Is this a reasonable amount of spending money per month based on our income?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's way too much. I think $600 a month would even be a bit much.

+1
Our income is twice yours and we give ourselves $600/mo. We save a ton and are close to paying off our mortgage on a $3M home. Our kids are older- 20, 17, 15, 10.

You make 640k and have a $3M house? Seems like a stretch to afford that. I would rather live in a 1M home and put the difference towards things like toys and experiences. The delta between a 1M and 3M house is probably 10-15k a month and you only give yourself $600/month each. That seems crazy to spend so much on a house while having such a barebones spending budget.

Yes, we bought the home 13 years ago for 1.2M. It's 3M now. We put 20% down and got a 15 yr fixed.

Do whatever you need to do for your finances, but don't just assume others have or have had the same circumstances as you. There is a wide range. Our bare bones spending has also allowed us to purchase 2 vacation homes and send our kids to private school. HHI is a bit higher than your assumptions too. Yes we are frugal. You know the type - drive subaru and wear non trendy clothes - boring. It works for us.

Subarus are not exactly cheap, paying for private school is literally the opposite of being frugal, and buying a house for $1.2 million puts you in a pretty exalted class of spenders. You may not wear nice clothes, but you are a spender, friend. You just spend on different things than others of us. I think OP's spending is fine - but we drive one 14 year old Kia Soul and bought our house for $330k. I know - you could NEVER. That's because you are spendy but on different things than we are spendy on.

Yes, I'm spendy on appreciating assets. That's what makes people rich. Subaru require little maintenance and running 200k miles. Schools set kids up to launch and also help with emotional intelligence and values, etc. Homes grow in value if taken care of, so I'm frugal AND spendy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our hhi is over 1 million and I can't fathom what I would spend $1200 a month on just for myself. That seems really high.

If you can't even spend 1.5% of your HHI on yourself, you have a mental problem: either you're a hoarder, you don't know how to do math, or you pretend that your gym membership is "for the family."

But he said the $1200 doesn't include things like a gym membership. So this is money above and beyond. We're talking about clothes, nails, hair. You think I have a mental disorder if I think it's absurd to spend $1200 on clothes every month? I'd hate to see your cc bill.

If the only thing you can think of spending on is clothes, yeah you do have a mental disorder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's way too much. I think $600 a month would even be a bit much.

+1
Our income is twice yours and we give ourselves $600/mo. We save a ton and are close to paying off our mortgage on a $3M home. Our kids are older- 20, 17, 15, 10.

You make 640k and have a $3M house? Seems like a stretch to afford that. I would rather live in a 1M home and put the difference towards things like toys and experiences. The delta between a 1M and 3M house is probably 10-15k a month and you only give yourself $600/month each. That seems crazy to spend so much on a house while having such a barebones spending budget.

Yes, we bought the home 13 years ago for 1.2M. It's 3M now. We put 20% down and got a 15 yr fixed.

Do whatever you need to do for your finances, but don't just assume others have or have had the same circumstances as you. There is a wide range. Our bare bones spending has also allowed us to purchase 2 vacation homes and send our kids to private school. HHI is a bit higher than your assumptions too. Yes we are frugal. You know the type - drive subaru and wear non trendy clothes - boring. It works for us.

Subarus are not exactly cheap, paying for private school is literally the opposite of being frugal, and buying a house for $1.2 million puts you in a pretty exalted class of spenders. You may not wear nice clothes, but you are a spender, friend. You just spend on different things than others of us. I think OP's spending is fine - but we drive one 14 year old Kia Soul and bought our house for $330k. I know - you could NEVER. That's because you are spendy but on different things than we are spendy on.

A 15 year $960,000 mortgage at 2% is close to $7,000/month. Something isn’t adding up here.

What doesn't add up is your ammoritizing math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's way too much. I think $600 a month would even be a bit much.

+1
Our income is twice yours and we give ourselves $600/mo. We save a ton and are close to paying off our mortgage on a $3M home. Our kids are older- 20, 17, 15, 10.

