Author Topic: "Do you make $400,000/yr but feel broke?" Wall Street Journal on your plight.  (Read 8358 times)

Praxis

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http://www.wsj.com/video/do-you-make-400000-a-year-but-feel-broke/387CA8E8-2C0F-449B-8F8F-7BBCF70EE954.html

This boggles my mind.  Club fees, expensive vacations, buying new cars every six years, etc.

Also, their math is complete nonsense.  There is no way the mortgage payment is that high unless they're on a 15 year loan or something.  There should be at least $30,000 left over.

MgoSam

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I would love if the WJS wanted to pay me 400k/yr to write, I'm sure I could craft some articles on my "plight."

Extractodontist

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I'm not even a minute into the video and came here to post, should have expected to see it already :p

$575 a WEEK on groceries for 4 people...wow.

klystomane

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W.T.F. did I just watch?

I just threw up in my mouth.

Eric

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I'm pretty sure the takeaway is that taxes are too high.  This is the WSJ after all.  I mean, they only take home $283K!

Anyone remember when the WSJ was a reputable news source? 

gimp

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Anyone remember when the WSJ was a reputable news source?

Wall Street Journal used to be the source. WSJ was WSJ was WSJ and that's all there was to it. Getting onto the front page was an honor.

Then it got bought by Fox / the slimeball that owns it. I haven't seen good or interesting content on it since. Blah blah taxes blah blah socialism blah blah. If there was ever a bastion of WASP with money, it'd be WSJ.

fantabulous

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If there was ever a bastion of WASP with money, it'd be WSJ.

The WASP Street Journal.

But seriously, $283K a year after taxes. You could only afford to buy five beaters a month. One to leave on the road for a tow truck, the other four for boxing the tow truck in.

Emilyngh

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Look guys, I don't know how anyone could even live on $5,000,000 a year, let alone $400,000.   I mean look at the breakdown:

core expenses:
Housing: 1,000,0000 a yr
utilities: 300,000 a yr
food: 700,000 a yr

discretionary spending:
vacations: 1,000,000 a year
a new pony: $50,000 a year
a car for every day of the week: $1,000,000 a year
hookers and blow: $1,000,000

See?   I'm already over and I didn't even include haircuts or college savings.   Numbers don't lie.

tccoastguard

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I laughed at the pony and cried at the hookers'n blow. Bravo!

CaliToCayman

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hookers and blow: $1,000,000

See?   I'm already over and I didn't even include haircuts or college savings.   Numbers don't lie.

And that's a pretty conservative estimate for blow. Who buys the cheap shit laced with baking soda?

fantabulous

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Re: "Do you make $400,000/yr but feel broke?" Wall Street Journal on your plight.
« Reply #10 on: September 17, 2014, 12:42:28 PM »
Look guys, I don't know how anyone could even live on $5,000,000 a year, let alone $400,000.   I mean look at the breakdown:

core expenses:
Housing: 1,000,0000 a yr
utilities: 300,000 a yr
food: 700,000 a yr

discretionary spending:
vacations: 1,000,000 a year
a new pony: $50,000 a year
a car for every day of the week: $1,000,000 a year
hookers and blow: $1,000,000

See?   I'm already over and I didn't even include haircuts or college savings.   Numbers don't lie.

And that's already making serious a serious sacrifice in the pony budget.

RapmasterD

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Re: "Do you make $400,000/yr but feel broke?" Wall Street Journal on your plight.
« Reply #11 on: September 17, 2014, 03:39:06 PM »
Guys:

a) This was a FICTIONAL scenario highlighted in an article that ran in last Saturday's WSJ about extremely affluent people (real people) over-extending and running into the shitters. Again, the scenario was fictional. And....because it was fictional, it's even more moronic....on so many levels (mortgage payment, country club whatever....).

b) The article engendered several hundred angry comments, mine included.

c) I thought the article was so inane but then realized it was the first time I had read the Journal for anything in awhile.

d) Last Monday I cancelled my digital subscription. It's not the WSJ I grew up with. I'll use the $28/month to rationalize a foolish expenditure you all would disapprove of.

libertarian4321

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Re: "Do you make $400,000/yr but feel broke?" Wall Street Journal on your plight.
« Reply #12 on: September 19, 2014, 04:44:11 PM »
I think it's clear to everyone that if you choose to spend like a drunken sailor on shore leave, anyone can be "broke" no matter how much they make.

