Video: It's Hard Out There For A Family With A $400K Income

By Chuck Sudo in News on Sep 11, 2014 3:40PM

If you're stressing out about making ends meet on a paltry salary in the mid-five figures, imagine being part of the financial bourgeoise. The Wall Street Journal produced this video showing how hard it is to make ends meet for a two-parent, two children household in Chicago with an annnual salary of $400,000.

Gold Coast Problems, arewerite?

Snark aside, there's more to this video besides the Journal's ongoing sense of plutocratic disconnect.WSJ Wealth Adviser's Veronica Dagher says toward the end of the video now is the time to cut expenses and start saving while you still have an income, yet doesn't offer ways to do so outside of "saving that bonus." Any advice that can be offered to the modestly wealthy can be applied to the shrinking middle class, because staying on budget, regardless of your salary, can at times be a chore.

How Stuff Works has some suggestions on identifying where to cut spending. But a family squeaking by on $400,000 a year could cut that core spending by not living in a $1.2 million home, for starters. Who the hell needs an $87,000 mortgage and the accompanying property tax bill?