Dual income families, what is your HHI?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

FWIW, I make $83,000, a nurse, and am 49 years old. One kid. Public School. Hubby makes $125,000 same age..Federal.

Do any of these high earners ever see their children??? Ever?

No one we cannot afford Bethesda.

Clearly you haven't looked hard at the market in Bethesda lately. We have an HHI of 150K year with two in daycare, and we feel like we can afford Bethesda. Not the biggest grandest house in Bethesda, but there's home out there in the 650K range which would be completely reasonable on your HHI.

Buying a 650k house on a HHI of 208K? We make 100k more than that and the is no way we'd take on a mortgage for 520K (assuming 20% down) at that income level. Frankly, i would not take on a mortgage we could not sustain on ONE income. That would be a horrible feeling to have to have 2 incomes to pay my mortgage, especially in today's uncertain economy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

FWIW, I make $83,000, a nurse, and am 49 years old. One kid. Public School. Hubby makes $125,000 same age..Federal.

Do any of these high earners ever see their children??? Ever?

No one we cannot afford Bethesda.

Clearly you haven't looked hard at the market in Bethesda lately. We have an HHI of 150K year with two in daycare, and we feel like we can afford Bethesda. Not the biggest grandest house in Bethesda, but there's home out there in the 650K range which would be completely reasonable on your HHI.

I would LOVE to see how you handle a 650k house on a 150k income and two in daycare. 150k, you might net $8,750/mo.

Call me conservative, but we make double that and don't even carry that kind of mortgage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holy Moley! I am shocked at some of these high salaries. I can only assume that some of the women making over $150,000 are attorneys? Docs don't seem to be making much money these days, though they have scads more training than attorneys and take so much more risk.

FWIW, I make $83,000, a nurse, and am 49 years old. One kid. Public School. Hubby makes $125,000 same age..Federal.

Do any of these high earners ever see their children??? Ever?

No one we cannot afford Bethesda.

No. I make over that, and I work for a large Defense contractor. But I'm relatively Sr, and in Business Development (with multiple undergrad/grad engineering degrees)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

FWIW, I make $83,000, a nurse, and am 49 years old. One kid. Public School. Hubby makes $125,000 same age..Federal.

Do any of these high earners ever see their children??? Ever?

No one we cannot afford Bethesda.

Clearly you haven't looked hard at the market in Bethesda lately. We have an HHI of 150K year with two in daycare, and we feel like we can afford Bethesda. Not the biggest grandest house in Bethesda, but there's home out there in the 650K range which would be completely reasonable on your HHI.

I would LOVE to see how you handle a 650k house on a 150k income and two in daycare. 150k, you might net $8,750/mo.

Call me conservative, but we make double that and don't even carry that kind of mortgage.

the people who think it rough or impossible to have a $4K mtg on $300K HHI are simply insane - or have costly cocaine habits or drive rolls royces or I don't know what. In today's very conservative lending climate, your house payment (including T&I) shouldn't be more than 28% of your gross monthly HHI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

FWIW, I make $83,000, a nurse, and am 49 years old. One kid. Public School. Hubby makes $125,000 same age..Federal.

Do any of these high earners ever see their children??? Ever?

No one we cannot afford Bethesda.

Clearly you haven't looked hard at the market in Bethesda lately. We have an HHI of 150K year with two in daycare, and we feel like we can afford Bethesda. Not the biggest grandest house in Bethesda, but there's home out there in the 650K range which would be completely reasonable on your HHI.

We have a HHI of 210K a year with 2 in daycare and we would not feel comfortable taking on a mortgage for 650K. This is why we bought a townhouse in Gaithersburg for $450K. If we were to take on a 600K mortgate, we would feel extremely strapped.

[Anonymous]

DH: 350,000
Me: 135,000
Combined: 485,000

We have a horrible mortgage (beautiful house), that although we can afford I would never make the same decision again. Would opt for the beautiful mortgage and 'perfect' home (aka one with less mortgage!).

Thankfully I have a very flexible job (not an attorney) so I can be home after a reasonable 7-8 hours at the office. Then can catch up once everyone goes to sleep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

FWIW, I make $83,000, a nurse, and am 49 years old. One kid. Public School. Hubby makes $125,000 same age..Federal.

Do any of these high earners ever see their children??? Ever?

