I have a special post for you today.

Cubert, one of the most entertaining financial bloggers I’ve read, offered to share his thoughts on how much it takes to live a middle class lifestyle today.

I’m not quite sure where he gets his numbers though. Where I’m from, it takes about $30K a year to pay for a simple three bedroom house. Maybe his numbers only apply to those who live far away from the US coastal cities.

Cubert is the author of Abandoned Cubicle. He’s an IT professional and less than three years from early retirement in his mid-40’s. He values time and relationships over money. A novel idea, right? Enjoy.

Why Households Need To Earn $30,000 A Year To Live A Middle Class Lifestyle Today

By Cubert at abandonedcubicle.com

I find it awfully difficult anymore to rationalize the numbers. The tax code changes, life circumstances change (kids!), and my wants and desires ebb and flow. It’s crazy how nowadays, you need $30,000 a year just to eek by as a member of the middle class.

I remember house hunting. Man, that was the pits. After spending four years living in an apartment, sharing space with a roommate, I was ready for a HOUSE! I was earning a steady paycheck. In fact, I might have been a little north of $30,000 a year. $32,320?

At any rate, I wanted to fire my real estate agent cuz he kept showing me $#!% houses. Granted, I didn’t know $#!% about houses either. I just saw shag carpeting, wallpaper, and old fixtures. All things that I now see with greedy little eyes as “opportunity.”

Living it up on $30K, and renting all the way

So there I was, content to keep on keeping on in my stylish apartment. No shag carpeting, no wallpaper. And bonus, it came with a stacked washer/dryer and air conditioning. What luxuries! I remember growing up having to beg to turn on the AC at home. My parents were like, nope. Turn on the fan. Too expensive to run AC right now.

Did I mention the heated, covered parking? That’s right. When it was my turn in the rotation, I got the spot in the garage. All I had to do was pray that when it snowed really bad, that it was my roommate’s turn to keep his car outside. Most often those prayers were answered. Muhahahaha…

Obviously I had a sweet set of wheels back then. A Saturn. Car payment wasn’t too bad though. $250 a month? That little demon got me from point A to point B just fine. Even my dates were impressed with the pop-up headlights (Rust? What rust?)

[Jason here, I wonder if we ran the numbers, how much that car really cost Cubert.]

On weekends, we’d hit the bar scene. Good times. Back then, you could inhale second-hand smoke all night long and feel richer for the experience. The Guinness tasted like Guinness, and the free popcorn was way oversalted. Perfect.

Vacations. All I ever wanted!

Getting out of town sure was nice. My job allowed two weeks of paid vacation and I was pretty sure I’d find a way to use those precious days. Drew up some wicked fun plans too. Drove 12 hours east, back to Michigan to hang with family and friends.

Good memories. The drive kinda sucked though, especially driving through Chicago with all those toll roads. So annoying. But a 12 CD changer gets you through the day.

There were even trips to the Apostle Islands, where a good friend invited a bunch of us office dorks to relax in the north woods on a pristine beach. Ahh, campfires to warm the naked bottom of a skinny dipper.

Northern Lights? Check. Had to buy some gas and food and charcoal though. Boy, that wasn’t cheap…

Savings and such

Being middle class isn’t easy. There were bills to pay. I had student loans, car payments, and I even let my credit card carry a balance at times. Still, I made sure to sock 8% of my paycheck into my workplace 401k plan. Just don’t ask me which funds I invested in. Probably some Madoff Eagle Return fund or something…

[Jason here again, young Cubert may have benefitted frim this post I wrote about properly using credit cards. Hint, paying interest on them is not winning. I’m glad present day Cubert gotten past that phase!]

I was good about paying off debts. My grandparents helped out for about $5K of my undergrad tuition, so rather than buying up from a Saturn to a Jeep Cherokee, I paid them back. Rather than jetting off to Cancun to party, I paid them back. Trust me. We partied on Madeline Island just as easy. Funny how that works.

[Jason back again. Thankfully, these days we can find ways to fly to our dream vacation for free and don’t have to stay within driving distance to save money.]

Even though I knew retirement was likely not possible until I approached my late 50s or early 60s, I was okay with that. I couldn’t anticipate the road in front of me. Work was actually okay, especially once I landed in a field that I excelled at (computers and networks.)

