Any Spenders Here?

[Anonymous]

I suppose it's all about priorities. I think of cars as nothing but boxes that take you from here to there, so I pay as little as possible for them, and always in cash.

On the other hand, I want a house with a view, so I've paid a premium to live high on a mountain and right on the water. We also like to travel, so even though we budget, travel is not considered part of the budget.

Compared to people who buy Starbucks coffee and eat organic grapes and lease $100K cars, we are savers. Compared to people who actually have to watch their money, we're spenders. It's all relative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope. We have a nice lifestyle, but who knows when the money train will stop. Because of that, we save a decent amount. No $100k cars for us. Make hay while the sun still shines.

What percentage of your HHI do you save (that you consider a decent amount as "savers")?

Usually about 30%. Sometimes more if a bonus is big.

[Anonymous]

I'm able to do it because I'm not setting my retirement requirements at some sky-high level.

No, you're able to do it because you must make a high salary. I have modest retirement savings and I have few "luxuries" in my life because I make well south of six figures. (I put luxuries in quotes because I'm sure what is luxurious to me would be poverty living for you.)

It's always worth remembering that the DCUM board is not a slice of real life for most people, who can neither "hypersave" nor go on $10K vacations.

That being said, I also hope to retire away from the DC area, mostly because I don't like it here very much (family keeps me here) and also because, as you allude to, there are perfectly nice cheaper places to live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope. We have a nice lifestyle, but who knows when the money train will stop. Because of that, we save a decent amount. No $100k cars for us. Make hay while the sun still shines.

What percentage of your HHI do you save (that you consider a decent amount as "savers")?

Usually about 30%. Sometimes more if a bonus is big.

And I don't consider us "savers." Just middle of the road about spending/saving at our income level. Certainly there are people who would save a lot more of our income.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, this thread is meaningless unless people give their HHI and the amount they save (for downpayment, retirement, college). I'm not going to call anyone that makes $50k/year and only saves 10% a "spender". But I would consider someone with a HHI of $200k that spends $180k/year a big spender.

I'll go first:
HHI: $165k
save: 28% (10% pretax and 15% post tax for retirement, 3% pretax for kids college). We actually save much more than that, but for shorter-term expenses like cars, home maintenance, etc.
Mortgage and daycare are our big expenses. We spend very little on anything else (by choice, we don't feel deprived or anything).

[Anonymous]

HHI: $300k
Save about $40k a year give or take. Given our assets though our networth ones up by about $100k a year. We also are at peak spend right now: two young kids, nanny, private. Once some of that goes away in the coming years well free up a lot of cash flow.

Savings made up of about $17k 401k, $15k 401k match, and between 10k and 15k in "other" savings. Assets throw off another $30 to $50k a year or so, which is reinvested.

We spend on vacations. Cars I don't give a shit about and we just own em. Leasing is for car enthusiasts or idiots. At 34, we have about $1.4M net worth. We may be "over saving" a bit, but I figure that'll let us let off the gas more at 40, which seems like an OK trade off.

[Anonymous]

What's your hhi op? Some can't do both!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HHI: $300k
Save about $40k a year give or take. Given our assets though our networth ones up by about $100k a year. We also are at peak spend right now: two young kids, nanny, private. Once some of that goes away in the coming years well free up a lot of cash flow.

Savings made up of about $17k 401k, $15k 401k match, and between 10k and 15k in "other" savings. Assets throw off another $30 to $50k a year or so, which is reinvested.

We spend on vacations. Cars I don't give a shit about and we just own em. Leasing is for car enthusiasts or idiots. At 34, we have about $1.4M net worth. We may be "over saving" a bit, but I figure that'll let us let off the gas more at 40, which seems like an OK trade off.

So family money and/or real estate got you to 1.4.

[Anonymous]

HHI 170 - we also enjoy life. No expensive vacations etc but we like to go to restaurants and to treat ourselves to new clothes etc. we don't skimp on groceries and enjoy going out with our 4 year old etc etc. So OP we don't spend the way you do because we can't afford it but I think for our HHI we spend the way you do (if that makes sense) - I totally understand where you are coming from.

[Anonymous]

Please OP - you have been given so much. Will you please give mightily to the poor.

[Anonymous]

Also do you have kids?
For us kids represent an endless liability. Braces? Special ed services? Health issues? Etc. I've seen friends spend 30k/year for the right school for their dyslexic child. Right now we have 1 10mo, but that will change one day. Until the kids are grown, I feel it's responsible to hyper save so we can provide anything should they need it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI: $300k
Save about $40k a year give or take. Given our assets though our networth ones up by about $100k a year. We also are at peak spend right now: two young kids, nanny, private. Once some of that goes away in the coming years well free up a lot of cash flow.

Savings made up of about $17k 401k, $15k 401k match, and between 10k and 15k in "other" savings. Assets throw off another $30 to $50k a year or so, which is reinvested.

We spend on vacations. Cars I don't give a shit about and we just own em. Leasing is for car enthusiasts or idiots. At 34, we have about $1.4M net worth. We may be "over saving" a bit, but I figure that'll let us let off the gas more at 40, which seems like an OK trade off.

So family money and/or real estate got you to 1.4.

$50k a year "thrown off" by investments? That's $1mm at a 5% yield ... Must be nice to get a $1mm handout to start off. Too bad you couldn't use that golden ticket to get yourself into a job that pays enough to support yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI: $300k
Save about $40k a year give or take. Given our assets though our networth ones up by about $100k a year. We also are at peak spend right now: two young kids, nanny, private. Once some of that goes away in the coming years well free up a lot of cash flow.

Savings made up of about $17k 401k, $15k 401k match, and between 10k and 15k in "other" savings. Assets throw off another $30 to $50k a year or so, which is reinvested.

We spend on vacations. Cars I don't give a shit about and we just own em. Leasing is for car enthusiasts or idiots. At 34, we have about $1.4M net worth. We may be "over saving" a bit, but I figure that'll let us let off the gas more at 40, which seems like an OK trade off.

So family money and/or real estate got you to 1.4.

$50k a year "thrown off" by investments? That's $1mm at a 5% yield ... Must be nice to get a $1mm handout to start off. Too bad you couldn't use that golden ticket to get yourself into a job that pays enough to support yourself.

Such vitriol. I made nearly $200k a year as a 22 yo in ibanking. I've downshifted to something less awful but hardly think $300k is "not enough to support myself". It's a choice - I work 35 hours a week and get to take as much vacation as I like. Sure, I could be making $1m a year by now if I'd have stayed in the banking world but I'd also be working 80 hour weeks. Life is about choices - I chose my family over a yacht and I'm okay with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're spenders for sure. I refuse to live my life preparing for a worst case scenario. We're on track for retirement, but certainly not socking away as much as we could be if we lived life more frugally.

+1

[Anonymous]

Yep. My income is nowhere near yours, but I don't feel the need to sock away $5-10 million for retirement.