How is anyone with a full time job struggling ?

[eivekeu]

@deborahs757 You just came here to flex how much you make. It's not a normal salary and you don't have the expenses others have.

With that said, the reason that many are complaining right now is that they lived on what they made, and life got more more expensive than their salaries grew. So their standard of living is diminishing currently.

 

[deborahs757]

@eivekeu I don’t think earning 100k in a high COL part of Switzerland is flexing much… and I literally said I could live the same sort of life on minimal salary

 

[nnhust]

@deborahs757 That just means you're not aware of situation around you.

Yes, it's high cost of living area. However salaries are not as such.

You have median HOUSEHOLD income or even more, I forgot if it's 80k or 100k.

100k is really good salary.

Also, you forgot many things, let me try to illustrate usual culprits - where are all gifts in cash and goods in your table? Like if you go to parents to eat, that is expense of your upkeep, it's just that you didn't pay it.

You have apartment you rent. Who bought it?

Who bought furnishings in your flat? Your car?

You're focused at this moment in snapshot, but, there's a bunch of conditions one has to fulfil to have that snapshot.

I gave table for my snapshot. What I ommited was amounts of loans we had. Fees we paid. We got lucky and got inheritance gift and bonuses to be able to close the loans. It's probably 100k together if not more. I happily forgot

If we hadn't, we wouldn't be here, because we couldn't pay for the move.

Yes now we're good, but that included some family money, bonuses, and paying off loans during previous decade. Many coins went for furnishings. Some for vacations to get a break, some for therapy, some for moving countries, some for bridging unemployment.

But, I'm aware of much of that. Because at some point I was tracking gift in goods as well as everything else.

So, yes, you now can live at 40k. In maintenance mode. Someone who didn't set up already like you did, can't have your lifestyle for just 40k. Because they're not in maintenance mode yet.

We insured 120k worth of household goods for home insurance. That was mostly based on my calculations when we moved here 2.5 years ago. We acquired more things, so we're probably at 150k now. But if everything burns we wouldn't replace everything so it's ok with 120k coverage.

So yes, we're usually comparing maintenence snapshots, however we're forgetting that people have costs they have to do before they reach maintenance. If they reach it. And when you have kids, it's can be never-ending expenses - first they need crib, then they need full furnished room, then computer... It's always something, and someone has to pay for it.

You and I probably don't have much big furnishings planned anymore. You will probably need it before me, if you move in with partner, get kids and such, because we're are settled. However if we have to move, that's easily 20k here.

So basically I think what you forgot is many of those past expenses just because they're not current ones for you and all gifts in cash and goods.

Save as much as you can!
Just be aware that many people have it much harder than you do, and it's not all about current monthly expenses comparison.

 

[violinp]

@deborahs757 15k housing? wow thats very cheap. 10y back my rent was already 24k for a broken old ass apartment with 2 rooms. If youre 4 youd need like double that amount.

 

[michristian12]

@deborahs757 I don't think that singles working full time whould ever have to struggle. But for families, it is different. It is also weird when you flex with your numbers, when you are clearly far over the median income. There are people who earn like 4000-4500 a month only, so a brutto salary of around 50-60k (45-55k netto). Housing whould be like 18k of that, insurance for a family can cost 12k easily. A car is at least 5k a year, and some sort of transportation is needed with kids. Food is hard to calculate, but it could cost like 500-1000 a month in no time. Kids might want to do some hobbies like playing in a football team, wich is crazy expensive. Taxes might not be that high, but it is not free eighter. A lot of stuff is not listed here, that is really the bare minimum to survive.
Tldr: there are a lot of fix costs you can't reduce too much, and a salary can easily be too less to cover that.