Why a 300-400k salary doesn't feel rich

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At 300-400K, if you don't overspend on a house and have kids in public, you will live like a king.

The housing is the hard part. We only recently got this HHI level, and didn’t get on the property ladder before prices and interest rates went through the roof. We have great savings, and are definitely UMC based on the fact that we can save so much and can pay for daycare and unexpected expenses. But we can’t afford a starter home at today’s rates. I would feel pretty rich if we had bought a home in 2019. Instead, I feel like we will be stuck as long-term renters.

It’s just wild how divergent the lifestyle is, depending on which recent year you bought a house.

You can afford a house, just not the one you want.

+1 we live in a condo and it is convenient and low maintenance.

[Anonymous]

HHI is 350k
we take home (after 401k taxes health insurance etc) a little over 16,000 a month....
We're looking at houses - 800k 7% interest and 10% down and payments will be 6000+mo
That's 37.5% of our take home .
Add in daycare 1500-2000mo x2 kids =3-4k mo
That's 10k a month and we haven't even gotten into groceries, gas, car payments, student loans and heaven forbid a vacation once in awhile.....
Not to mention an 800k house here is a lower middle class house in the majority of the rest of the US.
So no I don't feel rich, or well off...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HHI is 350k
we take home (after 401k taxes health insurance etc) a little over 16,000 a month....
We're looking at houses - 800k 7% interest and 10% down and payments will be 6000+mo
That's 37.5% of our take home .
Add in daycare 1500-2000mo x2 kids =3-4k mo
That's 10k a month and we haven't even gotten into groceries, gas, car payments, student loans and heaven forbid a vacation once in awhile.....
Not to mention an 800k house here is a lower middle class house in the majority of the rest of the US.
So no I don't feel rich, or well off...

Let’s see, cheaper house, space out kids or stop at one……

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At 300-400K, if you don't overspend on a house and have kids in public, you will live like a king.

The housing is the hard part. We only recently got this HHI level, and didn’t get on the property ladder before prices and interest rates went through the roof. We have great savings, and are definitely UMC based on the fact that we can save so much and can pay for daycare and unexpected expenses. But we can’t afford a starter home at today’s rates. I would feel pretty rich if we had bought a home in 2019. Instead, I feel like we will be stuck as long-term renters.

It’s just wild how divergent the lifestyle is, depending on which recent year you bought a house.

This exactly! We're UMC but because we moved here the end of 2022 and rented for a couple years to figure out schools /area we've literally watched house prices balloon out of our budget. So depressing!

[Anonymous]

Working for a salary to afford your lifestyle means you are not rich. Full stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Working for a salary to afford your lifestyle means you are not rich. Full stop.

You are rich. It’s how you choose to spend that money.