Money Diary of a Bay Area Housewife with a $1.3M joint income

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never understand the hours these people on Money Diaries keep either. Up at 730 am? DH has been at work for an hour and a half by then (military base). I'm up before 6 every day just because.

Really 7:30am sounds normal. I got up just before 9am for work this morning.

You and your husband have a slog, I don't know how you keep it up day after day.

Agree. Waking up at 7:30 is pretty much the only normal thing in the article.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn’t “joint income” imply 2 jobs? I ask this as a SAHM. Also their net worth is crazy crazy low at that income.

This low net worth high income is more often common then not.

It’s extremely hard to get wealthy through a W2 income. People refuse to accept this.

I’m the Pp and our W2 income is 300-400k bonus depending. Our net worth is almost $3M at a similes age.

The exception is not the rule. Why do people like you do this?

DP. Because they’re not wrong. It isn’t hard to become wealthy when you’re making $300k+ per year. You have to just live within your means.

Is this a joke?? Someone can become wealthy off of 300k income in 2021... you can’t be serious.

Maybe we have different ideas of wealthy. But 3 million is not wealthy.

The middle class/upper middle class are delusional af. And it’s so sad.

$3 million is wealthy by any normal definition, are you one of those 500k “middle class” types?

[Anonymous]

Damn. Do they have tapeworms?

[Anonymous]

I didn’t read all the comments in the MD but I thought the OP clarified that her husband only recently started making this salary which explains the net worth. I believe she also said she stopped working bc she wants to have kids. Yes, most people continue to work but maybe she wanted a break and they can clearly afford their lifestyle on one income. The whole Seattle thing was weird to me. It seemed like an odd place to get a second home but maybe they want a place in another city since they clearly enjoy eating out as opposed to a beach location. I, too, was shocked at how much they ate. Not how much it cost - just the number of meals and the frequency.

[Anonymous]

Definitely envious of her metabolism, but she eats a lot of junk. She’s also pretty old to have recently gotten married and just start thinking about having kids.

[Anonymous]

Must be nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn’t “joint income” imply 2 jobs? I ask this as a SAHM. Also their net worth is crazy crazy low at that income.

This low net worth high income is more often common then not.

It’s extremely hard to get wealthy through a W2 income. People refuse to accept this.

I’m the Pp and our W2 income is 300-400k bonus depending. Our net worth is almost $3M at a similes age.

The exception is not the rule. Why do people like you do this?

DP. Because they’re not wrong. It isn’t hard to become wealthy when you’re making $300k+ per year. You have to just live within your means.

Is this a joke?? Someone can become wealthy off of 300k income in 2021... you can’t be serious.

Maybe we have different ideas of wealthy. But 3 million is not wealthy.

The middle class/upper middle class are delusional af. And it’s so sad.

I’m the first pp and I never said wealthy. I said the author’s net worth is crazy low and it is. We have almost $3M net worth in our late 30’s. It wasn’t hard at all but you can go buy every last thing your heart desires, like many do.

Your minimum net worth should be your aged your annual pretax income, then divided by 10. We are almost doubt that calculation. And the author is nowhere close to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She says they both have family money. Their real net worth is currently in someone else’s name.

She's pointed out that she has "a safety net" and help from her family, and she lived in the bay area with her dad until moving in with her husband.

My guess from reading between the lines when she talks about her family is that she's from one of the many wealthy Asian-American immigrant families in the Bay Area.

Yup. They’re probably Taiwanese and he probably was recently promoted. Nothing odd about their net worth at this point.

I smiled at this--one side of my family is Taiwanese from the Bay Area and this is exactly it. She lived at home in dad's big bay area McMansion (it's Spanish style on the outside, but inside you have to take your shoes off and they have a couple random pieces of Chinese stuff to show respect for their roots, or something) until she married (dad paid for marriage which was no doubt a big wedding with a multi course banquet and outfit changes lol) and then she will have kids and her dad will pay for a full time night nurse and then a Chinese-speaking nanny. They still get together with dad every few weeks at Din Tai Fung, where her husband and dad fight over who pays the bill, but her dad will always end up paying up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn’t “joint income” imply 2 jobs? I ask this as a SAHM. Also their net worth is crazy crazy low at that income.

This low net worth high income is more often common then not.

It’s extremely hard to get wealthy through a W2 income. People refuse to accept this.

