Bay Area native here. Glad you found the rent prices on Google! Every part of the Bay has different costs, and in my opinion, San Francisco is one of the areas where you don’t get your money’s worth—many neighborhoods aren’t glamorous, and a lot of homes lack a two-car garage or backyard. It’s a great place for dining out options, though! Our utilities in a 2-bedroom, 2.5-bath condo aren’t nearly as high as the listed estimates. I also understand that "paycheck to paycheck" can mean different things depending on one's income. In college, I had a friend who always said he was broke, but his dad was in the NBA. I understood his "broke" was different from my "broke."
Slave mentality all of you. You’re indignant about how these 2 spend their own money???
Without considering for one second that someone who earns 720k is having to pay half of it to a terribly mismanaged government!!
We know where the 320k they get to keep is being spent, how is the great state of California and the US government spending their other 320,000? Yea, I have no idea either.
That’s the real crime here. Being a high earner, performing productive work (whatever that may be) and having literally worthless bureaucrats take half. But you all grate and mock this couple for “financial mismanagement” and “living beyond your means”. F off.
A slave’s mentality is one that favors the Master over the slave and chastises the slave for their actions and not the Master for being the slave owner. We are nothing more than tax slaves to them and these tax rates are enough!
I learned in my early 40s that paying interest and rent were the silent killer of my financial life. I was making decent money but at the end of the pay period, my checking account was empty.
I paid off my loans and bought a modest duplex home which I remodeled. I drive older cars as they are a depreciating asset. This gave me money to travel and have several motorcycles in the garage plus I was able to save substantial amounts of my salary. Today, I am 74 and retired very comfortably
Late to the party but I looooove stuff like this. Depending on when they purchased their home, I suspect it's in Pac Heights or maybe the Marina at that price/size. There's a certain status (in some circles) about living in those communities. It's probably an older building that was "rebuilt from the studs" and has some bland but expensive interior. Never mind that a MILE away are beautiful homes for a mil less that have a 2 car garage, deep lots, and lovely period details, but the kids would have to share a bathroom- the horror! Like how much interest are they paying on their mortgage? Throwing money at a bank. Anyway $2k a month on groceries sounds like they're getting a meal kits and are part of some wine clubs or are throwing parties every weekend. The rest feels par for the course for SF.
It is an odd thing to see that very scenario play out with my kids. They live in a very affluent neighborhood where the average homes are in the $2.5 million price range. It is a status area and my son in law has a career where he needs to look the part. Their bills are similar to what you presented. Although they do not travel, there is golf club membership about the same.
My daughter is a stay at home mom of two littles. They do not hurt for anything, but there is a saying I have gotten used to hearing: "I was told to stop spending money, but I just had to have..."(insert coffee, food delivery, outings, clothes..) And there is a lot of complaining about bills and living paycheck to paycheck.
For him, there is no moving to a lesser area or cutting back on spending, as they are doing the bare minimum within their class of society. He was raised that way and anything less is unacceptable.
Really good thoughts in here. The first step to investing more is to save more, and if we all audited our expenses there are many things we could cut out or downgrade a bit to make more cushion for disposable and investable income.
I will not acknowledge that. We’re allowed to have two different opinions. So, unless we see actual numbers to back up either of our claims, we both must respect each others opinion. Cheers 🍻
So you have never lived a life in which you do not have some discretionary income. Ok. But you also have never even known such people? Everyone in your circle has an income sufficient to support their needs plus some extra? You truly cannot understand that not everyone has enough money nor cover their basic needs? REALLY? And then you insist this is just a matter of opinion?
That’s … that’s really an astounding display of privilege.
My opinion is that for an overwhelming majority of us, if we look hard enough, we can always find ways to cut expenses. I do respect your opinion though, and I'm wishing you a happy and healthy New Years. Cheers 🥂
Ben, I can almost hear your indignant tone haha :)
Their spending habits go against your top advice to minimize the biggest expenses, namely, mortgage payments, to have their spending under control.
Haha yes this Twitter thread was very annoying to me.
Exactly. Even in San Francisco, $21,000 is insane.
