Salary question for those of you pulling in the big bucks.

[Anonymous]

Based on my own life choices, there's no way I'll ever have an HHI of 200k+, but I'm wondering about the financial situation that these high salaries are a part of, the context (i.e. mortgage, student loans).

I assume that people need to make a lot of money based on the debt that they carried out of law school, especially if they bought property during the bubble period.

So, I guess what I'd really like to know is if you had no student loans and a monthly mortgage of $1,500, what salary would give you a somewhat similar lifestyle? FWIW, there are also no daycare costs to consider for two DC and public school is a solid option in this area.

How much would you need to make in order to be similarly comfortable to your current lifestyle? The minimum.

[Anonymous]

We have a HHI of $240k, mortgage is about $3500, daycare about $1400. No student loans.

So call it $3500 a month more in fixed expenses than your scenario. So factoring in taxes, call it $60-65k? Of course, that doesn't count the loss in retirement savings since we both have a percentage based match.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Based on my own life choices, there's no way I'll ever have an HHI of 200k+, but I'm wondering about the financial situation that these high salaries are a part of, the context (i.e. mortgage, student loans).

I assume that people need to make a lot of money based on the debt that they carried out of law school, especially if they bought property during the bubble period.

So, I guess what I'd really like to know is if you had no student loans and a monthly mortgage of $1,500, what salary would give you a somewhat similar lifestyle? FWIW, there are also no daycare costs to consider for two DC and public school is a solid option in this area.

How much would you need to make in order to be similarly comfortable to your current lifestyle? The minimum.

your question is ridiculous. you are never going to be "similarly comfortable" as those pulling the big bucks. sorry.

[Anonymous]

I can't even begin to understand your ?.

I had no college loans. Parents paid for state univ. undergrad and I got a teaching stipend (science major) that included Grad school tuition. Dh had loans which he strapped down and paid off by the time he was 26. He didn't buy a car, lived in a not-sogreat place, saved, saved, etc.

We have HHI $425k. Neither of us are lawyers, drs, etc.

[Anonymous]

I can't really answer your question, OP. Part of the "extra life style" is private schools, big house in nice neighborhood near work downtown, household help/nannies, a second home, etc. We haven't had grad school loans for years and neither of us had college loans.

Basically, you work with what you have, right? So, if I didn't have the income I do, I wouldn't do these things.

We are a family of four with a pretty serious dining out and WholeFoods habit. Maybe, if that is of interest, you could budget an extra $1500 a month for groceries and eating out. Other than that, everything we have is fluff that sounds irrelevant to you.

Oh, and we like to be able to travel last minute (by plane) if we need to for family things and rent a really nice beach house for a week in the summer. We take a fancier vacation every couple of years, but nothing too crazy. And we save for college. Other than college savings, I would say you could get to the travel at will and beeach house thing by adding $6,000 to your annual budget if you have zero in for vacations and air travel now.

I can't think of anything else we spend money on that you haven't already rulled out. Was that somewhat responsive to your question?

[Anonymous]

OP, I will try to answer your question because DH and I actually had a $1500/month mortgage on our first house and that was before we had kids, so no childcare costs. I was making ~$35K and DH was making ~$80K when we bought the house, when we sold five years later we were up to ~$45K and ~$120K which was VERY comfortable with that mortgage and some student loans as well (maybe $800/month? it's been a while.) We paid cash for a 3-series, did a summer share at the beach, and took one two-week European vacation and another to California during this time period without really watching our money at all.

Ugh, why did I buy this house and have kids again?

Just kidding.

[Anonymous]

agree your question is kind of silly.
We make $225K and live very comfortably (want for nothing, etc). Mortgage (all included) is $3500/month. So to live this same lifestyle with your smaller mortgage, we'd need $24K less per year. So annual income of $200K or a bit less--let's say $190K (given the taxes on the last $25K).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I will try to answer your question because DH and I actually had a $1500/month mortgage on our first house and that was before we had kids, so no childcare costs. I was making ~$35K and DH was making ~$80K when we bought the house, when we sold five years later we were up to ~$45K and ~$120K which was VERY comfortable with that mortgage and some student loans as well (maybe $800/month? it's been a while.) We paid cash for a 3-series, did a summer share at the beach, and took one two-week European vacation and another to California during this time period without really watching our money at all.

Ugh, why did I buy this house and have kids again?

Just kidding.

Thanks! This provides perspective and some relief. I appreciate the straight forward feedback.

