Living paycheck to paycheck on 200K at year

[Liberal_in_LA]

I'd say that even DU would see how this couple is struggling on 200K a year. They took out the student loans for their kids! Those adult kids should consider helping their parents if they have the means

Debt-ridden couple needs to cut back on expenses

Mark, 63, and Melissa, 59, have learned that the hard way. They owe more than they own, and despite an annual income of about $200,000, they can’t seem to stay current with their bills.

They’re behind on their mortgage and they owe back taxes to the IRS. And that’s just the beginning.

"It’s a ceaseless struggle of paying off our debts," says Mark.

Mark says they’d like to get current and stay current with their two mortgages, pay off more than $335,000 in student loans they took for their three grown children and pay off their credit card obligations.

--------------------------------------------------

If they want to pay off the student debt in 12 years when Mark is 75, they need to pay about $40,000 a year on the loans. Lynch says this means to pay the college debt alone, they need to earn about $60,000 before taxes.

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2011/07/debt-ridden_couple_needs_to_cu.html

[Kaleva]

1. It looks like the student loans for their kids is the major problem.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. yep. Probably taken out recently, too near retirement.

[Dappleganger]

3. 9K for vacations and 3.5K for housecleaning and yard work.

Yeah, right. These people went in the hole because they were pretending to be rich.

[Enrique]

13. 9,000 in vacations

some "struggle" :rofl:

[Odin2005]

38. Typical upper-middle class whiners.

[Kaleva]

44. They'd need to pay 40k a year for them to pay off the student loans by the age of 75

Hopefully, the adult kids can take over the payments or at least help out. The whole family appears to have the attitude that it's best to live high off the hog now and maybe the huge debt will just take care of itself later.

[kestrel91316]

47. At 200k they could have BECOME rich, if they just hadn't been such morans

with all that money.

[Dappleganger]

62. Seriously.

At 200k they could have probably paid cash for a home if they had rented for awhile. They could have paid cash for cars, cash for college, etc. Jesus, with that kind of money we could pay for all of our stuff and have $$ left over to help out family in just one year.

[brewens]

4. Let's see if I can work up a little sympathy for them.....................

Nope. Not yet. Better hope they don't have any real medical issues or they'll need more than a whambulance.

$200 large every year and you can't make it? Cut back to about the lifestyle my girlfriend and I have and you get about $160 grand to pay off your debt. Granted we probably live in a lower cost area so you might not be able to get that low.

[Creideiki]

15. I'm in a higher cost of living area (Denver about the same as Chicago suburbs)

40k is plenty. 30k works. Heck, 18k gets rent and basic food and utilities.

[Cereal Kyller]

18. I want the chance...

to "struggle" with $200 grand per year!

[Liberal_in_LA]

20. hee! Me too! I'd continue to live on my current salary and save / do good with the rest

How about you?

[kick-ass-bob]

74. Actually no, you wouldn't.

You say that now because you don't have it, but I 100% guarantee that if you made 200k, you wouldn't live your same lifestyle - you would increase something, unless you already are making 100+k. Maybe you drive a cheap car that 'does OK' but you have the constant worry about it breaking down. You go get another car that is newer so you aren't scared to death to drive to work every day (like I was).

This next part isn't really directed at you, L_i_LA, but to everyone on this thread who is spitting their venom:

Sure, these people fucked up and didn't pay attention to what they were doing but it sickens me to see how everyone here jumps on them like they were serial killers or something. Did you all never fuck up? Or I guess everything was done to you by someone else, and everyone here is a victim. That's bullshit and you know it. You say no one gives you a chance? Your own negativity keeps you down, not because of some God smiting you or some magical power of attraction, but because everyone around you can feel it and doesn't want to be around you to give you that chance.

Hating on them because they make money (which is a sport here lately)?. Well fucking hate me too. My wife and I make well over 100k, live in a ~300k house and have 2 new-ish cars. Just because you start making more money doesn't mean you are some Palin worshipper who rails on the evil socialists whenever you get a chance.

We used to get the EIC. 7 years ago we had to file bankruptcy. Now I do well. Don't hate because someone makes good money. And don't hate because someone fucked things up. Sometimes they just need to learn what no one was willing to teach them.

[GoCubsGo]

41. I'd be happy to "struggle" on a quarter of that!

In fact, that's around what I was making before I got laid off. And, I was putting money away. Did I read correctly that they are paying off their adult childrens' student loans? Are those children incapable of paying them off themselves, like every other college grad I know does? Count me among those who have no sympathy for these people. Bed. Made. Lie.

