Income a family of four need to live comfortably by state in the U.S.

[Pew]

I do NOT believe in spending big $$$ on a wedding.

I’m old fashioned and do not like the circus atmosphere of fancy weddings.

Some parents will get a second mortgage to pay for a wedding…..

My ex's friend's wedding was 15k just for the ballroom and church reservation. All said and done it was nearly 25k for a non-grandiose generic wedding. My friend was smart when he got married and eloped; rather use the money towards the house.

No marriage and no kids for me. My siblings are the same way; marriage maybe but none of us want kids so our bloodline might affectively end at us. Interestingly, a lot of my older coworkers are the same, marriage maybe but a lot of them don't have kids. My CEO and her family is in their 70s and she and her siblings do not have kids.

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

Why did the marriage rate spike recently ?

Lots of Visas were about to expire.

 

[John105]

My ex's friend's wedding was 15k just for the ballroom and church reservation. All said and done it was nearly 25k for a non-grandiose generic wedding. My friend was smart when he got married and eloped; rather use the money towards the house.

No marriage and no kids for me. My siblings are the same way; marriage maybe but none of us want kids so our bloodline might affectively end at us. Interestingly, a lot of my older coworkers are the same, marriage maybe but a lot of them don't have kids. My CEO and her family is in their 70s and she and her siblings do not have kids.

We did one in midtown Manhattan for $29k in 2008, which was a feat. I was tasked with just the rehearsal dinner. Initially? Venues were saying we can do it for $95/head, which I thought was crazy. I did some wheeling/dealing and got $31 and was very pleased with myself…as far as parents getting a home equity, I paid. Do I regret it? Yes and no. I would never do it again nor do I recommend that anyone waste the money. But it has a lot of meaning for many brides to be, so that is the sole reason.

Haha another can of worms but people who are sans gift and rsvp and don’t show….see ya!

 

[eljefino]

The birth rate is down to 1.6 - just published recently. Replacement is about 2.1. So unless all these married folks get busy were still hosed.

We already have a demographics problem, lots of old people compared to how things were when they last made assumptions for Social Security, pensions, etc. It could be worse, it will get worse, but it's already happening.

The government can't fix this-- if everyone gets a COLA increase, that rising tide pulls prices up. If you want a nice retirement you've got to save more than your neighbor. And it looks like a few neighbors don't save very much at all, so just be less dumb than average, LOL.

BTW that low birth rate might be due to 20-somethings not starting families until they're established in houses and careers. I can't say that I blame them.

 

[John105]

We already have a demographics problem, lots of old people compared to how things were when they last made assumptions for Social Security, pensions, etc. It could be worse, it will get worse, but it's already happening.

The government can't fix this-- if everyone gets a COLA increase, that rising tide pulls prices up. If you want a nice retirement you've got to save more than your neighbor. And it looks like a few neighbors don't save very much at all, so just be less dumb than average, LOL.

BTW that low birth rate might be due to 20-somethings not starting families until they're established in houses and careers. I can't say that I blame them.

It’s funny about saving more than our neighbors.

I’m on a team of 7 and only 2 of us come into the office. You can say I feel the effects of failed wfh. In a sense, I am competing with my teammates to have a livelihood and doing their work. So they’re winning the race!

 

[Dave Hess]

I have invested my whole adult life and the housing market has outpaced my ability to generate capital. I am under 40, paid off all debt years ago, and have well over half a million dollars in the bank, make well over six figures, flipped three houses, run a private business, made tens of thousands in other investments, and still feel deflated because I can barely afford a better house in CO than I bought in 2011. My total net worth puts me close to, if not beyond, a millionaire.

I guess all my hard work is just to maintain the same standard of living I had ten years ago. It is definitely not irresponsible lending policy, free money, rampant inflation, or underreported demographic expansion…

I just don’t get the tough cookies attitude a lot of older people have.

It’s legit bad right now. It doesn’t mean it wasn’t bad when they were young, but it’s really bad right now.

And it will get much worse with inflation not going away and COL getting out of control.

 

[NiwradND]

Colorado used to be so great. Now it’s just cold California.

Alot of people moving out, saying the new drug laws are ruining the state. ??

 

[John105]

And it will get much worse with inflation not going away and COL getting out of control.

What is comfortable?

I have never been to Minnesota, but I did see the Mighty Ducks movie only over XMAS break, so when someone posted, "What are good places to relocate to in MN, no more than 45 min from the University, coming from NH?"

I jokingly replied that according to The Mighty Ducks movie, Edina is a great place.

This set off a flurry of comedic responses, and I learned a Minnesota saying. The woman who responded to me used the word outstate, instead of private school: "It's that time of year, when the north hates the metro, the metro hates the outstate, and everyone hates EDINA." Then of course the pass the cake comments, etc. I love learning local stuff, seriously. I think if I were to relocate there? Maybe Minnetonka. I care about public schools and it would seem both Minnetonka and Edina are top notch. So you'd need a lot of money to live in Edina as a familly of 4, despite overall MN having a reasonable cost of living. It's about what you want. Say 2 of the kids in the family of four play ice hockey. If your kids play ice hockey, well you need $15k per kid, that changes things quite a bit. And I've joked you need another $92k for the Tahoe or maybe $96k for a Suburban to get to the hockey tournaments.

The question that you were responding to, imho, in my parents' time, forget about my grandparents, nothing deterred them. It seems like today, people reveal all kinds of personal info, and would appear to be whining. I ask myself, do you see any positive in your accomplishments? My grandmother was an immigrant to this country. She worked as a clerk at 60 years old, at Alexander's department store (anyone remember it?). Yet within 10 years, she purchased her apt. building in Brooklyn NY. I didn't hear her complain when the borough went down and suddenly all her tentants were section 8. Imagine what that thing is worth today though.

Yesterday, my bro was getting his truck detailed (I've busted on him for not DIY so he said it's winter can't turn on the water), and the guy who owns the business just got a Cayenne Turbo flatbed'd over from the dealer (yikes). So he told my bro when my bro said his nephew (my boy) plays ice hockey: "My 8 yo always gets brand new gear." I thought to myself what's that supposed to mean? It would not seem to make sense for an 8 y.o.. Maybe that he's doing so well he wants my bro to know? Then he threw in, "Money is no object." This is how many behave today, so if money is not, no object, for some reason, they feel defeated?

Does anyone know how much gear is in this bag? Not everything is new, the elbow pads were $28 on eBay, the skates were hand me downs, as you can see the stick is entry level (got a nice one on clearance pre Black Friday but he doesn't need it now). To say money is no object isn't meaningful then the bag could be $2000 of stuff.

I can't recognize from the pic if this is a Cayenne or a Macan, but all of these things have become diminutive so not sure

 

[tbm5690]

What is comfortable?

In my opinion, too many are not happy with "comfortable" and still keep wanting more. Then comes the complaining, my life is hard, etc. comments. The bottom line: contentment is GREAT gain. Anyone not happy with having a climate-controlled living space with a roof over their head, clean water from the tap and food on the table needs to take a good hard look outside at the rest of the world and then a good hard look inside at their own adjusted sense of "need". Hope I'm not coming off too harsh