$200K. What is your lifestyle like?

[Anonymous]

$225k here in DC.

Two incomes, two kids with a third on the way.
We're in Columbia Heights in a 2000 sq ft 3 bdrm/3 full bath row house that we bought when rates were low in 2020. It's our forever home and we love it. PITI is $4k a month all in.
We do not have a car, which we're quite happy about.
We've splurged on childcare. Our younger child is in a nanny share so that costs a lot. There was a time when both our kids were too young for school and for about a year and a half we paid full freight for our own nanny, about $5k a month. We'll never have to do that again, thank god (middle kid starts school next year). That was a tight time!

We currently only travel to see people we love, and we stay with them (grandparents, siblings, the occasional close friend). We do two weeks at the beach each summer, one with each side of the family. We handle transportation (rent a car) and expenses, but the grandparents on each side rent the house for everyone to stay in, which we are very grateful for. We have no interest in real travel right now with the kids so little anyway.

We have decent retirement funds (though not contributing a ton at this moment, maybe 6% of our income), a solid emergency fund, and no debt besides our mortgage. We also give about 3% of our take home pay to charitable causes right now. We hope to get both our retirement contributions and our charitable donations up to 10% each once we're done with the nanny years, and the rest of the money will go to college savings (basically non-existent at this point, a few gifts in their only, but our oldest is still in PK.)

Besides the year of our own nanny (that was tight!), we feel very comfortable. Basically - we can have anything we want, we just can't have everything we want. So, we splurge on housing, living in the city, number of children, and childcare, and we go cheap on the other stuff - we don't eat out, we don't have a car, we don't travel, we get all the kids clothes from thrift stores, etc.

We could easily commute out and live in a bigger house and travel. Or we could have one or two kids and eat out and buy lots of nice stuff. Or we could use daycare instead of a nanny and own a car. With $225k, you have choices, you just have to see them that way. Perspective is huge at this income. If you want to feel comfortable, you can. If you want to feel like you never have any money, you can.

[Anonymous]

Tips

Don't buy more home than you can easily afford.

Pay it off before spending on fancy stuff.

Buy Honda/Toyota with cash and use 10 years.

Send kids to in state schools.

Don't spend on fine jewelry, wear fake costume jewelry.

Eat at home.

[Anonymous]

Don't try to impress others. It has zero value.

[Anonymous]

Two incomes (one a lot higher than the other)

2 bed 2 bath apartment plus we own a rental home in another area for real estate exposure.

Saving aggressively for retirement.

Pay cash for cars, child expenses, save for college, public school for kids.

No debt.

[Anonymous]

We are at about 220k. Two incomes, one full time one part time. SFH inside the beltway, but it’s an “average” house, not a McMansion. We have no kids, which makes it easier for us. Biggest expense is the mortgage. We have plenty saved. Can afford to go on vacation, and can afford relatively high end hotels and such, but I do consider prices—we can’t afford the Four Seasons. We have a second home on the Shenandoah River that DH bought in the 90s; it’s paid off. We renovated it recently and I’m nervous about spending money to furnish it (we got rid of everything that was in there). Buying things like furniture without thinking about the money is definitely out of reach. When I want something like a new bag, I obsess over cost. When I bought my LV Speedy it was pre-loved. We have done an excellent job of saving for retirement and have both inherited a bit.

So, I guess we are very comfortable—all bills are easily paid with me only working part time, and our savings is perfectly on point. With things like food at the grocery store I can buy whatever I want without looking at prices. But we are not in the position to buy furniture or take vacations without considering prices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are at about 220k. Two incomes, one full time one part time. SFH inside the beltway, but it’s an “average” house, not a McMansion. We have no kids, which makes it easier for us. Biggest expense is the mortgage. We have plenty saved. Can afford to go on vacation, and can afford relatively high end hotels and such, but I do consider prices—we can’t afford the Four Seasons. We have a second home on the Shenandoah River that DH bought in the 90s; it’s paid off. We renovated it recently and I’m nervous about spending money to furnish it (we got rid of everything that was in there). Buying things like furniture without thinking about the money is definitely out of reach. When I want something like a new bag, I obsess over cost. When I bought my LV Speedy it was pre-loved. We have done an excellent job of saving for retirement and have both inherited a bit.

