Maybe you heard about Kathleen Elkins's story at CNBC that's currently floating around the digital universe. Maybe not. If you want to read it yourself, click: HERE to access the story. It's about how a couple earning $500k is barely making ends meet.
Of course, there's the obvious "knee-jerk" reactions. It's easy to look at others and see where they've failed. It's the old "beam in your eye" way of looking at life. I don't know these people at all. I really have no right to judge them, even though the story almost requires that we do.
First of all, I can't imagine dealing with this kind of money. It's so foreign, so strange. I mean, I know there are people who earn this and many who earn much much more. Looking at the numbers--all those zeros--my eyes glaze over. What these people pay for childcare alone is staggering, even though you want to make sure you don't skimp on care for your children. Still...it's a lot.
I think the biggest change for us is this--they have costs we just don't have. We don't pay for childcare. We don't pay for student loans--we did, but no longer. We don't have car payments, we don't pay for vacations, children's lessons, and pay much less on the other items found on their list.
Then again, since they're lawyers (two lawyers, each making $250k per year...) I'm sure they work more than the standard 40 hours/week so they've got to pay for childcare and the vacations are more like therapy than what I would consider a vacation.
Another difference: we're a single-income family and we have six people--five adults and one teenager--not four like their family. Our newest car is twelve-years old. The last family vacation we went on was in 2013. We homeschool--it's a decision we made over two decades ago, a decision that's affected not just the kids's lives, but almost everything else--the way we live, the way we socialize, our perspectives on politics, religion, environmentalism, philosophy...everything.
Like I stated, it's easy to judge. I can look at a family bringing in half a million dollars and think they have it made. And yet, to 90% + of the world's population, they can look at our family and think we've got it made. We have a home--modest by our neighbor's standards, but extravagant by the world's standards. We have three cars, all older, but all running and paid off. Billions of people would feel blessed to have one. Why is it we always look at those who have more, earn more instead of looking at those who have less? Human nature, I guess.
The story is short and telling on many levels. For me, it made me realize just how blessed we are. Check the link above if you haven't already. It'll make you think.
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