What can I do on this HHI?

[Anonymous]

We make just under that with a similar mortgage.

1 kid in private, no daycare, no student loans, max 401K, no IRA, grandparents fund 529, 1 week at beach, driving to visit family, eat at mid-price restaurants 1-2x/week, shop at regular grocery, no luxury spending, cleaner 1x/week, lawn care, travel sports. We’re fine but couldn’t afford private school without grandparent's safety net.

[Anonymous]

I remember feeling this way when we first entered that range of income. It sounds like you had some deferred maintenance kinds of expenses, like paying down student loans, so I think you’ll find you’ll feel richer as that stuff levels out.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:OP - some of the things on that list are wishlists and I wanted to see what was realistic. No family financial help and mortgage is reasonable approx 2K. No credit card debt or car debt but will need a new car soon. Paid off huge student loans ourselves. Paid for our house down payment ourselves. Courthouse wedding.

We recently came into this income and I had thought it would bring us more. We live near a fancy private school and friends send their kids there, it made me sad to realize we cannot afford it. We also haven’t traveled internationally since our kids were born.

We were debating if we could afford a 300$ vacuum since ours broke and I realized …what does this income even mean for us, hence the reality check here.

If you make 320k and your mortgage is 2k and you can't afford a new vacuum something is very very wrong with your finances.

OP - About 80K is new income for the past few months since like March, this is new for us. And until recently a good chunk went to student loans.

What's your monthly take home? ~12k? 2k mortgage...that's 2,500 a week leftover. What are your childcare costs?

If you make 320, how is your take home only 144 (12/month)? That makes no sense.

Federal health insurance which is $$$$ for a family of four, pension stuff, and we’re both maxing out 401K for first time (and putting some in Roth 401K since March because we have no Roths).

Wow; okay yeah that makes sense. I think because you are doing all of those responsible things, you can’t do the fun things that you’re talking about. You are doing amazing, but you are saving so much that you can’t do all the other things too!

No, it doesn’t make sense. I’m a fed making $250K, paying for healthcare and HSA and maxing out retirement and my take home is $11K monthly. Something is not adding up in OPs household.

[Anonymous]

All these answers are stupid. You max your retirement accounts first, every time. Then you prioritize along what is left. Education comes first. If you have an affordable mortgage in a good school district you have won the lottery. If you don’t, you either move to a better district or pay for private.
There will be nothing left after private so keep driving that Toyota and forget about international vancations. Also stop paying for things for other people and other families. Family who want to see you can travel to you. Organic groceries are a scam and waste of money at any income.

[Anonymous]

He can you max out 401K and IRA both? There are contribution limits. But if you can, you max out both always.

[Anonymous]

Can you figure out travel hacking? Earning and redeeming credit card rewards has significantly opened up cheaper ways to travel. I just used points to fly the three of us to Europe in business class roundtrip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:OP - some of the things on that list are wishlists and I wanted to see what was realistic. No family financial help and mortgage is reasonable approx 2K. No credit card debt or car debt but will need a new car soon. Paid off huge student loans ourselves. Paid for our house down payment ourselves. Courthouse wedding.

We recently came into this income and I had thought it would bring us more. We live near a fancy private school and friends send their kids there, it made me sad to realize we cannot afford it. We also haven’t traveled internationally since our kids were born.

We were debating if we could afford a 300$ vacuum since ours broke and I realized …what does this income even mean for us, hence the reality check here.

If you make 320k and your mortgage is 2k and you can't afford a new vacuum something is very very wrong with your finances.

OP - About 80K is new income for the past few months since like March, this is new for us. And until recently a good chunk went to student loans.

Good info. That makes this easier, IMO. Take the $80K post tax. Divide by 12. Add that to the monthly student loan payments that recently ended. That is your the "extra" money you have each month. What in your OP will this cover? That is your answer.

It's more like 40K divided by 12. Half is going to be taken out by taxes. So you're left with just 3.3k no more per month, before subtracting student loans. Which sounds like barely nothing =( so even an 80K pay raise at this level probably won't lead to much difference in your lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t need to max retirement with fed pension

Ha!

[Anonymous]

GOP Rep. Tim Moore of #NC14 *says* that Trump's economy is great...but he's investing big bucks in a fund that 'earns him money when a key stock market index falters'...essentially betting that the Trump's economy will falter.

Follow what they do not what they say.

[Anonymous]

In no way can you afford a good private school in DC. But at least you aren't planning on blowing hundreds of thousands of dollars for weddings.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:OP - some of the things on that list are wishlists and I wanted to see what was realistic. No family financial help and mortgage is reasonable approx 2K. No credit card debt or car debt but will need a new car soon. Paid off huge student loans ourselves. Paid for our house down payment ourselves. Courthouse wedding.

