100k HHI in suburban envirnoment, and we live like kings. AMA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Inspired by the previous AMA and in further efforts to bring some reality into the DCUM financial fora, here's an AMA. We're in our early 30s, 2 kids with plans for 2 more, a paid off home, 2 cars, 3 pets, and a roughly 100k HHI of which 12k a year goes to charity.

We have everything we need, and the things we want but don't have are primarily related to how our society is structured (we'd like universal health care, etc).

Any questions?

You don't have healthcare?

It's somewhere around $200 a month; comes right out of the paycheck.

Oh, OP, $200/mo? We pay $750/mo right out of the paycheck for our (admittedly fabulous) health insurance. We also
Save for retirement and college and pay $2000/mo (probably
More than your mortgage was) for child care.

But do go on with your advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Inspired by the previous AMA and in further efforts to bring some reality into the DCUM financial fora, here's an AMA. We're in our early 30s, 2 kids with plans for 2 more, a paid off home, 2 cars, 3 pets, and a roughly 100k HHI of which 12k a year goes to charity.

We have everything we need, and the things we want but don't have are primarily related to how our society is structured (we'd like universal health care, etc).

Any questions?

You don't have healthcare?

It's somewhere around $200 a month; comes right out of the paycheck.

Oh, OP, $200/mo? We pay $750/mo right out of the paycheck for our (admittedly fabulous) health insurance. We also
Save for retirement and college and pay $2000/mo (probably
More than your mortgage was) for child care.

But do go on with your advice.

But you’re not homeschooling your children so . . .

[Anonymous]

^^I’m not homeschooling my children because I believe in letting experts and professionals be, well, experts and professionals. Of course, I also live in Fairfax County, not Delaware.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Inspired by the previous AMA and in further efforts to bring some reality into the DCUM financial fora, here's an AMA. We're in our early 30s, 2 kids with plans for 2 more, a paid off home, 2 cars, 3 pets, and a roughly 100k HHI of which 12k a year goes to charity.

We have everything we need, and the things we want but don't have are primarily related to how our society is structured (we'd like universal health care, etc).

Any questions?

You don't have healthcare?

It's somewhere around $200 a month; comes right out of the paycheck.

Oh, OP, $200/mo? We pay $750/mo right out of the paycheck for our (admittedly fabulous) health insurance. We also
Save for retirement and college and pay $2000/mo (probably
More than your mortgage was) for child care.

But do go on with your advice.

Not OP but why so snide? We live in the DC area snd pay closer to what OP does in healthcare than what you do. Health insurance costs depend on your employer and their plan and what they choose to pay vs you pay.

OP said they work for the school system. I have never heard of govt employees getting bad benefots. So why arr you haring on OP for having better insurance than you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^I’m not homeschooling my children because I believe in letting experts and professionals be, well, experts and professionals. Of course, I also live in Fairfax County, not Delaware.

OP stated that they, and their spouse, are both professional educators. Im generally Not a fan of homeschooling (I feel kids suffer when parents who know nothing about educational technique, the topics they are teaching, etc decide to homeschool because “the system sucks”) but in this case, whats wrong with two trained education professionals homeschooling their kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But living simply and scrimping and saving does not equal living like kings. Your post is mistitled.

I don't see any scrimping in our lifestyle. I also don't think living well means spending every last dollar and then some; by definition, if you aren't doing that, you're saving. And regarding simple living--we're living a life that makes us happy, all of our needs are met, and we don't have too many wants. If your definition of living well is based primarily on things you can't have, then you're always going to see yourself as living like a pauper. That's not the way we see the world.

But that's not how kings live. Kings do not live simply. Kings do not homeschool.

This is why the title of the post is misleading. Because you are happy and content with how much you earn and how you live does not mean you are living like a king. At least be honest about that.

They may not be living like kings by *your* standards, but they are by theirs. Isnt that what matters?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But living simply and scrimping and saving does not equal living like kings. Your post is mistitled.

I don't see any scrimping in our lifestyle. I also don't think living well means spending every last dollar and then some; by definition, if you aren't doing that, you're saving. And regarding simple living--we're living a life that makes us happy, all of our needs are met, and we don't have too many wants. If your definition of living well is based primarily on things you can't have, then you're always going to see yourself as living like a pauper. That's not the way we see the world.

But that's not how kings live. Kings do not live simply. Kings do not homeschool.

This is why the title of the post is misleading. Because you are happy and content with how much you earn and how you live does not mean you are living like a king. At least be honest about that.

They may not be living like kings by *your* standards, but they are by theirs. Isnt that what matters?

Absolutely! But to come on DCUM and entitle a post "living like Kings" then I'd venture a guess that most people are thinking they are indeed living somewhat luxuriously. Which they are clearly not. I think a more appropriate title would be something like "100K HHI in a suburban environment and we are extremely happy"

[Anonymous]

Your health insurance is only $200? How high is your deductible?

[Anonymous]

OP, how much is your home worth now? You paid $100k for it a while ago it seems...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apologies for potentially stereotyping, but since this is an ama, are you Mormon?