[WinkyDink]

5. Yeah, like people making less than half that DON'T have kids they'd like to send to college. CMAR.

[Taitertots]

6. Some people are broke because they choose to be, some are broke no matter what they choose

These stupid assholes bought a $500,000 house, $9,000 a year for vacations, $3,000 for house cleaning and lawn care, $15,000 a month expenses. This is absolute bullshit. Some rich assholes bitching because they can't afford to live like kings anymore.

[Enrique]

7. please

i walk through my towns homeless park every day on my way to work. This story has little impact on me:

""
Next, they should drastically cut back on their discretionary expenses, which include annual costs of $9,000 for vacations, $5,400 for snacks and meals out and $3,420 for house cleaning and lawn maintenance.""

[Whisp]

24. 2 mortgages?

having a bit of trouble feeling sorry for them. Keeping up with the Jonses is quite expensive, ain't it? and pretty stupid.

[QC]

8. I should introduce them to my friend who spent the summer of 2009 in a tent

behind an abandoned restaurant because he lost his job.

[Marrah_G]

9. This is why my son is going to school in the Mass Air Nat Guards dime.

He'll be living at home until I move and then he will room with friends until he graduates. They are paying 100% tuition and fees, he did his first year of college in Tech school and came out with computer certifications and clearances that will allow him to work part time for good money and on top of it all he has the GI bill and GI bill kicker.

His girlfriend is going to school complements of the State of MA just for doing well on her MCAS tests (my son also had this option). Both of them can attend any state school for free and have marketable skills (hers in Spanish and SA history and his in IT, Arabic and aerospace engineering).

My fiance's son on the other hand went to a private college for sports management. Can't find a job. His folks are on the hook for tens of thousands because the loans are in their name not his.

I urge all parents to look for college options and state schools or even skilled worker types schools and apprenticeships. One of my main goals as a broke working class mom was to make sure my boys did not go off on their own with massive debts because I would not be in the position to help them.

[Liberal_in_LA]

congrats for your good planning. I've seen too many unknowledgeable

kids saddled with huge loans.

[L0oniX]

10. Fuck them!

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. wow.

[Maru Kitteh]

72. No, seriously. Fuck them.

At my house, we are 5 adults (one elderly and disabled) living on 58K a year. Total. Three are in school full time with part-time jobs. Not only do we make do with what we have, choosing responsibly to live within our means allows us some very small amount of comfort. We manage to put a little away still for retirement which we could use in case of dire emergency (not to falsely maintain a lifestyle, the way these IDIOTS did) and we monitor our expenditures like - oh, I don't know - like our well-being depends on it. We know we are one relatively minor crisis from the edge at all times.



Meanwhile, back in "Cry-Me-a-Riverville"

"Next, they should drastically cut back on their discretionary expenses, which include annual costs of $9,000 for vacations, $5,400 for snacks and meals out and $3,420 for house cleaning and lawn maintenance. "

So they're asking me for sympathy because they have to cut back on the maid service, fine dining and bitchin' vacays?



Wow my ass.

[Change Happens]

28. [phone]

[Upton]

30. +200,000

[JVS]

33. +1

[shanti]

11. their financial counselor

suggested bankruptcy...too much debt too late in the game. :(

[NNN0LHI]

25. If I owe the bank ten grand I am in deep shit. If I owe them a million they are in deep shit

:P

[customerserviceguy]

31. Bankruptcy is where I'd go with this situation

And if their bank will not negotiate a short sale, then mail them the keys and walk away. They can rent an apartment adequate for their needs for a couple of thousand a month. I don't know if the student loans would be dischargable in bankruptcy, but it might be tough for the creditors on that to touch them if they manage to own nothing lienable, and can keep wages from garnishment. Even if they're stuck with the $40K in annual payments as long as they have a job, on $200K, they should be able to make it.

At the point of retirement, their Social Security would not be liable for their debts, and maybe the gamble they took on those kids' educations will pan out. Perhaps if one of the three kids is successful as a result, maybe they can go live with that offspring in their declining years. That's where they blew their money on an 'investment'. Hope those kids have degrees that lead to jobs.

I used to be a tax accountant back in the 1980's, and I never saw an income that couldn't be outspent. I also saw a lot of people accomplish their dreams on relatively low-paying jobs, if the whole family was willing to pull together for the common good.

