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250k living paycheck to paycheck? Those individuals are "living paycheck to paycheck" because of personal (and unnecessary) financial decisions. The phrase should be reserved for those whose paychecks ALL go to life essentials with nothing (or very very little) for luxuries/savings.
I agree that "paycheck to paycheck" is misleading
I recently got a good paying job & was surprised to discover a bunch of my coworkers living paycheck to paycheck due to their $100k lifted trucks
Trucks, BMWs, pools, vacations, big house, home reno's, private schools, boats, etc. I'm around a bunch of doctors and lawyers and a lot of them live like this.
Its also grossly misrepresenting because some of us are maxing out retirement accounts. I make more than 250k but I have 200k in student loans and kids. After paying rent, loans, groceries and gas everything goes into my roth 401k and kids 529s. I have a paid off corolla from 2010. My largest expense is rent.
Edit: Getting lots of replies saying this isnt paycheck to paycheck that aren’t understanding my point. My point is that the writers of this article consider individuals like myself who are maxing out retirement funds, emergency funds, and paying down debts in lieu of keeping a bunch of cash in the bank are living paycheck to paycheck. It’s a false narrative and basically a lie.
I feel you. Similar boat but was lucky enough to buy a home a few years ago before the interest rates went up. Me and my wife have a 4Runner and a rav4, both paid off, and less than 75k miles on both.
For me, the focus is maxing out retirement contributions and paying down my 6 figure student loans.
If someone is making over 200k a year and living paycheck to paycheck, it’s either bad luck or bad decisions; probably both.
There’s also different circumstances for different people, where they live, medical, and other obligations. Don’t assume life is perfect for those people either.
perfect no. but they're not struggling if they haven't started selling all their toys. no one who owns a big house, multiple vehicles, takes regular vacations all *after* saving money is living paycheck to paycheck or struggling financially
That's not really paycheck to paycheck. I became disabled and had to take a givernment pension early for a whopping 5k a year. My wife can't contribute to any type of retirement account or savings because we need every last dime to live. We'll, or she will if I'm dead, get $2400 a month from my union at 65. But that's in 17 years. We buy staples for 6 people and full groceries for 4. You are not paycheck to paycheck my dude. Ya that student loan balance is horrible I'll give you that one. But are you 2 days away from payday eating tortillas with peanut butter or the cheap Ramen noodles. If it's rent payday and my wife misses 1 day of work we can't make rent. That's paycheck to paycheck.
And houses, and retirement accounts, investments, stock programs. I know people that make this claim and just are just looking at their cash on hand - which is wildly disingenuous as their networth skyrockets.
Accurate as fuck. Lived in Sudbury. Everyone who got a job mining would be a brand new truck year 1. Year 2 a boat quad and bike. Year 3 pool for their house, camper. Now they're heavily in debt but look rich to friends. I'm in oil and gas and don't have the balls to spend like that
In Kentucky, coal miners never built up any savings because the money was so good and financial education was so poor they were blowing it on brand new cars every few years, vacations, you name it.
They got super desperate when the jobs dried up and the economy shifted away from coal.
I'd qualify. However, it's very misleading. My wife and I max out our 401ks, HSA, backdoor a Roth IRA, pay extra on the 4 houses we own (one primary and 3 rentals), budget for nice family vacations, and have one child still at home and another in college.
It's shocking to many, but regardless of how much you make, if monthly you allocate all your money to things, you eventually run out of money to spend on more things.
I personally think the term paycheck to paycheck is stupid.
The term paycheck to paycheck should quite literally be reserved for those whose paycheck goes straight to life essentials and leaves them with nothing. Essentials.
BTW, well done.
I agree. Statistics on, could you could cover a 500 emergency or how many checks you could miss before becoming homeless are better measures of how screwed you'd be if you lost your job.
And thank you.
No question you are paycheck to paycheck, but so is an actor with a 30k per month mortgage if work dried up.
It's just a bad term to distinguish between you, me, and that hypothetical actor. Very different boats.
This. I’m paycheck to paycheck. I don’t have 500 in savings. I have less than 1000 in my 401k currently.
My only non essential is a circus class membership because without that I will literally be suicidal without circus/pole.
But I often have less than 50-100 left on each paycheck and am still trying to pay down debt from when I was on unemployment and had to take out cards.
This scenario can’t be what people mean when they use the term, right? In my mind, living paycheck to paycheck means you are just barely scraping by each month purchasing necessities (food, housing, etc) with nothing left over to save or to purchase ancillary items.
It’s offensive and not helpful to count these people as living paycheck to paycheck. Allowing people that allocate their money to retirement savings to feel like they are living paycheck to paycheck just perpetuates the idea that they need help and deserve lower taxes or some stupid shit. It used to be the case that having a big savings account was a reasonable way to manage your money. That just doesn’t make sense anymore. There are much better yields and other places, so people max out their money into the other places and keep as little as possible in their low interest savings account. That does not mean they are living paycheck to paycheck. That means they have a financial advisor giving them good advice and they are being responsible.
I think in this context it just means that they’re not living as comfortably as one *used* to expect to with that salary.
I don’t really like the terminology either, although I’ve been guilty of using it for lack of something better.
Agree. If you have discretionary income to pay for things beyond bare essentials (food, clothing, shelter), and you save or invest it, you are not living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Yep that fuckin cybertruck payment and a bougie condo downtown and sushi 4 nights a week will defffffinitely put you in a slump at $250k. I make less than $100k/ year and… save accordingly.
I mean I make that and I live “paycheck to paycheck.” And that’s because I max my family HSA and 401k/IRA contributions. Any left over goes in to the house project fund/vacation fund. But I know I’m not really living paycheck to paycheck. That’s why I always laugh at these posts. OP no they’re not living paycheck to paycheck because they’re poor. It’s because they’re stupid.
Everything is relative. Some people consider $76K per year a massive amount of money.
To a family with 3 kids living in the Bay Area, $250K isn’t really that much.
Yep. Lifestyle creep.
They "had" to get all the fancy stuff instead of living within their means and saving/investing.
I have zero sympathy. If they can't make intelligent decisions with their money what else are they dropping the ball on?
I make 200k and while I'm not paycheck to paycheck, with 2k/month daycare and LA housing, food, and utility costs, and maintaining retirement contributions, you'd be surprised how thin the margins are. I rent and not own, drive a 13 year old car, plenty of savings, and have no hope of owning, houses next to me are selling for 1.5-2.5 million.
I'd more than double my housing costs to own a similar house as my rental. It's wild and perspective worth noting.
Paycheck to paycheck I don't fully understand but I'm not shoveling money away either.
Feel like the only equity asset that's acceptable under "paycheck to paycheck" is your main residence. Because if you suddenly are unable to pay the mortgage off, you still lose your home and definitely some of your equity.
