The majority (51.43%) of the working class (US) is making less than $30K USD per year

[Mai72]

per my mint.com account, the most i have ever spent in a single year is 33$k. and that's when i bought a 15$k car.

right now i am sitting at 20$k for 2015. and that's with 2 week-long vacations to FL and CO.

i grew up on that sort of spending, so it is pretty easy to continue living cheap.

I'm currently using YNAB and I love it. They have free webinar on how to use their program. They also have free webinars on how to save money, etc..

 

[OverVolt]

Asians are dominating. Could it be the reason they do so well is because they value education, and many apply themselves in college? Could it be that many go into careers that actually pay well? Yes!

As Americans, we have got to stop relying on the government to solve our money issues. Obama, Trump, Clinton, Bush and all of the other presidential candidates aren't going to be able to save the middle class. Congress isn't going to be able to do much either. Yet, we rely on Congress to save us. It's not going to happen.

Take responsibility. Spend less than you earn. Educate yourself. Follow a career that's viable and will actually make you a nice living. Learn about investing and saving money. Read books on business. Stop spending hours on Netflix and video games. It's going to cost you in the long run. Don't rely on the government to get you out of your financial mess. Hell, they can't even balance their own budget.

Can't hurt when you immigrate to America for the college system when you have a couple million either I'm sure.

 

[Mai72]

Can't hurt when you immigrate to America for the college system when you have a couple million either I'm sure.

I doubt the majority of Asians immigrating to America have millions of dollars. Many are just people who want a better life.

When I was in South Korea I had a discussion with a student who went to the American public school system before returning to Korea. The one thing that he told me was compared to the Korean education system, the American education system is much easier. Maybe this is why they excel when they immigrate to America?

 

[brianmanahan]

Hope to dear god (atheist god) that you don't get a wife if you think 33k is ever... a lot..... in a single year 🙁

that's one of the reasons why i don't think i'll find anyone interested in becoming mrs. manahan. D:

but i am still holding out for maybe some woman who grew up in an orphanage. :awe:

then again, if i had someone who was earning another 100$k, i wouldn't mind spending another 25$k of it.

 

[brianmanahan]

You do know that mint.com doesn't encrypt their database? If that is ever leak you screwed! Since all your info. is there.

Okay, decryptable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mint.com#Controversial_practices

yeah I'm aware of the risk.

i am actually considering disconnecting all my investment accounts from mint.com and just entering the figures manually every month or quarter.

that would limit the logins i give to mint to just bank accounts (which don't have a lot of money in them) and credit cards (which have good protection against fraudulent usage because it happens all the time).

 

[brianmanahan]

I spend 20k a year on groceries alone.

you gotta go to aldi, man

 

[ponyo]

i couldn't even imagine living on $30k or what that would be like. hell i couldn't even imagine living on $60k if my wife and i both only made $30k each.

People have amazing ability to adapt. I'm sure you and your wife would manage fine if the situation demanded it.

 

[unokitty]

CNN/Money
... households with an income level under $15,000 spent about as much (on Apple products) as households with an income level between $125,000 and $150,000.

In some countries, having a low income might mean that you have to economize on your purchases. But not the US!

Here, households with an income under $15,000 spent about as much on Apple products as household with an income level between $125,000 and $150,000.

Nice that reporting a low income to the government isn't impacting a household's ability to purchase Apple products...

Maybe, that's why Apple has so much cash on hand...
...at one point, the cash on hand available to Apple, or its liquidity, was greater than that of the US Treasury.

While you may find the growing income inequality regrettable, Apple finds it pretty profitable...

Uno

 

[Svnla]

You're the only American!

Did you just read Politics and the English language or something?

You did not say that in your original post.

This is what you wrote:

I thought you were the only one mang.

What the hell is "mang"?

Can't hurt when you immigrate to America for the college system when you have a couple million either I'm sure.

The stinking rich with money and expensive cars is a very small subgroup.

How about the strong belief of hard work and value of eduction?

Asian Americans have a pervasive belief in the rewards of hard work. Nearly seven-in-ten (69%) say people can get ahead if they are willing to work hard, a view shared by a somewhat smaller share of the American public as a whole (58%). And fully 93% of Asian Americans describe members of their country of origin group as “very hardworking”; just 57% say the same about Americans as a whole.

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/06/19/the-rise-of-asian-americans/

 

[Mai72]

CNN/Money
... households with an income level under $15,000 spent about as much (on Apple products) as households with an income level between $125,000 and $150,000.

