# How much annual income does one need to achieve "Poverty Escape Velocity" in the USA? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 2, 2021, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-annual-income-does-one-need-to-achieve-poverty-escape-velocity-in-the-usa/932060 "2021-02-02T15:41:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-annual-income-does-one-need-to-achieve-poverty-escape-velocity-in-the-usa/932060/41 "2021-03-05T15:10:28Z")
That’s true, most people won’t ever make that sort of money. Which make me kind of wonder about > It isn’t just greed or being spoiled: this is how the family lives. No one wants to be the one who can’t join the family on a trip, or buy equivalent Christmas presents, or send their kids to the school the cousins go to. No one wants to have to chose between being a black sheep or a charity case. I’m not going to say kids don’t have that fear- but I don’t think it’s realistic to fear you’re going to be the _one_ who can’t do what the rest of the family does because somehow, your sibling(s) will beat the odds and attain that $350+ household income. It’s far more likely that none of the siblings will get there - and if you and your siblings both have $150K household incomes, nobody is going to be a charity case who can’t afford what the others can based strictly on income level. And perhaps their parents ought to consider raising them with the idea that the parents were very lucky and there’s not an expectation that the kids will have the same luck. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-annual-income-does-one-need-to-achieve-poverty-escape-velocity-in-the-usa/932060/42 "2021-03-05T15:59:35Z")
I’m telling you, that’s the fear these kids have, because they are raised with that expectation. I agree, it’s really foolish, and a solid argument for living well beneath your means if you are in this sort of situation. But your average doctor/lawyer couple don’t, in my experience: instead, they push all their kids to pick law, medicine, or finance, no discussion. And if the kid “meets expectations” at home and gets into the right sort of college and makes the most of the opportunities they are given, they likely will end up in that bracket. They are massively privileged, after all: if they leverage that privilege, it’s a hell of an opportunity. But it’s such a cage at the same time–it’s an obligation as much as anything. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-annual-income-does-one-need-to-achieve-poverty-escape-velocity-in-the-usa/932060/43 "2021-03-05T23:28:44Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > It’s not just straight out of college. Most people aren’t ever going to have household incomes in the 350+ range. But even ones who will make that much won’t make it right out of college - unless they start out as a VP in Dad or Mom’s gigantic corporation. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-annual-income-does-one-need-to-achieve-poverty-escape-velocity-in-the-usa/932060/44 "2021-03-19T10:23:58Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > > [@Voyager](#): > > > > The worst thing you can do is to have the “my company is awesome” feeling. A big mistake I’ve seen people make is to ignore the writing on the wall and believe the execs that everything is just fine - right up to when they get called in for the layoff. > > It is much better to split before the company ship hits the reefs. > > My company is awesome! > > Rather, it _was_. > > Then they got sold. > > It took a year for the ship to start turning. > > I now see an iceberg in the distance. We may not hit for another year. Hold on a moment, I need to check my email to see if a lifeboat’s arrived. I did something different with my last company. Not the one I just got fired from. They are all still in rah rah we are awesome startup cult phase. The company before that, I was hired right after a big merger. The day I signed my offer letter, the stock dropped 20% (maybe more) and the CEO was fired. They actually gave me more stock as part of my signing bonus. I actually enjoyed working there a lot. Other people were grumbling about how things changed from the merger or how things were better under company A or company B. But for me, it was kind of like coming in at the worst time and then everything got a bit getter every day. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-annual-income-does-one-need-to-achieve-poverty-escape-velocity-in-the-usa/932060/45 "2021-03-19T10:43:35Z")
Sure, kids’ expectations not matching reality can cause grief. But in that case, the solution is not to change reality to match expectations-- It’s to change the expectations to match reality. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-annual-income-does-one-need-to-achieve-poverty-escape-velocity-in-the-usa/932060.md?page=2)