No one we cannot afford Bethesda.

Clearly you haven't looked hard at the market in Bethesda lately. We have an HHI of 150K year with two in daycare, and we feel like we can afford Bethesda. Not the biggest grandest house in Bethesda, but there's home out there in the 650K range which would be completely reasonable on your HHI.

I would LOVE to see how you handle a 650k house on a 150k income and two in daycare. 150k, you might net $8,750/mo.

Call me conservative, but we make double that and don't even carry that kind of mortgage.

the people who think it rough or impossible to have a $4K mtg on $300K HHI are simply insane - or have costly cocaine habits or drive rolls royces or I don't know what. In today's very conservative lending climate, your house payment (including T&I) shouldn't be more than 28% of your gross monthly HHI.

I think it is INSANE to carry a 4k mortgage on a 150k income and 2 in daycare. You need your head examined if you do that. That is like saying on my 300K income, I can easily afford a 8k mortgage.

Yes, I am conservative, we keep our expenses managable on one income, my DHs, which is 180K. We always want to have the option to drop down and live on one income if necessary. What if one of our kids has problems and needs a parent home? What if one of the working parents gets laid off or is unable to work due to an injury or illness? What if one of our family members needs significant amount of financial help?

To each his own, but being strapped to big bills can create big stressors in one's life. If it does not stress you out to HAVE to have 2 people working at all times, then by all means, go for it, live it up. However, I like the feeling that one of us could drop out of work if needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

FWIW, I make $83,000, a nurse, and am 49 years old. One kid. Public School. Hubby makes $125,000 same age..Federal.

Do any of these high earners ever see their children??? Ever?

No one we cannot afford Bethesda.

Clearly you haven't looked hard at the market in Bethesda lately. We have an HHI of 150K year with two in daycare, and we feel like we can afford Bethesda. Not the biggest grandest house in Bethesda, but there's home out there in the 650K range which would be completely reasonable on your HHI.

Buying a 650k house on a HHI of 208K? We make 100k more than that and the is no way we'd take on a mortgage for 520K (assuming 20% down) at that income level. Frankly, i would not take on a mortgage we could not sustain on ONE income. That would be a horrible feeling to have to have 2 incomes to pay my mortgage, especially in today's uncertain economy.

We make $225K ($18.5K/mo) and bought at $650K house with 20% down. It is totally doable. Our monthly PITI is about $3300 (about 18% of income). We save $800 for college after maxing out our 401Ks and have two kids in daycare ($30K). We bought our car with cash and mostly eat at home, but we are able to take two vacations/year, shop at WFs, etc. What are you spending your $$$ on that you can't afford $3300/month for housing/rent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

FWIW, I make $83,000, a nurse, and am 49 years old. One kid. Public School. Hubby makes $125,000 same age..Federal.

Do any of these high earners ever see their children??? Ever?

No one we cannot afford Bethesda.

Clearly you haven't looked hard at the market in Bethesda lately. We have an HHI of 150K year with two in daycare, and we feel like we can afford Bethesda. Not the biggest grandest house in Bethesda, but there's home out there in the 650K range which would be completely reasonable on your HHI.

I would LOVE to see how you handle a 650k house on a 150k income and two in daycare. 150k, you might net $8,750/mo.

Call me conservative, but we make double that and don't even carry that kind of mortgage.

the people who think it rough or impossible to have a $4K mtg on $300K HHI are simply insane - or have costly cocaine habits or drive rolls royces or I don't know what. In today's very conservative lending climate, your house payment (including T&I) shouldn't be more than 28% of your gross monthly HHI.

I think it is INSANE to carry a 4k mortgage on a 150k income and 2 in daycare. You need your head examined if you do that. That is like saying on my 300K income, I can easily afford a 8k mortgage.

Yes, I am conservative, we keep our expenses managable on one income, my DHs, which is 180K. We always want to have the option to drop down and live on one income if necessary. What if one of our kids has problems and needs a parent home? What if one of the working parents gets laid off or is unable to work due to an injury or illness? What if one of our family members needs significant amount of financial help?

