I truly cannot wrap my head around our HHI jump from $150k to $260k

[Anonymous]

I feel stupid, but my brain does not make sense of the math. We will absolutely NOT fall victim to lifestyle creep. We are already in our forever home. We both grew up LMC and understand how fortunate we are to have already started 529s, Roth IRAs on top of 401k etc. That is where our money will go- into the future.

That being said, we would like to make one purchase to celebrate- a vacation, boat (used), or (used) car for DH as his has 356,000 miles. I truly cannot comprehend what we can afford.

We have a 5yo and a 1yo. We are 31/32yo. Here's an overview of our finances:

HHI 260K
Bought our house 5 years ago (tomorrow!) for $325,000 by putting down $45k with a 30 year mortgage. We just got out of PMI.
$2400/mon mortgage, taxes, insurance
$1400/mon daycare (older DC will be in public next year)
$4000 left on my car (will pay off eventually we have 0% interest)
No student loans or other debt

We have been putting $500/mon into 529s, maxing 401Ks, I have a Roth IRA on top of that, and we have $40,000 emergency fund.

Can we make a $10k vacation, $15k boat, or $25k vehicle purchase without worrying? Not planning on changing anything else except adding more monthly to 529s.

[Anonymous]

If you truly don't want to fall victim to lifestyle creep, take that extra 100000 and bank it. Nothing makes money faster than money. Invest it wisely and you can be a lot more wealthier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel stupid, but my brain does not make sense of the math. We will absolutely NOT fall victim to lifestyle creep. We are already in our forever home. We both grew up LMC and understand how fortunate we are to have already started 529s, Roth IRAs on top of 401k etc. That is where our money will go- into the future.

That being said, we would like to make one purchase to celebrate- a vacation, boat (used), or (used) car for DH as his has 356,000 miles. I truly cannot comprehend what we can afford.

We have a 5yo and a 1yo. We are 31/32yo. Here's an overview of our finances:

HHI 260K
Bought our house 5 years ago (tomorrow!) for $325,000 by putting down $45k with a 30 year mortgage. We just got out of PMI.
$2400/mon mortgage, taxes, insurance
$1400/mon daycare (older DC will be in public next year)
$4000 left on my car (will pay off eventually we have 0% interest)
No student loans or other debt

We have been putting $500/mon into 529s, maxing 401Ks, I have a Roth IRA on top of that, and we have $40,000 emergency fund.

Can we make a $10k vacation, $15k boat, or $25k vehicle purchase without worrying? Not planning on changing anything else except adding more monthly to 529s.

Oh bless your heart. You’re already in that slippery slope.

Because you grew up LMC is going to be even harder for you especially since you think you are now filthy rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you truly don't want to fall victim to lifestyle creep, take that extra 100000 and bank it. Nothing makes money faster than money. Invest it wisely and you can be a lot more wealthier.

Yes, that's the plan moving forward. We've never been on a family vacation, my DH's car has 350,000+ miles, and we have wanted a boat since DH and I met at 19yo so we were hoping to cross one of those off our list first.

My brain just keeps defaulting to "but $10k is 1/4 of your emergency fund don't do it"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel stupid, but my brain does not make sense of the math. We will absolutely NOT fall victim to lifestyle creep. We are already in our forever home. We both grew up LMC and understand how fortunate we are to have already started 529s, Roth IRAs on top of 401k etc. That is where our money will go- into the future.

That being said, we would like to make one purchase to celebrate- a vacation, boat (used), or (used) car for DH as his has 356,000 miles. I truly cannot comprehend what we can afford.

We have a 5yo and a 1yo. We are 31/32yo. Here's an overview of our finances:

HHI 260K
Bought our house 5 years ago (tomorrow!) for $325,000 by putting down $45k with a 30 year mortgage. We just got out of PMI.
$2400/mon mortgage, taxes, insurance
$1400/mon daycare (older DC will be in public next year)
$4000 left on my car (will pay off eventually we have 0% interest)
No student loans or other debt

We have been putting $500/mon into 529s, maxing 401Ks, I have a Roth IRA on top of that, and we have $40,000 emergency fund.

Can we make a $10k vacation, $15k boat, or $25k vehicle purchase without worrying? Not planning on changing anything else except adding more monthly to 529s.

Oh bless your heart. You’re already in that slippery slope.

Because you grew up LMC is going to be even harder for you especially since you think you are now filthy rich.

^^^

This

There will always be excuses to spend. It’s just the beginning.

[Anonymous]

Set up a separate savings account and move the extra cash into it. Once you have $25k in the account, then make a decision about what you want to do with it.

[Anonymous]

That's about $7,500 extra a month, so after taxes something around $4-$5,000 (just guessing - could be more or less). Just wait a while and you should have enough extra saved to make that purchase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel stupid, but my brain does not make sense of the math. We will absolutely NOT fall victim to lifestyle creep. We are already in our forever home. We both grew up LMC and understand how fortunate we are to have already started 529s, Roth IRAs on top of 401k etc. That is where our money will go- into the future.

That being said, we would like to make one purchase to celebrate- a vacation, boat (used), or (used) car for DH as his has 356,000 miles. I truly cannot comprehend what we can afford.

We have a 5yo and a 1yo. We are 31/32yo. Here's an overview of our finances:

HHI 260K
Bought our house 5 years ago (tomorrow!) for $325,000 by putting down $45k with a 30 year mortgage. We just got out of PMI.
$2400/mon mortgage, taxes, insurance
$1400/mon daycare (older DC will be in public next year)
$4000 left on my car (will pay off eventually we have 0% interest)
No student loans or other debt

We have been putting $500/mon into 529s, maxing 401Ks, I have a Roth IRA on top of that, and we have $40,000 emergency fund.

Can we make a $10k vacation, $15k boat, or $25k vehicle purchase without worrying? Not planning on changing anything else except adding more monthly to 529s.

Oh bless your heart. You’re already in that slippery slope.

Because you grew up LMC is going to be even harder for you especially since you think you are now filthy rich.

Not OP but this is remark is unnecessary and snarky. You contributed nothing to the conversation and clearly only wanted to knock someone down a peg.

[Anonymous]

I think you can probably afford to sell the 350K mile car and buy a new one. Just not a luxury car.

[Anonymous]

Yes, Op. Not sure what the point of making more is if you decide to never spend any of it. Buy the new car or boat or vacation, continue saving, and enjoy the flexibility a bit.

[Anonymous]

Also, at that HHI, you won't be able to do a Roth IRA anymore. Max out both your 401Ks and you can either do a backdoor IRA or put the rest in a taxable brokerage account like VTSAX at vanguard. We have a similar HHI and don't do the backdoor Roth so that the money is accessible without penalty just in case.

[Anonymous]

I'd hold off on any big purchases for a bit and see how things go.

The boat is the easiest to cross off the list. It's not a "need" and the costs can add up: insurance, docking/storage fees, boating accessories (life jackets, ropes, etc). But even with the car, I'd hold off until you really need to get one.

[Anonymous]

I would just save/invest the extra income. I wouldn’t get a boat because it’s expensive to maintain. Also don’t see why you would need to spend 10k on a vacation. If anything, it would make sense to replace the old car, it must be unreliable at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would just save/invest the extra income. I wouldn’t get a boat because it’s expensive to maintain. Also don’t see why you would need to spend 10k on a vacation. If anything, it would make sense to replace the old car, it must be unreliable at this point.

^^ you can travel to Europe for about half the amount and have a great time there.

[Anonymous]

Car for sure.