Just saw the updated tax breakdown for the year.
The bottom 20% of earners are taking a 3.1% hit to their income share, while the top 1% are actually getting a tax decrease. It is exhausting to see the people doing the most essential work being the ones paying more while the ultra-wealthy get another break. How is this still the direction we are moving in 2026?
(Source: ITEP / WFH Alert)
Hey all! Back with another deep dive. (Previous posts: coffee habits (1, 2) and 3.
This one's about family help. I didn't have a lot of firsthand experience, so after years of reading, I was curious and searched ~2,000 diaries for five types of family support: family plans (phone/insurance), education, car, home purchase, and trust/inheritance.
Bottom line: 40% of diarists mention some form of family help. Way higher than I expected, until I looked at specifics.
"Family help" ranges from staying on mom's phone plan ($100/mo saved) to inheriting a trust fund ($193K median net worth for that group vs $88K overall)
The most surprising? $0 Weekly spend difference between those with help and those without! Though notably, helped diarists earn less ($77K vs $84K). $7K less income, same grocery bill. Do they need the help, or does the help enable different, lower-income-higher-fulfillment career paths? Something to dig into.
Had trouble fitting it all into one image, so two infographics this time. Any opinions on one vs many?
To be sure to catch the next one, be sure to sub to the substack: diametrics.substack.com. Speaking of which, anything you'd like to see covered next? I'm thinking about geographic trends or maybe the single-vs-coupled income gap? Let me know in the comments!
I shared a MD earlier this year (it's been deleted). And in it, I shared I had $17k in credit card debt.
I'm happy share down it's now down to $11k.
And on track for payoff by the end of the year.
Personally, my debt doesn't keep me up at night. Doesn't bother me. I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to use credit cards to bridge the gap.
Happy Fri-Yay Payday! 🤑💰💸
MCOL family of 3 (plus usually neighborhood kids). Our school district qualifies for free meals so my kid usually partakes for breakfast and lunch and only needs a snack packed for school.
Total spend $133 food, $60 dining out = $193
Day 1: Saturday
Farm store for freezer restock. 8 lbs ground beef $8/lb and 2 lbs chicken breasts $9/lb = $78
Other farm store for 2 pot pies, chicken riggies, and a taco casserole for the Mr. $55
Breakfast- yogurt and protein shake
Lunch - snacks from home and ice cream at a stand for $15. Small human and I split a huge “medium” and the Mr got a sundae.
Dinner - pasta and cucumbers
Day 2: Sunday
Cracker Barrel with friends $60 for the 3 of us for breakfast, then we nibbled until dinner
Dinner - hickory smoked pork ribs and hassleback potatoes y’all!! Plus some carrots and cucumbers on the side.
Day 3: Monday
Office day for mama so the Mr is in charge of snack and any before-school grazing. Breakfast of instant coffee in the office for me.
Lunch: leftover pork and rice in the work freezer from a few weeks ago.
Dinner: (pic 1) semi-homemade pho with Côt Súp Chay brand vegetarian soup base with rice noodles, napa cabbage, button mushrooms, and salt and pepper tofu in the air fryer for me and small human. Mr had leftover sliders.
Day 4: Tuesday
Breakfast- basically same as yesterday
Lunch - wfh day for me so I reheated the last serving of pasta with some grape tomatoes, then added butter and romano after.
Dinner - (pics 2&3) pizza night! We do personal pizzas, just olive oil for the small human, pepperoni for the Mr and gluten free white pizza for me (full size bc I buy the dough at the grocery store pre-made. I make and freeze regular gluten-y dough at home); leftover ribs reheated; jalapeno poppers; steamed broccoli.
Day 5: Wednesday
Breakfast - same
Lunch - small human’s Monday night leftovers have become my lunch. Any other parents with this cycle of kid leftovers becoming your next meal?
Dinner - (pic 4) dumpling lasagna. Small human and I had fun making this viral recipe and it was so much faster than making enough dumplings for 3, with leftovers.
Day 6: Thursday
Breakfast - I added in a protein shake to the coffee but otherwise same.
Lunch - leftover pizza and dumpling lasagna. Gf leftover pizza tastes like hard cardboard so I scrape off the cheese and demolish the lasagna.
Dinner - small human had a pre-game dinner at the neighbor’s house then went for nuggets round 2. Leftover ribs for me and freezer meal for the Mr. Then small human needed second dinner so we air fried some chicken nuggets.
Day 7: Friday
Breakfast - good ole coffee and small human is excited for Friday breakfast at school being donuts or bagels.
Lunch - womp womp too busy
Dinner - (pics 5&6) end of the week means clean out the fridge. Tiny human gets waffles, a giant hot dog, and 2 avocados. The adults get quesadillas using leftover ground beef I cooked earlier in the week. I have half an avocado and as much cilantro as I can fit in my plate and tomatoes, Mr goes traditional and opts for salsa.
How are you spending, scrimping, splurging, or saving?
What are you doing with your hard-earned £$€ this week?
As someone who loves takeout, I need to hear everyone's thoughts on this article.