Reply to How does your family survive making under 200k hhi

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My husband makes $160k and I stay at home with two small kids. These threads always surprise me because at $160k we do pretty darn good! Rent a townhouse for $2300/month, aggressively paying off both cars so we spend $1000/month on that, $131/month insurance for both cars. $280/month for preschool, around $200/month for power and gas, $400 for cable/internet/cell phones. We have a house in another state but the mortgage is covered by a renter so we don't make money on that but we aren't in the red either (this year at least). In a normal 2 paycheck month we net around $8500 and very very rarely do we feel pinched unless a few major expenses come up at once (property taxes, new tires for cars, medical bills, things like that). I mean we aren't wealthy by any means but I feel we do much better than "survive."[/quote]

You don't own, you don't save for college for the kids, and what are you doing for yourself as a SAHM for retirement?  Households with income totalling less than $200K, with kids, are almost always way short on house equity, retirement and college savings.  [/quote]

We have earned between 140 - 160 for the last 10 years on one income. We have 2 kids but no student loans. Both kids went to good preschools and do after school activities (education is a priority for us).  We live in the DC area. We have bought a house at the peak with 25% down and sold it 8 years later for a minor profit. We have 450K cash equity in the market, and maxed out 401K. This is with no family help. Of course we are not crazy rich, but will retire and still be able to maintain our standard of living unless the market wipes us out (except it will wipe everyone else out concurrently). We travel abroad once every 2 years to see family, eat out and even have someone come in a couple of times a month to clean house.  We average about 40-60K per year savings (excluding 401K).

It's doable. [/quote]

Are you in your 30s?  How have your housing costs been?  I suspect you live someplace on edge of DC metro like Loudoun? And one of you works out there too. That is an enviable situation big you can get it bc you avoid the ridiculous cost of housing most of us pay to maintain shorter commutes. And I mean shorter not short. [/quote]

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