In some countries, having a low income might mean that you have to economize on your purchases. But not the US!

Here, households with an income under $15,000 spent about as much on Apple products as household with an income level between $125,000 and $150,000.

Maybe, that's why Apple has so much cash on hand...
...at one point, the cash on hand available to Apple, or its liquidity, was greater than that of the US Treasury.

While you may find the growing income inequality regrettable, Apple finds it pretty profitable...

Uno

That is just crazy. In America, it has gotten to the point that people expect to have an iPhone and a Beats headset. Those two alone will cost you nearly $1k. Add in the $65 a month phone bills.

Why do people need a smartphone anyway? It's not like having one will make their lives better. Most of these people don't use their phones for reading. They probably aren't taking online courses, listening to podcasts or audio books. If we were to view their smartphone habits, we would see that they use their "smartphones" for...

*gaming
*texting
*Netflix
*music
*social media (fb, twitter, snapchat, etc)

A total waste of money. How about investing and saving?

 

[OverVolt]

You did not say that in your original post.

This is what you wrote:



What the hell is "mang"?



The stinking rich with money and expensive cars is a very small subgroup.

How about the strong belief of hard work and value of eduction?



http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/06/19/the-rise-of-asian-americans/

And the other 21% commit the equivalent of seppaku (completely withdraw from society) if they fail a class. Just like Henry Ford should have done the first time he failed. He'd never make it big.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

per my mint.com account, the most i have ever spent in a single year is 33$k. and that's when i bought a 15$k car.

right now i am sitting at 20$k for 2015. and that's with 2 week-long vacations to FL and CO.

i grew up on that sort of spending, so it is pretty easy to continue living cheap.

I could live on much, much less too. In fact, I've often said that I'd like to make good money for the next 5-10 years and then after that, I can slide into some cushy government job maybe only making $50K and I'd be fine and coast to retirement. The only thing we really splurge on is vacations - any other big ticket items, I generally use credit card rewards or wait for sales. We have friends who make less than half of what we do and they don't have this sort of discipline.

i couldn't even imagine living on $30k or what that would be like. hell i couldn't even imagine living on $60k if my wife and i both only made $30k each.

Yeah, $30K would be tough to do unless the house was completely paid off. Of course, my wife has a government job that pays very well and is almost impossible to lose, so I could quit my job and her salary alone would support us. 🙂

 

[Svnla]

And the other 21% commit the equivalent of seppaku (completely withdraw from society) if they fail a class. Just like Henry Ford should have done the first time he failed. He'd never make it big.

Withdraw from society is killing oneself now? LOL.

Let say your 21% is true for the sake of argument, then the rest (79%) is still doing well.

Last time I check, 79% is a very good number to have. See my link above from Pew Research how them Asians are doing better than others as a group. What a chump group, how dare they believe in hard work? <sarcastic>

 

[ImpulsE69]

That is just crazy. In America, it has gotten to the point that people expect to have an iPhone and a Beats headset. Those two alone will cost you nearly $1k. Add in the $65 a month phone bills.

Why do people need a smartphone anyway? It's not like having one will make their lives better. Most of these people don't use their phones for reading. They probably aren't taking online courses, listening to podcasts or audio books. If we were to view their smartphone habits, we would see that they use their "smartphones" for...

*gaming
*texting
*Netflix
*music
*social media (fb, twitter, snapchat, etc)

A total waste of money. How about investing and saving?

Are you kidding? Look at how many people here drink the kool-aid on some of the overpriced junk and jumping on the 'next trend' bandwagons. Marketing has done it's job that is for certain. Look at the defenders of Amazon Prime and how they outright say " they don't price compare" they just buy from Amazon because of Prime even though when prime is factored in most items cost you more. It is all the same principal of laziness and misinformation.

 

[Engineer]

This week I spent $6,000 on headphones and $11,000 on guns and ammo.

What do I win?

???

 

[jlee]

As sarcastic as you are, I guarantee every one of them has a recent smart-phone in their hands every single day.

Yes, it is 100% your fault if you fall into poverty and stay in poverty. It's something you can dig out of REGARDLESS of your situation. There are a few exceptions (medical reasons, but those are incredibly rare and often untrue), but very very few.

I have an old ass-phone. I've been switching plans as needed to keep my bill low. We haven't had cable or satellite TV in over 3 years. I don't even have NetFlix / Hulu and our household income is well into the upper middle class. Go down the poorest neighborhood you can think of (or apartment complex). I fucking guarantee you there will be Satellite dish on 90%+ of them

There's a satellite dish on my house because it was there when I moved in.