Bay Area native here. Glad you found the rent prices on Google! Every part of the Bay has different costs, and in my opinion, San Francisco is one of the areas where you don’t get your money’s worth—many neighborhoods aren’t glamorous, and a lot of homes lack a two-car garage or backyard. It’s a great place for dining out options, though! Our utilities in a 2-bedroom, 2.5-bath condo aren’t nearly as high as the listed estimates. I also understand that "paycheck to paycheck" can mean different things depending on one's income. In college, I had a friend who always said he was broke, but his dad was in the NBA. I understood his "broke" was different from my "broke."
Slave mentality all of you. You’re indignant about how these 2 spend their own money???
Without considering for one second that someone who earns 720k is having to pay half of it to a terribly mismanaged government!!
We know where the 320k they get to keep is being spent, how is the great state of California and the US government spending their other 320,000? Yea, I have no idea either.
That’s the real crime here. Being a high earner, performing productive work (whatever that may be) and having literally worthless bureaucrats take half. But you all grate and mock this couple for “financial mismanagement” and “living beyond your means”. F off.
A slave’s mentality is one that favors the Master over the slave and chastises the slave for their actions and not the Master for being the slave owner. We are nothing more than tax slaves to them and these tax rates are enough!
This just pisses me off. The wealthiest people can stop bitching now.
Very interesting read. I wrote a similar newsletter from the Australian point of view https://drryana.substack.com/p/week-to-week
I learned in my early 40s that paying interest and rent were the silent killer of my financial life. I was making decent money but at the end of the pay period, my checking account was empty.
I paid off my loans and bought a modest duplex home which I remodeled. I drive older cars as they are a depreciating asset. This gave me money to travel and have several motorcycles in the garage plus I was able to save substantial amounts of my salary. Today, I am 74 and retired very comfortably
Late to the party but I looooove stuff like this. Depending on when they purchased their home, I suspect it's in Pac Heights or maybe the Marina at that price/size. There's a certain status (in some circles) about living in those communities. It's probably an older building that was "rebuilt from the studs" and has some bland but expensive interior. Never mind that a MILE away are beautiful homes for a mil less that have a 2 car garage, deep lots, and lovely period details, but the kids would have to share a bathroom- the horror! Like how much interest are they paying on their mortgage? Throwing money at a bank. Anyway $2k a month on groceries sounds like they're getting a meal kits and are part of some wine clubs or are throwing parties every weekend. The rest feels par for the course for SF.
It is an odd thing to see that very scenario play out with my kids. They live in a very affluent neighborhood where the average homes are in the $2.5 million price range. It is a status area and my son in law has a career where he needs to look the part. Their bills are similar to what you presented. Although they do not travel, there is golf club membership about the same.
My daughter is a stay at home mom of two littles. They do not hurt for anything, but there is a saying I have gotten used to hearing: "I was told to stop spending money, but I just had to have..."(insert coffee, food delivery, outings, clothes..) And there is a lot of complaining about bills and living paycheck to paycheck.
For him, there is no moving to a lesser area or cutting back on spending, as they are doing the bare minimum within their class of society. He was raised that way and anything less is unacceptable.
Really good thoughts in here. The first step to investing more is to save more, and if we all audited our expenses there are many things we could cut out or downgrade a bit to make more cushion for disposable and investable income.
Please qualify that as “many people” but not “all.” I’ve lived in a manner in which there was nothing left to cut and so have millions of others.
To each their own my friend 🙏🏼
Well, no. I would like you to acknowledge that what you’re suggesting absolutely is not a possibility for millions of people.
I will not acknowledge that. We’re allowed to have two different opinions. So, unless we see actual numbers to back up either of our claims, we both must respect each others opinion. Cheers 🍻
What an amazing level of privilege you have!
So you have never lived a life in which you do not have some discretionary income. Ok. But you also have never even known such people? Everyone in your circle has an income sufficient to support their needs plus some extra? You truly cannot understand that not everyone has enough money nor cover their basic needs? REALLY? And then you insist this is just a matter of opinion?
That’s … that’s really an astounding display of privilege.
My opinion is that for an overwhelming majority of us, if we look hard enough, we can always find ways to cut expenses. I do respect your opinion though, and I'm wishing you a happy and healthy New Years. Cheers 🥂