[shraby]

34. I thought student loans can't be forgiven in bankruptcy.

[BiggJawn]

57. They can't. n/t

[shanti]

65. except for those

someone else stated that some financial aid might be allowed though. :shrug:

[DotGone]

14. So after accounting for student loans, they can't live off $140K?

Even after accounting for the $60K in income for student loans, they would still have an income of $140K to live off. I'll be generous and say the loans consume $80K/yr, so that still leaves them with an income of $120K to live off. The problem I see is their lifestyle. $9K vacations? $5400/yr for snacks? That's more than 3x my grocery bill.

[Liberal_in_LA]

16. well...that's what the financial planning is helping them to understand

even high paid people make poor financial choices

[customerserviceguy]

32. In my experience

some highly paid people make the poorest choices, just because they have so much that they can piss away.

[Odin2005]

40. These idiots should be forced to live like the working poor for a while.

That should instill some financial discipline on these profligate, tone-dead, whiny assholes.

[customerserviceguy]

43. At the rate they're going

That will be in their old age, if they make it that long. Unless they find a way to kick up those meager retirement savings, or can live with a kid who prospered as a result of having a costly education without student debt to pay off, they'll find Social Security to be poverty level, relatively speaking, even at the large estimate of the monthly sum they'd get.

[salin]

17. the size of the college loan debt - suggests their spending problems predate

the current hard times. The numbers suggest that the plan to pay for college was last minute (ala financing by student loans) rather than balanced by savings. Unless they only recently saw a climb in earnings - they likely had enough to put some money aside to save/invest for their kids future college costs. I know I am making some assumptions - but given their current lack of calibration of spending to income (9 K on vacations?) it seems to follow that this isn't a story of the financial down times.

[Liberal_in_LA]

21. good point. Article says they cashed out his 401(k) when he had a salary reduction

Maybe he made more money in the past. But also, maybe he had a large dip in income from which they are just recovering from.

[Shagbark Hickory]

19. (tap tap). Uh oh. Looks like we're out of sympathy.

We're goin' down.

[pipi_k]

22. Orchestra of one playing the world's smallest violin here...

Student loans.

Really?


My youngest stepdaughter put herself through eight years of college paying when she could and taking out student loans in her OWN name.


Her mom and stepdad are loaded.

Her dad and I aren't.

Nobody helped her.


We live on less than half what that couple makes. My sympathy meter is registering "zero".

[TheKentuckian]

23. Then how do they expect those that don't make 10% of that to get by at all?

Do this folks think that 15k full time is an acceptable wage for anyone?

Chances are these folks are fuckwits. They are crying but have no problem with others being expected to pull their weight on pennies on their dollar.

[kestrel91316]

48. Dollars to donuts they are good card-carrying Repigs, too.

[JHB]

26. And exactly how did they incur those debts?

$335,000 for the student loans
$478,000 for two mortgages. One was presumably to buy the house. What was the other for?
$ unstated (presumed high) credit card debt.

Up to a point I feel bad that they're in a jam, but it looks like the put off some tough spending decisions for far too long, especially after the salary reduction that was mentioned.

[Change Happens]

27. Lol...If you don't know how to live on $200K/year, you are a fucking idiot!! And, if the kids got

college degrees, they need to pay their parents, RIGHT FUCKING NOW!

Assholes kids, if they want to watch their 65-75 year old parents buried in debt and not help out.

[Liberal_in_LA]

29. agree about the kids, it they have good incomes they should pay up

[krabigirl]

42. This. The kids should be at least helping to pay those loans.

[EC]

35. I'll bet they are sure glad they have Social Security

and it wasn't turned into a private stock scheme.

[Odin2005]

36. I'll play a sad song on my little fiddle for them. Fuck them.

If you make $200,000 a year and are not making ends meet you are an idiot pretending to be rich, like these 2 idiots. I get about $12,000 a year and am barely making ends meet. Fuck these upper-middle class twits and their whining.

[kestrel91316]

49. What Odin said.

[LeftyMom]

37. Oh, to have their problems. nt

[lapislzi]

69. We have a saying around here.

If everybody threw their problems in a hat, you'd wind up taking your own back. I would neither envy, nor mock, someone who's having a hard time. No matter what the cause.

Raise your hand if YOU'VE never made a bad choice. Some bad choices reverberate worse than others.

[spanone]

39. where the hell are their kids?