We recently came into this income and I had thought it would bring us more. We live near a fancy private school and friends send their kids there, it made me sad to realize we cannot afford it. We also haven’t traveled internationally since our kids were born.

We were debating if we could afford a 300$ vacuum since ours broke and I realized …what does this income even mean for us, hence the reality check here.

If you make 320k and your mortgage is 2k and you can't afford a new vacuum something is very very wrong with your finances.

OP - About 80K is new income for the past few months since like March, this is new for us. And until recently a good chunk went to student loans.

What's your monthly take home? ~12k? 2k mortgage...that's 2,500 a week leftover. What are your childcare costs?

If you make 320, how is your take home only 144 (12/month)? That makes no sense.

Federal health insurance which is $$$$ for a family of four, pension stuff, and we’re both maxing out 401K for first time (and putting some in Roth 401K since March because we have no Roths).

You might want to reconsider putting money into the Roth 401(k) at your current income level. With a household income of $320K, you’re in a high tax bracket right now, so every Roth contribution means you’re paying extra taxes upfront. It’s unlikely you’ll be in a higher tax bracket in retirement, so a traditional 401(k) will probably be more tax-efficient for you.

Redirecting that tax savings could really help build flexibility in other areas—like beefing up your emergency fund, putting more into 529 plans for your kids, or growing your taxable brokerage account for medium-term goals (cars, travel, home updates, etc.).

And just as a reminder: the daycare years are brutal on cash flow. It feels like you’re making good money but not getting ahead, and then one day those expenses drop off and you feel like you got a raise. Your prime earning years are still ahead of you, so focus on setting yourself up with smart savings buckets now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - some of the things on that list are wishlists and I wanted to see what was realistic. No family financial help and mortgage is reasonable approx 2K. No credit card debt or car debt but will need a new car soon. Paid off huge student loans ourselves. Paid for our house down payment ourselves. Courthouse wedding.

We recently came into this income and I had thought it would bring us more. We live near a fancy private school and friends send their kids there, it made me sad to realize we cannot afford it. We also haven’t traveled internationally since our kids were born.

We were debating if we could afford a 300$ vacuum since ours broke and I realized …what does this income even mean for us, hence the reality check here.

If you make 320k and your mortgage is 2k and you can't afford a new vacuum something is very very wrong with your finances.

OP - About 80K is new income for the past few months since like March, this is new for us. And until recently a good chunk went to student loans.

What's your monthly take home? ~12k? 2k mortgage...that's 2,500 a week leftover. What are your childcare costs?

If you make 320, how is your take home only 144 (12/month)? That makes no sense.

Federal health insurance which is $$$$ for a family of four, pension stuff, and we’re both maxing out 401K for first time (and putting some in Roth 401K since March because we have no Roths).

Are you kidding me?

Seriously?

Just for kicks, let us know what insurance for 4 would be through the private employer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a 320K HHI (one is a fed salary so half of gross goes to pension and insurance etc).

Help me figure this out which of these can I reasonably expect to be able to do? Trying to get a reality check.

One international vacation
One child in private school
One child in daycare
Max out 401K
Max out 10K for 529
Max out IRA
Have a new Subaru car
Go out to eat at restaurants
Two stateside flights to visit family for holidays
Cleaners once a month
Organic groceries

You cannot do all of that every year unless you have a super-low mortgage or someone else is paying for private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - some of the things on that list are wishlists and I wanted to see what was realistic. No family financial help and mortgage is reasonable approx 2K. No credit card debt or car debt but will need a new car soon. Paid off huge student loans ourselves. Paid for our house down payment ourselves. Courthouse wedding.

We recently came into this income and I had thought it would bring us more. We live near a fancy private school and friends send their kids there, it made me sad to realize we cannot afford it. We also haven’t traveled internationally since our kids were born.

We were debating if we could afford a 300$ vacuum since ours broke and I realized …what does this income even mean for us, hence the reality check here.

If you make 320k and your mortgage is 2k and you can't afford a new vacuum something is very very wrong with your finances.

OP - About 80K is new income for the past few months since like March, this is new for us. And until recently a good chunk went to student loans.

What's your monthly take home? ~12k? 2k mortgage...that's 2,500 a week leftover. What are your childcare costs?

If you make 320, how is your take home only 144 (12/month)? That makes no sense.

Federal health insurance which is $$$$ for a family of four, pension stuff, and we’re both maxing out 401K for first time (and putting some in Roth 401K since March because we have no Roths).

Are you kidding me?

Seriously?

Just for kicks, let us know what insurance for 4 would be through the private employer.

I paid less for an excellent insurance plan in the private sector compared to what our BCBS standard federal plan costs for our family now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Remove private school, and make the international vacation an every few years thing that you save and/or accumulate miles/points for. The rest should be doable unless you have housing costs or debt that are out of whack.

This