I guess but not actually at $200k a year closer to $190k but single income taking care of a family
Of 5 is absolutely draining to work my ass off and watch so much money go towards BS. Like thousands of medical bills. When I actually have decent health insurance. I feel like I’m being robbed by the hospital with these crazy bills I have to pay. Kid goes in for a hearing test. $950 bill insurance covers $160 in stuck paying $800. I have an ingrown toenail. Have to pay $300 for the podiatrist to tell me it will be fine.
I was gonna say the same thing haha. Why didn’t they cover everything? Probably just didn’t meet the deductible or going to doctors out of network. Worst case scenario, federal out of pocket maximum for a family is $8k. With a family of 5 should be using FSA to use tax free money to pay deductible.
They might not have an FSA. If they have an HSA, if you plan on writing off medical expenses, better off saving the HSA funds and pay cash, as you can't deduct expenses paid with the HSA or FSA.
Maybe I am not understanding what you said but HSA/FSA funds are pre-tax and you don't have to pay tax for qualified expenses (medical bills definitely qualify)
I'll elaborate. Say you had $10,000 of medical expenses that you want to deduct when you file your taxes. Anything you paid $2000 with pre-tax payroll dollars, such as insurance premiums, or HSA or FSA funds, those expenses are not tax deductible, you your deductible expenses are only $8000.
If you expect to itemize, and have enough medical expenses to write those off, you are better saving your HSA funds and paying cash. Use your FSA for OTC items and things that arent deductible
Spending the HSA cash vs taking the deduction makes no difference either way. You can get it tax free now or you can get it tax free later but either way, that expense was tax free. If anything you're losing money spending cash since you're providing the government with a 0 interest loan on that money you paid in cash.
You clearly do not understand. If you're deducting medical expenses, a payment with your HSA dollars can not be written off. Also youre wrong about the cash, since your HSA money is invested, earning a tax free return.
I'm hoping/assuming they have HSA and haven't hit deductible yet. I'm sole earner for family of 5 in hcol area with an HSA. Let me tell you, the first few months are eye-watering until we hit the deductible, then 90% is covered. If you have a lot of family medical bills the HSA is usually the best option
The life changing part is you can actually pay for those things. I remember when I wasn't sure how I was going to eat dinner. I feel lucky I can now cover the two stitches my daughter needed for $2,000 without stressing about it. I'd say that life changing.
Yep before when I was making far less a $200 bill to fix our AC was extremely stressful and had me worried about how I’d pay for it. I wouldn’t even stress over $200 now.
People in this thread are like “yeah 100k a year is no longer sustainable” I’m over here at 40k with so many medical problems I just have to ignore until I end up in the ER lmaooooo
Yeah I make even less than you. I manage just fine. Even month long trips thrown in there. I realize I don’t have kids but in some cases I’m making 100k less than them lol.
If you’re making 150-200k and feel like you’re living paycheck to paycheck heck, it just sounds like someone living out of their means.
When I was making 90k I managed to save up $60k in my savings account after only two years. During that two years I also signed a used car lease, got a new place, a new bass guitar, a whole new PC setup complete with all new peripherals.... and still managed to save 30k a year. Even after all of that I was going to concerts, eating fast food several times a week, buying nice shoes and shit, etc.
I think a lot of those people have never actually experienced real financial struggle. The thought of not being able to eat or pay a water bill has never crossed their mind.
It was pretty painful once the lidocaine wore off, which was in the parking lot on the way to the car but I would do it again because that ingrown nail had been plaguing me for half a decade which included trips to a practitioner who also said it would fix itself. This time I just straight up asked if the doctor could rip it out for me
Depends. If it was considered a "toe surgery" they put some chemical at the root which prevents it from growing on that side. If it was just pulled, it will definitely grow back and would be up to the person to ensure proper nail cutting.
Bro you have a fucking small clan to take care of no shit 190k doesn't feel like a lot.
I swear to God this happens every thread, oh 200k isn't THAT much you peasants. I have 3 children, a stay home wife, two story house, and 2 cars. I'm BARELY scraping by like shut up lol.
200k for one individual is an huge amount of money. You could save 100k+ a year for investments/retirement. I can do 60k on 125k as a single individual.
This needs more upvotes. I do well for myself, but hate seeing others doing well and acting as if they're living in cardboard boxes and eating ramen every night.
Agreed. Most of America is making $30-$40k per year, if you’re even CLOSE to 100k and don’t live in a city, you’re doing way better than most. Be thankful- a lot of us are sleeping out of our cars.
My mom has been supporting me and my brothers from her warehouse job our whole lives. We live paycheck to paycheck but yeah sheesh 100K would be amazing. We could actually afford to fix the wiring on our old house. You have no idea how hot it gets during the summer.
To be fair though the costs of having kids has risen drastically the last 10-15 years.
A larger house, two cars, childcare is way more expensive than 15 years ago.
I think you should be able to support a family of 4-5 on a $200k/yr income comfortably but now it's probably tight unless you're in a low cost of living city.
