Your standard of living?

Question

Your standard of living is how well you live. How is your standard of living different from someone who doesn’t have as much money as your family? How is it different from someone who has more?

Answer 1

Standard of living is not determined solely by how much money you have. It is largely determined by where you live. Most people in the world earn the equivalent of a couple of bucks a day. People in this country were fortunate to be born here. People born into a wealthy family were even more fortunate to have the parents or grandparents they did.

The choices you make also affect your standard of living. You can choose to have a great car and live in a dumpy apartment, for example, if you can't afford to have a great car and a great place to live. Or if you live somewhere where there is good mass transit or everything is in walking distance, perhaps you don't spend any money on a car at all. That leaves you a lot of money to spend on other priorities in your life. My college economics professors talked about money having a rationing effect. Maybe you can't buy a great car, given your income level, but you buy one that you can afford. Or the number of Starbucks drinks you buy in a week, if you choose to spend your money on those.

Answer 2

That depends on the cost of living.

For a given location under similar circumstances, more money is greater standard of living.

But you could make less money elsewhere, and if the cost of living is really low, you might still have higher standard of living there.

Answer 3

Standard of living is somewhat based on income but more a case of money management. My income is moderate but I have good money management skills. I am also not a person who needs lot of "things".