Scraping by on $500k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is $300K and we are stretched to the max.

Old sedans, one paid off.
2 kids in daycare
Small house with mortgage that is as low as possible while getting down to an hour commute, still outside beltway (did over 2 years with a 2 hr commute that wasn't sustainable with our jobs)
No vacations in 5 years
$300K in student loans with monthly payments that increase every year
Not maxing out retirement
Insufficient contributions to 529
Cut lawn service
Practically no savings

No fancy cars, house, private school, or nannies (unlike my colleagues). It is really, really stressful in this area.

So you have a full ride for undergrad and your parents paid for law school, but you still took out 200K in loans??? You deserve to struggle for that stupidity.

Dear God. Why on earth did you do that?

Law school for both of us. I had a full ride for undergrad, his parents paid his undergrad. My parents paid for law school, his did not. Everyone we knew who didn't live at home (we couldn't, no family in the area) took out $200K, as did DH. Came out during the recession so no jobs and also had to take self-funded bar study loans. Lived with his parents for a stretch while doing temp work to avoid taking more loans. But, I went for a LL.M. to be more marketable ($100K for me). So, now we make a good amount but pay $3500/month in student loans.

They go up each year because we are on IBR.

[Anonymous]

DH and I make about 250K per year, 3100/month mortgage, 3000/month childcare for 2, don't feel stretched at all. We each max out our 401ks (as in, 18,000 per person). We save money in 529s and in taxable investment accounts. We have 40K in student debt left (for me) at under 3% interest and a very low payment. No car payments. Unlike virtually every other person in our age bracket/social circle though, we aren't larding up a HELOC trying to frantically renovate every inch of our house. No wonder people feel stretched. My circa 1999 kitchen and baths are cheap and they work. I never watch HGTV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I make about 250K per year, 3100/month mortgage, 3000/month childcare for 2, don't feel stretched at all. We each max out our 401ks (as in, 18,000 per person). We save money in 529s and in taxable investment accounts. We have 40K in student debt left (for me) at under 3% interest and a very low payment. No car payments. Unlike virtually every other person in our age bracket/social circle though, we aren't larding up a HELOC trying to frantically renovate every inch of our house. No wonder people feel stretched. My circa 1999 kitchen and baths are cheap and they work. I never watch HGTV.

Yup, we're in almost exactly the same situation here. HHI: $265k, $3k mortgage, $2100 daycare, max 401k, save in 529s and taxable, and I have about $52k in remaining student loans at 2.75% interest (graduated with $175k in 2009), no HELOC.

Although, we do watch HGTV, but we leave our home remodel fantasies in TV Land. We've never done any renovating in real life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I make about 250K per year, 3100/month mortgage, 3000/month childcare for 2, don't feel stretched at all. We each max out our 401ks (as in, 18,000 per person). We save money in 529s and in taxable investment accounts. We have 40K in student debt left (for me) at under 3% interest and a very low payment. No car payments. Unlike virtually every other person in our age bracket/social circle though, we aren't larding up a HELOC trying to frantically renovate every inch of our house. No wonder people feel stretched. My circa 1999 kitchen and baths are cheap and they work. I never watch HGTV.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I make about 250K per year, 3100/month mortgage, 3000/month childcare for 2, don't feel stretched at all. We each max out our 401ks (as in, 18,000 per person). We save money in 529s and in taxable investment accounts. We have 40K in student debt left (for me) at under 3% interest and a very low payment. No car payments. Unlike virtually every other person in our age bracket/social circle though, we aren't larding up a HELOC trying to frantically renovate every inch of our house. No wonder people feel stretched. My circa 1999 kitchen and baths are cheap and they work. I never watch HGTV.

This.

I do feel stretched (in somewhat similar financial situation) partly due to the need to do home renovations. But in our case, we are talking about renovating bathrooms from the 1950s that are in bad condition and reconfiguring space to meet our families' needs. I don't watch HGTV and would probably we just fine with kitchen and baths from 1999.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is about 78k and we own three homes, three vehicles, have money in the bank, and money for vacations. We also live far below our means. Two of our homes are rental properties. I shop at thrift stores and consignment shops because I enjoy treasure hunting, and I do my own repairs on everything except for big jobs. I also do my own motorcycle repairs, because anyone who rides should know how to repair their own bike. My husband is law enforcement, three years from retirement. We've been married less than seven years. It's all in how dedicated you are to saving, and where your priorities lie. We don't compete with anyone. We do what makes us happy.

