<p>gnusasaurus,</p>
<p>Thank you for your beautiful post. I hope I didn't come across as disappointed in my parents; it's just an awkward situation to be in (like most aspects of diplomacy, all of it seems so temporary). I don't want to think about how it would look on finaid application forms! ;)</p>
<p>at least your parents have a "cool" job!</p>
<p>A more direct answer to thisyearsgirl,</p>
<p>An annual salary of 200K is far from being wealthy, though many might think it is wealthy. </p>
<p>In the case of my family, some might consider us wealthy, but in addition to trying to figure out how to put two kids through college (plus pay for the bulk of my nieces college), we are also at an age that a good portion of our resources have to be committed to retirement planning. </p>
<p>I think financial planning experts recommend having enough resources to give yourselves 60% of your current income in retirement. Our current retirement resources are nowhere near enough. At age 51, I am probably at or near my peak earning power. Our dear Uncle Sam has determined that 66 is an appropriate retirment age for me, so that gives me 15 years to try to get our financial house in order. I think social security will contribute about $2,000 per month in benefits for my wife and I, assuming we both survive. Assuming we will have no house payments or car payments in retirment, we will still need a lot of additional income. Property taxes, insurance, utilities are expensive, and will continue to go up. Paying for health care will be our biggest challenge, and we are both healthy at this point. </p>
<p>Also, my mother is age 70 and cannot afford to maintain herself, she has zero savings. so that is soon going to require additional committment from us. </p>
<p>A lot of us are probably experiencing these same demands of kids college, parents, our own retirement, etc.</p>
<p>Edit: This should have been directed to the original poster, as thisyears girl pointed out, sorry for the mistake of identity. :)</p>
<p>Are you sure that your last post wasn't directed to the OP (IcicleRose)? I know that the idea of wealth can't be reduced into a fixed number; she raised the point in her post. I only shared my own family's experience.</p>
<p>thisyearsgirl,</p>
<p>I didn't think you came across as disappointed at all! I also thought that was a fine question to ask. Gives you some perspective.</p>
<p>Although your parents situation may seem temporary, be assured that it is the same for most us. I spent much of my career going from job to job that lasted about 3-4 years at a time, so it was also very temporary. I currently own a business. If technology were to change or business conditions change unexpectecdly, this business could end abruptly. I expect to have this business for awhile, but i cannot tell you if it will survive 5 years or 10 years. Like most things in life, jobs and businesses are temporary. Most of us find comfort in knowing that families are permanent. :)</p>
<p>okay, when I started this thread I did not know it would create such an uproar! we all have our own opinions as to what is wealthy and what is not.... and some people who are wealthy just refuse to admit it. Most americans consider themselves to be middle class, even if they live in a multimillion dollar house on a lake and drive a mercedes and have kids that go to Exeter...... and make 350k per year.</p>
<p>I think you are missing the point.
Most Americans do not make $350,000 a year, in fact far from it & most members of CC do not either.
However many of us are committed to continuing our or our childrens education, whether that means we pay for it out of cash on hand, take loans or out of special accounts.
Why would people who are wealthy refuse to admit it? I feel we believe in this country that those who are wealthy deserve it by being smarter/harder working/ focused than the average schump. We vote for people who vow to keep vast wealth in the hands of the wealthy, and vote against government benefits to help the poor because afterall if they were as hardworking/smart they wouldn't be poor now would they?</p>
<ol>
<li>Certainly not everyone on this board is extremely wealthy. If they were, why would there be a whole section devoted to Financial Aid? I myself am certainly not from a family that makes anywhere near that amount, and from a lot of the anecdotes all over this board, neither are most of the rest of the posters here.</li>
<li>I do in fact consider $200K wealthy. Forgive me for saying it, but those of you who talk about not having enough for retirement should stop to consider that many people instead are wondering how to pay for their electricity bill that was due several months ago so that it won't be cut off. It is a luxury to be able to think so far ahead and a sign of wealth. Maybe not stinking-filthy-rich wealth, but are you not wealthy if you have a significant surplus? </li>
<li>Emeraldkity4, I hope you don't agree with the opinion you quote at the end of your post.</li>
</ol>
<p>gnu, what I meant was that it was IcicleRose who posed the question, not me. Sorry about the confusion.</p>
<p>kitkattail, unless I completely misread emeraldkity's post, I do believe that her last paragraph was a sarcastic reference to the reasoning by which many politicians (and others) seem to operate. I may be wrong, but I didn't take it at face value as her actual opinion.</p>
<p>kitkat- if you had been familiar with the content of my OMG over 2000 posts- you wouldnt have to ask that ?</p>
<p>we do recieve finaid for my oldest daughter who attends a school that meets 100% of need. However our EFC is still about 1/4 of our income and we have to borrow to meet it. Still it is our choice and I am glad that we have the opportunity.
