A Lesson for Yuppies: How to Get By on $75,000 a Year
In fact, according to a new study by the International Association of Financial Planners, a family with a $75,000-a-year income might not be able to afford a Volvo these days-or a Saab or Chrysler LeBaron or some similarly priced car-and still have money for a week in the islands, a $260,000 house, college tuition for a child, a comfortable retirement and a lot of other things that might seem to be within easy reach of someone with that income.</br></br>The striking thing about the study is that none of the items on the list (see accompanying chart) seems particularly outlandish by the standards of yuppies here or in most other affluent urban areas of the country.</br></br>But that very fact goes a long way toward explaining a growing phenomenon here: people who are making what they correctly perceive to be a good living and yet find themselves with no money.</br></br>The IAFP recognizes this. "This is an example of costs," it says, "not a recommended pattern of spending." This family, which has spent three-quarters of its income before even getting to food, clothing, child care, entertainment and the like, "needs to readjust {its} spending goals."</br></br>In fact, anyone who pries into the finances of apparently affluent colleagues and neighbors around here will find that a lot of them have readjusted-they keep the Volvo and the Caribbean vacation and skip the insurance, tuition and retirement savings.