Your point is well taken. Not only do I not have children or dependents, and not only am I still somewhat in “grad student mode”, but I plan on eventually going back to school, so I don’t really intended to leave that mode before then.
In fact, I probably have an even more extreme form of this condition. I’ve never been too bothered too much by signaling low status, but I’ve actually been pained when I signal high status. My first (and only) car bothered me because while I bought it extremely cheaply, it was still in good shape. I feel like I ought not to be driving a vehicle that has working door handles, heating and A/C. My car certainly doesn’t signal high-status, but it doesn’t signal low-status as strongly as I’d like.
All of that said, the idea of spending 95% of a $100k salary does not sound instrumentally rational at all even if status is a highly-held value.
I object a bit to
housing costs are very high in all places nice enough to provide a respectable middle class environment for raising kids
My parents together usually made less than $20k/yr. while I was growing up (usually fluctuating around the poverty line). I don’t know how much they spent on housing (probably a large fraction of that), but I went to an expensive private high school (on scholarship, of course) and didn’t mind bringing home friends that came from $250k income families. I really don’t think my housing situation was bad even to their tastes, and it certainly isn’t somewhere I’d mind raising my kids.
Your point is well taken. Not only do I not have children or dependents, and not only am I still somewhat in “grad student mode”, but I plan on eventually going back to school, so I don’t really intended to leave that mode before then.
In fact, I probably have an even more extreme form of this condition. I’ve never been too bothered too much by signaling low status, but I’ve actually been pained when I signal high status. My first (and only) car bothered me because while I bought it extremely cheaply, it was still in good shape. I feel like I ought not to be driving a vehicle that has working door handles, heating and A/C. My car certainly doesn’t signal high-status, but it doesn’t signal low-status as strongly as I’d like.
All of that said, the idea of spending 95% of a $100k salary does not sound instrumentally rational at all even if status is a highly-held value.
I object a bit to
My parents together usually made less than $20k/yr. while I was growing up (usually fluctuating around the poverty line). I don’t know how much they spent on housing (probably a large fraction of that), but I went to an expensive private high school (on scholarship, of course) and didn’t mind bringing home friends that came from $250k income families. I really don’t think my housing situation was bad even to their tastes, and it certainly isn’t somewhere I’d mind raising my kids.