U.S. Middle Class nearly gone

[RolloTheGreat]

Any good parent who doesn't want their kids to hate them earning $70K/year will be pushed to the limit with 3 kids growing up as teenagers.

You have two different and completely unrelated thought threads in this statement.

First off- you sound like a Fox News trust fund baby without a clue about what people make. Luxembourg has the highest median household income in the world, and you are talking about roughly one third more than that rate and acting like it is poverty. I am not aware what type of exposure you have had to people and their handling of finances, but it sounds like you have been shown things in a *very* poor manner.

We'll start off figuring for an average rental to set our baseline-

http://www.deptofnumbers.com/rent/us/

I'll round up and use $1K a month. Using responsible numbers for food, $650 a month for a family of 3 is more than reasonable-

http://www.cheatsheet.com/personal-finan...?a=viewall

Transportation costs can vary hugely, it is the one area that you are better off living in a major city in terms of overall expense. The norm is 19%, median income is ~$45K which has as run of the mill as we can get cost $712.50

We now arrive at a total of core basic costs tallying ~$2,400 a month. $28.8K a year.

$792 *per week* to cover additional expenses at $70K per year. To frame that slightly different, your scenario leaves a family with almost as much disposable income as the national median for total income. If you can't live well with a family of 3 at $70K a year, you suck with money.

Forgot to hit the second point- wealth and how good you are at being a parent are very often polar opposites. Don't ever confuse how much you spoil your children with how good of a parent you are- I say that in *NO WAY* to be demeaning, I have caught myself feeling bad because I couldn't buy my kids certain things when they were younger that they wanted, all of my children now say I should have worked less and they would have had less so I could have spent more time with them when they were younger. Seriously, that new toy probably isn't worth the time it will take away from your children. Again, not bashing you on this point in any way- I have made that mistake myself.

I BoFox's attitudes are pretty normal for upper middle class or upper class urbanites in large cities.

I'm sure he can't imagine how a family of five could live on $70K, his house probably cost $500k and may not even be that special a house.

You're right though- a household income of $75K means you have more cash than 66% of the households in this country and a lot of families easily live on it.

Probably not like yours, mine, or BoFoxes family, but if they live in a city under 50K population it wouldn't be hard. Things just cost less. Housing, restaurants, transportation are all much cheaper in the smaller towns and cities. Nobodies kids wear Abercrombie and Fitch or whatever kids wear these days, their skateboards aren't ordered from custom builders, they probably don't all have this years hot cell phone. Different lifestyle. (in some ways probably a better one)