So, I guess we are very comfortable—all bills are easily paid with me only working part time, and our savings is perfectly on point. With things like food at the grocery store I can buy whatever I want without looking at prices. But we are not in the position to buy furniture or take vacations without considering prices.

Pp—forgot the cars: 15 yr old blazer, and 7 yr old Forrester. We paid cash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$225k here in DC.

Two incomes, two kids with a third on the way.
We're in Columbia Heights in a 2000 sq ft 3 bdrm/3 full bath row house that we bought when rates were low in 2020. It's our forever home and we love it. PITI is $4k a month all in.
We do not have a car, which we're quite happy about.
We've splurged on childcare. Our younger child is in a nanny share so that costs a lot. There was a time when both our kids were too young for school and for about a year and a half we paid full freight for our own nanny, about $5k a month. We'll never have to do that again, thank god (middle kid starts school next year). That was a tight time!

We currently only travel to see people we love, and we stay with them (grandparents, siblings, the occasional close friend). We do two weeks at the beach each summer, one with each side of the family. We handle transportation (rent a car) and expenses, but the grandparents on each side rent the house for everyone to stay in, which we are very grateful for. We have no interest in real travel right now with the kids so little anyway.

We have decent retirement funds (though not contributing a ton at this moment, maybe 6% of our income), a solid emergency fund, and no debt besides our mortgage. We also give about 3% of our take home pay to charitable causes right now. We hope to get both our retirement contributions and our charitable donations up to 10% each once we're done with the nanny years, and the rest of the money will go to college savings (basically non-existent at this point, a few gifts in their only, but our oldest is still in PK.)

Besides the year of our own nanny (that was tight!), we feel very comfortable. Basically - we can have anything we want, we just can't have everything we want. So, we splurge on housing, living in the city, number of children, and childcare, and we go cheap on the other stuff - we don't eat out, we don't have a car, we don't travel, we get all the kids clothes from thrift stores, etc.

We could easily commute out and live in a bigger house and travel. Or we could have one or two kids and eat out and buy lots of nice stuff. Or we could use daycare instead of a nanny and own a car. With $225k, you have choices, you just have to see them that way. Perspective is huge at this income. If you want to feel comfortable, you can. If you want to feel like you never have any money, you can.

Why are you making charitable contributions before saving for college? Will the grandparents pay? Not snarking, just curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$225k here in DC.

Two incomes, two kids with a third on the way.
We're in Columbia Heights in a 2000 sq ft 3 bdrm/3 full bath row house that we bought when rates were low in 2020. It's our forever home and we love it. PITI is $4k a month all in.
We do not have a car, which we're quite happy about.
We've splurged on childcare. Our younger child is in a nanny share so that costs a lot. There was a time when both our kids were too young for school and for about a year and a half we paid full freight for our own nanny, about $5k a month. We'll never have to do that again, thank god (middle kid starts school next year). That was a tight time!

We currently only travel to see people we love, and we stay with them (grandparents, siblings, the occasional close friend). We do two weeks at the beach each summer, one with each side of the family. We handle transportation (rent a car) and expenses, but the grandparents on each side rent the house for everyone to stay in, which we are very grateful for. We have no interest in real travel right now with the kids so little anyway.

We have decent retirement funds (though not contributing a ton at this moment, maybe 6% of our income), a solid emergency fund, and no debt besides our mortgage. We also give about 3% of our take home pay to charitable causes right now. We hope to get both our retirement contributions and our charitable donations up to 10% each once we're done with the nanny years, and the rest of the money will go to college savings (basically non-existent at this point, a few gifts in their only, but our oldest is still in PK.)

Besides the year of our own nanny (that was tight!), we feel very comfortable. Basically - we can have anything we want, we just can't have everything we want. So, we splurge on housing, living in the city, number of children, and childcare, and we go cheap on the other stuff - we don't eat out, we don't have a car, we don't travel, we get all the kids clothes from thrift stores, etc.