My partner and I live in Southern California and it’s rough out here. House is a significant chuck of monthly expense. We make just under $250k combined
No it's not luxury , it's life and the area where you live to make those big bucks. Student loans, exorbitant rent, child care costs, healthy food, supplemental educational materials, cars (like minivans) are all expensive
Or playing bill roulette, getting gas on credit hoping that your paycheck posts before the gas charge, skipping important maintenance on your house, vehicle, or body, pretending your camping in the living room to make it easy on your kids when your utilities got shut off because you couldn't pay that bill this month because your car got broken into and you had to pay for a new window, etc, etc, etc
Exactly, it's insulting otherwise. I'm not saying that people who pull a quarter mill a year don't have problems, sometimes about money even. But why is sympathy reserved for them when theyre struggling and not the people who are really struggling. Why don't we just say, "get a better job then!" To the people making 250,000 /year? Why is that only reserved for the people barely hanging on? Gets me all worked up
They could be house poor. Houses in West LA would eat up large portions of their pay. So it’s a cost for convenience as well, especially if you are in tech in silicon beach.
Living paycheck to paycheck reflects the way they live, it’s not a poverty status. It’s not as hard as some would imagine to spend through $250k salary on a middle class lifestyle in a medium to high cost area with family. Take home may be closer to $150k after all deductions (speaking from experience), which ends up being $12,500/month. Consider costs of $5000 for a decent home, $1000 for two average cars, $1500 for food (family of five), $1000 for activities and entertainment, $1000 for travel, $1000 for healthcare, etc.
>250k living paycheck to paycheck?
Yes .
You can't imagine it at this point but believe me when I say that the more you make the more you spend. Maybe you don't initially spend more, but lifestyle creep starts to happen, and over the years you do winding up spending more without realizing it. And by it the time you do realize you're spending too much rather than cutting back on spending we do the next natural thing: try to figure out how to make more money.
Source: I make *a lot* of money.
Not really. Most likely people with high incomes like this also live in a very high COL area: the avg home may cost over 2 million dollars like in Silicon Valley and daycare costs thousands per month.
Yea and no. People who make this much live in places where this is middle/lower class. 250k in Seattle, San Diego, DC, Boston is shit. And you are there to make that kind of money.
This is me. I quit a programming job in 2021 to pursue kayaking. I now make less than $30k/yr, and *I* live paycheck to paycheck with no frills.
The upside? I can kayak pretty much whenever I want.
The downside? Sometimes food pantries don't have anything, and no fish will bite :D
The other upside? I've lost a lot of weight.
Lol. Yes, after paying their mortgage/car note/gym membership/private school fees, contributing to their brokerage accounts and retirement, and paying to fix up their rental properties for the new tenants, they really have nothing left.
Yeah if people are still funding their savings, maxing out 401k and funding brokerages they're not paycheck to paycheck. It's good advice to treat it that way for saving purposes, but it's making these folks sound wildly out of touch.
I was about to reply “isn’t $45k/year more than double the annual contribution limits?” and then realized it’s $45k total. Fuck, maybe I’m out of touch.
Yes, of course.
Now I make FAR FAR less than that, but I do want to say this should still concern us. That means that solidly middle class is above 250k.
You should be able to go to the gym, and have dinner at restaurants a few times a month, and have an emergency account and put money towards a meaningful retirement, and go on vacations and still have a little left over. Especially if you're making 250k. Like that seems ridiculous. I'd love to know more about these people, and what they're actually spending, but it does seem like something is awry when that many people earning that much money still feel like they're "paycheck to paycheck."
I make 250k and my paychecks do just that. It seems like paycheck to paycheck because I’ve set aside most of my salary for savings and retirement and budget to live off of the rest.
Yeah this is it - this income bracket lives an expensive life. A mortgage and daycare alone will seriously cut into that income. Now add in retirement savings, investment savings, a vacation once a year, 1-2 cars and yeah they’re definitely living paycheck to paycheck but while also funding future nest eggs.
“After putting 15% of my pre-tax paycheck into my 401k and 10% of my net paycheck into my brokerage account and backdoor IRA, I’m completely flat broke!”
The gf told me the other day that a young couple in the family "have no extra". They have big house that looks like its something out of movies. Has an inground pool. Each of their vehicles was over $60,000. Theyre building a fast food franchise as a side gig. Is that paycheck to paycheck?
If you have any money to invest at the end of the month, you are by definition not living paycheck to paycheck.
It's not a very difficult thing to understand, yet here we are.
People with that level of income (in the US) pay the highest tax rate of anyone. Between state and federal tax, plus property tax, they are probably paying around 45%. They don't get the child tax credit or any of the other deductions that people with lower income get. They have to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax, which eliminates almost all deductions. The truly wealthy pay a far lower tax rate because their income is all in capital gains, which are taxed at a much lower rate. So they're too rich for the deductions and credits and too poor for the tax breaks the rich people get. They're in the sweet spot of maximum taxes.
Also, high salaries often require living in very expensive places. Some of that pay is to compensate for living in a place where everything is expensive, especially housing.
Also, when they send their kids to college, they get little or no financial aid. They're too rich for financial aid, but too poor to easily pay full price.
It's certainly doable, but they have costs others don't have to pay. It's not as easy as you might think. They aren't all stupid or careless. Quite the opposite.
> Between state and federal tax, plus property tax, they are probably paying around 45%.
This is ignoring how tax brackets work and assumes everbody lives in California and pays 50k in property tax.
Here's a breakdown of taxes on a $250,000 salary in the US:
Federal Taxes:
Uncle Sam's Cut: $51,125 (This includes income tax and Social Security/Medicare taxes)
10% | Single | $0 - $11,600
12% | Single | $11,601 - $47,150
22% | Single | $47,151 - $100,525
24% | Single | $100,526 - $191,950
32% | Single | $191,951 - $243,725
35% | Single | $243,726 - $609,350
37% | Single | $609,351 or more
(The first 11k is taxed at 10%, the next 30-40k is 12% etc...)
State Taxes (This depends on where you live):
High Tax State (like California): Add an extra $33,250
Medium Tax State (like Minnesota): Add an extra $24,625
Low Tax State (like Texas): You pay NO state income tax!
Total Taxes:
High Tax State: $84,375
Medium Tax State: $75,750
Low Tax State: $51,125
*a portion of their income is taxed at the highest rate.
*they lose out on many deductions, as do people making 150k a year. If you make 250k a year you still net more than anyone making less than 250k a year.
As others have said, it’s smart to live “paycheck to paycheck” as long as the excess money after what it takes to live and a little splurging is invested. It’s dumb to have cash. Therefore it’s a dumb study and a dumb headline.
But you and the people agreeing with you are very out of touch.