You make 640k and have a $3M house? Seems like a stretch to afford that. I would rather live in a 1M home and put the difference towards things like toys and experiences. The delta between a 1M and 3M house is probably 10-15k a month and you only give yourself $600/month each. That seems crazy to spend so much on a house while having such a barebones spending budget.

Yes, we bought the home 13 years ago for 1.2M. It's 3M now. We put 20% down and got a 15 yr fixed.

Do whatever you need to do for your finances, but don't just assume others have or have had the same circumstances as you. There is a wide range. Our bare bones spending has also allowed us to purchase 2 vacation homes and send our kids to private school. HHI is a bit higher than your assumptions too. Yes we are frugal. You know the type - drive subaru and wear non trendy clothes - boring. It works for us.

Subarus are not exactly cheap, paying for private school is literally the opposite of being frugal, and buying a house for $1.2 million puts you in a pretty exalted class of spenders. You may not wear nice clothes, but you are a spender, friend. You just spend on different things than others of us. I think OP's spending is fine - but we drive one 14 year old Kia Soul and bought our house for $330k. I know - you could NEVER. That's because you are spendy but on different things than we are spendy on.

Yes, I'm spendy on appreciating assets. That's what makes people rich. Subaru require little maintenance and running 200k miles. Schools set kids up to launch and also help with emotional intelligence and values, etc. Homes grow in value if taken care of, so I'm frugal AND spendy.

Cars don't appreciate in value, friend. You wanted a luxury car but one that screams sensible instead of fancy. Private school isn't an appreciating investment no matter how you'd like to spin it. And that's great your house has gone up in value - ours has, too! It's really a wonderful thing to get into the real estate ladder at the right time - congrats for your good fortune and good timing. Spend however you like, that said! But looking down your nose at other people's luxuries while dismissing your own is silly.

[Anonymous]

Sounds crazy high for that HHI level. $600 max if you really want to try. The whole idea sounds stupid to me TBH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's way too much. I think $600 a month would even be a bit much.

+1
Our income is twice yours and we give ourselves $600/mo. We save a ton and are close to paying off our mortgage on a $3M home. Our kids are older- 20, 17, 15, 10.

You make 640k and have a $3M house? Seems like a stretch to afford that. I would rather live in a 1M home and put the difference towards things like toys and experiences. The delta between a 1M and 3M house is probably 10-15k a month and you only give yourself $600/month each. That seems crazy to spend so much on a house while having such a barebones spending budget.

Yes, we bought the home 13 years ago for 1.2M. It's 3M now. We put 20% down and got a 15 yr fixed.

Do whatever you need to do for your finances, but don't just assume others have or have had the same circumstances as you. There is a wide range. Our bare bones spending has also allowed us to purchase 2 vacation homes and send our kids to private school. HHI is a bit higher than your assumptions too. Yes we are frugal. You know the type - drive subaru and wear non trendy clothes - boring. It works for us.

Subarus are not exactly cheap, paying for private school is literally the opposite of being frugal, and buying a house for $1.2 million puts you in a pretty exalted class of spenders. You may not wear nice clothes, but you are a spender, friend. You just spend on different things than others of us. I think OP's spending is fine - but we drive one 14 year old Kia Soul and bought our house for $330k. I know - you could NEVER. That's because you are spendy but on different things than we are spendy on.

Yes, I'm spendy on appreciating assets. That's what makes people rich. Subaru require little maintenance and running 200k miles. Schools set kids up to launch and also help with emotional intelligence and values, etc. Homes grow in value if taken care of, so I'm frugal AND spendy.

Cars don't appreciate in value, friend. You wanted a luxury car but one that screams sensible instead of fancy. Private school isn't an appreciating investment no matter how you'd like to spin it. And that's great your house has gone up in value - ours has, too! It's really a wonderful thing to get into the real estate ladder at the right time - congrats for your good fortune and good timing. Spend however you like, that said! But looking down your nose at other people's luxuries while dismissing your own is silly.

