Why Millennials Making $300K Don’t Feel Like They’re Wealthy, According To a Personal Finance Expert
Written by
Cara Danielle Brown
Edited by
Levi Leidy
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Eryn Schultz is a certified financial planner and the founder of Her Personal Finance, a website designed to help high-earning women take charge of their financial futures.
Shultz recently made a post on Instagram addressing high-earning millennials, in particular: “According to 2023 Census data, a $300K-per-year household puts you in the top 5% of millennials,” wrote Shultz. However, she went on to explain that the top 5% of millennials reported not actually feeling wealthy.
So why is this? Schultz elaborated further.
Cost of Housing
According to Schultz, homes in major metropolitan areas typically cost upward of $1 million. The cost of housing for millennials has rapidly outpaced inflation and wage growth.
Cost of Child Care
According to Schultz, childcare costs roughly $2,000 per month…per child. If millennials have two children, that’s a whopping $48,000 per year out the door before other kid essentials like food, clothes, diapers, toys and strollers are even taken into account. (Costs are often this expensive because, prior to grade school, there’s no government-sponsored child care.)
Interest Rates
Interest rates on home and auto loans are currently 6.5% and up, resulting in exceptionally high monthly mortgage and car payments. Credit card interest is even higher, meaning that carrying credit card balances can trap people in a dangerous cycle of debt.
Comparison Trap
It doesn’t help that the top 5% of millennials typically hang out with the top 1% to 3%, which skews their perception of wealth and makes them feel positively middle class — even though they aren’t.
What Tips Does Shultz Recommend for Mapping Out Your Money?
For the top 5% of millennials, it may be difficult to differentiate between real factors pinching their wallets and the perception that they aren’t doing as well as their wealthier counterparts. This is why Schultz recommends taking pen to paper and mapping out your money to see how you’re doing.
Track three basic numbers: what percentage of your income goes to housing, what percentage is/will be going to child care and what, if anything, is being saved for the future.
“Sometimes seeing these money maps helps people realize how great they’re doing,” wrote Schultz. “Other times, we identify places where they want to shift.”
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