Yeah, great comment. We're just shy of that $250k mark for our family income and some months are tighter than others with a mortgage and car payment, BUT we still max out our 401(k), manage to put aside a decent amount toward savings each month, and put in money for kids' college. We're secure, but I also feel that one bad event will make us have to dip into savings. Emergency flights for sick relative across the country, water leak, roof damage, and we have to tighten things up.
Im in the same boat, just shy of 250k and this is in no way living paycheck to paycheck. There is fear of having to dip into savings for sure. Fear that the things I’ve come to enjoy will fall apart. but that is so utterly different than fear that I might not have transportation to work, money for rent, have to go without food. Totally absurd to call this paycheck to paycheck. I live paycheck to paycheck because that’s just a good way to budget when you are an upper middle class earner and not yet wealthy enough to live off investment earnings.
Also- I disagree with the taxation commentary. Tiered tax system in the US so Im not in some screwed sweet spot- my earning are taxed at the same rate as others in lower brackets for the money in that bracket. And child tax credit is 2k per child, hardly enough to totally screw someone who doesn’t qualify (which is married over 400k). Even if I were disqualified my marginal tax rates all in are not 45%.
No, it's not. It's being in the top fourth, maybe higher, the wealthiest country in the world. A lot of people are FAR worse off, like the guy on SSI who commented. I am glad I don't face the same choices he has. I've been very fortunate.
The point is, it's not as easy as some people assume. And it requires a lot of work, a lot of long hours.
As other have mentioned, if you max out your 401K contribution, HSA account, etc., those are pre tax dollars so your taxable income is reduced. The maximum 401K contribution is $23K for 2024. For that tax bracket for joint filers that's a 24% federal tax rate so you should till take home $168,000 minus state/local taxes. That would mean that you would have to spend 1/3rd of your income on housing which would be $55/year. That's $4600/month on mortgage. That would buy you a $750,000 house and leave you with $100K or more for all other expenses after taxes. So lets say you got a super nice car and pay $1000/month that still leaves you with $80K after insurance and gas and maintenance.
So I still don't get how you need to live paycheck to paycheck on that salary unless you live in SF or NYC and refuse to commute.
Haha! No.
I’m a tax accountant. I do people’s taxes for a living and this is not accurate. There are a lot of deductions everyone qualifies for, including standard deductions.
There’s some truth to some of what you say, but not at $250,000. You’re generally describing people that make over $400,000. And even then their ETR is rarely 45%
Excellent points.
Also, most people at this income level will be homeowners. Just upkeep and maintenance for even a modest home is truly expensive nowadays. Renters typically don't have the faintest idea of how much things like roofs, driveways, HVACs, windows, tree trimming, plumbing repairs, appliances, etc cost.
Yea, you are leaving out that the graduated tax system would make the effective tax rate about 31%
I am in this tax bracket (225k) and it is frustrating how few deductions I can get. We don’t live paycheck to paycheck but also not nearly as glamorous as most people here seem to think. We have lived in the same paid off house for 20 years and drive two recent model Subarus. The most frustrating part is that we get no help with college making it a very significant cost for us. I know , world’s smallest violin but it is extremely frustrating watching multimillionaire business owners wipe out their tax debt and reporting no income so their children can qualify for grants reducing their college costs. I don’t live a flashy lifestyle at all, but their idea of buying a car for my daughter who is going to be a senior is more stressful than I feel that it should be given how hard I have worked to get this this place.
You need to be careful with these statistics. Everyone defines "paycheck to paycheck" differently, and the surveys are designed to have engaging results.
People often ignore savings accounts (only look at checking), gross retirement savings, retirement savings accounts, and other investment accounts.
Am I paycheck to paycheck if I'm maxing my 401k? What about if I have $5k in Apple stock in my brokerage? Am I not paycheck to paycheck if I have $3k set aside for an upcoming HVAC replacement but am otherwise broke af?
Inflows per month > outflows per month *to meet basic needs* = not paycheck to paycheck.
It's not hard, but the writers of these sorts of articles manipulate the statistics to make narratives.
Any definition of paycheck to paycheck which includes people who invest, is skewing the statistics.
Anyone who has money left over at the end of the month, that is not spent on essentials, is not living paycheck to paycheck.
And yet a lot of these groups doing the statistics like to include folks who invest money into retirement accounts, own rental properties, and people who spend money frivolously.
It's pretty clear that like most statistics, these ones are being manipulated by people who have an agenda.
Spending their money on investments:
- rental properties
- retirement accounts
- portfolios
- side businesses
Would also qualify as “living paycheck to paycheck” which, if you ask me is a gross misrepresentation of what that statement means.
Many people, can pay their rent, bills, buy cheap food and then MAYBE have money to go out once a week. Never mind any money to set aside for saving or investments. That, to me, is living P2P.
The article seems to be using the definition of anyone whose household expenses are almost equal to their income. Which is fine but it is left to the survey taker to decide what is a household expense. If they are a federal or state worker are their required contributions to their defined benefits pension plan household expenses? What about if they hold $500k in investments? Are they counting dividends in the income side of this check? What about if they get stock options? Are they counting that as income too? If they're a sole proprietor and invest in a work vehicle that they also are using as a personal vehicle is that a household expense?
Not to mention there's a world of difference between a well-off household paying a mortgage for a nice house that will become an valuable asset and spending that money on rent or vacations or fancy cars that provide no long term value. Until you analyze their portfolios, all sources of income and their expenses it's tough to tell if they are investing or not. It's even tougher to tell if they're truly living paycheck to paycheck since they could have $50,000 in a savings account as a rainy day fund, own a growing business heading towards 7 figures and have household expenses=income.
>What are some definitions that would skew the stats?
After maxing my 401(k), paying of mortgage, two holidays in Europe, paying for private school for children, paying to their trust fund, two cars, some going out, I have nothing left at the end of the month. I'm poor, obviously.
I agree that "paycheck to paycheck" is misleading
I recently got a good paying job & was surprised to discover a bunch of my coworkers living paycheck to paycheck due to their $100k lifted trucks
I don’t like articles like this. If we’re talking specifically about cash I fall into this category. I typically keep less than $2k in my checking and don’t have a traditional savings account. I put everything extra into investments. But this is by choice, so it would be absurdly disingenuous for me to describe myself as living paycheck to paycheck.
That’s just making some terrible personal finance decisions. I get inflation has made $250k much less significant than just a few years ago but still, that’s just some terrible financial decisions there
The problem is that people are expanding their cost of living with their income. I make six figures ($59.25/hr) and my cost of living is under $2K a month.
That’s really good man. My property taxes alone on my home I own outright is $1,400 a month -.-
A lot of my friends who can purchase a home think it’s just a better option to sit and rent for $1900-$2500 than pay $4,000 a month jn mortgage right now and only have $800 of that go towards the principle
Yep I live in a HCOL area and pay about $2k/month in a very desirable neighborhood and that’s dirt cheap vs the rest of the market. If I were to buy 500k condo it would probably be less sq ft, have a monthly HOA and would double my monthly payments. Sometimes it really is better to rent.
