HHI is around $120k -- are we the only ones on here?

[Anonymous]

HHI 130K, two kids (elementary, middle), relatively new to DC and renting. It's the housing that is killing us. We'd like to buy next year and would really like to stay in the city but that may not be possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is 167k on one salary (I SAH) and to me, we have an amazing life. I can't understand people complaining and claiming "poor" (not really poor, but complaining of money woes on 250K + or even 400K as I saw the other day).

We live in a good house in a nice suburb - very middle class: no one here is going on international vacations every year or even every other year. The kids are all in ps, cars are normal japanese/some other asian brand and the like. Yard service and cleaning service is common, as in one or 2 weeks at the beach per year.


I guess that the more people have, the more they spend so it kind of always feels like you "are middle class" as you can't have the next big thing.

Very middle class don't have yard service and cleaning service and 2 weeks at the beach.

In this area that is it of course. I feel MS with a 167k salary. Our house cost 700K - seems Mc for me in this area. Two kids, in ps - small saving for them for college (10k/year combined), maxed IRA for both plus and maxed retirement for husband.

But the devil is in the details pp - our yard service costs us $70 per month so $840/year. Cleaning around here is about 80-120 for each visit bi-weekly (we pay more because our cl has been with us for 10 years and has gotten raises and I pay her a "bonus" for x-mas of around 2 weeks of service, but I round it up a bit).

Our rental for the beach costs us around $1400.00 per week and we drive there 9 long hours.

If you make more money, you probably would have a cleaning service every week at the very least, top notch yard work (not just a hispanic guy and his crew to cut your grasses - but fertilizers, aeration, seeding, etc. We have none of that because we don't care about it. I would rather spend my money on my cleaning lady).

Also, we do not eat out and rarely order take out (less than once/month). Husband doesn't eat out during work (well, I guess now no one does).

We eat very well and don't check prices before putting on cart, but I generally don't even go looking for filet mignon unless it is an special occasion. Kids have nice birthday parties every year but nothing over the top.

Car are paid for currently. Student loan will be payed off next year thank god!

From what I read here, I think most people feel MC is because the more money they have, the more they spend on their house/mortgage. So in the end, unless they have real wealth, they end up having to making the same kind of choices we do with some variations.

It is all about the house you buy and how much of your budget the monthly payment and maintenance of the house costs you.

Ouch. That hurts ☹️

[Anonymous]

This thread has made me feel so much better about a potential move to northern VA.

Thanks for sharing, everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's actually easy to explain the DCUM phenomenon. I believe most posters making a lot of money are real. And they are women. In households making >400k, it's fairly common that the man has a very lucrative job. The woman then becomes SAHM. Women naturally seek validation, and being at home bored while the kids are at school makes it just too tempting to come on DCUM and gloat. I wouldn't say they are necessarily "unhappy" like a prior poster suggested. If they were poor they'd be on here virtue signaling about making their toddler only organic vegetable mush from scratch, or chastising the guy posting about a corvette because he's destroying the environment and "their family prius has just been great for DH." The rich posters are just the rich version of these other posters.

I don’t come on DCUM to flash our income but we are a 400k+ two income household. My DH makes about 30k more than me. This setup is extremely common in our circles. So yes the high income households are real, but not necessarily due to the setup you describe. I for example don’t even know a family where the woman is a long term SAHM by choice.

[Anonymous]

We were like you early on, but we’re older now (mid 40s/early 50s). One government worker, one public interest/nonprofit. I finally got a management position and a big salary bump (for me, not for dcum standards), so now our HHI is $260ish.

We have a handful of kids who go to public school. Nice home way out in the burbs with a very low mortgage. We happily got by on $150 for years before I got promoted.

Living within your means is the way to go.

Hopefully the pandemic has taught spenders how much they piss away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's actually easy to explain the DCUM phenomenon. I believe most posters making a lot of money are real. And they are women. In households making >400k, it's fairly common that the man has a very lucrative job. The woman then becomes SAHM. Women naturally seek validation, and being at home bored while the kids are at school makes it just too tempting to come on DCUM and gloat. I wouldn't say they are necessarily "unhappy" like a prior poster suggested. If they were poor they'd be on here virtue signaling about making their toddler only organic vegetable mush from scratch, or chastising the guy posting about a corvette because he's destroying the environment and "their family prius has just been great for DH." The rich posters are just the rich version of these other posters.

I don’t come on DCUM to flash our income but we are a 400k+ two income household. My DH makes about 30k more than me. This setup is extremely common in our circles. So yes the high income households are real, but not necessarily due to the setup you describe. I for example don’t even know a family where the woman is a long term SAHM by choice.

I’m the PP and I know tons of these households. Must be very different in different neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Wow, and we felt lonely making 230k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. Our HHI income is between 100k and 140k any given year (I own my own business so it varies a bit). We are happy with our income and live within our means, but between our friends who we know make a lot more than us and the huge numbers people throw around on DCUM, I sometimes wonder if there are any people out there in our income bracket. We are married, one kid, own our home, one car. Our families don't have money but thankfully don't need us to provide for them (yet). We have some school debt but it's manageable. We both attended elite schools on scholarship, and both chose to go into public interest (government jobs and non-profit work).

Is this unusual on here? I consider us pretty squarely middle class. Our kid will go to public school, like we did, but we are saving for college so she has some options down the road. We both contribute to 401k's and we think we should be okay in retirement between that, other savings, and the option of selling our home and moving somewhere less expensive.

