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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]No. No regrets that I spent time with my kids and they have done well in life.  And I am a frugal person, living in a nice house in an average neighborhood and my kids went to public schools and state flagships - so I do not need a whole lot of money.   I have a happy marriage and my DH makes a decent amount of money upwards of $400K.

I have enough for our needs and some wants too.

BUT if I won the lottery, I would fly everywhere in business and first class. I hate travelling in cattle class, especially flying for 20 hours in cattle class.  I am too old for this crap!!![/quote]

Your post seemed sane until you mentioned that your husband makes over 400 goddam thousand dollars a year and you can’t figure out how to fly business or first class.

DCUM posters, a serious question: what in the actual hell do you guys do with all your money?[/quote]
Np
At 3x that income we would not consider first or business class either. I also dream of having enough to buy those tickets. Maybe we should cut back on housekeeping but that wouldn't make a dent in paying so much for flights. We travel far and often but those seats would equal a vehicle for our family of four. We've over splurged on hotels though.[/quote]

At 400K we would rarely pay for a business class.  It is simply not in the budget at that income level, unless you live in a VLCOL area and your house is only $150K[/quote]

Unless you are completely mismanaging your money (which I suspect many of you are), or you are flying overseas with the entire family on a monthly basis, there is absolutely zero reason why you cannot afford business class tickets for your family vacation at an income of 400K, and it should not even make you bat an eye.

I would love to see some of your budgets because many of you clearly need a lot of help.  [/quote]

So if you are making $400K, then you are taking home $260K (after fed and state taxes and FICA).  Add in $20K for each spouse for 401K and another $6.5K each for IRA---that's $53K reduction.  If you have 2 Kids, then take away $25K/year for college savings (at a minimum)--this might pay for in-state for 4 years for each kid.

So now I have only paid taxes, saved for retirement and college (the bare minimum) and I have $182K remaining for everything else.

My monthly mortgage on a million dollar home will be $6K+ for mortgage, insurance, prop taxes ($72K).  Health insurance plus medical co-pays/fees per month will easily be $1K, and the kids are not even old enough for braces.

Add in vehicle insurance, costs for cars, etc...

Then I've got food, clothing, etc.

Oh and perhaps we need to fly to see family once per year in the USA.

So sure, I technically could afford to pay business class for a trip to Europe for my family of 4, but that would be $4K/person vs $1.2K/person.  So $16K vs 4.8K.  I will be flying economy and using the difference to help pay for the rest of the vacation.

[/quote]

What I am getting out of your post is that you have approximately $100,000 after paying taxes, retirement savings, college savings, mortgage, and health insurance. [b] So let’s say you have about 8K per month to pay for food, clothing, transportation, and entertainment.  That is an absolute f***ton of money.  [/b]

So yes, you can “technically” and OBVIOUSLY afford to spring for business class tickets on your yearly European vacation if that is something that matters to you (and I am not sure how many rich posters on here were whining about “cattle class” or if you were one of them).  That you choose not to is just that, a CHOICE.

(TLDR: your post only confirms you would be an idiot to pretend you can’t afford business class on 400K income.  Stop crying poor, it’s ridiculous.)[/quote]

If you have 8k a month for all of those things, would you spend 15-20k on business class seats?

If you earned 100k a year would you spend 5% of your income on plane tickets for one vacation?  My guess is no.

I don’t think PP is saying she’s too poor to afford business class.  What she’s saying is if you spend 15-20k on business class seats it’s going to have to come from somewhere else.  [/quote]

Exactly! Not saying “I’m poor”. But pointing out it’s not the smartest decision fiscally.  Most fiscally smart people would not spend on business class seats at that income—-I’d rather have that money for an extra vacation than spend 12-14k for 8 hours on a plane.  [/quote]

Sigh.  There is a fundamental miscommunication here.  The question is not “would this be a smart financial decision?” Nor is the question “would I personally spend this money on business class tickets?”  The question was “could I afford to spend that much money on business class tickets if I decided that I really wanted to fly business class?”  And the answer indisputably is “yes, you can afford it”.

I can’t figure out what in the world the rest of you are arguing about.  No one is telling you that you are required to fly first class, just as no one is telling you that you should buy a 1 million dollar+ house or a six figure electric vehicle, or that you should have a nanny or a housekeeper or a lawn service or private schools, or invest all your money so you can take a tour in Jeff Bezos’s rocket someday.  Merely that these things are options at that income level (actually I am not sure about the rocket) and you can use your discretion to determine where to put your discretionary income.  Pretending that you simply can’t afford it when the reality is that you just don’t want to spend your money that way is silly.[/quote]

Oh, I see.  You have retreated to the pedantic defense of "these things are technically possible at your income, so you can afford it."  But, that's not what you previously said.  To remind you:

[quote]Your post seemed sane until you mentioned that your husband makes over 400 goddam thousand dollars a year and you can’t figure out how to fly business or first class.[/quote]

and

[quote]Unless you are completely mismanaging your money (which I suspect many of you are), or you are flying overseas with the entire family on a monthly basis, there is absolutely zero reason why you cannot afford business class tickets for your family vacation at an income of 400K, and it should not even make you bat an eye.

I would love to see some of your budgets because many of you clearly need a lot of help.[/quote]

[b]So your initial position was that, with routine budgeting, a family making $400k should be able to fly business or first class, no problem.  [/b]When numerous people chimed in that you're mistaken, you keep doubling down and subtly moving the goal posts until we are left with your most recent post.

It's pointless to continue this argument, but I am fascinated by your motivation.  I'm guessing it is some combination of:

- envy that others make $400k+ and you don't;
- an inability to admit that you may have made an error (typical in teenagers, but in adults a possible sign of a personality disorder)
- you have convinced yourself that you have superior money management skills to everyone else out there, and refuse to give up the delusion; or
- you don't really believe the nonsense you are posting, but are having fun (i.e., a troll).

If I missed something, please feel free to fill in the blanks.  [/quote]

Haha.  You are still wrong.  At no point did anyone prove that they can’t afford business class on 400k, they just stated that they don’t want to spend their money on that because it would be “moronic”.  Or helpfully pointing out that it would be a lot of money!  (No sh*t!  Doesn’t change the fact that you can easily afford it.) So it’s the people responding moving the goalposts, not me!

The bolded statement was indeed my initial position and continues to be my position.  Sorry you don’t know how to not waste your money on giant houses you’re too lazy to clean, with yards you’re too lazy to mow.   Or spend an absurd amount of money on a house without making sure it’s in a good school district.  Or maybe like the OP, you have some hang-up that requires you to hoard money to the point that you are psychologically unable to spend it on anything that would make your life enjoyable.  Must be tough.

And I suspect you keep responding because my accusation that you don’t know how to budget hits a little close to home and it stings a little.  And finally, I admit that I am jealous that the absolute morons of the world are the ones pulling in massive paychecks and then whining about how it’s not that much money (after they spend it and save it and then, I dunno, sit on it like some psychotic dragon?)[/quote]

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