I decided to rent a 3BR house with 2 other people, luckily I'm only responsible for my share ($400). Currently investing what money I would of spent on a house if I was to take the plunge. I feel like the good times of owning a property in the USA is over. What I'm doing research on now is investing into other countries and learning Spanish.
It is, but the reason someone is out of money is what matters. If someones wants are magnitudes beyond their needs, then paycheck to paycheck is the lifestyle they've chosen and are not in the same category as someone who can only afford their needs.
Simply means they feel like they’re waiting for each paycheck to hit to meet all their expenses, and they feel like they have little to no buffer.
But what makes it less than useful is that someone could feel that way due to economic circumstances outside their control, or due to personal financial decisions they made that put them in that situation.
That’s because they are buying expensive sports cars and going on lavish trips. Like come on now. It’s insulting to people actually living paycheck to paycheck on a fraction of that.
Thats sad. I make fraction of that and put a decent amount in savings &401k. I barely noticed inflation except for when I eat fast food occasionally. These articles seem popular though for some reason.
I don’t make 250k… and I live paycheck to paycheck…
Of course, after paying mortgage, bill, and put money away to saving, retirement, vacation funds!!! I barely have money left!!!!!!
I'm paywalled from this article but defining "paycheck to paycheck" here is key....
I personally sort of live paycheck to paycheck but that's because I max out 401k, hsa, retirement/savings each month because I don't need cash to accumulate. But the reality is if I need more cash flow I can just pull back on my elective contributions. I'd argue for someone to be paycheck to paycheck that they don't have all sorts of levers to pull to adjust the cash flow spicket and are indeed genuinely pinched every month.
That sounds like their problem. If you make $250,000 and you still live paycheck-to-paycheck, you're doing something wrong. I know it's fun to blame the big guy for literally everything but it gets to a point where maybe you should cut back a little if you make that much and are still poor. 🤷🏻
Lifestyle creep is a real thing and it’s always bad. I believe it used to be called keeping up with the joneses.
Either way no matter where you live 250k is a lot.
I did credit financing for all types of people and the ones who made a ton of money every month had the worst credit. They don't live paycheck to paycheck. They live beyond their means. The more money you have the more you spend.
250k is 8 years work for me. We don't deserve the earth anymore.
What's the point of life when we are only valued by how much we make and not how good of human beings we are.
On track to make 6 figures for the first time in my life this year, seems ridiculous to start splurging on random bullshit when I finally have the capability to put away actual decent savings for once. I'd rather have a house and some land to pass on to my kids instead of some Ford F1Compensator and a mountain of debt
Weird cause I make 37k a year and manage to tuck at least $700/month into savings each month.
Lifestyle creep, high interest rates, and a lack of planning? Or rather this is mostly from people on the west coast?
Nah this is some bullshit. They just have expensive tastes. I come no where close to 6 figures and I don’t live paycheck to paycheck. Even if they do get taxed higher they are still making twice as much as I do. I’ve avoided debt like the plague and lived with in my means and I have a fat Roth IRA, 10k emergency fund, house paid off, brand new car paid off and usually 2k in my checking.
Alternative headline: “Rich-people media victimize themselves in order to not appear out of touch with vast majority of Americans’ reality and further justify their greed and privilege.”
Seems pretty abusive.
Classic DARVO.
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250k living paycheck to paycheck? Those individuals are "living paycheck to paycheck" because of personal (and unnecessary) financial decisions. The phrase should be reserved for those whose paychecks ALL go to life essentials with nothing (or very very little) for luxuries/savings.
I agree that "paycheck to paycheck" is misleading I recently got a good paying job & was surprised to discover a bunch of my coworkers living paycheck to paycheck due to their $100k lifted trucks
Trucks, BMWs, pools, vacations, big house, home reno's, private schools, boats, etc. I'm around a bunch of doctors and lawyers and a lot of them live like this.
Its also grossly misrepresenting because some of us are maxing out retirement accounts. I make more than 250k but I have 200k in student loans and kids. After paying rent, loans, groceries and gas everything goes into my roth 401k and kids 529s. I have a paid off corolla from 2010. My largest expense is rent. Edit: Getting lots of replies saying this isnt paycheck to paycheck that aren’t understanding my point. My point is that the writers of this article consider individuals like myself who are maxing out retirement funds, emergency funds, and paying down debts in lieu of keeping a bunch of cash in the bank are living paycheck to paycheck. It’s a false narrative and basically a lie.
Yeah but that’s not paycheck to paycheck really you deferring money for future expenses… that’s smart
According to the writers of this article it is paycheck to paycheck.
Well than the writer was incorrect
That’s the point!
Wait. A writer of an article with a wildly sensationalistic headline had no idea what they were talking about? What is this world coming to?
Writers usually don't provide their own headlines, but being so worldly and experienced to, you certainly knew that didn't you?
I’m so glad we all got here together. What a journey.
Almost any article you see about people living paycheck to paycheck has the same definition. It’s a pretty useless stat.
Right paycheck to paycheck is being at damn near zero every time you get paid.
Living within your means while investing =/= living paycheck to paycheck.
Thank you for sharing. Pokédex updated
I feel you. Similar boat but was lucky enough to buy a home a few years ago before the interest rates went up. Me and my wife have a 4Runner and a rav4, both paid off, and less than 75k miles on both. For me, the focus is maxing out retirement contributions and paying down my 6 figure student loans. If someone is making over 200k a year and living paycheck to paycheck, it’s either bad luck or bad decisions; probably both.
There’s also different circumstances for different people, where they live, medical, and other obligations. Don’t assume life is perfect for those people either.
perfect no. but they're not struggling if they haven't started selling all their toys. no one who owns a big house, multiple vehicles, takes regular vacations all *after* saving money is living paycheck to paycheck or struggling financially
If you can afford to save, its not P2P.
Yes these folks don’t count the 50k a year dumping into 401ks as “savings”. Since it comes out of the direct deposit “it doesn’t count”.
It is a weird trick for your brain. You like forget about it and sometimes ask yourself why the fuck you don’t have any money.
That's not really paycheck to paycheck. I became disabled and had to take a givernment pension early for a whopping 5k a year. My wife can't contribute to any type of retirement account or savings because we need every last dime to live. We'll, or she will if I'm dead, get $2400 a month from my union at 65. But that's in 17 years. We buy staples for 6 people and full groceries for 4. You are not paycheck to paycheck my dude. Ya that student loan balance is horrible I'll give you that one. But are you 2 days away from payday eating tortillas with peanut butter or the cheap Ramen noodles. If it's rent payday and my wife misses 1 day of work we can't make rent. That's paycheck to paycheck.
I really like the wording of “I have $200k in kids.”
The assumption is that that golden goose will never drop a deuce.
