$170k HHI for family of 4?

[Anonymous]

I lost my job a couple of months ago and the reduction in household stress has been amazing. There was no stressing over childcare for xmas break, MLK day, snow days, or sick days. The house is clean, hot meals every night, laundry kept up with, dog walked everyday, pulled kids from extended care and they are flourishing with more time at home. I always thought I LOVED to work, but this has opened my eyes a bit.

Does anyone have a family of 4 living on a HHI around $170k? Is it doable? Our PITI is $2400, kids are in public school, no debt/car payments/loans. DH is 34yo so hoping his career will really ramp up over the next decade. We were at a HHI of $275k before I was laid off and we were saving a lot because we just really aren't spenders, but maybe we could be ok without my pay?

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure why you're asking if its doable. You have the numbers and are making it work.

The only thing I would ask about is regarding funding your retirement and also kids' colleges.

[Anonymous]

We did that about 6 years ago, with similar mortgage. It was ok but there wasn’t room for many extras. I like traveling, among other things, so I went back to work. Also consider what you will do if you need a new car or house repairs.

[Anonymous]

One major home or auto repair or big health issue away from poverty.

[Anonymous]

Your social security will be lower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One major home or auto repair or big health issue away from poverty.

Unless they have adequate savings already

[Anonymous]

It can totally work. Ideally you'd have a lower mortgage payment but that's already a done deal. The thing is, it's not hard to do as long as you don't get wrapped up in fitting in/keeping up with the Jones. Plenty of people do it for less but plenty do it for more. It's managing your own expectations that's the hard part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It can totally work. Ideally you'd have a lower mortgage payment but that's already a done deal. The thing is, it's not hard to do as long as you don't get wrapped up in fitting in/keeping up with the Jones. Plenty of people do it for less but plenty do it for more. It's managing your own expectations that's the hard part.

What could you buy or rent lower than $2400/mo (genuine question)? Usually even rent for a 2bd/1ba apartment is higher than that.

[Anonymous]

My salary alone is $172K. I contribute the max to my 401k, and our PITI is $2500. We are also saving for kids' college.

No, we can't do it on $172K. If we cut all activities, no vacation, then maybe. But, I don't want to do that.

At one point, I quit to be a sahm to reduce the stress level; I saved to be able to do this.

The stress level in our family went way down. But, I knew that I would need to go back to work to save for retirement and college, and if I stayed out of the workforce any longer, it would've been that much more difficult to get back in.

So, take some time off if you need to, but if you want to eventually get back into the workforce, you might want to not stay out too long.

[Anonymous]

Maybe check with your spouse. Maybe your stress level went way down...but how about your spouse?

I think a large part of two incomes is knowing that the likelihood of both being unemployed at the same time is remote. It's insurance.

Also, for many careers, you can find it very difficult to re-enter the workforce after years as a SAHP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One major home or auto repair or big health issue away from poverty.

Omg seriously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One major home or auto repair or big health issue away from poverty.

Omg seriously?

Some here view $400k income as "middle class", so expected to a certain extent.

If you read the OP it's obvious that's not a reasonable concern- they surely have some equity in their home and cash saved from when both were working.

[Anonymous]

It’s definitely doable given how young your husband is and his upside potential. If he is supportive go for it and enjoy your life. At some point going back to work may make sense.

[Anonymous]

What type of field were you in and could you find something relatively quickly if DH is laid off in a few years? His high salary at 34 tells me he’ll be at a different/higher comp at 44, especially with you home and taking all of those parenting/house responsibilities. I think the family financially will be fine, I think you should try it for a year, look casually for a part time or very flexible gig, and if you do decide to stay out of the workforce, get a post-nup that protects you in the event of a divorce.

[Anonymous]

We have a HHI of $150K for a family of 5. PITI is $3K. No other debt or car payments. Its doable. Where I see the difference between us and families with two incomes is travel. We do a lot of awesome fun trips but they're mostly driving. We're willing/able to drive very, very long distances so it works. We also saved a lot when we had two incomes so we've scaled back retirement savings on the one income (i.e. we're not maxing anymore).