In the last post if this series I want to explain why the standard of living is not too much (for those that consider the general American lifestyle lavish). The simple fact is that the cost associated with your area’s standard of living incorporates things you have no control over: the value of your home, price of labor, cost of food, cost of utilities, etc. While I may be able to get by on $50,000 in upstate New York, I certainly couldn’t do so in Northern Virginia. A house payment or rent would be nearly half that much. 

Now extend this example to other countries. Compare the cost of those same goods and services.  All will be different compared to here and between each place, sometimes drastically.   The standard of living – quality of homes, infrastructure, availability of health care, etc – will vary from place to place too. That’s why an absolute dollar amount doesn’t work as the basis for a budget. Costs vary from place to place for the same things, and different places have different expectations of what is standard. 

We could always just live below the standard of living.  But what would that look like?  You could live in a house in an unsafe neighborhood, or buy beater cars, or never go out to eat. But is that loving yourself?  Is that what you want for others?  And then there’s still food and services that will cost the same regardless of what you make. Are you going to choose to go hungry or not go to the dentist?  Just as with someone who lives well above the standard spends their time minding all that they have, it is time consuming and stressful to live below the standard of living.  This is why we work to bring people up to the standard instead of tearing people down to poverty.