Got got the wrong end of the stick. I look down at no one. You on the other hand....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our hhi is over 1 million and I can't fathom what I would spend $1200 a month on just for myself. That seems really high.

If you can't even spend 1.5% of your HHI on yourself, you have a mental problem: either you're a hoarder, you don't know how to do math, or you pretend that your gym membership is "for the family."

But he said the $1200 doesn't include things like a gym membership. So this is money above and beyond. We're talking about clothes, nails, hair. You think I have a mental disorder if I think it's absurd to spend $1200 on clothes every month? I'd hate to see your cc bill.

If the only thing you can think of spending on is clothes, yeah you do have a mental disorder.

And here's some ideas to help you out:
A class to learn something new, that you've always wanted to do, i.e., drawing, photography, aerial silks, cooking

And/or classes to improve on what you're already doing, i.e., private lessons on tennis, golf, a stretching class

Or a higher end version of what you're already doing, i.e., a higher end fitness class, a better decorated office so they work drags you down less

Experiences that you love or want to try out, i.e., massages, football games, concerts, color analysis

Spending time with friends, i.e., going to a candle making class together, dressing up and going dancing

Convenience so you can do more of the things you love, i.e., weekly cleaning, grocery delivery

There's tons of things you can spend on for yourself to improve your own quality of life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here this is our current monthly budget

$2200 PITI
$575 groceries & consumables
$500 car & house maintenance
$300 subscriptions (incl gym membership)
$350 utilities
$450 transportation cost (mostly insurance & VA car tax)
$1000 vacation saving
$2400 personal spending

Total is $7775. Our take home is over $17k so it leaves us with almost 10k going into savings every month (more like 11-12k if you count pre tax 401k contributions and match + paying down mortgage principal).

Are we really going wrong here? Seems crazy how you could make double or more our income and barely enjoy any of it for yourself.

Yes you are really going wrong here. Start saving more to get to a good school district and realize that when you have a kid, it’s going to cost you $3k a month for daycare. Cut back now.

The thing is if we cut back to 600/person vs 1200/person it’s only going to be a difference of ~11k vs 10k/month in savings, I don’t feel like this is going to make a major impact a long time from now. We aren’t going to think when we’re 60 “thank god we saved that extra $1200”. My philosophy with money is take a balanced approach and spend to enjoy life now but also be responsible and save plenty for the future, I feel we’re doing that. I think people here are biased towards one extreme based on the responses. IMO it’s crazy to make 30-50k a month after taxes and think you can’t spent a little over 1k on yourself. What’s the point of working and making so much if you can’t have some nice things?

Of course, we are planning to reevaluate once we have kids and budget needs change. We won’t have as much time for ourselves anyway so hobbies are going to be reduced. We already have a good chunk saved for the new house as well as retirement savings. Current NW is 1M in late 20’s/early 30’s so we’ve been saving (mostly coming from me).

If you cut back in half, you would be saving an extra $1200/month. That's $14k per year. Keep investing that amount every year for 30 years. At a conservative 8% return, you would have an extra $1.9M in retirement.
Are you going to poopoo over $1.9M when you are 60?
Believe me, you are going to say "thank god we saved that extra $1200 every month".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here this is our current monthly budget

$2200 PITI
$575 groceries & consumables
$500 car & house maintenance
$300 subscriptions (incl gym membership)
$350 utilities
$450 transportation cost (mostly insurance & VA car tax)
$1000 vacation saving
$2400 personal spending

Total is $7775. Our take home is over $17k so it leaves us with almost 10k going into savings every month (more like 11-12k if you count pre tax 401k contributions and match + paying down mortgage principal).

Are we really going wrong here? Seems crazy how you could make double or more our income and barely enjoy any of it for yourself.

Yes you are really going wrong here. Start saving more to get to a good school district and realize that when you have a kid, it’s going to cost you $3k a month for daycare. Cut back now.

