Your income, HHI, and spending on “luxuries”

[Anonymous]

HHI just under $500k. Vacations under $5k/yr, only clothes purchases to not look like slobs at work. Old but reliable cars. Low mortgage that we locked in at 3% q decade ago. Only real “splurges” are $400/month family Lifetime gym membership and 40k/yr private school for DD because our public school has become a disaster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our income ranges from $350-$550k. We don’t make any luxury purchases. None. We can’t afford it. Our normal expenses are too high, and college about to hit, plus retirement. I don’t even have a house cleaner.

500K and your regular expenses are too high? What pray tell are you spending on?

I want to know too? Are you house-poor and paying for private schools? Or special needs kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious about how much folks spend on things like jewelry, designer clothing, bags, cars and the like. If you want throw in travel, too. Curious in relation to your own personal income as well as HHI.

Realize everyone’s priorities are different, but I’m very curious about how much folks who, say, spend $10K on a piece of non-engagement jewelry are making.

Personally I make $280K, with a HHI around $400 and I still feel anxious about a $1K purchase let alone more than that!

Well, things like jewelry, designer clothing, bags, cars and the like are utter waste of money to impress others so your anxiety is absolutely justified.

I do know some people that are savvy and treat the designer bag as really a large up-front charge, but they have a fairly active secondary market. Sometimes they sell the bag for more
Than they paid…they are not out just collecting bags. They don’t buy the next bag until they sold the first.

[Anonymous]

HHI $260k

Jewelry, designer clothing and fancy bags: $0
Vacations: $10-15k
Cars: we have two 18-year old cars that may need to be replaced. We have set aside $80k for 2 new cars but we won’t necessarily spend that much.

[Anonymous]

Divorced, HHI 170k, grown children,

Jewelry: I might splurge on $500 earrings once or twice every few years.
Handbags: One expensive bag, $1500-2000, every year-- usually in the fall
Cars: Cash purchase 2015 Acura TLX; going strong at 120k miles with no plans to buy another vehicle anytime soon.
Clothing/coats/shoes: I spend about 15k on clothing yearly.
Eating out: Not often (I don't count trips to Dunkin or Starbucks as eating out since the cost is nominal).
Vacations: 2k yearly
Hair salon: 2,400 yearly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious about how much folks spend on things like jewelry, designer clothing, bags, cars and the like. If you want throw in travel, too. Curious in relation to your own personal income as well as HHI.

Realize everyone’s priorities are different, but I’m very curious about how much folks who, say, spend $10K on a piece of non-engagement jewelry are making.

Personally I make $280K, with a HHI around $400 and I still feel anxious about a $1K purchase let alone more than that!

Well, things like jewelry, designer clothing, bags, cars and the like are utter waste of money to impress others so your anxiety is absolutely justified.

Jewelry is a form of art and I'm not talking about mall stuff. Answers like these show the level of education going back generations.

[Anonymous]

Our HHI is about $250K. 1 child, PITI $1700. Our overhead costs are low so if HHI drops, we scale back on our luxuries.

Jewelry: Zero to minimal
Handbags: Rarely. I’m eyeing a $500 purse now but generally avoid pricey bags.
Cars: 1 paid-off 2019 Toyota
Clothing/coats/shoes: For me? $2K/yr-ish
Eating out: Too much. Maybe $500+ per month for the family
Vacations: $10K-$20K/year lately but this won’t continue. Our big splurge. My child is the golden travel age, plus I have a flexible schedule that probably won’t last forever.
Hair/nails/botox : $1000 per year

[Anonymous]

Our income is around $2.5M-$3M on a net worth of about $38-40M. I am recently retired, albeit very young. We earned all of our money and I earned the vast majority of it.

Anything that costs less than $100 will never matter ever. It doesn’t matter how many of anything we buy at that amount or how often.

Between $100-$1k I mentally acknowledge the expenditure. But I notice that in all sorts of circumstances something is pricier than it should be but it doesn’t stop me buying it and rarely would have me spend the time looking for a cheaper alternative as my time is worth more than this amount.

$1K- 10K is an amount I would spend without planning. At this amount it is objectively real money, but subjectively still doesn’t matter. I would, spend this much on a car repair, book a spontaneous vacation, buy a piece of art or make a donation commitment without feeling the need to check with DH or that it would matter. I would notice it on my credit card bill though and confirm that it is legit.

Above $10K is real money to me.

That said, the irony of money is that if you have a lot, there isn’t much you actually want. We spend on vacations, our house (although that is nearly done) and experiences. We hardly if ever buy stuff (like jewelry, hand bags, designer clothing). We do buy a car every 5-10 years, but nothing particularly fancy. We just aren’t car people. And while I’d like to be we aren’t really art people either. There are surprising few tangible things that we actually want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our income is around $2.5M-$3M on a net worth of about $38-40M. I am recently retired, albeit very young. We earned all of our money and I earned the vast majority of it.

Anything that costs less than $100 will never matter ever. It doesn’t matter how many of anything we buy at that amount or how often.

Between $100-$1k I mentally acknowledge the expenditure. But I notice that in all sorts of circumstances something is pricier than it should be but it doesn’t stop me buying it and rarely would have me spend the time looking for a cheaper alternative as my time is worth more than this amount.

