Is this a reasonable amount of spending money per month based on our income?
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Anonymous
Many of those hobbies have high startup costs but become cheaper once you have what you need. If you’re younger and are just getting started it’ll cost more than if you’re older and bought the equipment many years ago. Also within a given hobby you can keep it low cost but there’s often a very wide range in quality and price, for example with cycling an entry level bike might be $1,000 and a high end one $10k+. Just saying that some people might have a strong desire to spend a lot of on their hobbies and derive a high level of satisfaction from using quality expensive gear, even if it’s not a requirement to participate. $10-20k is easy to hit per year if you go hard in one or two specific hobbies. For some folks that’s worth it, maybe not for you. I personally don’t see the value of private school or vacation homes even if a lot of others do (I went to both high quality public and privates growing up. Not much difference in outcome in my experience). |
Anonymous
+1 The Sephora/Makeup should be thought about and be a part of your budget. But in reality, you don't need to spend more than $500/year on makeup. You need a fully funded emergency fund (6=9months) and save for having kids and purchasing a house. Don't get used to overspending on frivolous stuff, as kids are expensive. IMO, $200-300/month of "spending money" is all you need. Anything beyond that you should be discussing and budgeting for. |
Anonymous
harder to "evaluate once you have kids" when you are already used to overspending. When daycare is $2.5K-3K/month and diapers are $300 and formula is $200, your 12K/month savings is now down to ~$8K. When you need a new car to fit the car seats, do you have a fund for that? And your insurance will go up (auto and health insurance). And new kids clothing and activities, in reality you will likely be down to $7K with just one kid. Sure you can technically afford it now, but you need to budget and decide what you are really worth treating yourself to. |
Anonymous
THis 1000%. Save early and let compounding work for you. Save enough so that you can control your own life by 50. Don't want to have to work a job you hate in your 50s or 60s Also, I'd much rather have that $1200/month spending money when I'm older---I "need" a monthly massage now much more than in my 30s. |
Anonymous
They are budgeting for it. That is the whole point of OP's OP. It's just you don't like the budget they have decided on. |
Anonymous
YEs they "spend" but not on frivolous stuff. They bought a home with a 15 year mortgage, that means they bought "less than they could afford". They now basically own the home. Choosing to spend on private school is a personal choice, but they chose to spend on that than Massages, nails, clothing, etc. Better return for money spent. Also Subarus are not luxury cars, they are good quality cars that last forever. Basically they are frugal for their income level. They are likely mid to late 40s and basically own their home. not many can do that while sending kids to private schools. |
Anonymous
The cost of owning a Subaru vs Kia for 14 years is about the same. Difference is with the Kia you will be spending more after year 5-6 on repairs, repairs, repairs. Oh and the Subaru will have a good resale value at 150K+ miles. I sold my Acura SUV 13 years old, 130K for over 25% of what I paid for it. And it had $3-5K of repairs needed (electrical issues and some dents). So in reality I got almost 30%+ of what I originally paid. Suburus will hold similar value. A 14 yo kia, not so much. I agree with the PP, that owning a Subaru and paying off your home in 15 years is very different than just "random 1.2K+/month spending money". |
Anonymous
it is a LOT. It can allow you to retire 5-10 years earlier if desired. |
Anonymous
They do not have a complete budget. And yes, they can afford to spend if they really want. But they need to realize it will be challenging once they have kids. They will need to save for college, pay for daycare and kids expenses, etc. They can do whatever they want, but don't complain when they are 45 and cannot afford the college their kids want to attend, don't complain they cannot retire at 50/55. I'd much rather live less luxuriously in my 20s/30s and save for the future. This doesn't' require living frugally, but most in their 20s cannot justify $2400/month of "fun money". my living within a reasonable budget in my 20s/30s means that I was UHNW by 50. And now I can spend whatever I want (within reason) in my 50s. |
Anonymous
They hit 1M on their own in their 20’s, that seems decent to me. |
Anonymous
| It sounds like this includes restaurants? Food spending per month seems low |
Anonymous
Knock that down to $500 each and then make a plan on how to spend those two extra checks and bonuses if you are both on the 26 annual pay period schedule |
Anonymous
These two bolded statements of yours, OP, do not match up or even make sense. This is your time to save, save, save since you do seem to want to purchase a SFH. Once you add a child into the mix, you will have wished you saved more. I guarantee you. |
Anonymous
This !!!! Once you have to save $250K+ for each kid for college (min for instate) and pay 2-3K/kid monthly for daycare (and still plenty for before/after care until MS) you will wish you had started earlier |
Anonymous
Now the difference is huge. Not so much when rates were at 2 |