The way our friends and people on DCUM talk, sometimes I feel like we are broke. Surely there are more people like us out there? I'm starting to think being middle class is an anomaly in DC.

Why would you squander an elite degree on government & non-profit jobs? What a wasted opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. Our HHI income is between 100k and 140k any given year (I own my own business so it varies a bit). We are happy with our income and live within our means, but between our friends who we know make a lot more than us and the huge numbers people throw around on DCUM, I sometimes wonder if there are any people out there in our income bracket. We are married, one kid, own our home, one car. Our families don't have money but thankfully don't need us to provide for them (yet). We have some school debt but it's manageable. We both attended elite schools on scholarship, and both chose to go into public interest (government jobs and non-profit work).

Is this unusual on here? I consider us pretty squarely middle class. Our kid will go to public school, like we did, but we are saving for college so she has some options down the road. We both contribute to 401k's and we think we should be okay in retirement between that, other savings, and the option of selling our home and moving somewhere less expensive.

The way our friends and people on DCUM talk, sometimes I feel like we are broke. Surely there are more people like us out there? I'm starting to think being middle class is an anomaly in DC.

Why would you squander an elite degree on government & non-profit jobs? What a wasted opportunity.

Because they care about the work? You may not make a ton of money, but at least you don't feel like you're squandering most of your waking hours.

Now, I know it's not that black and white, you don't choose a meaningful job OR money. But you should know that too.

[Anonymous]

I'm just curious, why do you not make your kids cut the grass or cut it yourself??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. Our HHI income is between 100k and 140k any given year (I own my own business so it varies a bit). We are happy with our income and live within our means, but between our friends who we know make a lot more than us and the huge numbers people throw around on DCUM, I sometimes wonder if there are any people out there in our income bracket. We are married, one kid, own our home, one car. Our families don't have money but thankfully don't need us to provide for them (yet). We have some school debt but it's manageable. We both attended elite schools on scholarship, and both chose to go into public interest (government jobs and non-profit work).

Is this unusual on here? I consider us pretty squarely middle class. Our kid will go to public school, like we did, but we are saving for college so she has some options down the road. We both contribute to 401k's and we think we should be okay in retirement between that, other savings, and the option of selling our home and moving somewhere less expensive.

The way our friends and people on DCUM talk, sometimes I feel like we are broke. Surely there are more people like us out there? I'm starting to think being middle class is an anomaly in DC.

Why would you squander an elite degree on government & non-profit jobs? What a wasted opportunity.

Actually nonprofit and government can pay very well. Nonprofit in particular. Have you seen some of the 990 reports out there with leadership salaries at 990s? My salary as a nonprofit exec is equivalent to private sector and on an hourly basis better than private sector when you factor in the low number of hours I work.

[Anonymous]

As a financial person, never worry what people make. Many families make far more but carry a heavy load of debt. Balance your own budget and avoid the temptation to keep up with the Jones. Enjoy your life!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread has made me feel so much better about a potential move to northern VA.

Thanks for sharing, everyone.

You decided not to move? Remember that many of these people bought their housing many years ago. I bought a townhouse in courthouse for $400k in 2002. Payment was $1800/month. I made $80k base and $120k with bonus. It was tight, but doable. That same house now is probably $650-$700k, maybe more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. Our HHI income is between 100k and 140k any given year (I own my own business so it varies a bit). We are happy with our income and live within our means, but between our friends who we know make a lot more than us and the huge numbers people throw around on DCUM, I sometimes wonder if there are any people out there in our income bracket. We are married, one kid, own our home, one car. Our families don't have money but thankfully don't need us to provide for them (yet). We have some school debt but it's manageable. We both attended elite schools on scholarship, and both chose to go into public interest (government jobs and non-profit work).

Is this unusual on here? I consider us pretty squarely middle class. Our kid will go to public school, like we did, but we are saving for college so she has some options down the road. We both contribute to 401k's and we think we should be okay in retirement between that, other savings, and the option of selling our home and moving somewhere less expensive.

The way our friends and people on DCUM talk, sometimes I feel like we are broke. Surely there are more people like us out there? I'm starting to think being middle class is an anomaly in DC.

Why would you squander an elite degree on government & non-profit jobs? What a wasted opportunity.

Actually nonprofit and government can pay very well. Nonprofit in particular. Have you seen some of the 990 reports out there with leadership salaries at 990s? My salary as a nonprofit exec is equivalent to private sector and on an hourly basis better than private sector when you factor in the low number of hours I work.

Yes, I have. This is why I don’t donate anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's actually easy to explain the DCUM phenomenon. I believe most posters making a lot of money are real. And they are women. In households making >400k, it's fairly common that the man has a very lucrative job. The woman then becomes SAHM. Women naturally seek validation, and being at home bored while the kids are at school makes it just too tempting to come on DCUM and gloat. I wouldn't say they are necessarily "unhappy" like a prior poster suggested. If they were poor they'd be on here virtue signaling about making their toddler only organic vegetable mush from scratch, or chastising the guy posting about a corvette because he's destroying the environment and "their family prius has just been great for DH." The rich posters are just the rich version of these other posters.

That's fine, but it's not the people with 400k HHI (which actually seems to be more HHs with 200k DH and 200k DW on this board) that surprise me... it's the very high number of people who claim to have 7-plus figure incomes.