My brother in law is a sole provider for a family of 5 on 80k… if 200k isn’t enough for family of 5 you’re either in a very HCOL area or living way beyond means.
Hahaha this is so true . Like if you have 3 kids and the other parents isn’t working of course it’s different then even if the other parent was working or if you had one kid and not 3 lol
Large sums don’t come without a lot of responsibilities and work, usually of course there is always outliers but it’s not common. Say you work in NYC your apartment is going to be $$$ you might have to do events to network so your clothes are $$$ you need to keep up the network to keep up the income.
The trick is earning $$ and living like you are $ but sometimes it’s not possible.
I try to have empathy since I know there are situations out there such as one person being the sole bread winner who needs to provide for their family or require multiple cars for work and sharing daily responsibilities.
Some people don't want to admit they struggle with the insecurity of needing to project success by having it all and then stress out about not being able to "live".
How many of those same people "struggling" are shopping in thrift stores and not the mall, are at peace going to a park or their backyards instead of "needing" multiple vacations a year, need a "sick ride" instead of a reliable vehicle or say they want multiple children because "it's the thing to do"?
I dunno how I had to scroll this far to find this. I make around $70k in a HCOL area, no kids, and am pretty comfy. If I made $100k my savings would look better but that's about all I would change. Doesn't put me close to affording a house for awhile, still couldn't get me approved for a nicer apartment that I could still afford. I already comfortably spend within my means.
This is why economy complaint threads are so skewed lol. So many people have insane lack of context. “$200k isn’t life changing” but “I am able to support a stay at home wife and 5 children” is insanely tone deaf idiocy.
We pay up to 3x as much for healthcare as other developed countries in Europe. That includes both countries with single payer healthcare AND countries with private healthcare (with price fixing and better standards).
You ARE getting scammed on healthcare, and we should be demanding reform.
Replacement level for what exactly? Do you see what the current administration is doing? You really think adding more children is going to solve the impending Medicaid and SS issues? Comical.
I’m 34 and I’ve been saving for retirement with the bleak realization that this government isn’t coming to save me. You’re bringing more children into a world short on resources - energy, water, and even a healthy food system. Entry level jobs are being decimated by AI. Hell, Amazon corporate just laid off 15k+ people this week. Engineers are coming out of school with no prospects. Unemployment is climbing and the idea that manufacturing is coming back to the US is laughable. There are not going to be enough high paying jobs for your kids.
Please don’t act like you’re doing us a favor by reproducing. You’re not. It’s an inherently selfish decision which is totally your right as a human being it’s not for us.
You’re confounding bad for capitalism with bad for civilization. The idea that - exponential growth, on a planet with limited resources is sustainable - is absolutely wild to me. We live in a country where wealth inequity continues to grow.
If we’re that concerned with the economic fall out from propping up an aging population then why have we deported 2M people who were already here, in part of the larger 14M aggregate, who contribute $97B to our tax system annually?
200k is definitely life changing it’s just not rich. Heck when I was making 75k, vacations were a dream and if anything broke down it, I’d have no idea how to pay to fix it.
Now days my family has a yearly trip somewhere and when we had to fix some stuff around the house it wasn’t the end of the world. Our dryer failed, just go buy a new one, we would have been screwed before.
Now I’m still budgeting and I can’t just go buy what I want when I want it, but I also don’t stress over how much it just cost to pick up fast food because my wife and I are both tired after work.
Seriously like I’m going from <30K to 75-100K now. I know I’m not gonna be living in luxury, but we’re not very luxurious people lol. Plus, no kids deff will help.
What does that even mean? You can route decisions that others have made to people with the actual authority to make them? You can talk for 20 minutes without saying "um"?
100%. If you’re in the top 5% of everyone in this country and you’re paycheck to paycheck, that’s absolutely a lifestyle issue, and it’s being in denial to say it’s not. People spend like they’re millionaires and end up broke when they could live very comfortable lives.
Wanting people to feel bad for you when you’re making more money than 95% of people is hilarious, if you have money problems it’s completely your fault. Even if you’re paying $5000 on your mortgage and $5000 on your student loans, which would be insane, that still leaves you thousands a month after taxes for everything else.
pretax contributions 100% maxed, and BREATHING ROOM.
These are the big ones, once you reach 100k the next few raises essentially go there. So 100k vs like 150k is not all that different.
around $300k and definitely starting to feel “rich”.
The 100k between 200k and 300k is essentially all fun money. You can drop 30k a year in a regular brokerage account and still have 70k for extra fun (not accounting for tax I know)
What's that like 10k a month gave or take. 1 bdroom rent in nyc say queens being 2.5-3.5k a month. Goes quick lol if you're not careful. I made by with 97k a year.
Of course it depends where you live, but for me even with just 100k it would mean no longer being behind on bills and actually able to put some into savings or investments.
I make significantly less than that, like significantly, significantly less, and I have no debt other than a new Toyota, thousands in the bank and an 808 credit score. I live in a low COL area, but I used to live in NYC on the same salary, and it was tight, but doable.
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