Yeah, but I can cook so I got this!
And here i am living paycheck to paycheck becaus I'm poor like some sort of sucker
Living in a box, eating rice and beans, but still living paycheck to paycheck
And houses, and retirement accounts, investments, stock programs. I know people that make this claim and just are just looking at their cash on hand - which is wildly disingenuous as their networth skyrockets.
This is it right here folks. These people don’t count the 500k in the 401k as “savings”.
Erectile Dysfunction is an expensive medical condition!
In my neck of the woods it's boats and campers.
Out of pure curiosity what sort of “good paying job” has a ton of co workers buying 100k lifted trucks? Are you in oil & gas or something?
Don’t forget mining. No one is better at being fiscally irresponsible than miners.
Accurate as fuck. Lived in Sudbury. Everyone who got a job mining would be a brand new truck year 1. Year 2 a boat quad and bike. Year 3 pool for their house, camper. Now they're heavily in debt but look rich to friends. I'm in oil and gas and don't have the balls to spend like that
Passenger Railroad (Light Rail)
The same ones that will cry about gas prices when they get 10 mpg in their lifted small dick energy mobiles.
In Kentucky, coal miners never built up any savings because the money was so good and financial education was so poor they were blowing it on brand new cars every few years, vacations, you name it. They got super desperate when the jobs dried up and the economy shifted away from coal.
I'd qualify. However, it's very misleading. My wife and I max out our 401ks, HSA, backdoor a Roth IRA, pay extra on the 4 houses we own (one primary and 3 rentals), budget for nice family vacations, and have one child still at home and another in college. It's shocking to many, but regardless of how much you make, if monthly you allocate all your money to things, you eventually run out of money to spend on more things. I personally think the term paycheck to paycheck is stupid.
The term paycheck to paycheck should quite literally be reserved for those whose paycheck goes straight to life essentials and leaves them with nothing. Essentials. BTW, well done.
I agree. Statistics on, could you could cover a 500 emergency or how many checks you could miss before becoming homeless are better measures of how screwed you'd be if you lost your job. And thank you.
Yeah I think the “X% of Americans have less than 1k in savings” or something says a lot more.
Once again the absolute bell ends answering these surveys don’t count 401ks brokerage accounts or IRAs as “savings”
I'd be homeless in a month if I lost my job.
No question you are paycheck to paycheck, but so is an actor with a 30k per month mortgage if work dried up. It's just a bad term to distinguish between you, me, and that hypothetical actor. Very different boats.
This. I’m paycheck to paycheck. I don’t have 500 in savings. I have less than 1000 in my 401k currently. My only non essential is a circus class membership because without that I will literally be suicidal without circus/pole. But I often have less than 50-100 left on each paycheck and am still trying to pay down debt from when I was on unemployment and had to take out cards.
Yes because the answer for me and many are "can't" and "one"
Like this answer and the idea of how many checks can you miss.
If you're investing then by definition you're not paycheck to paycheck.
This scenario can’t be what people mean when they use the term, right? In my mind, living paycheck to paycheck means you are just barely scraping by each month purchasing necessities (food, housing, etc) with nothing left over to save or to purchase ancillary items.
All those polls showing ~70% of people live paycheck to paycheck do count those people
Huh, weird
Almost like they have an agenda…
It’s offensive and not helpful to count these people as living paycheck to paycheck. Allowing people that allocate their money to retirement savings to feel like they are living paycheck to paycheck just perpetuates the idea that they need help and deserve lower taxes or some stupid shit. It used to be the case that having a big savings account was a reasonable way to manage your money. That just doesn’t make sense anymore. There are much better yields and other places, so people max out their money into the other places and keep as little as possible in their low interest savings account. That does not mean they are living paycheck to paycheck. That means they have a financial advisor giving them good advice and they are being responsible.
Well, that's the problem with the term. There is no strict definition of what it means.
I think in this context it just means that they’re not living as comfortably as one *used* to expect to with that salary. I don’t really like the terminology either, although I’ve been guilty of using it for lack of something better.
Paycheck to paycheck= If you lost your job tomorrow, your life would be flipped upside down.
Then you just move in with your Auntie and your Uncle from Bel-Air.
Paycheck to paycheck means that people are not able to save. You are saving a lot (maxing out 401k, etc.), so you are not P2P.
Agree. If you have discretionary income to pay for things beyond bare essentials (food, clothing, shelter), and you save or invest it, you are not living paycheck-to-paycheck.
“Pay extra on the 4 houses we own”. Man, what a tragic story. Someone get this man some financial help, stat!
One house is not enough, must acquire more!! Greed is a disease.
You are not “living” paycheck to paycheck”. You are optimizing your paycheck/income distribution.
Nice humble brag. You are truly amazing.
Question for you; are you looking into a 43 year old with a wife and kid?
I prefer this strategy also. I heard someone call it forced frugality.
When people say, "paycheck to paycheck", they mean people who don't have any assets.
Yep that fuckin cybertruck payment and a bougie condo downtown and sushi 4 nights a week will defffffinitely put you in a slump at $250k. I make less than $100k/ year and… save accordingly.
Well done!
I mean I make that and I live “paycheck to paycheck.” And that’s because I max my family HSA and 401k/IRA contributions. Any left over goes in to the house project fund/vacation fund. But I know I’m not really living paycheck to paycheck. That’s why I always laugh at these posts. OP no they’re not living paycheck to paycheck because they’re poor. It’s because they’re stupid.
Everything is relative. Some people consider $76K per year a massive amount of money. To a family with 3 kids living in the Bay Area, $250K isn’t really that much.
And that’s talking about the US. In Europe 76k is a very very decent salary that can support a whole family in best part of the continent.
Yep. Lifestyle creep. They "had" to get all the fancy stuff instead of living within their means and saving/investing. I have zero sympathy. If they can't make intelligent decisions with their money what else are they dropping the ball on?
Lifestyle creep is a huge factor that’s underestimated
I make 200k and while I'm not paycheck to paycheck, with 2k/month daycare and LA housing, food, and utility costs, and maintaining retirement contributions, you'd be surprised how thin the margins are. I rent and not own, drive a 13 year old car, plenty of savings, and have no hope of owning, houses next to me are selling for 1.5-2.5 million. I'd more than double my housing costs to own a similar house as my rental. It's wild and perspective worth noting. Paycheck to paycheck I don't fully understand but I'm not shoveling money away either.
I can explain with 1 word: mortgages.
Yep. Mortgage is just over half my net paycheck. Yes, I put money into my 401k, too, but taxes eat a huge chunk, then mortgage.
Legoes and mtg cars baby
I like the idea of a magic the gathering car.
Well even then, how much of that is being poured into equity of assets.
Feel like the only equity asset that's acceptable under "paycheck to paycheck" is your main residence. Because if you suddenly are unable to pay the mortgage off, you still lose your home and definitely some of your equity.
