The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents are Going Broke

Fact based analysis of what many have felt but without putting data behind it. Reframes the household income narrative and changes how you’ll think about how you manage you your money.

Elizabeth Warren's perceptions are usually right on target. She demonstrates a concern for the impoverished and shows an insight into what real people endure on a daily basis. The amazing part of it is that it was written before Senator Warren entered public life and elective office. Her commitment has remained the same throughout.

If nothing else, this was a really interesting book. I read it on a coast-to-coat flight, mostly because I simply couldn't put it down. My wife read a good portion of it and agreed it was interesting before she left the book on a plane. We both agreed that parts were alarmist, but still worth reading.The authors, a mother-daughter pair, lay out the case for how women entering the workforce has correlated with an increase in the declarations of bankruptcies by people with children as compared to their predecessors. To be clear, they don't advocate for women to abstain from working or having children, but simply lay out the argument that families with access to the additional income of two earners can place themselves at increased risk of economic collapse simply by chasing the American Dream (a nice house in a good school district, access to good higher education for children, etc.).While many parts seemed alarmist to me, many of the arguments were well-articulated and well-documented, with some fascinating numbers, excellent debunking of urban legends, and some common sense analysis of contributing factors. Women, especially mothers, will probably particularly relate to the material, since it's admittedly written from the perspective of two mothers (keep in mind, I did really enjoy the book). If nothing else, it made us think.

I have read this book at different points in my life, and I have to say that my understanding and take away points are vastly different each time I've read it-- First assigned to me as a budding college student, the ideas presented here were easily understandable, but seemed a bit abstract and inapplicable. I was single and very professionally ambitious. My family is considered middle class, and when looking at ways to best manage our incomes as a family unit, I remembered this book and made my husband read it. As a wife and new mother, the ideas presented here took on a new weight. I love very much how this book is laid out to compare and contrast generational ideas on 2 income households. With my life very drastically changing recently to include a child, I never thought I'd want to be a stay at home mom-- Just the opposite, in fact. My family had never planned on moving to 1 income, and what that might entail. As a proud professional woman, I have to say that I really respected the ideas put forth here, and found Elizabeth Warren's ideas inspiring-- and heeded the warnings outlined here as we plan for our own future. My family is new and has a ways to go, but my husband and I really enjoyed discussing this book, and how we might agree to internalize some ideas and which we wanted to revisit once we get into a better place financially.

Elizabeth Warren and her daughter bring a deeply researched and and almost counterintuitive topic into much clearer focus. Yes, families with two incomes have twice as much money but they are also twice as likely to face loss which, if it takes both incomes to maintain current lifestyle is very often catastrophic. The current two income family, which is basically the norm, is incredibly vulnerable to calamitous dislocations often up to and including bankruptcy. Professor Warren is amply credentialled in this are as she teaches bankruptcy law at theHarvard Law Schoool. Along the way she explains the pressures on the prices of education and housing which both solve and exacerbate the problems the modern family faces along with some sensible policy suggestions that show a way through ths morass both as individuals and a society.

An interesting and well-researched insight into the problems plaguing many middle-class families. This book will challenge not only your preconceived notions on topics including bankruptcy and the decline of the middle-class, but might cause you to rethink your own lifestyle and make changes so that you too don't fall into the Two-Income Trap.Also - I bought it used so I don't fall into the Two-Income Trap and the quality was just fine.

Eye opener on why 2 incomes isn’t always better than one.

Here you will find well-defined and researched answers to the question of why the majority of middle class families feel they are locked in a vice grip of financial pressure, in spite of their multiple college degrees and well-planned choices. We all simply wanted what our parents had. We thought gathering an impressive education and working extremely hard would get us there. We were wrong. Welcome to the world of the downwardly mobile!

I bought this after reading All You Are Worth. This is far more academic and although Warren has strong arguments I found the book did not really deliver solutions . Well researched and good background references.

Un libro molto importante scritto da una possibile futura candidata alla presidenza del S.U, scritto quando era "solo" una docente universitaria, quindi interessante da leggere.