To each his own, but being strapped to big bills can create big stressors in one's life. If it does not stress you out to HAVE to have 2 people working at all times, then by all means, go for it, live it up. However, I like the feeling that one of us could drop out of work if needed.

reading comprehension

[Anonymous]

I think everyone should just acknowledge that there are two ways of looking at the situation. Either rely on keeping both jobs (some amount of risk) or rely on keeping at least one (less risk). As renters with a HHI of 210, we are in the latter camp, but we really would like to upgrade to a house/place with some outdoor space. Doesn't seem like we can do that unless we convert to the former (in the areas we'd like to live).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

FWIW, I make $83,000, a nurse, and am 49 years old. One kid. Public School. Hubby makes $125,000 same age..Federal.

Do any of these high earners ever see their children??? Ever?

No one we cannot afford Bethesda.

Clearly you haven't looked hard at the market in Bethesda lately. We have an HHI of 150K year with two in daycare, and we feel like we can afford Bethesda. Not the biggest grandest house in Bethesda, but there's home out there in the 650K range which would be completely reasonable on your HHI.

Buying a 650k house on a HHI of 208K? We make 100k more than that and the is no way we'd take on a mortgage for 520K (assuming 20% down) at that income level. Frankly, i would not take on a mortgage we could not sustain on ONE income. That would be a horrible feeling to have to have 2 incomes to pay my mortgage, especially in today's uncertain economy.

We make $225K ($18.5K/mo) and bought at $650K house with 20% down. It is totally doable. Our monthly PITI is about $3300 (about 18% of income). We save $800 for college after maxing out our 401Ks and have two kids in daycare ($30K). We bought our car with cash and mostly eat at home, but we are able to take two vacations/year, shop at WFs, etc. What are you spending your $$$ on that you can't afford $3300/month for housing/rent?

Again, the prior poster is correct, it depends on what camp you are in. I can easily afford that mortgage at my 300K income (mine is just a bit lower and where I live the PITI on the same house would be higher, because of ever increasing taxes); however, I could not imagine having to sustain 2 incomes to pay my bills and keep a roof over my head without dipping into emergency savings.

I know we all have our vices and what we like to spend our money on, and I'm just as guilty of that as the next person. My vices are the inside of my home and vacations. I've always had the travel bug and indulge in 2 nice trips a year.

[Anonymous]

however, I could not imagine having to sustain 2 incomes to pay my bills and keep a roof over my head without dipping into emergency savings.

reality check: MOST families cannot get by on one salary. Not just the ones who hav a nice home in bethesda. We both need to work to keep up with a 2500 mortgage. It's nice that you have a 300k HHI and a low enough mortgage that you could get by on one salary, but many families don't have the choice.

[Anonymous]

my income, due to the recession, is down to about $150K a year. my wife has her own small business so I'm not really sure what she makes, but enough to pay her bills. Maybe $75K or so. The mtg payment is nearly $5K/month. I pay all of the household bills and mtg out of my income. Out of my wife's salary, she pays for her own car insurance, the daycare, and we sort of take turns paying for groceries. until my income goes up our savings will be limited unfortunately, but we do have two rental properties which hopefully will appreciate again someday (or at least continue to have their mortgages paid down). So it is a tough situation regarding keeping the house or not. If I thought my income would never go up again then I'd consider selling, but (i) I'm reasonably somewhat confident it will go back up, (ii) this is a bad time to sell and (iii) why pay $60K in commissions and closing costs when hopefully this is a temporary situation? Hopefully a few years of inflation and some income improvement will solve the problem, and the downside will be a year or two of less than ideal savings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holy Moley! I am shocked at some of these high salaries. I can only assume that some of the women making over $150,000 are attorneys? Docs don't seem to be making much money these days, though they have scads more training than attorneys and take so much more risk.

FWIW, I make $83,000, a nurse, and am 49 years old. One kid. Public School. Hubby makes $125,000 same age..Federal.

Do any of these high earners ever see their children??? Ever?

No one we cannot afford Bethesda.

I make $195,000 and I see my children by around 5:30 most afternoons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just remember ...kids grow up in a flash. They need you. In the afternoon, after school, when they are sick, to see you in their schools,etc. I am a cancer survivor and cancer woke me up to the fact that none of us will live forever. Don't waste those precious moments with your children because you were slaving away at the law firm. Life goes very quickly and so does childhood.

Yeah, and what do you do when you're 55 and an empty nester? The last 30 years of your life are important, too.