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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why are people automatically saying "no shot"?

As I understand -- OP would live mortgage free bc she has the cash to build her home. Her DH's pension would bring in 4k and expenses are around 2-2.5k factoring in military healthcare. There would be an "extra" 1.5k/month to say for retirement and/or college, and some months they could forego that saving for a vacation or a home repair.

Why the automatic NOs?[/quote]

I presume the $4k would be taxed, so it's more like $3k. Take out of that your $2.5k and she's got $500 - with a young kid who is about to go to school. So clothes, dental, backpacks, books, sports, how much kids can eat, sleepovers, lessons, tutoring, after school activities, summer camps, etc are all expenses this family hasn't experienced yet. It simply doesn't seem realistic to me - or at least it's exceptionally high risk.

Some of these expenses could of course be forgone - you don't NEED to travel, kids can get tutored by mom and dad, summer camps can be in a backyard, etc. Some may not: dental work, glasses, eating, clothes, etc.

What if the medical premiums pop even modestly? What if the kid ends up needing any kind of professional assistance? What if someone has any out of network expenses? What if the house experiences a meaningful repair, like say, a roof or a water heater? Or just even more simply, what happens when she needs to get a new car? You buy a beater? Probably, but your maintenance will likely have more surprises. What if she decides she wants private?

Say I'm wrong about the $3k and it's really $4k and she's got a clean $1,5k a month to save - so let's say she puts $500 into 529, and $1,000 into her emergency funds. Water heater broke, she's out $4k. Now say 3 months later she needs a new car because her old one died or was totaled. Say she buys a beater for $10k; ten months of her savings are wiped out. Say that year the AC needed repair too. $2k. Say little Timmy needed braces or really wanted to go to some camp, and suddenly you are in a position where your emergency fund is declining... And in my experience there's always going to be a little something that pops up. A small steak of bad luck - hardly a 2 sigma event - and she's killed the bulk of her emergency fund.

Can you live on $50k a year? Sure. Is it wise to do so by choice? Debatable. In the end it's a risk tolerance question. [/quote]

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