Now what?

 

[natto fire]

rhetoric is by nature not "thought provoking". it's the opposite of thought.

Yeah, I used the wrong noun. Luckily, I am just posting to Anandtech, and my post was largely ignored.

 

[brianmanahan]

Yeah, I used the wrong noun. Luckily, I am just posting to Anandtech, and my post was largely ignored.

i ignore anything that involves south park

 

[natto fire]

i ignore anything that involves south park

If you ignore the art and political commentary that is South Park...

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

you gotta go to aldi, man

But... But... They don't even take credit cards! How the hell am I supposed to get my 3% cashback??

They opened one near us, I only went one time but it was very different. Much less of a grocery store and more like a convenience store. I didn't really like their selection, but it did have a few things.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

that's one of the reasons why i don't think i'll find anyone interested in becoming mrs. manahan. D:

but i am still holding out for maybe some woman who grew up in an orphanage. :awe:

then again, if i had someone who was earning another 100$k, i wouldn't mind spending another 25$k of it.

Women in general are (for the most part) stupid. There isn't a single male I know of that wants to decorate the house for every season change, but plenty of women I know (my wife included) feel the need to.

It's Halloween! Let's get some Halloween decorations!
It's Fall! Let's get some autumn decorations!
It's Winter! Let's get some winter decorations!
It's Christmas! Let's get some Christmas decorations!
It's Easter! Let's get some Easter decorations!

You get the picture.

Thankfully, my wife isn't that bad as others. Things like cheap $1 window stickers will suffice for decorations, heh. She also grew up poor as dirt with a household income of ~$20k and with 2 brothers. So that helps 😎

In total (If I take out my mortgage/extra principal payment since that is essentially a transfer from asset to debt), so far this year we have spent ~$47k (Jan-Oct). Thankfully I've convinced her that investment accounts are excellent vehicles that are more important than spending, so since getting married and everything I have gotten her to triple her 401k contributions, and started maxing out ROTH IRA's as well.

 

[madoka]

As sarcastic as you are, I guarantee every one of them has a recent smart-phone in their hands every single day.

I know a bunch of losers will say I'm lying, but I have no reason to lie.

Several years ago, I was shopping at Target when I overheard a young couple talking. One said to the other, "Tomorrow we need to get our Section 8 application and then go to the Apple store. I need a new iPhone because I cracked mine."

All I could do is stand there dumbfounded over what I heard.

 

[madoka]

???

Thank you. Thank you.

I believe you are deserving of the Arthur Award for best peasant:

 

[Engineer]

Thank you. Thank you.

I believe you are deserving of the Arthur Award for best peasant:

Your's was very deserving based on your post. Mine, not so much....but if it makes you feel better and above others (as you have already shown), have at it.

 

[DrPizza]

per my mint.com account, the most i have ever spent in a single year is 33$k. and that's when i bought a 15$k car.

right now i am sitting at 20$k for 2015. and that's with 2 week-long vacations to FL and CO.

i grew up on that sort of spending, so it is pretty easy to continue living cheap.

We can't all save money by living in our mom's basements. 😛 All kidding aside, not everyone can do that - rent alone would wipe out half of that in many markets. And, some people prefer to enjoy a little bit of life, rather than living to excess frugality. There needs to be some balance.

As sarcastic as you are, I guarantee every one of them has a recent smart-phone in their hands every single day.

Yes, it is 100% your fault if you fall into poverty and stay in poverty. It's something you can dig out of REGARDLESS of your situation. There are a few exceptions (medical reasons, but those are incredibly rare and often untrue), but very very few.

I have an old ass-phone. I've been switching plans as needed to keep my bill low. We haven't had cable or satellite TV in over 3 years. I don't even have NetFlix / Hulu and our household income is well into the upper middle class. Go down the poorest neighborhood you can think of (or apartment complex). I fucking guarantee you there will be Satellite dish on 90%+ of them

You're begruding someone poor for spending $30/month on entertainment? What should they do? Sit and read their Bibles by candlelight until they've become wealthy? To poorer people, that smart phone is a luxury item - almost a status symbol. By the same logic, you should be attacking people in the upper middle class tax bracket who, after a high mortgage on a McMansion and their monthly car payments on a couple of BMWs, are still in the living from paycheck to paycheck category.