$170k HHI for family of 4?

[Anonymous]

Make sure spouse adjusts his withholding now that he is primary earner. Spouse can add you as dependent and will see more $ in paycheck. Seems very doable.

[Anonymous]

Why does it have to be an all or nothing with staying at home or working a stressful job full time ? There are still part time , flexible or remote jobs available if you search for them. It could be a good half way solution for you, OP.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My salary alone is $172K. I contribute the max to my 401k, and our PITI is $2500. We are also saving for kids' college.

No, we can't do it on $172K. If we cut all activities, no vacation, then maybe. But, I don't want to do that.

At one point, I quit to be a sahm to reduce the stress level; I saved to be able to do this.

The stress level in our family went way down. But, I knew that I would need to go back to work to save for retirement and college, and if I stayed out of the workforce any longer, it would've been that much more difficult to get back in.

So, take some time off if you need to, but if you want to eventually get back into the workforce, you might want to not stay out too long.

This makes no sense as we have that salary range and we max out retirement, save for college, lots of activities for the kids, eating out, and some vacations but not traveling right now for other reasons.

30K 401k
40K taxes
20K 529
9k medical oop

monthly expenses are currently 8000 (includes activities), x 12 = 96000.

We are in our 50s.

I’m confused. What are these numbers supposed to indicate?

Looks like annual spending to me.

Yes it's the annual spending, and why we couldn't live the way we do on $170K. OP's kids are probably young. When my kids were young, I stepped back from work, and we lived on $140K. It was tight, but we managed. The HHI went up to $160K in a year, and that gave us much more breathing room.

When kids are younger, the activities are generally cheaper; everything is generally cheaper: food, clothing, kid prices for excursions and kids meals at restaurants.

When they are teens, everything is more expensive; they are like adults when it comes to prices. Actually, when they are growing teens, it's worse because they eat like two adults.

I grew up lower income; I ate horribly, and sometimes went hungry. I was frugal until maybe 3 years ago. Covid hit, and I turned 50. And I decided I was done being frugal for everything. I don't buy expensive clothing, cars, jewelry, etc.. for myself or for my kids. But, I buy quality food. I won't skimp on that ever again.

So yea, maybe $170K if you have little kids and little to no preK costs is doable. But if they are tweens/teens, it's hard to save for college, retirement, vacation, activities, and not live hand to mouth on $170K without having to budget and be frugal for everything. I'm done doing that.

LOL. Obviously one can’t live the exact same life in 170K as they do on 340K! But that wasn’t the question.

The fact that you choose not to live on 170K doesn’t mean that you can’t live (very comfortably) on 170K, which is what you initially stated.

And seriously, “hand-to-mouth” on 170K? You would have to be an absolute moron for that to occur, yes, even in the DMV. And even with teens and quality food!