I’m the Pp and our W2 income is 300-400k bonus depending. Our net worth is almost $3M at a similes age.

The exception is not the rule. Why do people like you do this?

DP. Because they’re not wrong. It isn’t hard to become wealthy when you’re making $300k+ per year. You have to just live within your means.

Is this a joke?? Someone can become wealthy off of 300k income in 2021... you can’t be serious.

Maybe we have different ideas of wealthy. But 3 million is not wealthy.

The middle class/upper middle class are delusional af. And it’s so sad.

I’m the first pp and I never said wealthy. I said the author’s net worth is crazy low and it is. We have almost $3M net worth in our late 30’s. It wasn’t hard at all but you can go buy every last thing your heart desires, like many do.

Your minimum net worth should be your aged your annual pretax income, then divided by 10. We are almost doubt that calculation. And the author is nowhere close to it.

Her net worth is crazy low but she spends like it's high because that's how she was raised and she has a safety net and her dad's net worth is probably high. Dad sounds like a wealthy immigrant with a lot of property and cash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn’t “joint income” imply 2 jobs? I ask this as a SAHM. Also their net worth is crazy crazy low at that income.

This low net worth high income is more often common then not.

It’s extremely hard to get wealthy through a W2 income. People refuse to accept this.

I’m the Pp and our W2 income is 300-400k bonus depending. Our net worth is almost $3M at a similes age.

The exception is not the rule. Why do people like you do this?

DP. Because they’re not wrong. It isn’t hard to become wealthy when you’re making $300k+ per year. You have to just live within your means.

Is this a joke?? Someone can become wealthy off of 300k income in 2021... you can’t be serious.

Maybe we have different ideas of wealthy. But 3 million is not wealthy.

The middle class/upper middle class are delusional af. And it’s so sad.

I’m the first pp and I never said wealthy. I said the author’s net worth is crazy low and it is. We have almost $3M net worth in our late 30’s. It wasn’t hard at all but you can go buy every last thing your heart desires, like many do.

Your minimum net worth should be your aged your annual pretax income, then divided by 10. We are almost doubt that calculation. And the author is nowhere close to it.

Who cares? She probably has a ton more in family wealth that’s coming her way so you can stop the sanctimonious scolding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you imagine still being on your brothers cell phone plan at 37?

I’m 44 and technically on my brother’s plan but I pay him $85 a month. It’s cheaper this way. Plus he got me the phone as a gift. We’ve done this for years.

[Anonymous]

She has tons more "net worth" coming her way. The most telling line here is "if anything happens, we can turn to our parents for assistance."

"We can turn to our parents" implies both she and her husband have parents with sizeable wealth. It also explains their spending habits, they were both raised with money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you imagine still being on your brothers cell phone plan at 37?

I’m 44 and technically on my brother’s plan but I pay him $85 a month. It’s cheaper this way. Plus he got me the phone as a gift. We’ve done this for years.

She's a rich Asian immigrant. Living at home with her dad and brother until marriage and having a family cell phone plan is not uncommon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn’t “joint income” imply 2 jobs? I ask this as a SAHM. Also their net worth is crazy crazy low at that income.

This low net worth high income is more often common then not.

It’s extremely hard to get wealthy through a W2 income. People refuse to accept this.

I’m the Pp and our W2 income is 300-400k bonus depending. Our net worth is almost $3M at a similes age.

The exception is not the rule. Why do people like you do this?

DP. Because they’re not wrong. It isn’t hard to become wealthy when you’re making $300k+ per year. You have to just live within your means.

Is this a joke?? Someone can become wealthy off of 300k income in 2021... you can’t be serious.

Maybe we have different ideas of wealthy. But 3 million is not wealthy.

The middle class/upper middle class are delusional af. And it’s so sad.

I’m the first pp and I never said wealthy. I said the author’s net worth is crazy low and it is. We have almost $3M net worth in our late 30’s. It wasn’t hard at all but you can go buy every last thing your heart desires, like many do.

Your minimum net worth should be your aged your annual pretax income, then divided by 10. We are almost doubt that calculation. And the author is nowhere close to it.

That only makes sense if you don’t have a trust fund. I know because I do and this lady does and probably the husband too. I am not a crazy spender, but I also don’t really track things with percentages, multiplication and division. It’s just not necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would love this woman’s metabolism!

+1. Me too. Lots of money spend on eating out -- I can relate as I used to do that too (before kids).