Your income, HHI, and spending on “luxuries”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people consider private school to be a luxury expense?

Well, considering most people listing high HHI live in strong public school districts…what would you call it?

[Anonymous]

Hhi 400k. Biggest luxuries are
competitive dance 1-1.5k/mo
reno 1400/mo loan
travel 25k/yr
also eat out 1-2x/mo, hire cleaners, dog daycare
no fancy stuff or cars

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people consider private school to be a luxury expense?

Because it’s a luxury to be able to spend a college-level tuition amount for your kid to learn phonics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The smartest thing the luxury houses ever did was convince UMC housewives their bags and jewelry were "investment" pieces.

+1. LOL. Right OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Divorced, HHI 170k, grown children,

Jewelry: I might splurge on $500 earrings once or twice every few years.
Handbags: One expensive bag, $1500-2000, every year-- usually in the fall
Cars: Cash purchase 2015 Acura TLX; going strong at 120k miles with no plans to buy another vehicle anytime soon.
Clothing/coats/shoes: I spend about 15k on clothing yearly.
Eating out: Not often (I don't count trips to Dunkin or Starbucks as eating out since the cost is nominal).
Vacations: 2k yearly
Hair salon: 2,400 yearly

10% of gross income on clothes and handbags?!

+2 Say what?? Not surprised, sadly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Divorced, HHI 170k, grown children,

Jewelry: I might splurge on $500 earrings once or twice every few years.
Handbags: One expensive bag, $1500-2000, every year-- usually in the fall
Cars: Cash purchase 2015 Acura TLX; going strong at 120k miles with no plans to buy another vehicle anytime soon.
Clothing/coats/shoes: I spend about 15k on clothing yearly.
Eating out: Not often (I don't count trips to Dunkin or Starbucks as eating out since the cost is nominal).
Vacations: 2k yearly
Hair salon: 2,400 yearly

10% of gross income on clothes and handbags?!

+2 Say what?? Not surprised, sadly.

Why shouldn't she? Not my thing, but it seems like she has the money with only $2k on vacations, presumably no car payment, etc. Lots of people here would be okay with her spending way more on travel, for instance. Plus she has no kids at home, which frees up quite a bit of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Divorced, HHI 170k, grown children,

Jewelry: I might splurge on $500 earrings once or twice every few years.
Handbags: One expensive bag, $1500-2000, every year-- usually in the fall
Cars: Cash purchase 2015 Acura TLX; going strong at 120k miles with no plans to buy another vehicle anytime soon.
Clothing/coats/shoes: I spend about 15k on clothing yearly.
Eating out: Not often (I don't count trips to Dunkin or Starbucks as eating out since the cost is nominal).
Vacations: 2k yearly
Hair salon: 2,400 yearly

10% of gross income on clothes and handbags?!

+2 Say what?? Not surprised, sadly.

Why shouldn't she? Not my thing, but it seems like she has the money with only $2k on vacations, presumably no car payment, etc. Lots of people here would be okay with her spending way more on travel, for instance. Plus she has no kids at home, which frees up quite a bit of money.

And it seems that she's taking care of her hair too. I bet this is a stylish, classy, and put together AA woman, you know the type, with perfectly tailored clothing and great hair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Divorced, HHI 170k, grown children,

Jewelry: I might splurge on $500 earrings once or twice every few years.
Handbags: One expensive bag, $1500-2000, every year-- usually in the fall
Cars: Cash purchase 2015 Acura TLX; going strong at 120k miles with no plans to buy another vehicle anytime soon.
Clothing/coats/shoes: I spend about 15k on clothing yearly.
Eating out: Not often (I don't count trips to Dunkin or Starbucks as eating out since the cost is nominal).
Vacations: 2k yearly
Hair salon: 2,400 yearly

10% of gross income on clothes and handbags?!

+2 Say what?? Not surprised, sadly.

Why shouldn't she? Not my thing, but it seems like she has the money with only $2k on vacations, presumably no car payment, etc. Lots of people here would be okay with her spending way more on travel, for instance. Plus she has no kids at home, which frees up quite a bit of money.

And it seems that she's taking care of her hair too. I bet this is a stylish, classy, and put together AA woman, you know the type, with perfectly tailored clothing and great hair.

What is AA? Alcoholics Anonymous?

[Anonymous]

HHI ~$300K and pretty solid net worth. Only debt is mortgage. Buy cars with cash and keep them for years. Don't spend on clothes, jewelry, handbags, dining in nice restaurants, or housecleaning. Spend about 40k/year on travel and experiences.

[Anonymous]

Well…I assume your $40k in travel must include dining in some nice restaurants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HHI ~$300K and pretty solid net worth. Only debt is mortgage. Buy cars with cash and keep them for years. Don't spend on clothes, jewelry, handbags, dining in nice restaurants, or housecleaning. Spend about 40k/year on travel and experiences.

This basically describes us, too.

$300K HHI
spending:
Realistically probably $3000/year on all family clothing (2 young kids, 2 parents)
$0 jewelry and handbags
$12,000 on "food and drink" according to my credit card, which excludes groceries but includes all food bought outside the house
$20,000 on travel (airfare and hotels)
$2000 on entertainment (tickets to movies, museums, rides, etc)
$2000 on wellness items. My DH cuts all of our hair at home, but I get maybe 5 pedicures per year, 5 massages per year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just today I was in a shop and a beautiful blouse was $550. We have a very high net worth but I just don’t have the desire to spend money like that. But the two of us went out to dinner tonight and it was $200. I drive a Subaru SUV, but we fly first class. I’m sure a shrink could define my behavior.

