Dude, when I can manage money better than you can, that's not good.

[apocalypsos]

"Scraping by" on $150,000 a year.

The girl whose parents raised her and her brother perfectly fine on two incomes that probably totaled about what I'm making right now at my crappy job HAS NO WORDS.

Comments

[topaz08.livejournal.com]

'Scaping by'??? WTF!? Since my hubby has been sick (8 years), I have been managing to raise 3 kids on less than $20,000 a year. Twenty thousand, no I didn't miss a zero in there. People have no common sense and no freakin' priorities. And I have no damned sympathy for them. Welcome to the real world.

[lucywiggin.livejournal.com]

Bwah. They should try being a 14-year-old who suddenly lost her father and had a cancer-sick mother, the way I were. 150,000$ a year? In Israel, you're considered lucky if you make 75,000$ a year.

[fingelverse.livejournal.com]

I'm not touching their situation, either to judge or make excuses, but rent and land are a lot cheaper in Isreal than America. Omaha is really cheap compared to most of the US, but it's still on a par costwise with living in Tel Aviv.

[popmusicjunkie.livejournal.com]

I...just don't get it.
That family brings in ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND dollars more than my family ever has.
And, I live in a big expensive city.
AND we have: a mortgage, two phone lines, cable in several rooms, DSL, two PCs, tivos, annual trips to Vegas, annual trips to Florida. Nice cars, etc. Every little spoiled perk one could want.

I've lead a very charmed life with a single mother who makes ONE THIRD (maybe less?) of what that family makes. Anything I could have ever wanted or needed was at my disposal. Not only did we get by on less than 50K a year, we THRIVED on it. Because apparently my mom did like some awesome accounting-fu. Or something.

So pardon me if I cannot muster up one single ounce of sympathy for that family. Because, obviously they are doing SOMETHING very very wrong. Like severely mismanaging their money.

[phiremangston.livejournal.com]

My father pulls in about $60k yearly if my estimations are correct. My mother had to quit her job in 2000 when she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Around $15k a year, at least, goes towards medical bills (usually more, because new treatments keep coming out), and insurance won't pay for a good chunk of it. My sister went to a private college, as I am now ($35k a year, eight years total), thanks to college funds and such. I also competitively figure skated for six years, which costs a lot.

Sister and I went to public schools for education until college, and we usually wore hand-me-downs.

We've got a rental, but we're selling it because it hasn't brought in any profit for the past couple of years. We live perfectly comfortable lives, and weren't lacking for anything, living in approximately the same Midwest area as those in the article.

I just can't comprehend how it's possible that these people are in so much debt, living "paycheck to paycheck." It's ridiculous!

PRIORITIES.

[dragonsinger.livejournal.com]

I have no pity for them. None. My parents weren't the richest either and they raised my brother and me just fine as well. After reading the article, I still don't understand where their money is going.

[squee1123.livejournal.com]

OMG they live in ELKHORN! My mind literally went "bzuh" at that.

im still confused though. where all the money going?

[kimera.livejournal.com]

I am just... wow. I make less than a tenth of that, Canadian, and cost of living where I am (since it is an island) is one of the highest in the country. Granted, I'm not providing for five people other than myself, but I'm also managing to put some money away.

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

I don't have any outrage from experience, because my father makes a pretty comparable salary, but WTF? You make six figures, I fail to see how your family isn't living at least comfortably.

This just sounds like the same bullshit Santorum was trying to spout about how he and his wife were "just getting by" on his 6 figure congressional salary and they had to sometimes get loans from his parents.

If they lived in Manhattan, I could maybe buy some of that, but WTF? What are these people spending their money on? Medical bills? (That's the only thing that would drive us broke if my parents lost their insurance or got a crappier kind)