S/O American Dream. Would $500-750k HHI be enough for this lifestyle?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised by all the vacation naysayers. Where I live, it is very common for families to travel this much. Over every school break basically. Maybe not 6 weeks total but 3-4 for sure.

And yeah, the skiing out West, Caribbean spring break, east coast beach vacay schedule is very very common ime.

Anyway, we do this and we still managed to save up 5-6 million in the last 10 years despite facing kids. So idk why you’re all saying it is impossible.

This is very normal in the DC suburbs too. This is what we do, though not skiing, but somewhere warm at Christmas. Christmas, Spring Break and Summer are the only weeks when all kids have no sports and we can travel.

+1

Not sure why so many in here are hating on vacations 😭

I love vacations! But there isn’t a way to do 5 weeks of high end vacations with 3 kids, have no money worries, save enough for college and retirement, and have fresh flowers every where on $500-750k/year unless you live in a small town in the middle of nowhere.

You can get fresh flowers at the grocery store or a farm stand for $20 or less. I don’t think that alone is going to break the bank. I pick up a bouquet every time I go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s or Wegmans. NBD.

As for the time off. My husband gets a full 6 weeks off plus federal holidays. We don’t leave town for every single one of those weeks because he’d be exhausted but we could if he wanted to, if that was something he wanted to do. Some people consider traveling to be a hobby, sounds like OP and her DH are like that.

If you have a good job, they’re going to ply you with perks so you stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised by all the vacation naysayers. Where I live, it is very common for families to travel this much. Over every school break basically. Maybe not 6 weeks total but 3-4 for sure.

And yeah, the skiing out West, Caribbean spring break, east coast beach vacay schedule is very very common ime.

Anyway, we do this and we still managed to save up 5-6 million in the last 10 years despite facing kids. So idk why you’re all saying it is impossible.

You already acknowledged why it isn’t possible. No one is taking 6 weeks. You just said 3-4 weeks. How in sufferable you are. You just wanted a chance to brag about your lifestyle. Listen, most people responding have as much as you or more. I’m not impressed by any of the travel you just listed. We have a beach house and then do Europe, other people I know have a ski house and do the other vacations. You aren’t special nd you should know that 500-750k is a laughable number to live te described lifestyle anywhere but flyover country and cheap vacays.

You sound dumb. You know the money you spent on your beach house plus taxes and maintenance and upkeep can fund the 5-6 vacations the Op wants 🙄

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have this life but only make $500k and one child. You have champagne tastes on a beer budget and too many kids.

Agreed. I would say maybe it's champagne tastes on a craft beer budget. But what OP describes is a fantasy- this vision has never been sold as the American Dream. We make 550-600 in the midwest and have an amazing life with 3 kids. But it's certainly not the life OP is looking for, which would be even more expensive on the coasts. I also agree with the poster who noted that kids won't just "slot in" to the picture.

+1
Apparently the American Dream is subject to inflation, too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The American dream is not fresh flowers everywhere and taking trips constantly.

It is a small 3 bedroom house with 1.5 bathrooms, clipping coupons, and mowing your own yard.

You are describing a super high end lifestyle from the movies.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised by all the vacation naysayers. Where I live, it is very common for families to travel this much. Over every school break basically. Maybe not 6 weeks total but 3-4 for sure.

And yeah, the skiing out West, Caribbean spring break, east coast beach vacay schedule is very very common ime.

Anyway, we do this and we still managed to save up 5-6 million in the last 10 years despite facing kids. So idk why you’re all saying it is impossible.

This is very normal in the DC suburbs too. This is what we do, though not skiing, but somewhere warm at Christmas. Christmas, Spring Break and Summer are the only weeks when all kids have no sports and we can travel.

+1

Not sure why so many in here are hating on vacations 😭

I love vacations! But there isn’t a way to do 5 weeks of high end vacations with 3 kids, have no money worries, save enough for college and retirement, and have fresh flowers every where on $500-750k/year unless you live in a small town in the middle of nowhere.

You can get fresh flowers at the grocery store or a farm stand for $20 or less. I don’t think that alone is going to break the bank. I pick up a bouquet every time I go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s or Wegmans. NBD.

As for the time off. My husband gets a full 6 weeks off plus federal holidays. We don’t leave town for every single one of those weeks because he’d be exhausted but we could if he wanted to, if that was something he wanted to do. Some people consider traveling to be a hobby, sounds like OP and her DH are like that.