The thing is if we cut back to 600/person vs 1200/person it’s only going to be a difference of ~11k vs 10k/month in savings, I don’t feel like this is going to make a major impact a long time from now. We aren’t going to think when we’re 60 “thank god we saved that extra $1200”. My philosophy with money is take a balanced approach and spend to enjoy life now but also be responsible and save plenty for the future, I feel we’re doing that. I think people here are biased towards one extreme based on the responses. IMO it’s crazy to make 30-50k a month after taxes and think you can’t spent a little over 1k on yourself. What’s the point of working and making so much if you can’t have some nice things?

Of course, we are planning to reevaluate once we have kids and budget needs change. We won’t have as much time for ourselves anyway so hobbies are going to be reduced. We already have a good chunk saved for the new house as well as retirement savings. Current NW is 1M in late 20’s/early 30’s so we’ve been saving (mostly coming from me).

If you cut back in half, you would be saving an extra $1200/month. That's $14k per year. Keep investing that amount every year for 30 years. At a conservative 8% return, you would have an extra $1.9M in retirement.
Are you going to poopoo over $1.9M when you are 60?
Believe me, you are going to say "thank god we saved that extra $1200 every month".

Great advice. Listen to this. Do this in a backdoor Roth IRA and thank DCUM for the tax free 1.9m in 30 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our hhi is over 1 million and I can't fathom what I would spend $1200 a month on just for myself. That seems really high.

If you can't even spend 1.5% of your HHI on yourself, you have a mental problem: either you're a hoarder, you don't know how to do math, or you pretend that your gym membership is "for the family."

But he said the $1200 doesn't include things like a gym membership. So this is money above and beyond. We're talking about clothes, nails, hair. You think I have a mental disorder if I think it's absurd to spend $1200 on clothes every month? I'd hate to see your cc bill.

If the only thing you can think of spending on is clothes, yeah you do have a mental disorder.

And here's some ideas to help you out:
A class to learn something new, that you've always wanted to do, i.e., drawing, photography, aerial silks, cooking

And/or classes to improve on what you're already doing, i.e., private lessons on tennis, golf, a stretching class

Or a higher end version of what you're already doing, i.e., a higher end fitness class, a better decorated office so they work drags you down less

Experiences that you love or want to try out, i.e., massages, football games, concerts, color analysis

Spending time with friends, i.e., going to a candle making class together, dressing up and going dancing

Convenience so you can do more of the things you love, i.e., weekly cleaning, grocery delivery

There's tons of things you can spend on for yourself to improve your own quality of life.

It's funny you took so much time to type out a response in order to be rude and yet are also wrong. OP specified in his first post "This isn’t money for needs like bills, food, gym, or for shared wants like vacations, activities, or new stuff for the house."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here this is our current monthly budget

$2200 PITI
$575 groceries & consumables
$500 car & house maintenance
$300 subscriptions (incl gym membership)
$350 utilities
$450 transportation cost (mostly insurance & VA car tax)
$1000 vacation saving
$2400 personal spending

Total is $7775. Our take home is over $17k so it leaves us with almost 10k going into savings every month (more like 11-12k if you count pre tax 401k contributions and match + paying down mortgage principal).

Are we really going wrong here? Seems crazy how you could make double or more our income and barely enjoy any of it for yourself.

Yes you are really going wrong here. Start saving more to get to a good school district and realize that when you have a kid, it’s going to cost you $3k a month for daycare. Cut back now.

The thing is if we cut back to 600/person vs 1200/person it’s only going to be a difference of ~11k vs 10k/month in savings, I don’t feel like this is going to make a major impact a long time from now. We aren’t going to think when we’re 60 “thank god we saved that extra $1200”. My philosophy with money is take a balanced approach and spend to enjoy life now but also be responsible and save plenty for the future, I feel we’re doing that. I think people here are biased towards one extreme based on the responses. IMO it’s crazy to make 30-50k a month after taxes and think you can’t spent a little over 1k on yourself. What’s the point of working and making so much if you can’t have some nice things?

Of course, we are planning to reevaluate once we have kids and budget needs change. We won’t have as much time for ourselves anyway so hobbies are going to be reduced. We already have a good chunk saved for the new house as well as retirement savings. Current NW is 1M in late 20’s/early 30’s so we’ve been saving (mostly coming from me).

