not true at all. I make less than you do, but if I lived like half the people in my company (who make about the same amount I do) I'd be racking up the credit card debt like crazy. Most of them are single, and they eat out breakfast/lunch/dinner just as he is typing. It's been proven you can live on minimum wage in some high living cost areas (obviously it wouldn't be enjoyable), but even making 2x minimum wage should be enough to live comfortably, you just can't buy a house and drive a new car (or even a fancy one).

If you dropped your morning starbucks coffee, you would save $1.5k/year if you made some at home. I've saved $2k/year by bringing my own lunch to work. I never used to eat out every dinner, but if you did and switched you'd save $2.5k/year. That could be as much as $6k/year you could be saving if you eat out all the time. If you have a wife, double the number.

The other part of the problem is people feel they are entitled to their luxery goods. So they go out and rack up CC debt on bigscreen TVs, videogames, other hobbies. Or they take out a loan on their new car rather than buying a used car they could actually afford with cash in hand.

So cost of living may be higher, but unless you are making minimum wage (or very close to it) you should easily be able to afford a roof over your head, food on the table, some form of transportation, and some cheap entertainment. You just can't live a life of luxery like everyone feels they are entitled to.

The mentality of "I'm entitled to get everything NOW" is a big part of why the current economic crisis is happening...

The first few years I worked I was living in a 20-30 square meters room (200-300 square feet), even when I was living with my girlfriend. I didn't have a car. Now we live in an apartment of about triple the size and we have a car. It feels good to move up as you work, you actually feel like you deserve what you got.

there is almost nowhere in the us that 75k wouldn't give you a decent standard of living.  In North Dakota here you'd be very well off.  I make 45k a year, after taxes it is a little over $3000 a month, i have $300 on rent and another $300 on food, $30 for electricity, about $100 for health care, i suppose around $50 for gas and $30 for car insurance, another $25 for my cell phone.  That's only $835 in expenses, anything else is extra and of course i do buy many extra things.  With over $2000 every month in free money there is certainly no issue.  If i had kids or was married it would cost more but i would also get huge tax cuts unless my wife was making good money too.

Probably closer to 99% of the world's population. 

Remember though, he's talking about 'after school' so make it 98%

If you make 20k a year, and you pay 1000k per month for rent and utilities.
1000$ per year on travel
and 1000$ per year on food

gives you 16.4$ per day to spend on anything. You change that 20 to 28k and you're looking at a good 35$ of spare cash per day. I'm sorry but for entry level that is pretty fucking good.

That's 245$ per week

28k is plenty but It's not a big salary for those coming out of college. In Connecticut where I live average tuition is over 20k+ a year. College is a pretty massive debt if your only making 28k a year.

Anyways, as long as you don't own a house and rent 28k is more then enough to live on. Between me and my wife we spend less then that a year (though to be fair only one of us drives, driving is a big expense here in the US. $600ish every 6 months for car insurance, $20-$30 a week on gas, car maintaince then the fact you gota buy a car every 5 or 6 years, at least we do)

For what it's worth, even if you doubled their salaries, you'd probably have 30% still living beyond their means.  That's one of the reasons we're in this mess in the first place.

Who can live on $1000 a year for food????? I spend 400 450 a Month for me and the GF, And its not all steak and lobster so dont bring the starbucks card out.  Oh and our combined weight is maybe 245 lbs.