Where do you live?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I make about 250K per year, 3100/month mortgage, 3000/month childcare for 2, don't feel stretched at all. We each max out our 401ks (as in, 18,000 per person). We save money in 529s and in taxable investment accounts. We have 40K in student debt left (for me) at under 3% interest and a very low payment. No car payments. Unlike virtually every other person in our age bracket/social circle though, we aren't larding up a HELOC trying to frantically renovate every inch of our house. No wonder people feel stretched. My circa 1999 kitchen and baths are cheap and they work. I never watch HGTV.

This.

I do feel stretched (in somewhat similar financial situation) partly due to the need to do home renovations. But in our case, we are talking about renovating bathrooms from the 1950s that are in bad condition and reconfiguring space to meet our families' needs. I don't watch HGTV and would probably we just fine with kitchen and baths from 1999.

This is a want, not a need. There are plenty of people making do with 1950s bathrooms.

[Anonymous]

Threads like this make me really grateful for the life that I have. My husband and I make around 120k. Only debt is the mogage and about 30k in student loans. We own our cars and have no consumer debt. We both have pensions and 401ks. We have about 10k in savings and usually takes 2 or 3 vacations year plus trips to visit families. We are both pretty frugal people and we're very happy. I think it helps that we don't need a lot of luxury items in our life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Threads like this make me really grateful for the life that I have. My husband and I make around 120k. Only debt is the mogage and about 30k in student loans. We own our cars and have no consumer debt. We both have pensions and 401ks. We have about 10k in savings and usually takes 2 or 3 vacations year plus trips to visit families. We are both pretty frugal people and we're very happy. I think it helps that we don't need a lot of luxury items in our life.

So you live in Kentucky

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Threads like this make me really grateful for the life that I have. My husband and I make around 120k. Only debt is the mogage and about 30k in student loans. We own our cars and have no consumer debt. We both have pensions and 401ks. We have about 10k in savings and usually takes 2 or 3 vacations year plus trips to visit families. We are both pretty frugal people and we're very happy. I think it helps that we don't need a lot of luxury items in our life.

Grateful for being poor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Threads like this make me really grateful for the life that I have. My husband and I make around 120k. Only debt is the mogage and about 30k in student loans. We own our cars and have no consumer debt. We both have pensions and 401ks. We have about 10k in savings and usually takes 2 or 3 vacations year plus trips to visit families. We are both pretty frugal people and we're very happy. I think it helps that we don't need a lot of luxury items in our life.

So you live in Kentucky

Nope. Moco baby

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:law school debt poster is probably a troll. With a HHI of 300k she and her husband don't qualify for IBR because they make too much money. IBR doesn't take other debt into consideration (mortgage, cars, etc) and also doesn't take childcare into account when calculating your monthly payments. IBR does consider family size, but 300k/year wth 2 kids wouldn't cut it. With 3 kids they might, but the payment wouldn't reduce by much. Go play with an IBR loan payment calculator. Most whose loan sizes are equal to or less than their income won't qualify.

I know because I am on IBR for law school, using the PSLF. I have to apply every year, and I'm constantly trying to reduce my taxable income. That means that with a gross of 70+k/year I'm over halfway to maxing out my TSP contributions (not married) so that my income stays low and my payments don't go up.

This. I'm also on IBR for law school, and PSLF. We did not qualify until I had my daughter, and even then the payment is still only $25 cheaper. I'm doing it for the PSLF aspect. I went to a state law school with a partial scholarship. I had my daughter at 27, after going through infertility. So, I'm personally glad I didn't wait 10 years, as surely I would've needed even more expensive treatments. I know this, because I need them now at 30, so we are stopping at one! Low ovarian reserve in an otherwise perfectly healthy 26 year old! And both my grandmothers had 7-10 kids a piece!

Anyways, this thread has been very enlightening. I met this lady at the gym, and she was telling me about their $11K Disney cruise last year. Then she let it slip that it took a long time to pay it off. Yet, they're headed on another fancy vacation because it's spring break!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Threads like this make me really grateful for the life that I have. My husband and I make around 120k. Only debt is the mogage and about 30k in student loans. We own our cars and have no consumer debt. We both have pensions and 401ks. We have about 10k in savings and usually takes 2 or 3 vacations year plus trips to visit families. We are both pretty frugal people and we're very happy. I think it helps that we don't need a lot of luxury items in our life.

Grateful for being poor?

Grateful that I'm not stuck in some keeping up with the Jones style rat race that leaves me broke and miserable.

[Anonymous]

Simple. The only think that they can cut off without any hardship is the charitable donations and the vacations. Now you have $36,000 extra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Simple. The only think that they can cut off without any hardship is the charitable donations and the vacations. Now you have $36,000 extra.

Also cushy activities for the preschool aged kids. Could probably cut back on eating out