If you have a good job, they’re going to ply you with perks so you stay.

She wants fresh flowers everywhere. Ha ha. She wants to live on a movie set. With 3 kids. Going skiing.

Ski school for 3 kids is expensive! And you are going to want to have them do it, otherwise you will be on the bunny hill skiing backwards holding them up.

And you’ll want a nanny for the Caribbean vacation. Because how else will you have a nice dinner!

This is not doable on $750k.

$1.5m housing budgets isn’t nearly enough.

[Anonymous]

FYI, some of the people posting in here probably bought their houses a long time ago. If you bought 15-20 years ago, yeah they are in a different financial land than people who bought post Covid Bubble.

That alone would explain how they are able to afford their lifestyles on a “measly” 500-750k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FYI, some of the people posting in here probably bought their houses a long time ago. If you bought 15-20 years ago, yeah they are in a different financial land than people who bought post Covid Bubble.

That alone would explain how they are able to afford their lifestyles on a “measly” 500-750k.

Yep

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised by all the vacation naysayers. Where I live, it is very common for families to travel this much. Over every school break basically. Maybe not 6 weeks total but 3-4 for sure.

And yeah, the skiing out West, Caribbean spring break, east coast beach vacay schedule is very very common ime.

Anyway, we do this and we still managed to save up 5-6 million in the last 10 years despite facing kids. So idk why you’re all saying it is impossible.

Yes, exactly. 3-4 weeks of vacation. Not 6. 3 is half as much as 6, which is why that is doable and 6 is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised by all the vacation naysayers. Where I live, it is very common for families to travel this much. Over every school break basically. Maybe not 6 weeks total but 3-4 for sure.

And yeah, the skiing out West, Caribbean spring break, east coast beach vacay schedule is very very common ime.

Anyway, we do this and we still managed to save up 5-6 million in the last 10 years despite facing kids. So idk why you’re all saying it is impossible.

You already acknowledged why it isn’t possible. No one is taking 6 weeks. You just said 3-4 weeks. How in sufferable you are. You just wanted a chance to brag about your lifestyle. Listen, most people responding have as much as you or more. I’m not impressed by any of the travel you just listed. We have a beach house and then do Europe, other people I know have a ski house and do the other vacations. You aren’t special nd you should know that 500-750k is a laughable number to live te described lifestyle anywhere but flyover country and cheap vacays.

They've also saved up $6M in 10 years after taking 4 weeks of vacation...mmmmkay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised by all the vacation naysayers. Where I live, it is very common for families to travel this much. Over every school break basically. Maybe not 6 weeks total but 3-4 for sure.

And yeah, the skiing out West, Caribbean spring break, east coast beach vacay schedule is very very common ime.

Anyway, we do this and we still managed to save up 5-6 million in the last 10 years despite facing kids. So idk why you’re all saying it is impossible.

Yes, exactly. 3-4 weeks of vacation. Not 6. 3 is half as much as 6, which is why that is doable and 6 is not.

+1. Not sure why this hard to get. It’s literally double the vacation time! And people who make 7 figures aren’t the type who can actually unplug on vacation. There are no days off.

[Anonymous]

We're there but we're 54 and 57. 4 bedroom house in Rockville is paid off; 4 kids--2 done with college, 1 still in college and 1 left in HS. We do a lot of travel each year--my definition of "going to the beach" is heading to the carribean.

We have an HHI of about 1.2M now. 25 years ago when we starting out, we made 140K combined. What's hard about your scenario is that you want all the good stuff at a time before your career (and salary) take off.

For the 2 kids at home (college +HS), we easily afford whatever they need. Vacations have gotten more expensive as the older kids are starting to date significant others.

As for vacation time, I recently left my old company that I had been with for 20 years--I had 12 weeks of PTO. With my new company I only got 6 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're there but we're 54 and 57. 4 bedroom house in Rockville is paid off; 4 kids--2 done with college, 1 still in college and 1 left in HS. We do a lot of travel each year--my definition of "going to the beach" is heading to the carribean.

We have an HHI of about 1.2M now. 25 years ago when we starting out, we made 140K combined. What's hard about your scenario is that you want all the good stuff at a time before your career (and salary) take off.

For the 2 kids at home (college +HS), we easily afford whatever they need. Vacations have gotten more expensive as the older kids are starting to date significant others.

As for vacation time, I recently left my old company that I had been with for 20 years--I had 12 weeks of PTO. With my new company I only got 6 weeks.

