Reply to Dual income families, what is your HHI?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We lived on $65K/year (my salary) for the 3 years my DH was in law school.  Maxed out retirement, traveled every year (internationally), saved at least $15K/year for down payment.  We shopped at WF and had a cheap, no frills apt with no cable, but lots of other entertainment.

I don't get people who need $200K to get by (though we make that now, we bank a LOT).  Our mortgage now is only a little more than our rent used to be.  Our DC costs us a little extra ($2000/month), but that's why we waited until we made more to have a kid, and we still save a ton.

Are all y'all living high on the hog?  What am I doing right/wrong here?[/quote]

Where are you living that your mortgage payment is only a little more than your rent used to be?  You say your rent during this period was $800 ...  If your mortgage is near $800, then I can definitely see why you don't get people who need $200k to get by.  Plus, based on your previous follow-up responses, it sounds like you had some special circumstances when you were living on $65k - free medical insurance, [b]only doing 1/2 of retirement[/b], being able to stay with friends when travelling.  [/quote]

Again, I am unaware of how I only did 1/2 of retirement?  I paid up to the limit, as I was the only one employed. As for mortgage, we bought before the bubble (and recall the downpayment fund, we saved a lot!).

And yes, vacationing with friends and family may be cheating...but it's fun, and I wouldn't drop $5K on a cruise when that money would be better served elsewhere.  We still travel this way -- it's a better way of seeing the culture of the countries.  Someday when I'm a broken-down old lady, though, I plan to sit on a beach/ship and have people serve me! :)

The medical IS lucky, though...I guess I assume most people around here earning that little are not working for private industries or giant corporations.  I am fortunate to still have this benefit.  I think it was more common then (this was 8-10 years ago).[/quote]

If you purchased a home pre-bubble, that means you were renting back in the 80s or early 90s, living off 65k/yr.  Of course internatioinal travel was 2K, plane tickets were not 1K, plus back when Michael Jackson's hair caught fire.

[/quote]

Bought in 2002, for $240K, with a $104K downpayment.  Monthly payment [i]was[/i] just over $1000, but we refi'ed recently, as it was at 6.5% originally.

You are right that international travel was so much cheaper then than now, but there WAS a bubble in that, too (though I remember some great rates post-911).  Ouch, MJ reference, am I that old?  :([/quote]

Also: The buying power of your 65k salary in 1995 is much closer to 85k today: http://www.coinnews.net/tools/cpi-inflation-calculator/[/quote]

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