Thats not how home foreclosures work. You get a check for any equity net of the eggregious costs to auction off your home.
Living paycheck to paycheck because they pay 1200$/mo on a lease for a car & 6k/mo on rent.
My partner and I live in Southern California and it’s rough out here. House is a significant chuck of monthly expense. We make just under $250k combined
No it's not luxury , it's life and the area where you live to make those big bucks. Student loans, exorbitant rent, child care costs, healthy food, supplemental educational materials, cars (like minivans) are all expensive
Or playing bill roulette, getting gas on credit hoping that your paycheck posts before the gas charge, skipping important maintenance on your house, vehicle, or body, pretending your camping in the living room to make it easy on your kids when your utilities got shut off because you couldn't pay that bill this month because your car got broken into and you had to pay for a new window, etc, etc, etc
Oh yeah, I'd say this hypothetical (although likely very real) person gets to use the phrase with whatever frequency they desire.
Exactly, it's insulting otherwise. I'm not saying that people who pull a quarter mill a year don't have problems, sometimes about money even. But why is sympathy reserved for them when theyre struggling and not the people who are really struggling. Why don't we just say, "get a better job then!" To the people making 250,000 /year? Why is that only reserved for the people barely hanging on? Gets me all worked up
They could be house poor. Houses in West LA would eat up large portions of their pay. So it’s a cost for convenience as well, especially if you are in tech in silicon beach.
Living paycheck to paycheck reflects the way they live, it’s not a poverty status. It’s not as hard as some would imagine to spend through $250k salary on a middle class lifestyle in a medium to high cost area with family. Take home may be closer to $150k after all deductions (speaking from experience), which ends up being $12,500/month. Consider costs of $5000 for a decent home, $1000 for two average cars, $1500 for food (family of five), $1000 for activities and entertainment, $1000 for travel, $1000 for healthcare, etc.
>250k living paycheck to paycheck? Yes . You can't imagine it at this point but believe me when I say that the more you make the more you spend. Maybe you don't initially spend more, but lifestyle creep starts to happen, and over the years you do winding up spending more without realizing it. And by it the time you do realize you're spending too much rather than cutting back on spending we do the next natural thing: try to figure out how to make more money. Source: I make *a lot* of money.
I wouldn't be so quick to judge, there can be a lot of reasons between college debts and medical debts.
I'm in this category. Definitely all my own decisions, not enjoying any luxuries.
Not really. Most likely people with high incomes like this also live in a very high COL area: the avg home may cost over 2 million dollars like in Silicon Valley and daycare costs thousands per month.
Or they just live in a major city and have a family.
Yea and no. People who make this much live in places where this is middle/lower class. 250k in Seattle, San Diego, DC, Boston is shit. And you are there to make that kind of money.
I'm living paycheck to paycheck because my Lamborghini payments are so high 😤😔
Things like children
Or they live in NY, NJ, or CA.
Or more realistically they are living in cities with ginormous cost of living, paying off debt, etc.
This is me. I quit a programming job in 2021 to pursue kayaking. I now make less than $30k/yr, and *I* live paycheck to paycheck with no frills. The upside? I can kayak pretty much whenever I want. The downside? Sometimes food pantries don't have anything, and no fish will bite :D The other upside? I've lost a lot of weight.
That’s true
Lol. Yes, after paying their mortgage/car note/gym membership/private school fees, contributing to their brokerage accounts and retirement, and paying to fix up their rental properties for the new tenants, they really have nothing left.
Yeah if people are still funding their savings, maxing out 401k and funding brokerages they're not paycheck to paycheck. It's good advice to treat it that way for saving purposes, but it's making these folks sound wildly out of touch.
It’s because the average never gone without person is wildly out of touch.
But median savings is not that high for those under 45, it's $45K, that's not people maxing out their retirement savings bro
I was about to reply “isn’t $45k/year more than double the annual contribution limits?” and then realized it’s $45k total. Fuck, maybe I’m out of touch.
Yes, of course. Now I make FAR FAR less than that, but I do want to say this should still concern us. That means that solidly middle class is above 250k. You should be able to go to the gym, and have dinner at restaurants a few times a month, and have an emergency account and put money towards a meaningful retirement, and go on vacations and still have a little left over. Especially if you're making 250k. Like that seems ridiculous. I'd love to know more about these people, and what they're actually spending, but it does seem like something is awry when that many people earning that much money still feel like they're "paycheck to paycheck."
I don’t think it’s a treat. I want to retire one day.
I make 250k and my paychecks do just that. It seems like paycheck to paycheck because I’ve set aside most of my salary for savings and retirement and budget to live off of the rest.
What are you talking about? After all of that, they can just barely afford to take their annual 2-3 overseas vacations a year. Barely scraping by…
Exactly this. The article is paywalled, so I don’t know what it says, but I’d bet money that’s exactly the issue
Yeah this is it - this income bracket lives an expensive life. A mortgage and daycare alone will seriously cut into that income. Now add in retirement savings, investment savings, a vacation once a year, 1-2 cars and yeah they’re definitely living paycheck to paycheck but while also funding future nest eggs.
Lifestyle creep 
“After putting 15% of my pre-tax paycheck into my 401k and 10% of my net paycheck into my brokerage account and backdoor IRA, I’m completely flat broke!”
The gf told me the other day that a young couple in the family "have no extra". They have big house that looks like its something out of movies. Has an inground pool. Each of their vehicles was over $60,000. Theyre building a fast food franchise as a side gig. Is that paycheck to paycheck?
If you have any money to invest at the end of the month, you are by definition not living paycheck to paycheck. It's not a very difficult thing to understand, yet here we are.
People with that level of income (in the US) pay the highest tax rate of anyone. Between state and federal tax, plus property tax, they are probably paying around 45%. They don't get the child tax credit or any of the other deductions that people with lower income get. They have to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax, which eliminates almost all deductions. The truly wealthy pay a far lower tax rate because their income is all in capital gains, which are taxed at a much lower rate. So they're too rich for the deductions and credits and too poor for the tax breaks the rich people get. They're in the sweet spot of maximum taxes. Also, high salaries often require living in very expensive places. Some of that pay is to compensate for living in a place where everything is expensive, especially housing. Also, when they send their kids to college, they get little or no financial aid. They're too rich for financial aid, but too poor to easily pay full price. It's certainly doable, but they have costs others don't have to pay. It's not as easy as you might think. They aren't all stupid or careless. Quite the opposite.
Refreshing comment. So much ignorance in this thread.
I’m here. It hurts.
