$170k HHI for family of 4?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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).

Ha, forgot the other big differences, more updated houses and newer cars. I don't care about those things but travel is important to me.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely doable. It will be your job to stretch the dollar. You can even bring in $1000 a month selling something.
We live 2.5 people on $85k with no problem. We do have investments, but those are more moral support than to be sold to help pay for day to day things.

[Anonymous]

Sure. We were at that for a long time, until just 4 years ago. It's fine especially if your spouse gets good affordable healthcare for the family through work. You could probably also do something pt/from home until kids are older (assuming they are fairly young based on your dh's age)

[Anonymous]

That sounds great. We are at a similar income with two working parents!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Why do you think this? Isn't it at least as likely that since he's at $170K already, there's not much more room for growth? In many fields, comp tops out at $150-200K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

You would have at least 5K per month left after paying your mortgage. What on earth are you doing with all of it if you couldn’t make it work without cutting ALL activities and vacations?

[Anonymous]

We are doing it on about 180k in a large Midwest city easily. Our PITI is $2100, so not that different. Still maxing retirement and saving about $1000 per month in 529s total for 2 kids. We have a lot left over each month but we don’t mind living modestly. One paid off car but very little transport expenses at all (WFH, walk to preschool), very little travel since our kids are so young, cook almost all meals at home. I don’t mind those things at all but others will feel differently.

Am contemplating going back to my old job part time but the stress of coordinating part time childcare and illness and everything makes me want to delay as long as I can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Why do you think this? Isn't it at least as likely that since he's at $170K already, there's not much more room for growth? In many fields, comp tops out at $150-200K.

She said she’s hoping his career will take off which tells me he’s not at the top of his comp potential in whatever career. There are many industries and jobs where 170 would be the top/ceiling but the people at that salary aren’t typically 34 years old.

[Anonymous]

Yes it’s very doable. Stay the course of staying home for now. When they are older you can go back.

[Anonymous]

Totally doable. Insure your spouse heavily, including for disability.

[Anonymous]

Definitely doable. We have been doing it for years (starting on way less than 170k and now at about 175k). Our PITI is lower ($1600), but we pay over by $750 every month so we can pay off early.

I actually took a job a couple of years ago (salary of 125k), but ended up leaving because we found that we missed having a SAHP more than we liked or needed the money.

One thing to keep in mind is that our emergency fund is a full 12 months of expenses. Also we can decide against the extra principal on the mortgage on a monthly basis so if an unexpected expense comes up, it’s NBD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely doable. We have been doing it for years (starting on way less than 170k and now at about 175k). Our PITI is lower ($1600), but we pay over by $750 every month so we can pay off early.

I actually took a job a couple of years ago (salary of 125k), but ended up leaving because we found that we missed having a SAHP more than we liked or needed the money.

One thing to keep in mind is that our emergency fund is a full 12 months of expenses. Also we can decide against the extra principal on the mortgage on a monthly basis so if an unexpected expense comes up, it’s NBD

Can you share what activities your kids are in and what your travel/vacation consists of? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are doing it on about 180k in a large Midwest city easily. Our PITI is $2100, so not that different. Still maxing retirement and saving about $1000 per month in 529s total for 2 kids. We have a lot left over each month but we don’t mind living modestly. One paid off car but very little transport expenses at all (WFH, walk to preschool), very little travel since our kids are so young, cook almost all meals at home. I don’t mind those things at all but others will feel differently.

Am contemplating going back to my old job part time but the stress of coordinating part time childcare and illness and everything makes me want to delay as long as I can.

Why the f**k are you on DCUM.

Your Midwest city experiences just aren’t helpful.

[Anonymous]

We live very comfortably on that and had a similar mortgage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

This makes no sense as we have that salary range and we max out retirement, save for college, lots of activities for the kids, eating out, and some vacations but not traveling right now for other reasons.