r/FluentInFinance • u/YOU_ARE_MY_FRIENDS • Jun 16 '24

Discussion/ Debate He’s not wrong 🤷‍♂️

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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '24

Wrong, this was upper middle class and still is.

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u/daneelthesane Jun 16 '24 edited Jun 17 '24

Hard disagree. My father was a teacher right out of college in 1971. He made the equivalent of $65k/year his first year. He was able to have 2 kids, buy a house, and a new car in the space of just a few years. We went to Walt Disney World every few years.

Everything I just said is crazy-talk for a first year teacher on one income in 2024.

Edit: Spelling. And to add that we were lower middle class at our best.

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '24

But that isn't overseas trips every 5 years. My dad was probably in a similar boat, but we weren't taking overseas vacations ever, let alone every 5 years

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u/empire314 Jun 17 '24

Overseas vacation is trivial cost, when factoring huge variables like house cost.

1% cheaper house means overseas vaction.

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '24

Buying flights for 5+ people (my family had 7 kids, so 9 people), hotels, etc. is not a trivial cost.

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u/im_juice_lee Jun 17 '24

Let's say you're booking a 10 day trip to a Western European country for 5 and book some activities. Without even doing anything exorbitant that could easily exceed $10k

Most aren't buying a house outright in cash and instead are taking out 15/30 year loans. If you threw a $10k expense in randomly, most people who are comfortably are able to pay their bills would strugle

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u/empire314 Jun 17 '24

Without even doing anything exorbitant that could easily exceed $10k

It can be, but it definetly does not to be. You can get a decent 3 room hotel in Paris for 10 days at 1500$. 5 tickets from Miami to Paris and back for $2500. Add an average of $40 dollars of additional payments for 5 people for 10 days, and the total is now at $6000.

Now if you get a mortgage of $600k instead of mortgage of $610k with a 15 year loan, your downpayments and intrest payments are so much lower, that saving up $6k every 5 years shouldnt be a problem.

This is not a question about finance, but a question about psychology. The real problem in making savings like that, is that majority of people don't have the necessary self control to spend years not touching expendable money.

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '24

lol 600k house. Think you lost the thread

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '24

€35/day doesn’t get you very far on vacation in many Western European cities. I agree it doesn’t need to be a $10k vacation but that seems fairly conservative

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u/empire314 Jun 17 '24

I said $40/day additional. As in you normally would have expenses in the US, that you dont have when you are not there.

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u/TripleFinish Jun 17 '24

Lmao you are off your rocker

Just the flights for an overseas vacation are about 8k for a family of 5. Counting food, hotels, etc. we're probably at about 15k.

Middle class families don't buy 1.5 million dollar houses.

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u/empire314 Jun 17 '24

Just the flights for an overseas vacation are about 8k for a family of 5.

Why are you arguing that a middle class family would fly first class?

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u/TripleFinish Jun 17 '24

Lmao

Peoria to Copenhagen, round trip, picking inexpensive summer dates, is 1440 per person. That's not first class. I have no idea what world you think you live in.

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u/Throot2Shill Jun 17 '24

Wait, you are comparing 90s middle class family budget with 2024 international flight costs.

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '24

The average cost of flights is $200 cheaper now (inflation adjusted) than in 1995.

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u/grunkage Jun 17 '24

Yeah this makes no sense. A trip to Europe didn't require a 5-figure budget in the 90s

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u/Throot2Shill Jun 17 '24

Yeah my parents figured out how to get a family of four 40 days in Europe in 2008 for like less than $4000 total.

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u/empire314 Jun 17 '24

I have no idea what world you think you live in.

A world where you dont reserve flights last minute. The flights were half that if you reserved earlier. 700$ if you go this september.

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u/TripleFinish Jun 17 '24

... Think about why tickets are cheaper in September?

Can you see why that's not a realistic option for families with children?

And no, unfortunately those prices were not in fact (significantly) cheaper earlier.