I could guess - it's that you have a permission structure to spend money with your spouse, but you lack it for things only for yourself. That could be because you don't earn your money - someone else does - so it feels a little foreign to you. It could be that your spouse is subtly giving you the message that you shouldn't buy an expensive blouse for yourself, but he or she really enjoys expensive dinners and first class travel, so you don't get that "NO" message there. Or it might be that you've internalized some message about how experiences are worth lots of $ but things are not (I hate that message).

Or maybe you just didn't really want the blouse that much!

[Anonymous]

$290 hhi, net worth just under $2m, no kids. Biggest luxury items include annual charitable giving of about 10% of gross income, almost 20% of gross income for retirement savings (plus an investment condo we rent out), good insurance (health, disability, long term care, life, car, home, umbrella) and a home renovation that is going to be about half a year's hhi. We have one car and plan to replace it soon despite it still running fine (it's 9 years old and we want some different features) so that's a luxury. Other highly discretionary items: monthly house cleaning (would love to go to 2 a month but this works best for the cleaner we like), my wife gets her hair cut and dyed in an expensive salon, pet care (good food, medical care, sitter when we travel), shoes (not designer but good sneakers and hiking boots, which wear out). Travel isn't super luxurious but it adds up; same with local entertainment (restaurant meals, sports games, theater) even if we aren't getting the best seats or going to the fanciest places.

Mostly I think our biggest luxury is that we don't worry or argue about money. I try to get a good value at the grocery store, but if I see something I want I can get it. I can go to a running shoe store and pick what fits best and only use price as a tiebreaker. When there is a friend or family wedding or funeral, we just book a ticket and cat-sitter and go. And if we had something go wrong, we have enough savings and space in the budget to be ok for a while.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$290 hhi, net worth just under $2m, no kids. Biggest luxury items include annual charitable giving of about 10% of gross income, almost 20% of gross income for retirement savings (plus an investment condo we rent out), good insurance (health, disability, long term care, life, car, home, umbrella) and a home renovation that is going to be about half a year's hhi. We have one car and plan to replace it soon despite it still running fine (it's 9 years old and we want some different features) so that's a luxury. Other highly discretionary items: monthly house cleaning (would love to go to 2 a month but this works best for the cleaner we like), my wife gets her hair cut and dyed in an expensive salon, pet care (good food, medical care, sitter when we travel), shoes (not designer but good sneakers and hiking boots, which wear out). Travel isn't super luxurious but it adds up; same with local entertainment (restaurant meals, sports games, theater) even if we aren't getting the best seats or going to the fanciest places.

Mostly I think our biggest luxury is that we don't worry or argue about money. I try to get a good value at the grocery store, but if I see something I want I can get it. I can go to a running shoe store and pick what fits best and only use price as a tiebreaker. When there is a friend or family wedding or funeral, we just book a ticket and cat-sitter and go. And if we had something go wrong, we have enough savings and space in the budget to be ok for a while.

We're DINKs with a much lower net worth, but a similar HHI (as of just recently) and I think your insight about not having to stress about a last minute ticket to a funeral, or a pet sitter, or the running shoes you like best, is exactly right.

We don't go on $$$$ vacations or buy luxury cars - we're driving one 12 year old Kia Soul that we hope to eke another year out of - but we buy whatever cheese we want at the grocery store without a second thought. I am so profoundly grateful to not have to penny pinch or stress over which pet food to get for our four animals, or whether I can splurge a little at the native plant nursery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$290 hhi, net worth just under $2m, no kids. Biggest luxury items include annual charitable giving of about 10% of gross income, almost 20% of gross income for retirement savings (plus an investment condo we rent out), good insurance (health, disability, long term care, life, car, home, umbrella) and a home renovation that is going to be about half a year's hhi. We have one car and plan to replace it soon despite it still running fine (it's 9 years old and we want some different features) so that's a luxury. Other highly discretionary items: monthly house cleaning (would love to go to 2 a month but this works best for the cleaner we like), my wife gets her hair cut and dyed in an expensive salon, pet care (good food, medical care, sitter when we travel), shoes (not designer but good sneakers and hiking boots, which wear out). Travel isn't super luxurious but it adds up; same with local entertainment (restaurant meals, sports games, theater) even if we aren't getting the best seats or going to the fanciest places.

Mostly I think our biggest luxury is that we don't worry or argue about money. I try to get a good value at the grocery store, but if I see something I want I can get it. I can go to a running shoe store and pick what fits best and only use price as a tiebreaker. When there is a friend or family wedding or funeral, we just book a ticket and cat-sitter and go. And if we had something go wrong, we have enough savings and space in the budget to be ok for a while.

We're DINKs with a much lower net worth, but a similar HHI (as of just recently) and I think your insight about not having to stress about a last minute ticket to a funeral, or a pet sitter, or the running shoes you like best, is exactly right.

We don't go on $$$$ vacations or buy luxury cars - we're driving one 12 year old Kia Soul that we hope to eke another year out of - but we buy whatever cheese we want at the grocery store without a second thought. I am so profoundly grateful to not have to penny pinch or stress over which pet food to get for our four animals, or whether I can splurge a little at the native plant nursery.

Agree. The little luxuries and the freedom from financial stress mean the most to me. I know people who are far richer, and far poorer, than me, and it gives a good perspective. I have never missed a utility bill or worried about affording food. I have never delayed medical care or not filled a prescription because it was too expensive. If I had a legal problem or something broke in my house I could hire a professional to fix it..and we can help friends and relatives who aren't as fortunate. Most people can't say that, but those things are far more valuable to me than jewelry or handbags.