Dating Life

Ah yes. How to impress when you’re rocking a Saturn SC2 and sharing an apartment with a roommate. That’s a good book title right there. There are a few tools to help you survive being a middle class bachelor: One is having an education. The other is Men’s Health Magazine. Boy did I learn a few good tips from that rag.

You really should invest in some decent bedding and maybe consider some classy art to go above the headboard Keep going to the gym, you skinny stick boy! Work it! The socks should match the pants. Stop wearing black socks with everything. Try to use your kitchen to cook meals. The microwave isn’t your only appliance. Why aren’t you at the gym?!?

That’s not to say all of these tips applied to me, necessarily. But a few did. And they all helped. Somehow my middle class income didn’t detract from my ability to date some very nice ladies.

Reality Check. That was the late 90s. This is 2018, Cubert!

Well Rip van Winkle! I guess I should wake up and smell the coffee. Hell, things have changed in 20 years time, haven’t they? Heck, I remember buying a new TV back in ‘97 for $700. That was a super nice 27” flat-glass CRT.

Today? Well, good luck finding a CRT today my friends. You’ll be stuck with a super flat 50” LED HD Ultra for probably… Wait… $400???

Fine. Then good luck finding a decent car for $16,000. Nowadays, you’d have to drop at LEAST $8,000 to find a decent used Honda Fit that fits four passengers.

Wait a minute… Sigh. I’m not making a compelling argument so far about the increased cost of living, am I?

I know! I know! Taxes are higher! *crickets….* Nope.

Here’s one – this one’s legit too… Rent back then was about $800 a month. That was in the late 90s. I just looked it up. Lo and behold, my old apartments have been renovated. Spiffy. Rent is now $1,200 a month. 50% increase? Man. That would put a dent in the budget.

Another reality check? What if Cubert decided to get married and have a kid or two? Certainly then, the equation changes. I would argue, based on our actual history with with the twins, that $30,000 still works. It has to. Lots of hard working couples (and single moms and dads) have no other choice today. Should we label this “lower class” or “impoverished”? $28,290 is the 2017 Hawaii ceiling for poverty for a family of 4. Last I checked, Hawaii ain’t a cheap place to live.

Making it work. And loving life in the process.

You may need to have one parent stay at home to offset the $25,000 per year in childcare, until public school age. Maybe you have the good fortune of parents willing to watch Junior and Missy while both you and your wife work? We have neighbors that do this. We personally don’t have that option, with both sets of grandparents living out of state.

That food budget will shoot way up too. You’ll make trade-offs to make it work though. Instead of buying lunch every day like I did as a bachelor, you’ll pack a lunch. Instead of bringing home take out or ordering pizza, you’ll prepare a meal, and actually eat the leftovers. Grim, no?

What about retirement and savings? That gets tricky. But I know I’ve read somewhere about people who make modest but very reasonable incomes, who somehow manage to become millionaires. Hmmm… Ah yes, THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR! Ha! Bingo.

In fairness, it’s not a life of luxury. $30,000 as a bachelor is still very much do-able. As a couple? Sure, you could swing it. But you’d probably want to kick out the roommate at some point. If you have kids, then things get pretty damn tight. In that circumstance, better be done paying those student loans off, and you better be driving a paid off used car or cycling. But it IS achievable.

But can you be “Happy”?

It seems to me there’s a certain mindset out there in the blogosphere that equates luxury to happiness. I guess I won’t argue that. Whatever works for you.

But I look no further than the Blue Zones studies to remind myself that happiness isn’t about driving around town in an armored Cadillac SUV, or buying luxury vacations in Grand Cayman. Give me a used Fit and friends on some up north beach any day.

Give yourself a Rosebud moment, Citizen Kane, and remember that happiness transcends money. In college, when we were penniless, we were surrounded by friends and all the trouble we could possibly get into. While we weren’t studying of course. A-hem…

Even if you disagree with the notion that $30,000 is enough to live a middle class life, at least you will agree that you don’t need $300,000. No one needs $300,000 for jack.

[Jason here a final time. I certainly don’t NEED to earn $300K a year, but it sure would be nice to. The extra savings would move up my FI date quite a bit. Well, it would, as long as we can avoid using the cash for a bigger house or nicer car.]

How much do you need to live a middle class lifestyle in your locale today?

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