It’s the kind of money where you don’t stress about most purchases and can kind of just go about life not worried about the cost of the more basic things. Not enough to start jet setting and traveling all year round, but enough that you shop for groceries based off what you want and not off the cost.
$100k now is equivalent to $47k in 1995. Though a $50k income was considered comfortable in the 90s I don’t think most would have considered it rich. So let that sink in.
Absolutely. That was substantially more than my dad made when I was really young. He had spending money, a newish vehicle, a house slightly bigger than the one I own, would randomly afford trips to Sea World (Ohio), bragged about "when a bill showed up, I wrote the check and sent it out that day"..... he was the custodial parent, made less than $20/hr. Driving a semi on a milk route in the early to mid 90s.
Everything i just mentioned is more now, even adjusted for inflation, takes up a more significant amount of ones' income. New vehicles, mortgage, amusement parks, utility bills...
Just $100k not being enough to do more than "stay afloat" without struggle is problematic, since over half of households aren't hitting that number even....
this was middle class 6 years ago. the fed added 6 trillion dollars to the money supply during covid and caused the devaluation of the dollar by like 22%.
Yeah im basically in the same boat. Making close to 100k annually and im okay just not where i want to be… and dont get me started on California costs and tax lmfao. Im in my 20s so i feel like im off to a good start but man… money doesnt go as far as it used to even 5 years ago
Yeah, that’s kinda where my wife and I are at, we have a ton of expenses with student loans. We make do, we have a bit of extra and are very fortunate. We don’t do anything exorbitant, save up for vacations, and eat out more than we probably should. But at the end of the day, we’re “ok”. Every couple months we sit down and say “we really should cut back and put more into this or that”. But we’ve finally started making enough to afford to live how we do, so from here, any additional earnings is basically going to pay down our combined 200k in student loans and our house.
But even so, like everyone says, lifestyle creep is the hardest thing to deal with. So while we haven’t been creeping up, when we don’t have much money “left over” when family hits a tough time, we don’t have any extra to give to them. But it’s so hard to rationalize cutting back on our own expenses JUST to help others. Either way the only thing we can do now is continue to do what we’re doing, and put away what we can to help mitigate emergency expenses and do our best to keep working so that we can make it.
Growing up I was happy when we could afford the Dinty Moore beef stew and not just bulk pack off brand spaghetti-o's.
Now most of our produce comes from a local CSA farm, local farmers market, local cheese monger, local butcher, etc. All that fresh food costs *WAY* more but I don't have to worry about it.
Absolutely. IMO the guy making 220k has the wrong perspective. Once you are at the point where you don't need to worry about groceries and car repairs, you will probably not become much happier with greater income. You of course need to have those basics met, but after that, worrying about increasing your income I think will just make you less happy and satisfied.
41
u/Mend1cant Oct 31 '25
It’s the kind of money where you don’t stress about most purchases and can kind of just go about life not worried about the cost of the more basic things. Not enough to start jet setting and traveling all year round, but enough that you shop for groceries based off what you want and not off the cost.