Dual income families, what is your HHI?

[Anonymous]

Public educator here
me:52K
dh: 34 k (electrician)

Own in NE DC

Mortgage 1300/month
Childcare 1100/month (2kids w/our family as childcare)
student loans 450/month
cars 700

Our goal is to move our savings up from 4k to 10k this year. Minimal retirement contributions, but all bills are paid on time! See, there are all kinds here on DCUM

BTW, we are both 27

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$80k me
DH is full-time student who brings in ~$15-20k in loans a year and made a whopping $3k over summer/winter break in income.

2 kids in full-time daycare.

Beat that.

Wow. Hats off to you. Hopefully DH's schooling will 'pay off' literally, in a short time : )
Where do you live, what is your mortgage or rent?

Live in Falls Church (FFC) rent $1700/month.
Daycare is $2000/month.

I joke that DH is going to be a poor public defender type. But as long as his income can cover childcare and paying back his loans that's all we really need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:210K. DH: 170K, Me: 40K

PT? Would seem somewhat pointless to pay FT daycare at that salary, assuming you have kids.

I know I'm late to this game - but seriously? There is a reason to stay in the workforce even if it seems like your whole salary goes to day care. Much harder to drop in and out...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Me: 107,000
him: 140,000

mortgage: 7200.

very painful

that is actually doable. basically you are living the lifestyle of a $110K HHI with an awesome house. problem is you don't have much of a safety net and expensive houses can have expensive utitlities and repairs. good luck. I am in a similar boat.

Unfortunatley the house isn't that awesome and since we have two in private school we are completely broke.

[Anonymous]

DH 175k (plus bonus up to 50k a year)
Me 150k but can go up to 250k depending on consulting
Live in NW DC close in. Mortgage is just under 4k

[Anonymous]

Please tell me what u do

[Anonymous]

Clarendon.

$450-490k/year.

Me- $145k fed
DH- $350-445k/indep. IT consult.

[Anonymous]

Another "poor" family
Both of us work for an NGO
Ages:29
Expecting our first baby
Me:40K
Him:42K -consultant (will decrease by 2013 to 30k)

School debt $25k
Rent in DC: $1500

I am honestly amazed at reading how much other couples make, but hey one is to leave within their limits, we don't earn too much therefore try to spend accordingly to our means, travel internationally (in a budget) twice a year, and eat out a least once to twice per week. One of us will be a stay home once the baby is born, so our income will be impacted, but strongly belief baby will benefit from it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another "poor" family
Both of us work for an NGO
Ages:29
Expecting our first baby
Me:40K
Him:42K -consultant (will decrease by 2013 to 30k)

School debt $25k
Rent in DC: $1500

I am honestly amazed at reading how much other couples make, but hey one is to leave within their limits, we don't earn too much therefore try to spend accordingly to our means, travel internationally (in a budget) twice a year, and eat out a least once to twice per week. One of us will be a stay home once the baby is born, so our income will be impacted, but strongly belief baby will benefit from it.

Lots of scumbag lawyers

[Anonymous]

HHI: 142K
DH: 50K
Me: 92K

Live in NoVA - rent.
Daycare: $1500/month
Ages: 36/37

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lived on $65K/year (my salary) for the 3 years my DH was in law school. Maxed out retirement, traveled every year (internationally), saved at least $15K/year for down payment. We shopped at WF and had a cheap, no frills apt with no cable, but lots of other entertainment.

I don't get people who need $200K to get by (though we make that now, we bank a LOT). Our mortgage now is only a little more than our rent used to be. Our DC costs us a little extra ($2000/month), but that's why we waited until we made more to have a kid, and we still save a ton.

Are all y'all living high on the hog? What am I doing right/wrong here?

Where are you living that your mortgage payment is only a little more than your rent used to be? You say your rent during this period was $800 ... If your mortgage is near $800, then I can definitely see why you don't get people who need $200k to get by. Plus, based on your previous follow-up responses, it sounds like you had some special circumstances when you were living on $65k - free medical insurance, only doing 1/2 of retirement, being able to stay with friends when travelling.

Again, I am unaware of how I only did 1/2 of retirement? I paid up to the limit, as I was the only one employed. As for mortgage, we bought before the bubble (and recall the downpayment fund, we saved a lot!).

And yes, vacationing with friends and family may be cheating...but it's fun, and I wouldn't drop $5K on a cruise when that money would be better served elsewhere. We still travel this way -- it's a better way of seeing the culture of the countries. Someday when I'm a broken-down old lady, though, I plan to sit on a beach/ship and have people serve me!

The medical IS lucky, though...I guess I assume most people around here earning that little are not working for private industries or giant corporations. I am fortunate to still have this benefit. I think it was more common then (this was 8-10 years ago).

If you purchased a home pre-bubble, that means you were renting back in the 80s or early 90s, living off 65k/yr. Of course internatioinal travel was 2K, plane tickets were not 1K, plus back when Michael Jackson's hair caught fire.

Bought in 2002, for $240K, with a $104K downpayment. Monthly payment was just over $1000, but we refi'ed recently, as it was at 6.5% originally.

You are right that international travel was so much cheaper then than now, but there WAS a bubble in that, too (though I remember some great rates post-911). Ouch, MJ reference, am I that old?

Also: The buying power of your 65k salary in 1995 is much closer to 85k today: http://www.coinnews.net/tools/cpi-inflation-calculator/

[Anonymous]

Whoops- more than that. 56k was 85k. 65k is equivalent to 98k in buying power. Even if you were
Making 65k in 1998, that is closer to 91k in buying power today.

[Anonymous]

DH (28): 60K
Me (27): 60K

We have a $2600 mortgage and 2 kids in daycare FT.

[Anonymous]

DH: 60k
Me: 74k

HHI: 134k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:210K. DH: 170K, Me: 40K

PT? Would seem somewhat pointless to pay FT daycare at that salary, assuming you have kids.

I'm not the PP you quoted, but I don't make a whole lot more than her. My job is full-time and I make just under $50k. For us, it's about the insurance. My insurance is fantastic and doesn't cost much out-of-pocket. DH's insurance is exorbitantly expensive (more than daycare costs per month) and doesn't cover as much as mine.

Also, I don't think I'm cut out to be a SAHM. I think it's good for me to leave the house and go to a job every day. But I would really love more time with DS. In my perfect world, I'd be able to keep my benefits and go down to part-time.