If you cut back in half, you would be saving an extra $1200/month. That's $14k per year. Keep investing that amount every year for 30 years. At a conservative 8% return, you would have an extra $1.9M in retirement.
Are you going to poopoo over $1.9M when you are 60?
Believe me, you are going to say "thank god we saved that extra $1200 every month".

Sure but you need to include what the OP would have if they saved “only” 10k a month for 30 years, which in your scenario is $13.5M. Now the difference at age 60 between $13.5M and $15.4M is not a lot.

The value in becoming rich is diminished if you have to wait until you’re a senior citizen to enjoy it. Once you hit a certain level of financial security and get “on track” to continue making a high income it’s silly to prioritize hoarding as much money as possible until you’re old when you can finally spend it.

What most are missing here with this focus on compound interest and wealth generation at all costs is the fact that your time left on this planet with a healthy and youthful body and the experiences you accumulate, in the end, is more important than how much money you end up with. It’s also silly to try to amass a huge pile to leave to your kids because chances are they won’t be grateful and will end up squandering it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here this is our current monthly budget

$2200 PITI
$575 groceries & consumables
$500 car & house maintenance
$300 subscriptions (incl gym membership)
$350 utilities
$450 transportation cost (mostly insurance & VA car tax)
$1000 vacation saving
$2400 personal spending

Total is $7775. Our take home is over $17k so it leaves us with almost 10k going into savings every month (more like 11-12k if you count pre tax 401k contributions and match + paying down mortgage principal).

Are we really going wrong here? Seems crazy how you could make double or more our income and barely enjoy any of it for yourself.

Yes you are really going wrong here. Start saving more to get to a good school district and realize that when you have a kid, it’s going to cost you $3k a month for daycare. Cut back now.

The thing is if we cut back to 600/person vs 1200/person it’s only going to be a difference of ~11k vs 10k/month in savings, I don’t feel like this is going to make a major impact a long time from now. We aren’t going to think when we’re 60 “thank god we saved that extra $1200”. My philosophy with money is take a balanced approach and spend to enjoy life now but also be responsible and save plenty for the future, I feel we’re doing that. I think people here are biased towards one extreme based on the responses. IMO it’s crazy to make 30-50k a month after taxes and think you can’t spent a little over 1k on yourself. What’s the point of working and making so much if you can’t have some nice things?

Of course, we are planning to reevaluate once we have kids and budget needs change. We won’t have as much time for ourselves anyway so hobbies are going to be reduced. We already have a good chunk saved for the new house as well as retirement savings. Current NW is 1M in late 20’s/early 30’s so we’ve been saving (mostly coming from me).

If you cut back in half, you would be saving an extra $1200/month. That's $14k per year. Keep investing that amount every year for 30 years. At a conservative 8% return, you would have an extra $1.9M in retirement.
Are you going to poopoo over $1.9M when you are 60?
Believe me, you are going to say "thank god we saved that extra $1200 every month".

Sure but you need to include what the OP would have if they saved “only” 10k a month for 30 years, which in your scenario is $13.5M. Now the difference at age 60 between $13.5M and $15.4M is not a lot.

The value in becoming rich is diminished if you have to wait until you’re a senior citizen to enjoy it. Once you hit a certain level of financial security and get “on track” to continue making a high income it’s silly to prioritize hoarding as much money as possible until you’re old when you can finally spend it.

What most are missing here with this focus on compound interest and wealth generation at all costs is the fact that your time left on this planet with a healthy and youthful body and the experiences you accumulate, in the end, is more important than how much money you end up with. It’s also silly to try to amass a huge pile to leave to your kids because chances are they won’t be grateful and will end up squandering it.

