Price tag for the American dream: $130K a year

This does not look good for the grandkids. The average income now is in the 50's. To make to 130,000 is near impossible for most.

www.usatoday.com...

That is a bit of a misleading title in the article because it's only telling the story of the American Dream in 1 flavor.

I dont have an SUV.
I went many years without taking a vacation.
My housing cost me $10088 a year.
My benefits through my job cost me around $5k a year.
I make some number less than $130k but some number more than 98,5k a year and i am living exactly the way i want .

I get the idea behind a chart like this I just don't think it tells a complete picture.

To quote the late, great George Carlin...

They call it the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.



He was dead on it. One of the best lines I've ever heard.

The only chance one has to live the American Dream starts with being debt free. It can be hard getting rid of the credit cards or paying a mortgage off quickly ... but, it's easier than _you think_. Once you have full control of your income ... the sky's the limit.

I must be dreaming a different dream then. My girlfriend and I , who live together, do not make that combined. Yet we make the best of it and would not have it any other way. The trick is to live within your means and not try to chase some fantasy lifestyle that is crammed down our throats by Hollywood and magazines. Do not go into debt to get some status symbol. Just have fun and try to enjoy every second of every day. Love yourself and those around you. Money can make things easier but it does not equal happiness. Just be the best you can be and LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS.

On a side note. If you want to move up in life. Work hard and simply cut something you can do without. And put that money you save away. Week after week. Month after month. Year after year if thats what it takes. Save save save. That is the secret. That is the method I used to get from one of the worst neighborhoods in Chicago to one of the best and then into a nicer suburb. Anyone can do it. I do not make much but I live responsibly.

Now bad things can happen like a medical emergency or something of that nature. Things like that can put anyone in debt. Or going in debt by getting college loans. In my case I took two years off after high-school and worked to save up. I then went to Community college and paid for my classes up front. On a year by year basis.

To end, dream your own dream.

We make do with about twenty five grand a year now that we are retired. We don't do much though and the money gets all burnt up.

It takes budgeting and we are off budget this year. Spending and not putting money away for the winter heating oil and half a cow.

What's that in slave hours?

No really! How many things do you REALLY want enough to spend your days working for them? That big house that you're never home in, because you have to work to pay for it? I bet all the other junk you have to work for, and pay interest on the credit cards you've been talked into using, appreciate the storage. How many hours a week do you spend working to pay for your sofa to have a few square feet to rest? All the other stuff you never even look at?

How many hours do you spend keeping that big suburban yard looking like June and Ward Cleaver live there? Or what does it cost you to live in a congested, noisy, not terribly safe city?

How many hours a week do you work to pay for the car so you can get to work?

How many hours a week do you spend with your children, or your dog?

How many hours a week do you spend with people you don't like, doing a job you really don't enjoy?

How many things do you want to do that you can't because someone unspecified but with a code book in hand wouldn't let you?

How many taxes have you paid in your life at implied gunpoint that actually go to the Federal Reserve to continue your enslavement?

When did you cease to be a citizen and a free wo/man, and become a 'consumer'?

Now that the planet has been poisoned beyond all recognition in 100 short years of this style of empire building and gross capitalist consumption, what's the next 100 years gonna look like?

a reply to: MOMof3

In lower cost of living areas, 130k is rich. 50k is upper middle class if you're in the right area. Don't stress people, just plan accordingly.

a reply to: karmicecstasy

This was based on a family of four.

Pfff.

Family of three. Mortgage on a reasonable home, two cars, yearly vacation wherever we want to go, kid in college, and we pretty much do whatever we want to do as far as eating or entertainment goes. Family income of around $90k total.

Good insurance, good 401k, pension, etc.

Obviously the cost of living is different all over, but I'm in Texas and we have plenty at well under $130k a year.

a reply to: MOMof3

I know,I never said I did not have a kid or kids. They just do not make any money. If I was relying on my son to contribute to the household I am pretty sure I would be breaking labor laws.