Cost of living is not the same as cost to exist.

[Prosper]

Living and existing are two different things. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are big words that are immediately denied by the right wing. The right always hide behind what is fair for paying taxes. How about raising the tax threshold to above the cost to live. I think the cost to “live” in the USA is about $60,000 a person. Probably higher and I will spend some time figuring what the cost to live really is. Not “exist” but live.

[rownesheck]

1. Yes!

Just being able to exist is awful. Homeless people are existing.

[frazzled]

2. Depends on what you mean by living

We are so consumed by financial and economic issues in this country, and by lifestyle, that it sometimes obscures what the real meaning of life is. I count myself among those who have sometimes gotten lost in this consideration, but as I get older, and through experience, I have come to re-evaluate.

I mentioned in another thread how when my spouse and I were young and didn't have a pot to pee in, I think we were the happiest we'd ever been. Why? Because (despite the relative joy of simply being young) the things that counted for us were conversations filled with lively ideas exchanged among friends over cheap wine and inexpensive meals. It was about books and music. And family. And nature, and art. We didn't expect much more than that.

And then we got bogged down with mortgages and job climbing and "nice" clothes and paying for the kids' colleges (still an issue) and wanting more "stuff."

But suddenly the big one hit: a brush with life-threatening, big-time cancer for my spouse. And we suddenly realized that the only thing that counted for anything for us was each other. And our families. And yes, back to the books and music and the very basics that that had once sustained us in our youths. This past winter (before the coronavirus and the stock market plunge) we met for the first time with a retirement financial adviser, and near the end of the meeting he asked us this question: if money were not a consideration, or impediment, what would you wish for or want? And we looked at each other, and we didn't know what to answer. Because the answer, at this point in our lives, is that we really don't want much of anything, except to continue to have each other and our children and grandchildren, and our books and music, and enough to eat and live on.

Love and family and dancing and and food and friends are what "living" means to much of the world. And those are values and pleasures many of us lose sight of here. It's the problem with looking only through the economic lens. We also need souls and hearts and joy to count ourselves as living well. And money can't always buy you those things.

[ret5hd]

3. "if money were not a consideration, or impediment, what would you wish for or want?"

What a great question, and what a great answer.

Spouse and I recently asked ourselves essentially this same question, and the takeaway answer we came up with is "less".
Less stuff. Less stuff. Less stuff.

We are in (what seems to be a long and slow) process of selling/donating/trashing...stuff. Ebay, donation bins, trashing.

We want more "time"...not necessarily more time on earth, but more time to do the "important" things. Which coincidentally means less need of money.

[frazzled]

4. Yes, and yes

We all start acquiring this wisdom as we move into the latter stages of life.

[TexasBushwhacker]

5. It varies greatly across the country.

[Initech]

6. Yeah you got to have a house, a car, insurance, food, clothes...

Also whatever your hobbies are, pets, children, whatever your children's activities are, the list goes on ...

[Prosper]

7. Notice the wisdom in the Declaration of Independence??

Two givens: life and liberty. And one wishful: pursuit of happiness. I am working on the cost of living trying to paramatize living. Our credit system allows living beyond your means dependent on future earnings. It won’t be too hard to determine a cost of living.