You have got to be freakin' kidding me

I clicked on an article with the title "Can mom afford to work only part-time?" on CNN.com (link) to see what advice they had for making it work. I was so ticked off though, because they actually had a family that made about $133K per year, who need to figure out if they can make do on a mere <<insert huge eyeroll here>> $110k per year if the mom works part time. Are you f***ing kidding me? Who on earth can't make that budget work for a family of four? Or six?

It would depend on where they live, I suppose. If your rent is $2400k/mo then you'd need substantial $$ to keep your head above water.

Then if they cant handle their bills with that income then they are living beyond their means which is what most people do anyway.

Originally Posted by divadoll /img/forum/go_quote.gif It would depend on where they live, I suppose. If your rent is $2400k/mo then you'd need substantial $$ to keep your head above water. Idk if i agree with this, my family lives on Long island which has some of the most expensive income taxes and property taxes in america. Property also can be pricey in this area. that being said my family (which is of 4, 2 of which are in college full time and not working) makes it buy on considerably less than this.

Just to give you an idea of my parents jobs my mom is a teachers assistant (she makes not much at all. as for my dad he is a partial owner of a company. my family all together earns about 80k a year. which has been more than enough for my parents to offer to pay for my brothers education.) So basicly unless this family is in NYC or a mansion, or has major health bills they should be more than well off.

A $500k mortgage on a town home in Vancouver with $500 strata fee would put you above $2400. Some apartments in Vancouver are above that. We don't live downtown Vancouver but many do and I suppose that article is directed to those couples that are known to be comfortable and the question in the article is... would they still be comfortable at $110k as they were at $133k?

The article stated that their adjusted income would be $8,600. So even with a mortgage like that they aren't exactly hurting. It also said they live in Virginia (US).

No... They wouldn't be hurting at all but I think that's what they are trying to illustrate. They were not trying to cut back some low income family but one that is comfortable. They would not be mentioning words like savings or retirement if they were talking about low income.

regardless of how much they make, after the drop in income, they're still earning over double what they're spending.

They say that "healthy" is a 36% debt-to-income ratio (make around 3x as much as you spend).

So, they're going from 32.7% to 41.8% by reducing.

This article means absolutely NOTHING for those struggling with debt. It's purely a family that's going to move from "comfortable" to slightly frugal. (You still go out to dinner, but instead of everybody having their own appetizer, entree, and dessert, you might skip the appetizer or share the dessert, either way you still go out to dinner.)

Most families in debt are nowhere near this family, as they tend to have more debt than they earn, or are living paycheck to paycheck, barely making enough money to cover their expenses. (Can't afford to go to dinner, smell an appetizer, or even go out for ice cream, but usually do anyway, and then claim they have no idea how they got into so much debt.)

Absolutely not an article about a struggling family, but a family who might suddenly have to think before they buy instead of buying anything and everything they want.

(edit, you'll note, that one of the things they mention last, is that one of their concerns was whether they'd still be able to set aside 10% for retirement savings, not whether they'd be able to pay bills. It's an article about the well off being not-so-well-off-but-still-pretty-well-off. people worried about debt now don't even have the notion of putting money away that they have now, for them to use 40 years from now.)

I make $32,000 a year working a full-time and part-time job and my fiance makes about $12,000 a year on disability. He has multiple sclerosis. We are fine. We are still able to go out to eat, of course not all of the time, but we also go to the movies occassionally and concerts, we still have our fun. All of the bills are paid, I have a 401k and savings. So someone wondering if they can make it on $110,000 a year is insane to me, if I made that I would have thousands and thousands in savings.

These people are obscene creatures who should go and live a year in Haiti or Pakistan or Ruwanda and see what it is like to get by on virtually nothing. It could make them appreciate what they have.

They are trying to increase their huge income by my annual income and I work 10-12 hours a day. Sickos

yeah, that doesnt really make alot of sense to me either..but i guess certain articles/programs are geared towards certain families...they definitely need to have more advice for the low income/middle class families, cause thats primarily what america is

Wow. Mere $110k?? These people are delusional.

You can spend any amount! Look at Niclolas Cage. Poor guy recently lost a yacht and one of his castles I think. Give me a second while a grab a tissue....

Oh boo hoo, honey we are down from 133k-110k this year, I guess your annual tiffany's shopping spree is out of the question this year. So sorry.

LOLz

I also think it's ridiculous...

Whenever the news does expos like that it shows how out of touch the media really is $150k is probably poverty to most of the media cause seriously The title should have been" Look How Blessed this Mom is She can Work Part Time and still make $150k!"

just my opinion!

Originally Posted by talkin' makeup /img/forum/go_quote.gif whenever the news does expos like that it shows how out of touch the media really is $150k is probably poverty to most of the media cause seriously the title should have been" look how blessed this mom is she can work part time and still make $150k!"just my opinion!


agreed!!

They say the more money you make the more money you will spend.

I still think everybody here is over reacting and criticizing a family that doesn't deserve it. The parents both have good jobs, they don't deserve scorn for it. The story wasn't about a poverty stricken family, or even a low or medium income family. They actually use the terms "comfortable" and "high end" to describe their life.

According to wiki, they're part of the upper middle class, at the top 20%. They're wondering if Mom drops down to below $33k/year if they can continue to live like they're still in the upper middle class, or will they have to drop down their standard of living to that in the regular middle class. (1 in 5 families is NOT that uncommon to pass by)

People with no money shouldn't be the only people with the rights to worry about money. Those with money, who are smart with their money, have their rights to worry about how to spend it and how much to spend too.

It's not like they took a ridiculously rich family like the Kardashians or something, where they can throw away a few million dollars and not realize it was gone. This is an honest working family who still has to balance their checkbooks to pay their bills (and unlike the poor, they actually PAY their bills, and have their debts/credit cards paid off). Nobody wants to go down in standard of life (Nobody wants to go from poor to homeless. Likewise people don't want to go from upper class to lower class.)

I guess I feel bad for this family because I'm sure as hell not rich, but I'm far from being poor, and I worry about money too. When I had issues with my job where I got less hours for a while, I worried a lot about money. It's not like I was worried about putting food on the table, but I definitely had to think twice before making some of my purchases. (My old shopper feeling was "I only buy things a few times a year, if I like it, I'll just buy it." a $100-$150 splurge purchase really wouldn't make me blink. but now I have to think twice and wonder how much use I'll actually get out of it before I can buy it, even if it's only $50, and now I only splurge maybe once or twice a year.)