Anonymous wrote:Everyone's definition of comfortable is different. Some people are comfortable driving a Subaru or Ford. I would shoot myself. Some people think 4000 sqft house is needed to be comfortable. That's way too big for me. Op, your question is unanswerable

This is a good point. Our house is less than 2000 sq ft and I wouldn’t want anything else. My husband drives a Porsche and I drove a Honda. We live close in and make almost 300K, max out retirement and 529’s, and seriously feel like we have more leftover money every month than we know what to do with! Neither of us have expensive hobbies, we hardly spend anything on clothes, and do a lot of thrift store shopping. My bedroom dressers were my moms growing up (beautiful wood that I refinished - they def don’t make them like that anymore!) and all of the kids dressers I got for free off Craigslist or for super cheap. My bed frame and my daughters were giveaways on our local listserv.
It all depends on what you feel you “need” and the things you like to do. And if you’re ok with second hand furniture and things like that.

It also depends on when you bought your house, especially in those areas. If you bought in the 2000s, you would have a much lower mortgage than if you bought more recently.

Everyone's definition of comfortable is different. Some people are comfortable driving a Subaru or Ford. I would shoot myself. Some people think 4000 sqft house is needed to be comfortable. That's way too big for me. Op, your question is unanswerable

Anonymous wrote:I’m coming to the sad realization that the basics of a good middle class lifestyle cost a fortune around here. A house with Bedrooms for all the kids, college, annual family vacation, saving for retirement. Is 600k the point where all this becomes doable without financial strain?

No. $2-300k. You have to be willing to make some compromises. We live on a busy road, for example. But we are very comfortable on that amount.

Depends. Public or private school? Enough savings for state or private college? One working parent or two?

Less than 800K and you're in povertyville. Barely scratching lower middle class, but you'll survive.

We’re a family of four, not five, but we live comfortably in DC on a HHI of $250k. We own our house, the kids are in public high/middle school, we max our 401ks and may even go on a vacation again someday.

Anonymous wrote:I’m coming to the sad realization that the basics of a good middle class lifestyle cost a fortune around here. A house with Bedrooms for all the kids, college, annual family vacation, saving for retirement. Is 600k the point where all this becomes doable without financial strain?

$600K is not middle class.

We live comfortably on $140-160K. Its all about how you choose to spend your money. We have good college funds, retirement, and house is almost paid off.

I don't get how choosing to have 3 kids makes you improvised. You have to make sacrifices the more kids you choose to have.

I think 400k should be enough but not each child will have own bedroom and 3 kids do 1 activity per season aside from basic life skills like swimming and then as they get older, you narrow down what it it is that really interests them. Also a regular decades long earning at this level, thats when you start feeling comfortable I think. Its difficult to do if you have no family money or help, plus im 2nd gen immigrant and we know how to live well frugally.

Anonymous wrote:We are at 270k and feel comfortable. We live in NW DC and have one car. Just depends on how you budget and spend your money.

Do you have 3 kids and own a home?

We are at 270k and feel comfortable. We live in NW DC and have one car. Just depends on how you budget and spend your money.

600k should be plenty if kids aren’t in private. We make 600k, live in McLean ( bought in 2018), kids are in public and we save a ton.

We’re at 600 but don’t live close-in - partly because it’s too expensive for us and we don’t really want to. At 600, you can live quite happily in suburbs of FFX County. I’d say more for Arlington/Bethesda given more expensive housing

I’m coming to the sad realization that the basics of a good middle class lifestyle cost a fortune around here. A house with Bedrooms for all the kids, college, annual family vacation, saving for retirement. Is 600k the point where all this becomes doable without financial strain?