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Why is 6 figures the magic number for comparison?

To a CFI any 5 year regional FO doesn't have any reason to live pay check to pay check. To a 5 year FO no 5 year CA has an excuse to live paycheck to paycheck.

6 figures is not the magic scale.

Putting a digit to a mentality is not so black and white.

I think they are simply agreeing (in effect everyone can agree), that as of today, if you make six figures you should not be living paycheck to paycheck.

I'm a fourth year FO and I'm making +50k at the airline, but if I had two kids (for instance if my fiancee had twins or something, or triplets) you might see me a little tight paycheck to paycheck. Plus if I had 3 ankle biters all at once my self medication fee's would probably shoot through the roof :).

If you are making 95K you shouldn't be living paycheck to paycheck either, and that's not 6 figures, but we can all agree 16,120 isn't a whole hell of a lot right?
 
It's a "magic number" because somehow, most people still labor (and I use that word advisedly) under the notion that a dollar is a meaningful measure of something (like, say, a pound, or a mile), rather than an artificial construct that has as much intrinsic value as "a unicorn". Hmmmmm. Just why do you imagine that might be?
 
Most people will see 6 digits as frequently as they see unicorns. FYI, Spain line breed their military andalusians and after several generations they started foaling horses that had a central horn like a unicorn.
 
It's a "magic number" because somehow, most people still labor (and I use that word advisedly) under the notion that a dollar is a meaningful measure of something (like, say, a pound, or a mile), rather than an artificial construct that has as much intrinsic value as "a unicorn". Hmmmmm. Just why do you imagine that might be?

Kind of like the intrinsic value of gold?

In a state of nature, nothing has intrinsic value. We give everything in the world value.

(Or said another way there is no existence of value in an a priori sense)
 
I doubt very much that it's escaped your bear-trap intellect that commodities that are physical and therefore non-fungible are much less corruptible than layer-upon-layer of byzantine "trading" corruptions practiced upon the trusting by the un-.

Of course "value" is, fundamentally, a Subjective evaluation. The problem is that 99% of Humanity has been Priced Out of having any reasonable notion of how to be sensible about value...what is valuable, what "money" really is. I submit to you that this is not an accident. In point of fact it is 100% Intentional, and Corrupt.
 
Re: Six figures and not being able to make ends meet. Six figures is not what it used to be. I generally agree, of course, that if you're making what is still a fair bit of scratch, you shouldn't be moaning about how tough it all is (versus, as ATN points out, how unfair it is, which it is), but it's worth remembering that inflation is, for all intents and purposes, a stealth tax.

Yes, six figures isn't what it used to be, but it's still more than 90% of the people in this country bring home. If you're living paycheck to paycheck on a six figure income, then you're seriously irresponsible.

Why is 6 figures the magic number for comparison?

It's not, but we were talking about American Airlines captains, and all of them are over the six figure threshold. I would tend to say that anyone making more than $50k really shouldn't be living paycheck to paycheck. Someone will bring up kids, but I would argue that you shouldn't be having kids if having them means that you'll be paycheck to paycheck. Having kids isn't a requirement. It isn't forced on you. It's a choice that you make.
 
Do you have any hard data to back up that 90% of Americans make less than 100k? Just curious. In business jobs especially sales jobs if your good at what you do 100k is easily doable. At least that is what I have seen in my short career.
 
Interesting. I forget how many people don't even have college degrees though. I wonder what the percentage is of people with bachelors or higher who make 100k. Anyway to find that?

It's in that table. According to this, 10,521,000 people make over $100,000/year and have a Bachelor's or higher. This compares to a total of 140,200,000 people who have not attained a Bachelor's, and 61,343,000 who have.
 
So if my math is correct 17.15% of people who hold a bachelors or higher make 100k+. That is using the numbers you posted. See getting an education pays off
 
So if my math is correct 17.15% of people who hold a bachelors or higher make 100k+. That is using the numbers you posted. See getting an education pays off

Lol, am I the only one that looks at that and says, "Jeesh, why'd I get a 4 year degree if 87% of people make +100k don't have one?"
 
Lol, am I the only one that looks at that and says, "Jeesh, why'd I get a 4 year degree if 87% of people make +100k don't have one?"

Yea your not even close to understanding what is said. It says less then 5% of the total population makes over 100k. And 17.5% of people with a bachelor make over 100k. Not that 17.5% of people making 100k have a bachelors. The people with bachelors or higher have over three times the likely hood of making 100k than those who dont
 
Yea your not even close to understanding what is said. It says less then 5% of the total population makes over 100k. And 17.5% of people with a bachelor make over 100k. Not that 17.5% of people making 100k have a bachelors. The people with bachelors or higher have over three times the likely hood of making 100k than those who dont

Ok that makes a lot more sense. I just read your line.
 
I'm guessing you don't work at McDonalds.

Not anymore. But at one point in my life I did. And you know what? I lived on it. I lived in a one room apartment. Like the song says "no boat, no phone, no motor car, not a single luxury." It can be done. But in this day and age of smart phones, tablets, wide-screen HD TV's, and "keep up with the Jones' ethos," we seem to have forgotten that you can actually live pretty inexpensively. It's all a matter of choice

I have sympathy for the minimum wage worker. I've been there. But someone making a 6 figure salary and is broke, is broke by choices made, not by income earned.
 
Actually, allow me to add to my previous post by saying that I recognize that some people are broke due to life circumstances. Losing a job, having twins when you expected only one, an unexpected illness or accident, etc
 
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