this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2023
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[–] meco03211@lemmy.world 141 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I'm worried "paycheck to paycheck" is up to the interpretation of the person filing it the survey and how the questions are phrased. Depending on how the questions are worded, they'd possibly include me. My wife and I max our IRAs, 401ks, and HSAs each year. Anything that can be put on the credit card, is (then paid off before any interest can accrue). Like sure if you look at our monthly expenses vs income hitting the bank, we are "paycheck to paycheck". But we could both lose a significant portion of our income and be just fine (provided we scale back retirement savings).

Unless they address that in these articles or surveys, it just sounds like they're trying to get the poor and middle class to just agree to this shared misery while the rich keep fucking the world over.

[–] stinky613@lemmy.sdf.org 90 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Speaking anecdotally, I've always heard "living paycheck-to-paycheck" to mean having insufficient savings to cover a missed paycheck

I.e. if you don't get an expected paycheck then you cannot pay your monthly debts/utilities/rent and still have enough money to feed.yourself and your dependents

[–] meco03211@lemmy.world 42 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Which is why I'm worried it's not adequately defined. I'm definitely not paycheck to paycheck. But they could word the questions in such a way that I'd be included.

[–] stinky613@lemmy.sdf.org 19 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Oh, absolutely. If you click through to the Quicken press release they have a small section defining their methodology but don't list the specific questions

I wish more people appreciated the lengths that Pew et al. go through to both minimize and recognize sources of bias, confusion, etc

[–] vxx@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

"We asked a group of gambling addicts if they run out of money regularily" /s

[–] DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 11 months ago

I think that's the point though. It's subjective.

Many people think the phrase applies to them because paycheck to paycheck is their budget cycle. They're not living hand to mouth.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 25 points 11 months ago (1 children)

(provided we scale back retirement savings).

But it would affect you, just longer-term than shorter-term. You don't know what things will be like when you're old, which is why most people who can do put the max amount in their IRAs, 401Ks, and HSAs. That doesn't mean they're bad people or misspending their money or not living paycheck-to-paycheck.

If you suffer in your old age because you had to cut back on retirement, that's a huge impact on your life. It's way easier to live paycheck-to-paycheck when you still can work than it is when you literally cannot and are relying on Society Security or retirement investments. I think that matters.

I'm poor as fuck, but I don't feel like I need to judge people who barely make more money than me in the context of fucking billionaires.

Also, do you have kids, because that's a huge impact on the bottom-line of people who make a decent salary.

[–] meco03211@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Also, do you have kids, because that's a huge impact on the bottom-line of people who make a decent salary.

Only furry ones with four paws. And the cost of raising kids is a not insignificant factor in that decision.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] SheeEttin@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago

I'm not sure that they asked that directly. It looks like they asked if people are using their credit cards to cover bills more, and whether they expect to be able to fully pay the credit card bill off by the end of the year.

[–] Socsa@sh.itjust.works 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

This is like all those surveys saying that 70% of Americans have less than $5000 in a "savings account."

No shit, yields on savings accounts have been pointless for about two decades. Everyone with spare money puts liquid savings into index funds in margin accounts and runs on credit cards.