We could easily commute out and live in a bigger house and travel. Or we could have one or two kids and eat out and buy lots of nice stuff. Or we could use daycare instead of a nanny and own a car. With $225k, you have choices, you just have to see them that way. Perspective is huge at this income. If you want to feel comfortable, you can. If you want to feel like you never have any money, you can.

Why are you making charitable contributions before saving for college? Will the grandparents pay? Not snarking, just curious.

PP here. The median household income in the US is $75k, and the worldwide median household income is $12k. At $225k, we have dramatically more than most, and it's important to us to give back. Honestly, I hate that it's only 3%, but it's where we are right now. Until we had to start paying for childcare, I had always given 10% of my money to charity. Bottom line, I guess it's important to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It totally depends on where you are in your life

I retired early near a decade ago, and we currently budget ourselves about 200 K a year to live. We have our primary home, a second home, and an investment property. We vacation frequently, go out to eat whenever we want, and have a very, very nice life. Frankly, I can’t really even figure out how we do it. Our kids are all grown and launched and weddings and colleges have already been paid for. Maybe that helps.

+1

I don't understand these vague "keeping up with the Joneses" OPs, at all. OP, stay in your lane.

[Anonymous]

We (recently) started to make about $210k. Now in our early 50s and made about $120k until a few years ago.

We feel very lucky and very wealthy. We have 2 kids, one in high school and one middle school. Live in a 3000 Sq ft 5 bed, 5 bath in a historic district in the close in suburbs bordering DC. We have everything we want and most things we need. We go on multiple trips/vacations each year, usually at least two big ones and multiple weekend trips (though becoming harder as the kids get older). Just booked 10 days in Europe for spring break. We typically go to Europe once a year. Will also have a two week vacation in the summer.

We eat out several times a week. Tend to be frugal re saving money when necessary and splurge when we want to. Our one and only car is 12 years old (bought new).

Retirement savings are on track. And we have about $250k saved for college so ramping that up now (oldest is a HS freshman). House is worth about $1.2m but we owe less than $130k. We feel lucky. And no, no family money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$225k here in DC.

Two incomes, two kids with a third on the way.
We're in Columbia Heights in a 2000 sq ft 3 bdrm/3 full bath row house that we bought when rates were low in 2020. It's our forever home and we love it. PITI is $4k a month all in.
We do not have a car, which we're quite happy about.
We've splurged on childcare. Our younger child is in a nanny share so that costs a lot. There was a time when both our kids were too young for school and for about a year and a half we paid full freight for our own nanny, about $5k a month. We'll never have to do that again, thank god (middle kid starts school next year). That was a tight time!

We currently only travel to see people we love, and we stay with them (grandparents, siblings, the occasional close friend). We do two weeks at the beach each summer, one with each side of the family. We handle transportation (rent a car) and expenses, but the grandparents on each side rent the house for everyone to stay in, which we are very grateful for. We have no interest in real travel right now with the kids so little anyway.

We have decent retirement funds (though not contributing a ton at this moment, maybe 6% of our income), a solid emergency fund, and no debt besides our mortgage. We also give about 3% of our take home pay to charitable causes right now. We hope to get both our retirement contributions and our charitable donations up to 10% each once we're done with the nanny years, and the rest of the money will go to college savings (basically non-existent at this point, a few gifts in their only, but our oldest is still in PK.)

Besides the year of our own nanny (that was tight!), we feel very comfortable. Basically - we can have anything we want, we just can't have everything we want. So, we splurge on housing, living in the city, number of children, and childcare, and we go cheap on the other stuff - we don't eat out, we don't have a car, we don't travel, we get all the kids clothes from thrift stores, etc.

We could easily commute out and live in a bigger house and travel. Or we could have one or two kids and eat out and buy lots of nice stuff. Or we could use daycare instead of a nanny and own a car. With $225k, you have choices, you just have to see them that way. Perspective is huge at this income. If you want to feel comfortable, you can. If you want to feel like you never have any money, you can.

Why are you making charitable contributions before saving for college? Will the grandparents pay? Not snarking, just curious.