Since my marriage ended it's been tighttighttight. Re-entering the workforce as a single mom of two is, frankly, pretty scary business. It's nice to know that I may have some breathing room pulling in a more moderate salary. My idea of comfortable is being able to buy something when my kids actually need it. Right now, I buy ahead when things are on clearance and pray I got the sizing right.

Thanks again for the info. You paint a hopeful picture.

[Anonymous]

OP FYI, not everyone lost money in real estate. Timing and knowing what you are doing is everything. Don't assume just because people have nice things they are in over their heads. Some people are self made. Very few, but there are a couple. Now, this is certainly not the time for making money in real estate.

I find these posts offensive because I think they are based on assumptions of other peoples money, which ensure you will never be happy. Why do so many here not get this simple idea or try to make it complicated when it is not?

We are self made. Our children have no idea what we have. It also so happens that our money is tied up and not available for handouts. You would be surprised what happens when people think you have this or that. They somehow believe that everything you have is a luxury. Not so. We don't walk around flashing our wealth, for one. People who have money in the truest sense are those that you would not suspect. It is the thing that DCUMERs hate the most - old money values. No, I do not care to discuss old money. Most of you would never know old money if it was right under your nose.

My point OP - stop worrying about others so much. Stop striving for others definitions of wealth, or your perceived definitions of wealth, because you will never be happy.

This board is becoming known for the "how much do you make" type questions. Which explains why so many are so miserable.

OP, the question is quite simply: do you live within your means and can you pay your bills? It is good for children to know they are not getting their every whim, and that if they want something bad enough they can either save for it or wait until Christmas or birthday.

[Anonymous]

I'll give this a stab. We net somewhere between $800K-$1M and that is likely to increase rapidly as I know have several million invested (and not in stocks). I also think that my answer is going to be different than those with incomes in the $500K range.

High income is a mindset, not a salary. Once you reach a certain point with money, you realize there are infinite opportunities around you to make more money. That in and of itself provides me a certain level of freedom that someone with a salary can never have.

It also produces odd juxtapositions. Our last house was a multi unit in a great part of town. Rental income from that house nearly exceeded our mortgage and it would have only gone up. There is no way to compare that to your $1500 mortgage. My payment (net of rental income) was going to forever go down. Yours (even if the mortgage is paid in full) would only go up.

You may consider a beach vacation and pay $2000 for the week. Someone in the $500K range may buy a beach condo. I am looking a commercial building with 2 apartments on top.

If you want an inexpensive dinner out, you might get pizza. Someone in the $500K range might do sit down at a chain restaurant. I would go to a nicer restaurant that I own a minority share of.

I also earn more interest on my bank accounts, pay a lower mortgage rate, pay less for insurance coverage, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP FYI, not everyone lost money in real estate. Timing and knowing what you are doing is everything. Don't assume just because people have nice things they are in over their heads. Some people are self made. Very few, but there are a couple. Now, this is certainly not the time for making money in real estate.

I find these posts offensive because I think they are based on assumptions of other peoples money, which ensure you will never be happy. Why do so many here not get this simple idea or try to make it complicated when it is not?

We are self made. Our children have no idea what we have. It also so happens that our money is tied up and not available for handouts. You would be surprised what happens when people think you have this or that. They somehow believe that everything you have is a luxury. Not so. We don't walk around flashing our wealth, for one. People who have money in the truest sense are those that you would not suspect. It is the thing that DCUMERs hate the most - old money values. No, I do not care to discuss old money. Most of you would never know old money if it was right under your nose.

My point OP - stop worrying about others so much. Stop striving for others definitions of wealth, or your perceived definitions of wealth, because you will never be happy.

This board is becoming known for the "how much do you make" type questions. Which explains why so many are so miserable.

OP, the question is quite simply: do you live within your means and can you pay your bills? It is good for children to know they are not getting their every whim, and that if they want something bad enough they can either save for it or wait until Christmas or birthday.

the "old money/new money" argument is tired and stupid and only serves to illustrate what a snob you appear to be.

many hard working immigrants fit your description, and i guarantee you that they are not "old money" but people who pulled themselves up from almost nothing, worked hard, saved, instilled the value of education in their offspring. it's not about "old money" or "new money", it is about personal values and hard work (and no desire to "one up" your neighbor).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll give this a stab. We net somewhere between $800K-$1M and that is likely to increase rapidly as I know have several million invested (and not in stocks). I also think that my answer is going to be different than those with incomes in the $500K range.

