Your income, HHI, and spending on “luxuries”

[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.

+1 to this. The luxury of not having to argue over money is such a good one.

[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.

We are similar. I didn't realize people spent so much on bags or jewelry that is become a line item on their budget!

Though we do spend on housecleaning. 2x a month for 100 per visit. Comes to 3k/year. Totally worth it from a marriage and having kid perspective. I'm okay if that means we spend 35K/year on travel instead of 38k/year...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

We are similar. I didn't realize people spent so much on bags or jewelry that is become a line item on their budget!

Though we do spend on housecleaning. 2x a month for 100 per visit. Comes to 3k/year. Totally worth it from a marriage and having kid perspective. I'm okay if that means we spend 35K/year on travel instead of 38k/year...

Is your housecleaner from 2003 because that is a pretty crazy price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

We are similar. I didn't realize people spent so much on bags or jewelry that is become a line item on their budget!

Though we do spend on housecleaning. 2x a month for 100 per visit. Comes to 3k/year. Totally worth it from a marriage and having kid perspective. I'm okay if that means we spend 35K/year on travel instead of 38k/year...

Is your housecleaner from 2003 because that is a pretty crazy price.

Was wondering the same. I've got a 1500 sq ft 2bd/2bath condo and I pay almost $200 for every 2-3 weeks (go longer and it's slightly higher).

[Anonymous]

450K HHI

No jewelry, no handbags
1 mid range SUV (we both metro to work)
6K/year on hair cuts/color
Theater tickets
Sports team season tickets
25-30K/year for travel
1 kid in college, one in high school
Live in DC in a renovated SFH
Travel coach, am pondering an airport club membership.

I see much of this as a privilege but do not consider it luxuries.

We save a decent amount for retirement and college. NW of about 4M. In our 50s.

[Anonymous]

149k HHI.

2023 luxury spending was around $1500 on gardening stuff - soil, tools, seeds, seedlings, fruit tree cuttings, fertilizer, critter traps. I had thought that I cut grocery bill until I reviewed 12 months' credit card statements.

[Anonymous]

300k.

I don’t k on what we spend on clothing (kids need shoes winter coats etc) but I’d say I “splurge” by spending about 500-600/year on clothes (usually in Europe as I go for work yearly). Every few years I’ll buy a nice. Oat or boots etc. no expensive bags.

Jewelry—occasionally? I mean like 25$ earrings as such? I did spend about 1500$ remaking a ring recently as a kind of 15 year anniversary present. But I generally don’t buy pricey jewelry.

Our other splurges are travel (probably 10-15k/year) and sleepaway camp for kids 8k for both. Cars are older and inexpensive but we are eyeing a new one in the event our older car requires a big repair.

In general we spend a lot though, too much really…food, random Amazon crap, house cleaning etc. I’ve been trying to work up a budget and get dh on board since we are behind in college saving.

[Anonymous]

Annually

Jewelry $1k, maybe less. I own a luxury watch that I purchased for myself years ago from one of my very first bonus checks but jewelry in general is not really my thing.

Designer clothing - hard to say because I fully dress high/low. I see shoes and handbags as investments/staples, clothing less so because it's trend based. Sometimes designer, sometimes Target.

Handbags I might drop $2-3k per year on a new designer purse

Cars Tesla

Vacations $20k per year

Private school $50k per year plus other items (summer programs etc.)

HHI $600k

[Anonymous]

HHI - ranges from 800K-1 mil
We don’t spend a lot on vacations. Maybe 15K a year for a family of 3 + 2 grandparents.
-2 luxury cars - 1 is 10+ years old
-Child is in private and does overnight summer camps and programs, music lessons.
-Spouse doesn’t buy clothes that often but when he does, they are high quality. He spends money on high-end gadgets, golfing equipment, bikes.
-I buy a range from high-end designer to Amazon Basics.
-I spend on monthly facial/massages, every other week hair, nails. I do lashes every few months but I’m going to stop and go back to mascara. Teen daughter gets nails done once a month.
-Cleaners every other week.
-Don’t eat out a lot, maybe once a month. We do grocery delivery.
-Landscaper/lawn service
-Not considered luxury but we give monetary support other family members. If we didn’t, they would be living with us.
-Give to charity/daughter’s school on an annual basis.

[Anonymous]

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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?

No, African American. We spend a lot to take care of our hair. Even more if you have children.

[Anonymous]

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

In my case, I have good public option so I don’t have to do private but I do. Mainly because of the smaller setting.