[kestrel91316]

50. Partying and vacationing, one presumes.

[Odin2005]

55. Future Casey Anthonys!

:puke:

[thelordofhell]

45. I'll take a wild stab in the dark here...............

republicans

[kestrel91316]

46. Boo hoo. Anybody who makes more than ten times what I do and can't

get by will get no sympathy from me.

[woodsprite]

51. We told our first born that she could

choose any university she wanted to go to, BUT, one of the benefits of working at a university is discounted tuition. I told her if she didn't want to go where I worked, we'd be happy to take her to a bank so SHE could fill out student loan papers. She wasn't interested in taking the bank route, so she is attending in state and living at home (we're 5 min from one of their campus bus stops so she won't have to ride in with me unless she wants to). She said she'll save the loans for graduate school.

[laylah]

52. My heart goes out to them!

I was raised "education, education, education"! THAT was in the 50-60's, though I learned, early on, experience meant SO much more...back then, before education became a scam, and a scam it is.

We "programmed" our girls, education before serious boyfriends. They listened to us, now both, to include their dad, owe mega-bucks. WASTED mega bucks in today's world.

I wish this family well.

[blueamy66]

53. I wonder if either of them has a substance abuse problem

just asking....cause that willl drain anyones' bank account.....and it's a disease people......trust me

[Ishoutandscream2]

54. 9 thousand a year in vacations? A second home?

Finding it hard to sympathize.

[Odin2005]

56. I find it sick how the MSM is trying to get us to feel sympathy for these idiots.

[salin]

68. or their repeating the meme that folks in financial trouble did it to themselves

a way of dismissing a large swath of our country that is in true economic straits.

[BiggJawn]

58. I looked all over my 500-foot apartment

trying to find some sympathy for these people. Guess what, I couldn't find any.
The kids need to step up and help mom and dad out with the loans.
Mom and dad need to pull the plug on the 9 kilobuck vacations and unfortunately, they should let go of the housekeeper.

Really now, are we supposed to feel sorry for these fuckwits or something? that's about like that bozo from WI who said he couldn't make it on a $176,000 a year congresscritters salary.

[Enrique]

59. and then theres the people whose unemployment has run out

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1458715

[Indykatie]

60. Couple Never Restarted their 401Ks Despite Having $200K Earnings

How foolish when their employers' undoubtedly had a match provision. They don't deserve to even experience the fantasy of thinking about retirement. They obviously planned on working til death. Let's hope their employment situation holds. Their story is so ridiculous I almost wonder if it's been exaggerated for effect. What idiot takes an expensive vacation when they are struggling with debt some at a 27% interest rate. Not to mention the fact that they raised children who despite their private university education haven't seen fit to take over the debt for their education. (assuming they have jobs of course)

[MouseFitzgerald]

61. Is this a joke?

This cant be serious.

[Tallulah]

64. I know quite a few people

living like this. I can't understand it myself. I have little sympathy.

Reminds me of this :


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0HX4a5P8eE

[Lucian]

63. Oh those poor people.

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

They should live on $12,500/year. Then we'll see how hard it is to live.

:nopity: for them.

[Philippine expat]

66. I have no sympathy for someone who can't live on $200k n/t

[Enrique]

67. meet the "job creators"

Mrs. Mark and Melissa Jobcreator.

[Maru Kitteh]

71. Yes, we should all genuflect before their obvious wisdom for we meeklings know nothing of their

awesome money-handling skills. It's why they are so darn well-off to begin with. Because they're so awesome.

[Bill McBlueState]

70. Clearly, people at all incomes make bad decisions.

Above which income should I mock someone for their bad decisions instead of having sympathy for them? I can't find the answer to this anywhere, but some of you seem to know.

[Maru Kitteh]

75. Eating that macaroni salad even though it tasted a little funny is a bad decision.

This is two people sitting with their thumbs up their butts, blowing through $15,000 a month in "living expenses" asking for my sympathy because their going to have to scale back their $9000 vacation and the maid service.

I'm not mocking them. There is nothing jest-worthy here. This couple is emblematic of the greedy "my life is a Chase Sapphire Credit Card Commercial" types who think their little precious Janies and Stevies shit doesn't stink so they shouldn't have to pay for their own education. They drive the Lexus with the gold badge and make sure they are seen by the right people on the right golf course and strategically place those photos of themselves with various politicians and celebrities next to the vacation photos in the Himalayas and on the Riviera where they can be seen. Oh, how they NEED to be seen.

They are not in the least bit funny to me.

[Name removed]

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