FOr those who can't afford to send their children to college right now or who have to borrow to do so- there is no shame in that.
Neither I nor my husband have attended a 4 yr college- and we ahve managed to carve out a pretty fullfiling life anyway.
The poor are not noble but neither are the rich evil ( well not most)</p>
<p>We aren't rich in income but we don't have any credit cards and besides our mortgage the only loan we have is a small PLUS loan. We do pay all our bills and I have sympathy for those who struggle- been there done that. But if someone doesn't have the money to pay their utility bills- I don't think CC is likely to be much help</p>
<p>You might feel that way because, in general, you might think that the kids who would feel so strongly about going to a top-tier college would be ones who have the academic chops to actually apply. And good grades/education, great SAT scores, special extracurriculars etc usually are possessed by kids with more wealth. CC users might seem quite priveledged because they seem so educated. No one thinks that many 1500+ SATs, 4.0s are coming out of the slums. CC users often have those stats.</p>
<p>Anyway: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=73674&page=3&pp=20%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=73674&page=3&pp=20</a></p>
<p>Read the horror stories on that thread. Kids who have crackpot teachers who teach in high school campuses next to garbage dumps usually aren't rolling about in money.</p>
<p>Emeraldkity: I'm glad then, and sorry to question you. It sounded vaguely sarcastic, but I wasn't sure, so I thought I would ask. It's so hard to tell online whether or not people are being serious when you don't know them at all.
I'm not suggesting, by the way, that there are tons of people on CC in that kind of a dire financial situation. But when (according to the US Census Bureau), the median American income is only about 43000, I feel that we need to get a little perspective here. 200 000 dollars doesn't mean that you have no financial worries at all, but certainly you're within the range of what most people would call "wealthy," and you should perhaps take a moment to count your blessings.</p>
<p>I think very few people have admitted to income of $200,000-
Our house is supposedly worth that much- actually it is assessed at $375K. ( we bought it for $72K) But considering that it is less than 1000 sq ft- that it is over 100 years old- hasn't been remodeled since it hase been built if you don't count adding indoor plumbing!- it isn't really on the same level as homes in cheaper part of the country that sell for half the price.
Yes we could move someplace cheaper- but our jobs are here and we love it here. I think it is important for all people to recognize that we have choices, every day and to honor those choices.
When I chose to have children, I recognized that , despite all the wonderfulness that kids add, that kids take time, kids take money and kids take energy. Probably why I chose to only have two and to have them 8 years apart.
really once you have the basics taken care of- clean water- access to health care- a roof over your head and a Prada handbag ( JK) the rest is gravy.
I recognize that there are desperate pockets of poverty in this country- still many who are poor on paper are certainly far from poor in the way they live their lives.
We make far from $200K but we have all the money we need. :)</p>
<p>My daughter went to private boarding school on a scholarship, just to raise hand with the 'not wealthy' group</p>
<p>We've never made near 200,000, though we make enough not to get aid. i don't see how someone making that couldn't pay full tuition out of pocket; we do on far less. What else would you spend all that money on? And yes, I think it's wealthy.</p>
<p>No where near. Not even half.</p>
<p>my take is that the people on this website are representative of the typical economic makeup of a top school, many rich, alot middle class, and some poorer. If course I have nothing to base this on...</p>
<p>I am only rich at heart.</p>
<p>i am not trying to sound like an arrogant piece of ****, but my dad makes over 500,000 anually as he is an orthodonist. However, 1 sibling in middle school and two in college, the money doesn't go as far as you guys might think. Sure, i have a reallllly nice house, bmws/mercedes and the whole package deal, but i can tell you, it isn't as smooth as it looks. Between the house, cars, mortgage payments, taxes (a lot for the top of the top bracket), there isn't that much left. Some of this money goes to life insurance stuff, retirement, stock market, investments. When it is all set and done, there isn't that much money left over when supporting a large family in a realllllllllllly affluent area where everyone is wealthy--well, at least it seems as I am trying to allude to.</p>
<p>I hope that was as tongue in cheek as I think it was!</p>