+1 so this. I am totally in the camp “spend the money, OP!”. We are at 550k with one kid right now and each of us burns about what OP does. For me it goes into having a fitness coach, a sauna membership in a nice spa, twice a month nails, and whatever random small items I spend on during a month. And I have zero regrets. I want to enjoy my money now not just when I am an old fart. But, don’t worry DCUM I think of that too. DH and I are both in very safe jobs with generous pensions and we are both maxing out our employer’s version of 401k in addition to that. And we also manage to save some beyond that. And btw we just have one almost 10-year old car. We plan to retire in Europe where we would be more than comfortable with the pension alone, so any saving beyond that is a bonus. I really do not need to be filthy rich when old and the extra million I could save by watching my personal spending more now just is not worth it to me. I will rather enjoy (within reason) my life now while I am still quite young.

[Anonymous]

First, I don’t think OP’s numbers add up. Late 20s, you’re making 320 now but were likely making less than that in each preceding year. You have $1m saved? Your wife has expensive tastes and you’re going to do this hairbrained $24k scheme and still sock away money for saving for a house and tons of other personal savings? Does not add up. I think they’re getting family money. Or op brought a lot of money to the marriage that he saved before his wife leeched onto him.

Second, 1200 a month is bonkers. I’m another person in a very high hhi and both DH and o made seven figures each. We spend money on vacations and dinners out. I spend about $4000 a year on Botox and hair - which is super indulgent. But I’m old! I cannot think of other fun money stuff that would add up to another 10k a year. That’s a lot of clothes, purses and make up and dinners with friends. Your wife has a spend problem.

Last, I love how op quietly slipped in that most of the income is his. This is how it goes. Women with good incomes understand the value of money better. It’s always the low earning wives who are happy to spend their spouses money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First, I don’t think OP’s numbers add up. Late 20s, you’re making 320 now but were likely making less than that in each preceding year. You have $1m saved? Your wife has expensive tastes and you’re going to do this hairbrained $24k scheme and still sock away money for saving for a house and tons of other personal savings? Does not add up. I think they’re getting family money. Or op brought a lot of money to the marriage that he saved before his wife leeched onto him.

Second, 1200 a month is bonkers. I’m another person in a very high hhi and both DH and o made seven figures each. We spend money on vacations and dinners out. I spend about $4000 a year on Botox and hair - which is super indulgent. But I’m old! I cannot think of other fun money stuff that would add up to another 10k a year. That’s a lot of clothes, purses and make up and dinners with friends. Your wife has a spend problem.

Last, I love how op quietly slipped in that most of the income is his. This is how it goes. Women with good incomes understand the value of money better. It’s always the low earning wives who are happy to spend their spouses money.

Do you go outside? Do you have hobbies? Sailing, skiing, cycling, backpacking, woodworking (or anything requiring tools), hunting, target shooting, archery, trail running, triathlons, marathons, kayaking, etc it all can get expensive real quick

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First, I don’t think OP’s numbers add up. Late 20s, you’re making 320 now but were likely making less than that in each preceding year. You have $1m saved? Your wife has expensive tastes and you’re going to do this hairbrained $24k scheme and still sock away money for saving for a house and tons of other personal savings? Does not add up. I think they’re getting family money. Or op brought a lot of money to the marriage that he saved before his wife leeched onto him.

Second, 1200 a month is bonkers. I’m another person in a very high hhi and both DH and o made seven figures each. We spend money on vacations and dinners out. I spend about $4000 a year on Botox and hair - which is super indulgent. But I’m old! I cannot think of other fun money stuff that would add up to another 10k a year. That’s a lot of clothes, purses and make up and dinners with friends. Your wife has a spend problem.

Last, I love how op quietly slipped in that most of the income is his. This is how it goes. Women with good incomes understand the value of money better. It’s always the low earning wives who are happy to spend their spouses money.

Do you go outside? Do you have hobbies? Sailing, skiing, cycling, backpacking, woodworking (or anything requiring tools), hunting, target shooting, archery, trail running, triathlons, marathons, kayaking, etc it all can get expensive real quick

Not $800 a month quick! Of course I have hobbies - woodworking is one, baking, needlework, biking, running. The combined sum of those is like $1000 a year