$400,000 is nothing.  Idiots like Allen Iverson, Mike Tyson, Terrell Owens and many others blew through millions of dollars every year.

The fact that some idiot can blow through huge amounts of money, however, does not make me sympathetic to their "plight."

ToughMother

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Re: "Do you make $400,000/yr but feel broke?" Wall Street Journal on your plight.
« Reply #13 on: September 19, 2014, 04:57:43 PM »
Your comments are all brilliant and hilarious.  I <3 the Mustachians.

Ftao93

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I figure if I was given millions in my twenties, I'd have blown it on mostly stupid shit too.

Now, sure, if you gave me a 500k windfall I would be like "wow, that really helps!" and keep working.  Back then, I probably would have blown it all on ridiculous crap.


CaliToCayman

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Not to defend the people making $400k+ a year, but in watching the partners/exec directors at my office I can see how the social and work pressure could really press them to spend more.

These people's livelihoods depend on generating business with lawyers, a profession which is very "old-guard". Suits, ties and cuff-links have to be the norm otherwise they wont come off as professional. Their lives are consumed by their profession and essentially become compartmentalized - they spend a lot of money on the simplest things that we would attempt to fix ourselves simply because they don't have the time of day to do it. They have to drive something better than a 8 year old car - imagine going to meet a potential business client on the beat up beach cruiser I use to get to work. I know, the response to that would be "well if they judge you on your car and not your credentials, they are idiots" but that is the way the entire industry can be.

It's not to say I think these people have it bad, but I think the rate at which they can save is diminished - they wont be able to cut certain costs until after they are retired. Until then though, they may not have a choice to buy nicer clothes or even spend money on maintenance and repair people.

It's partially why I wish I became an engineer instead, where you can make good money but not have to be part of management/upper management as you progress your career.

iris lily

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Did Westchester Frugal take her problem to the WSJ after getting no love or support here on these forums?

MandyM

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I'm only breaking even after I spend all my money.

MgoSam

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I figure if I was given millions in my twenties, I'd have blown it on mostly stupid shit too.

Now, sure, if you gave me a 500k windfall I would be like "wow, that really helps!" and keep working.  Back then, I probably would have blown it all on ridiculous crap.

I somewhat concur, in my early 20s I likely would have, but nowadays I would like to think I would be much smarter with such a large sum of money.

Heart of Tin

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To be fair there was a sentence or two at the very end along the lines of, "in order to make sure you have enough in retirement, you may need to cut spending". Was that sentiment overshadowed by ridiculous afluenza-style rationalization of overspending? Absolutely, but the image of burning money at the beginning and end indicate to me that the video maker intended to say that this scenario is a bit ridiculous.

retired?

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not a post worth thinking about......dumb......is this forum for exchanging ideas or for highlighting dumb headlines?

Rural

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not a post worth thinking about......dumb......is this forum for exchanging ideas or for highlighting dumb headlines?


This topic within the forum - The Antimustachian Wall of Shame and Comedy - is pretty much for highlighting dumb headlines (and reporting on inexplicable coworker behavior).

fb132

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Give me that 400K$ and I will prove that article wrong.

retired?

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Thanks Rural.  Had sorted for all new posts and did not see this forum's headline.  Still somewhat new.  Thanks for pointing out.

Rural

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Thanks Rural.  Had sorted for all new posts and did not see this forum's headline.  Still somewhat new.  Thanks for pointing out.


Figured. Every now and then I do the same thing. :-)

gimp

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Quote
It's partially why I wish I became an engineer instead, where you can make good money but not have to be part of management/upper management as you progress your career.

Engineer master race checking in here. You can be an engineer, never a manager, your entire career, without stigma - it's almost a badge of honor to have never had subordinates. You might be a tech lead, if you want, without engaging in politics. Even first-level management is pretty politic-free for the most part. You can earn six figures (adjusted for inflation) your whole life and nobody bats an eye when you drive a 20-year-old civic and pack lunch every day. Though if you're in silicon valley, driving a ferrari is pretty tempting - and no one shits on you for that, either. Plus, the work-from-home opportunities...

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!