High income is a mindset, not a salary. Once you reach a certain point with money, you realize there are infinite opportunities around you to make more money. That in and of itself provides me a certain level of freedom that someone with a salary can never have.

It also produces odd juxtapositions. Our last house was a multi unit in a great part of town. Rental income from that house nearly exceeded our mortgage and it would have only gone up. There is no way to compare that to your $1500 mortgage. My payment (net of rental income) was going to forever go down. Yours (even if the mortgage is paid in full) would only go up.

You may consider a beach vacation and pay $2000 for the week. Someone in the $500K range may buy a beach condo. I am looking a commercial building with 2 apartments on top.

If you want an inexpensive dinner out, you might get pizza. Someone in the $500K range might do sit down at a chain restaurant. I would go to a nicer restaurant that I own a minority share of.

I also earn more interest on my bank accounts, pay a lower mortgage rate, pay less for insurance coverage, etc.

I am intrigued...tell me more.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll give this a stab. We net somewhere between $800K-$1M and that is likely to increase rapidly as I know have several million invested (and not in stocks). I also think that my answer is going to be different than those with incomes in the $500K range.

High income is a mindset, not a salary. Once you reach a certain point with money, you realize there are infinite opportunities around you to make more money. That in and of itself provides me a certain level of freedom that someone with a salary can never have.

It also produces odd juxtapositions. Our last house was a multi unit in a great part of town. Rental income from that house nearly exceeded our mortgage and it would have only gone up. There is no way to compare that to your $1500 mortgage. My payment (net of rental income) was going to forever go down. Yours (even if the mortgage is paid in full) would only go up.

You may consider a beach vacation and pay $2000 for the week. Someone in the $500K range may buy a beach condo. I am looking a commercial building with 2 apartments on top.

If you want an inexpensive dinner out, you might get pizza. Someone in the $500K range might do sit down at a chain restaurant. I would go to a nicer restaurant that I own a minority share of.

I also earn more interest on my bank accounts, pay a lower mortgage rate, pay less for insurance coverage, etc.

This might be the funniest post I have read in a long time. Especially the part about people making $500k only eating in chain restaurants because they can't afford to eat in "nicer" restaurants. Also, the suggestion that it is better to vacation in an apartment above a commercial building that you own (sounds grand!) than to rent a beach house for the week.

[Anonymous]

Whoa! This has really gone off in an unanticipated direction.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a striving post. I'm not talking vacation homes and where you eat out on a regular basis.

Comfortable. It means not crying with each in-coming bill. It means being able to get groceries every two weeks, not calculating how many nights in a month you can make use of the 10 for $10 pasta you bought on sale.

Today, I had to choose between buying grapes or strawberries. I'm REALLY looking forward to leaving this bullshit behind.

Since most posters tend to whinge on about scraping by with salaries much higher than I'll ever earn, I was interested to know what burden even high earners were struggling to meet (like the oft cited enormous law school debt of 400K or mortgage payments more than double my own).

In my own way, I'm trying to comfort myself that things won't continue to be such a struggle once I'm making 80-90K. Most DCUMers would shoot themselves or go flying out of windows at the prospect of such a low salary. BUT, absent the big monthly obligations noted above, I wonder how much it would matter?

Stop projecting materialistic aspirations. And lay off the lectures. They are really off the mark.

07:55 and 13:45 were very helpful and straight forward. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll give this a stab. We net somewhere between $800K-$1M and that is likely to increase rapidly as I know have several million invested (and not in stocks). I also think that my answer is going to be different than those with incomes in the $500K range.

High income is a mindset, not a salary. Once you reach a certain point with money, you realize there are infinite opportunities around you to make more money. That in and of itself provides me a certain level of freedom that someone with a salary can never have.

It also produces odd juxtapositions. Our last house was a multi unit in a great part of town. Rental income from that house nearly exceeded our mortgage and it would have only gone up. There is no way to compare that to your $1500 mortgage. My payment (net of rental income) was going to forever go down. Yours (even if the mortgage is paid in full) would only go up.

You may consider a beach vacation and pay $2000 for the week. Someone in the $500K range may buy a beach condo. I am looking a commercial building with 2 apartments on top.

If you want an inexpensive dinner out, you might get pizza. Someone in the $500K range might do sit down at a chain restaurant. I would go to a nicer restaurant that I own a minority share of.

I also earn more interest on my bank accounts, pay a lower mortgage rate, pay less for insurance coverage, etc.

Other than to list examples of your wealth, why'd you respond to the post? What here is helpful? What is anyone supposed to derive from this prattle?