Living “paycheck to Paycheck” Looks Different for the Rich
Yes, $250,000 per year is still a lot of money
I recently wrote about the dark side of storytelling.
People are more likely to believe a compelling story — even when with no basis in reality — than cold hard facts.
One story that gets recycled every 6–7 months is that a shockingly high number of high-income earners live “paycheck to paycheck.”
In 2022, I wrote about this article in Bloomberg with the headline “One-Third of Americans Making $250,000 Live Paycheck-to-Paycheck, Survey Finds.” The first time I read that headline, my Bull$hit detector lit up like a Christmas tree.
Why?
First, I’m skeptical of numbers pulled from surveys — they are often taken out of context and used to spin a compelling but false narrative. Sure enough, when I read through the article, I found this passage buried near the end:
“Living paycheck-to-paycheck doesn’t necessarily mean hardship, and LendingClub makes the distinction between those who can pay their bills easily and those who can’t. Only a fraction of high earners — roughly one in ten — reported issues covering all their household expenses in April, according to the survey.”
