What does it mean to live paycheck to paycheck? 

If you’re maxing out your retirement accounts, you don’t really have a leg to stand on when it comes to claiming to be living paycheck to paycheck. If you could pay rent and bills for a month without your next paycheck, but after that, you have nothing, then you are living paycheck to paycheck. It’s easy for the rich to co-opt language that makes them look like they’re «normal,» like claiming that they’re middle class when they are making $500K per year.

The couple in this story isn’t so shameless as to claim they’re middle class when they’re making half a million dollars a year. They claim they’re high earners who aren’t yet rich, but they also feel they’re barely getting by each month. How could you barely be getting by if you’re making $500K per year?