big the scumbaggery was on the sides of the aisle. Seeing the swamp first hand and having to master the ability to manipulate it to my advantage. Trust me that I felt utterly dirty when I came home from work each night.

The main reason I voted for Trump (other than voting against Cankles and against the Alzheimer's Pedo) was because I hoped he would have blown up the swamp.

So, burnout. And I left.

I like my view during lunch (today) far better...

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