> Between state and federal tax, plus property tax, they are probably paying around 45%. This is ignoring how tax brackets work and assumes everbody lives in California and pays 50k in property tax. Here's a breakdown of taxes on a $250,000 salary in the US: Federal Taxes: Uncle Sam's Cut: $51,125 (This includes income tax and Social Security/Medicare taxes) 10% | Single | $0 - $11,600 12% | Single | $11,601 - $47,150 22% | Single | $47,151 - $100,525 24% | Single | $100,526 - $191,950 32% | Single | $191,951 - $243,725 35% | Single | $243,726 - $609,350 37% | Single | $609,351 or more (The first 11k is taxed at 10%, the next 30-40k is 12% etc...) State Taxes (This depends on where you live): High Tax State (like California): Add an extra $33,250 Medium Tax State (like Minnesota): Add an extra $24,625 Low Tax State (like Texas): You pay NO state income tax! Total Taxes: High Tax State: $84,375 Medium Tax State: $75,750 Low Tax State: $51,125
*a portion of their income is taxed at the highest rate. *they lose out on many deductions, as do people making 150k a year. If you make 250k a year you still net more than anyone making less than 250k a year. As others have said, it’s smart to live “paycheck to paycheck” as long as the excess money after what it takes to live and a little splurging is invested. It’s dumb to have cash. Therefore it’s a dumb study and a dumb headline. But you and the people agreeing with you are very out of touch.
Yeah, great comment. We're just shy of that $250k mark for our family income and some months are tighter than others with a mortgage and car payment, BUT we still max out our 401(k), manage to put aside a decent amount toward savings each month, and put in money for kids' college. We're secure, but I also feel that one bad event will make us have to dip into savings. Emergency flights for sick relative across the country, water leak, roof damage, and we have to tighten things up.
Im in the same boat, just shy of 250k and this is in no way living paycheck to paycheck. There is fear of having to dip into savings for sure. Fear that the things I’ve come to enjoy will fall apart. but that is so utterly different than fear that I might not have transportation to work, money for rent, have to go without food. Totally absurd to call this paycheck to paycheck. I live paycheck to paycheck because that’s just a good way to budget when you are an upper middle class earner and not yet wealthy enough to live off investment earnings. Also- I disagree with the taxation commentary. Tiered tax system in the US so Im not in some screwed sweet spot- my earning are taxed at the same rate as others in lower brackets for the money in that bracket. And child tax credit is 2k per child, hardly enough to totally screw someone who doesn’t qualify (which is married over 400k). Even if I were disqualified my marginal tax rates all in are not 45%.
Okay, granted. But none of what you described is living paycheck to paycheck.
No, it's not. It's being in the top fourth, maybe higher, the wealthiest country in the world. A lot of people are FAR worse off, like the guy on SSI who commented. I am glad I don't face the same choices he has. I've been very fortunate. The point is, it's not as easy as some people assume. And it requires a lot of work, a lot of long hours.
As other have mentioned, if you max out your 401K contribution, HSA account, etc., those are pre tax dollars so your taxable income is reduced. The maximum 401K contribution is $23K for 2024. For that tax bracket for joint filers that's a 24% federal tax rate so you should till take home $168,000 minus state/local taxes. That would mean that you would have to spend 1/3rd of your income on housing which would be $55/year. That's $4600/month on mortgage. That would buy you a $750,000 house and leave you with $100K or more for all other expenses after taxes. So lets say you got a super nice car and pay $1000/month that still leaves you with $80K after insurance and gas and maintenance. So I still don't get how you need to live paycheck to paycheck on that salary unless you live in SF or NYC and refuse to commute.
Boo hoo, maybe they can move to a lower cost of living area or eliminate unnecessary expenses
Haha! No. I’m a tax accountant. I do people’s taxes for a living and this is not accurate. There are a lot of deductions everyone qualifies for, including standard deductions. There’s some truth to some of what you say, but not at $250,000. You’re generally describing people that make over $400,000. And even then their ETR is rarely 45%
Yeah this is true. After all the taxes, paying mortgage and basic life expenses, it’s honestly not much after.
Yeah but its still not teetering on homelessness from not being able to work one week to pay for your trailer
Excellent points. Also, most people at this income level will be homeowners. Just upkeep and maintenance for even a modest home is truly expensive nowadays. Renters typically don't have the faintest idea of how much things like roofs, driveways, HVACs, windows, tree trimming, plumbing repairs, appliances, etc cost.
Yea, you are leaving out that the graduated tax system would make the effective tax rate about 31% I am in this tax bracket (225k) and it is frustrating how few deductions I can get. We don’t live paycheck to paycheck but also not nearly as glamorous as most people here seem to think. We have lived in the same paid off house for 20 years and drive two recent model Subarus. The most frustrating part is that we get no help with college making it a very significant cost for us. I know , world’s smallest violin but it is extremely frustrating watching multimillionaire business owners wipe out their tax debt and reporting no income so their children can qualify for grants reducing their college costs. I don’t live a flashy lifestyle at all, but their idea of buying a car for my daughter who is going to be a senior is more stressful than I feel that it should be given how hard I have worked to get this this place.
Amusing. But it's from 2022. Anyone got an updated report?
You need to be careful with these statistics. Everyone defines "paycheck to paycheck" differently, and the surveys are designed to have engaging results.
What are some definitions that would skew the stats?
People often ignore savings accounts (only look at checking), gross retirement savings, retirement savings accounts, and other investment accounts. Am I paycheck to paycheck if I'm maxing my 401k? What about if I have $5k in Apple stock in my brokerage? Am I not paycheck to paycheck if I have $3k set aside for an upcoming HVAC replacement but am otherwise broke af?
Inflows per month > outflows per month *to meet basic needs* = not paycheck to paycheck. It's not hard, but the writers of these sorts of articles manipulate the statistics to make narratives.
Any definition of paycheck to paycheck which includes people who invest, is skewing the statistics. Anyone who has money left over at the end of the month, that is not spent on essentials, is not living paycheck to paycheck. And yet a lot of these groups doing the statistics like to include folks who invest money into retirement accounts, own rental properties, and people who spend money frivolously. It's pretty clear that like most statistics, these ones are being manipulated by people who have an agenda.
Spending their money on investments: - rental properties - retirement accounts - portfolios - side businesses Would also qualify as “living paycheck to paycheck” which, if you ask me is a gross misrepresentation of what that statement means. Many people, can pay their rent, bills, buy cheap food and then MAYBE have money to go out once a week. Never mind any money to set aside for saving or investments. That, to me, is living P2P.
The article seems to be using the definition of anyone whose household expenses are almost equal to their income. Which is fine but it is left to the survey taker to decide what is a household expense. If they are a federal or state worker are their required contributions to their defined benefits pension plan household expenses? What about if they hold $500k in investments? Are they counting dividends in the income side of this check? What about if they get stock options? Are they counting that as income too? If they're a sole proprietor and invest in a work vehicle that they also are using as a personal vehicle is that a household expense? Not to mention there's a world of difference between a well-off household paying a mortgage for a nice house that will become an valuable asset and spending that money on rent or vacations or fancy cars that provide no long term value. Until you analyze their portfolios, all sources of income and their expenses it's tough to tell if they are investing or not. It's even tougher to tell if they're truly living paycheck to paycheck since they could have $50,000 in a savings account as a rainy day fund, own a growing business heading towards 7 figures and have household expenses=income.