Nope, just regular Christians, although pretty secular (I'd be fine if we only went to church for weddings and funerals).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you think your 100k house in the DE suburbs is going to be big enough for the family of 6 you're planning? How much do you save each month for college?

Yup. It's got 3 bedrooms and the kids will share bedrooms the way kids do all over the world, including in the US.

We don't budget separately for college; we simply save most of our money and we'll divide things up when the kids reach college age.

Do you have/anticipate having enough to fully fund four college tuitions and your retirements?

Retirements? Yup. We live simply.

College? It depends. If it costs 750k/student the way a number of models suggest, no way--just like 99% of the country. If it costs less, perhaps. We're not going to worry about it, because it's not something we can control. We'll just save what we can.

But you could be saving more if you cut back on your charitable contributions, so one could argue that you're putting strangers over you own kids, hence the question as to whether you worry they'll resent your decisions. Also can you share your actual savings and anticipated/target retirement amount in dollars? Planning to live simply is great but are you budgeting for potential medical costs, 30+ years, etc or just assuming it will somehow work out? I think that, and not wanting to be a future burden, is abig reason that a lot of people feel stretched thin even on decent salaries.

We could be saving more, yes, but by that argument, we could never donate to charity or do anything for anyone ever, because we'd be reducing resources for our kids. Our kids are important, but we're part of a community of human beings and we're all ultimately in the same boat. These are the values we raise our kids with; we talk to them frequently about how blessed we already are.

Actual savings are at least 130k invested, a bit more in the bank. Targeted retirement is probably 1M, although we could easily do less; there's no reason we'd need to spend 40k a year in retirement. For future medical costs, we'll use Medicare like everyone else and simply skip things we can't afford--like everyone else. We're not of the value set of spending millions of dollars in end of life care, etc. We live, we love, and eventually, we die. We do our best to maximize the living and loving parts (although we could always do more...still working on patience).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you know any actual kings? Because I'm pretty sure they don't live the way you're describing. Except maybe those in exile.

One of my role models in this way is the former president of Uruguay. I'm not sure if you'd define a president as a modern king, but it's close enough in my books.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20243493

True wealth, to me, comes from self control and a sense of purpose--not spending endless amounts of money simply because one can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you think your 100k house in the DE suburbs is going to be big enough for the family of 6 you're planning? How much do you save each month for college?

Yup. It's got 3 bedrooms and the kids will share bedrooms the way kids do all over the world, including in the US.

We don't budget separately for college; we simply save most of our money and we'll divide things up when the kids reach college age.

Do you have/anticipate having enough to fully fund four college tuitions and your retirements?

Retirements? Yup. We live simply.

College? It depends. If it costs 750k/student the way a number of models suggest, no way--just like 99% of the country. If it costs less, perhaps. We're not going to worry about it, because it's not something we can control. We'll just save what we can.

But you could be saving more if you cut back on your charitable contributions, so one could argue that you're putting strangers over you own kids, hence the question as to whether you worry they'll resent your decisions. Also can you share your actual savings and anticipated/target retirement amount in dollars? Planning to live simply is great but are you budgeting for potential medical costs, 30+ years, etc or just assuming it will somehow work out? I think that, and not wanting to be a future burden, is abig reason that a lot of people feel stretched thin even on decent salaries.

We could be saving more, yes, but by that argument, we could never donate to charity or do anything for anyone ever, because we'd be reducing resources for our kids. Our kids are important, but we're part of a community of human beings and we're all ultimately in the same boat. These are the values we raise our kids with; we talk to them frequently about how blessed we already are.

Actual savings are at least 130k invested, a bit more in the bank. Targeted retirement is probably 1M, although we could easily do less; there's no reason we'd need to spend 40k a year in retirement. For future medical costs, we'll use Medicare like everyone else and simply skip things we can't afford--like everyone else. We're not of the value set of spending millions of dollars in end of life care, etc. We live, we love, and eventually, we die. We do our best to maximize the living and loving parts (although we could always do more...still working on patience).

And who do you think is going to take care of your end of life care?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you also left out how much less you spend in taxes in DE! Property tax is what Im specifically thinking of. Granted, the low property taxes compared to Ffx Cty (for instance) are why your schools arent as good, but if youre homeschooling it doesnt matter.

Regarding the schools argument--there are pretty much no public schools in the US we'd consider "good", because almost all of them follow the same models, which are based on a range of developmentally inappropriate expectations and a dearth of opportunities to cultivate rounded, kind, and mentally healthy human beings. We're not planning on homeschooling because we don't live in a 1M HHI-fed district; it's about a different set of values. Think Finland, Reggio Emilia, Montessori, Waldorf and less Great Schools, Common Core, PARCC, and Pearson (or College Readiness).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why did you pay off your mortgage? When you go to sell the house in 30 years when kids are out how much appreciation could there possibly be in suburban DE? Should have sunk that money into market.

A paid off house is its own retirement vehicle in our books. As long as we can pay property taxes, food, and utilities (which are low with a cheap and energy efficient house), we could live on very little. We're planning on more than that, but it's nice to know that, at a basic level, our retirement is already funded.