$1K- 10K is an amount I would spend without planning. At this amount it is objectively real money, but subjectively still doesn’t matter. I would, spend this much on a car repair, book a spontaneous vacation, buy a piece of art or make a donation commitment without feeling the need to check with DH or that it would matter. I would notice it on my credit card bill though and confirm that it is legit.

Above $10K is real money to me.

That said, the irony of money is that if you have a lot, there isn’t much you actually want. We spend on vacations, our house (although that is nearly done) and experiences. We hardly if ever buy stuff (like jewelry, hand bags, designer clothing). We do buy a car every 5-10 years, but nothing particularly fancy. We just aren’t car people. And while I’d like to be we aren’t really art people either. There are surprising few tangible things that we actually want.

HORSES you need horses. They’re the most fun and you can spend all of your money. Enjoy!

[Anonymous]

HHI is 300k. We don't spend on luxuries but that is more of a matter of simply not caring about them at all and prioritizing savings because college is coming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our income is around $2.5M-$3M on a net worth of about $38-40M. I am recently retired, albeit very young. We earned all of our money and I earned the vast majority of it.

Anything that costs less than $100 will never matter ever. It doesn’t matter how many of anything we buy at that amount or how often.

Between $100-$1k I mentally acknowledge the expenditure. But I notice that in all sorts of circumstances something is pricier than it should be but it doesn’t stop me buying it and rarely would have me spend the time looking for a cheaper alternative as my time is worth more than this amount.

$1K- 10K is an amount I would spend without planning. At this amount it is objectively real money, but subjectively still doesn’t matter. I would, spend this much on a car repair, book a spontaneous vacation, buy a piece of art or make a donation commitment without feeling the need to check with DH or that it would matter. I would notice it on my credit card bill though and confirm that it is legit.

Above $10K is real money to me.



That said, the irony of money is that if you have a lot, there isn’t much you actually want. We spend on vacations, our house (although that is nearly done) and experiences. We hardly if ever buy stuff (like jewelry, hand bags, designer clothing). We do buy a car every 5-10 years, but nothing particularly fancy. We just aren’t car people. And while I’d like to be we aren’t really art people either. There are surprising few tangible things that we actually want.

Just curious, is your HHi w2? I’m asking because my HHI is 1.4 mil but w2 so we paid half of that on tax every year.
Anything below 1000 $ is not that significant for us but anything more is.
Our expense yearly is about half of the tax we paid. The rest goes to saving/investing.
Our income may goes up to 2 mil in near future but I don’t think I have that much disposable income due to how much tax we paid.

Thanks

To answer the OP,
I don’t spend on luxury clothing or jewelry
No luxury car
Buy luxury handbags 10k or less, yearly
Usually wear regular brand like Zara for clothing . Normal shoes like Nike,Clark etc

We son a lot on travel. We fly economy class when fly domestic but business class on over 20 h international flight .
We spend about 50k on travel yearly
Our one kid is in public school. ( he s happy and doesn’t want to move to private. We consider private in High school) He s 12 yo and has 200k in 529 which we still contribute 5000 a year.

[Anonymous]

I don't know where all my money goes. Our HHI is 1.1 and I would have a stroke if I spent 5k on a bag.

[Anonymous]

Many people don't seem to splurge much and are high income but not as high net worth as I'd expect based on the answers. What do people spend their money on if they are not splurging in these categories (but aren't saving massive amounts to add to NW either)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our income is around $2.5M-$3M on a net worth of about $38-40M. I am recently retired, albeit very young. We earned all of our money and I earned the vast majority of it.

Anything that costs less than $100 will never matter ever. It doesn’t matter how many of anything we buy at that amount or how often.

Between $100-$1k I mentally acknowledge the expenditure. But I notice that in all sorts of circumstances something is pricier than it should be but it doesn’t stop me buying it and rarely would have me spend the time looking for a cheaper alternative as my time is worth more than this amount.

$1K- 10K is an amount I would spend without planning. At this amount it is objectively real money, but subjectively still doesn’t matter. I would, spend this much on a car repair, book a spontaneous vacation, buy a piece of art or make a donation commitment without feeling the need to check with DH or that it would matter. I would notice it on my credit card bill though and confirm that it is legit.

Above $10K is real money to me.

That said, the irony of money is that if you have a lot, there isn’t much you actually want. We spend on vacations, our house (although that is nearly done) and experiences. We hardly if ever buy stuff (like jewelry, hand bags, designer clothing). We do buy a car every 5-10 years, but nothing particularly fancy. We just aren’t car people. And while I’d like to be we aren’t really art people either. There are surprising few tangible things that we actually want.

HORSES you need horses. They’re the most fun and you can spend all of your money. Enjoy!

This is the answer.

I own and manage a nice dressage barn — most of the horses cost at least six figures, not to mention the costs of keeping them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just today I was in a shop and a beautiful blouse was $550. We have a very high net worth but I just don’t have the desire to spend money like that. But the two of us went out to dinner tonight and it was $200. I drive a Subaru SUV, but we fly first class. I’m sure a shrink could define my behavior.

This is so weird to me. I’d buy a $500 blouse, but not fly first class. Never seemed worth it to me for a few hours where I’m fine in economy.

Like I said, I’m sure a shrink could define my behavior. I can afford the blouse and first class so I’m not trading off one for the other. But, I sometimes fly economy when I’m not with my husband. We are retired and his attitude is if we don’t fly first class our children will.