$1.2m is a lot more than $500-750k)! And you have a paid off house. Plus no childcare expenses. I would expect you to be feeling like you can spend on a lot of things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:4 bedroom house in a close in suburb of a US city. Is this possible with a 1.5 mil mil budget? We are willing to relocate to a cheaper city, if necessary.

3 kids - college 100% paid for, no worries about paying for activities or day camps. No worries about paying for the things teens want: nice clothes, sneakers, gadgets, sleep away camp, basic first car. So planning 1 mil for college savings alone.

4-5 vacations per year. This is my big ask, I know. I like to go on vacation and don’t want to have to give it up when we have kids. My ideal travel schedule would be: 1 week long winter ski trip out west (we love Breck), 1 week long spring break to the Caribbean or Central/South America, 2 week summer trip to Europe, 1 week trip to an East Coast beach town. 1 week couples only trip. This is what we do now. My idea is that we’d take our 3 kids on the first 4 trips with 1 couple trip. Tbh, I’m thinking this would be like 70k a year with 3 kids?

No worries about eating out at casual dining restaurants whenever we want, no worries about grocery prices, occasional fine dining experiences for anniversaries or celebrations

Responsible saving for retirement

I feel like this is the true “American Dream” as portrayed in the mainstream media we all consume endlessly. A nice suburban house where everyone has their own bedroom, there are lots of books, art, fresh flowers everywhere. The kids do lots of activities and go to camp in the summer. Frequent travel over every school break. Nice cars. No worries about things like grocery prices. College is paid for. It used to be possible on a lot less bit now 500-750k is needed? Or is even that amount too low?

We do everything except the travel, art, and fresh flowers on $350 HHI.
We only take one week family vacation a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4 bedroom house in a close in suburb of a US city. Is this possible with a 1.5 mil mil budget? We are willing to relocate to a cheaper city, if necessary.

3 kids - college 100% paid for, no worries about paying for activities or day camps. No worries about paying for the things teens want: nice clothes, sneakers, gadgets, sleep away camp, basic first car. So planning 1 mil for college savings alone.

4-5 vacations per year. This is my big ask, I know. I like to go on vacation and don’t want to have to give it up when we have kids. My ideal travel schedule would be: 1 week long winter ski trip out west (we love Breck), 1 week long spring break to the Caribbean or Central/South America, 2 week summer trip to Europe, 1 week trip to an East Coast beach town. 1 week couples only trip. This is what we do now. My idea is that we’d take our 3 kids on the first 4 trips with 1 couple trip. Tbh, I’m thinking this would be like 70k a year with 3 kids?

No worries about eating out at casual dining restaurants whenever we want, no worries about grocery prices, occasional fine dining experiences for anniversaries or celebrations

Responsible saving for retirement

I feel like this is the true “American Dream” as portrayed in the mainstream media we all consume endlessly. A nice suburban house where everyone has their own bedroom, there are lots of books, art, fresh flowers everywhere. The kids do lots of activities and go to camp in the summer. Frequent travel over every school break. Nice cars. No worries about things like grocery prices. College is paid for. It used to be possible on a lot less bit now 500-750k is needed? Or is even that amount too low?

We do everything except the travel, art, and fresh flowers on $350 HHI.
We only take one week family vacation a year.

Let me guess… you bought a house before 2024, have a sub 3% interest rate, and the house has already appreciated 40% since you bought. Oh and 529s superfunded by grandparents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're there but we're 54 and 57. 4 bedroom house in Rockville is paid off; 4 kids--2 done with college, 1 still in college and 1 left in HS. We do a lot of travel each year--my definition of "going to the beach" is heading to the carribean.

We have an HHI of about 1.2M now. 25 years ago when we starting out, we made 140K combined. What's hard about your scenario is that you want all the good stuff at a time before your career (and salary) take off.

For the 2 kids at home (college +HS), we easily afford whatever they need. Vacations have gotten more expensive as the older kids are starting to date significant others.

As for vacation time, I recently left my old company that I had been with for 20 years--I had 12 weeks of PTO. With my new company I only got 6 weeks.

$1.2m is a lot more than $500-750k)! And you have a paid off house. Plus no childcare expenses. I would expect you to be feeling like you can spend on a lot of things.

We can. But my point is that it didn't come until later. As you pointed out, income has gone up and the big expenses are over. There is a lot of discretionary income now.