PP here. The median household income in the US is $75k, and the worldwide median household income is $12k. At $225k, we have dramatically more than most, and it's important to us to give back. Honestly, I hate that it's only 3%, but it's where we are right now. Until we had to start paying for childcare, I had always given 10% of my money to charity. Bottom line, I guess it's important to me.

The funny thing is that none of the other people care about you and wouldn't lift a finger to help you. But it is important for you to buy away your self-imposed guilt.

[Anonymous]

I'd say the average HHI in my neighborhood is 200-250k. Midsize city.

600k houses thanks to appreciation of last few years. 2/3 kids in good local public, 1/3 in privates, usually Catholic. All kids go to college. Typical college is flagship state universities, but plenty of private colleges all over the map.

Typical cars are Japanese and people keep them 10 years, some have nicer cars, some have older cars.

Houses are well kept up.

Everyone looks healthy and fit. People travel, some more than others. I suppose it is very much what it is, lower upper middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$225k here in DC.

Two incomes, two kids with a third on the way.
We're in Columbia Heights in a 2000 sq ft 3 bdrm/3 full bath row house that we bought when rates were low in 2020. It's our forever home and we love it. PITI is $4k a month all in.
We do not have a car, which we're quite happy about.
We've splurged on childcare. Our younger child is in a nanny share so that costs a lot. There was a time when both our kids were too young for school and for about a year and a half we paid full freight for our own nanny, about $5k a month. We'll never have to do that again, thank god (middle kid starts school next year). That was a tight time!

We currently only travel to see people we love, and we stay with them (grandparents, siblings, the occasional close friend). We do two weeks at the beach each summer, one with each side of the family. We handle transportation (rent a car) and expenses, but the grandparents on each side rent the house for everyone to stay in, which we are very grateful for. We have no interest in real travel right now with the kids so little anyway.

We have decent retirement funds (though not contributing a ton at this moment, maybe 6% of our income), a solid emergency fund, and no debt besides our mortgage. We also give about 3% of our take home pay to charitable causes right now. We hope to get both our retirement contributions and our charitable donations up to 10% each once we're done with the nanny years, and the rest of the money will go to college savings (basically non-existent at this point, a few gifts in their only, but our oldest is still in PK.)

Besides the year of our own nanny (that was tight!), we feel very comfortable. Basically - we can have anything we want, we just can't have everything we want. So, we splurge on housing, living in the city, number of children, and childcare, and we go cheap on the other stuff - we don't eat out, we don't have a car, we don't travel, we get all the kids clothes from thrift stores, etc.

We could easily commute out and live in a bigger house and travel. Or we could have one or two kids and eat out and buy lots of nice stuff. Or we could use daycare instead of a nanny and own a car. With $225k, you have choices, you just have to see them that way. Perspective is huge at this income. If you want to feel comfortable, you can. If you want to feel like you never have any money, you can.

Why are you making charitable contributions before saving for college? Will the grandparents pay? Not snarking, just curious.

PP here. The median household income in the US is $75k, and the worldwide median household income is $12k. At $225k, we have dramatically more than most, and it's important to us to give back. Honestly, I hate that it's only 3%, but it's where we are right now. Until we had to start paying for childcare, I had always given 10% of my money to charity. Bottom line, I guess it's important to me.

The funny thing is that none of the other people care about you and wouldn't lift a finger to help you. But it is important for you to buy away your self-imposed guilt.

DP. Go away with your cynical assumptions based on nothing.

[Anonymous]

Older 2200 square ft house in Vienna.
2 in FCPS.
Save as much as we can with 401K. Hope to have in state college covered with 529s.
Kids in various ECs—prob. 12-15k/year?
Vacations to my home country only and domestic vacations. Nothing fancy. Would love to at least do Europe once before first heads to college.
Older Japanese/Korean cars.
HHI about 250k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your HHI gross income is $200-250K, what does your lifestyle look like?

Two incomes or one SAH or part time?
Kids or DINC?
SFH, townhome, or condo? Cars? Vacations?
What do you feel like you can afford and what feels out of reach for you.

This is specific to the DMV. $200K is rich in West Virginia or Ohio or Iowa, and poor in Manhattan or San Francisco, so DC metro only please.