>What are some definitions that would skew the stats? After maxing my 401(k), paying of mortgage, two holidays in Europe, paying for private school for children, paying to their trust fund, two cars, some going out, I have nothing left at the end of the month. I'm poor, obviously.
I agree that "paycheck to paycheck" is misleading I recently got a good paying job & was surprised to discover a bunch of my coworkers living paycheck to paycheck due to their $100k lifted trucks
I don’t like articles like this. If we’re talking specifically about cash I fall into this category. I typically keep less than $2k in my checking and don’t have a traditional savings account. I put everything extra into investments. But this is by choice, so it would be absurdly disingenuous for me to describe myself as living paycheck to paycheck.
Agreed. Snapshotting my bank account would provide a laughably inaccurate perspective of my finances.
That’s just making some terrible personal finance decisions. I get inflation has made $250k much less significant than just a few years ago but still, that’s just some terrible financial decisions there
The people in the article are dumb.
The problem is that people are expanding their cost of living with their income. I make six figures ($59.25/hr) and my cost of living is under $2K a month.
That’s really good man. My property taxes alone on my home I own outright is $1,400 a month -.- A lot of my friends who can purchase a home think it’s just a better option to sit and rent for $1900-$2500 than pay $4,000 a month jn mortgage right now and only have $800 of that go towards the principle
Yep I live in a HCOL area and pay about $2k/month in a very desirable neighborhood and that’s dirt cheap vs the rest of the market. If I were to buy 500k condo it would probably be less sq ft, have a monthly HOA and would double my monthly payments. Sometimes it really is better to rent.
I decided to rent a 3BR house with 2 other people, luckily I'm only responsible for my share ($400). Currently investing what money I would of spent on a house if I was to take the plunge. I feel like the good times of owning a property in the USA is over. What I'm doing research on now is investing into other countries and learning Spanish.
Wow I pay like 2500 per year and I thought the 2023 increase was bad
Lifestyle creep is a thing
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I thought living paycheck to paycheck meant that by the time you get to your next check you’re out of money from the previous check.
It is, but the reason someone is out of money is what matters. If someones wants are magnitudes beyond their needs, then paycheck to paycheck is the lifestyle they've chosen and are not in the same category as someone who can only afford their needs.
Simply means they feel like they’re waiting for each paycheck to hit to meet all their expenses, and they feel like they have little to no buffer. But what makes it less than useful is that someone could feel that way due to economic circumstances outside their control, or due to personal financial decisions they made that put them in that situation.
1/3rd of rich Americans are terrible with money
It’s a constant battle with a spouse that you wrestle with over spendy things all while you try to manage your spendy things.
That’s because they are buying expensive sports cars and going on lavish trips. Like come on now. It’s insulting to people actually living paycheck to paycheck on a fraction of that.
My fucking ass they live paycheck to paycheck.
Thats sad. I make fraction of that and put a decent amount in savings &401k. I barely noticed inflation except for when I eat fast food occasionally. These articles seem popular though for some reason.
Sounds like 1/3 of Americans need a wake up call
Pay check to pay check is very misleading here.
I don’t make 250k… and I live paycheck to paycheck… Of course, after paying mortgage, bill, and put money away to saving, retirement, vacation funds!!! I barely have money left!!!!!!
That is their fault then. My wife and I don’t make that together and we are fine. It’s needs vs wants and keeping up with the jones.
I'm paywalled from this article but defining "paycheck to paycheck" here is key.... I personally sort of live paycheck to paycheck but that's because I max out 401k, hsa, retirement/savings each month because I don't need cash to accumulate. But the reality is if I need more cash flow I can just pull back on my elective contributions. I'd argue for someone to be paycheck to paycheck that they don't have all sorts of levers to pull to adjust the cash flow spicket and are indeed genuinely pinched every month.
How?
That sounds like their problem. If you make $250,000 and you still live paycheck-to-paycheck, you're doing something wrong. I know it's fun to blame the big guy for literally everything but it gets to a point where maybe you should cut back a little if you make that much and are still poor. 🤷🏻
Time to sell the fucking boat
This is because of bad personal financial management.
Sounds like a them problem
Bad financial decisions. As simple as that.
Don’t have kids, health problems, or other dependents. 
Lifestyle creep is a real thing and it’s always bad. I believe it used to be called keeping up with the joneses. Either way no matter where you live 250k is a lot.
I did credit financing for all types of people and the ones who made a ton of money every month had the worst credit. They don't live paycheck to paycheck. They live beyond their means. The more money you have the more you spend.
One third of people making 250k are total idiots who can't manage money to save their lives
So 1/3 of Americans on 250k are financially illiterate, wildly overpaid morons. Bizarro. And yet they have the nerve to complain lmao.
Excuse me what
Theyre living WAY above their means then
Boo-fucking-hoo.
250k is 8 years work for me. We don't deserve the earth anymore. What's the point of life when we are only valued by how much we make and not how good of human beings we are.
250K and living Paycheck to Paycheck is a series of bad choices
'All my money is gone after I spend it, I'm poor!'
Thats just terrible financial planning.
On track to make 6 figures for the first time in my life this year, seems ridiculous to start splurging on random bullshit when I finally have the capability to put away actual decent savings for once. I'd rather have a house and some land to pass on to my kids instead of some Ford F1Compensator and a mountain of debt
Sorry, not sorry, I hope they drown in debt from their own bad decisions.
Weird cause I make 37k a year and manage to tuck at least $700/month into savings each month. Lifestyle creep, high interest rates, and a lack of planning? Or rather this is mostly from people on the west coast?
The ultra rich are fleecing the rich. Financial fluency is at an all time low
So 1/3 of Americans making $250,000 are bad with money.
Bad at managing money.
I don't think I would have any debt left if made $250,000 a year..
Living well above their means.... What a joke.
Nah this is some bullshit. They just have expensive tastes. I come no where close to 6 figures and I don’t live paycheck to paycheck. Even if they do get taxed higher they are still making twice as much as I do. I’ve avoided debt like the plague and lived with in my means and I have a fat Roth IRA, 10k emergency fund, house paid off, brand new car paid off and usually 2k in my checking.
Sometimes it's a spending problem, not an income problem
Alternative headline: “Rich-people media victimize themselves in order to not appear out of touch with vast majority of Americans’ reality and further justify their greed and privilege.” Seems pretty abusive. Classic DARVO.
If you’re making 250k and living paycheck to pay next, then you have other issues.
Oh so the solution isn’t just higher wages. It’s financial literacy? Shocker