Anonymous
02/16/2026 12:11
Subject: S/O American Dream. Would $500-750k HHI be enough for this lifestyle?
Anonymous wrote:This seems like some lala land weird idea of what family life should look like. We have an 8 figure hhi yet don’t take that many vacations, and it’s nothing to do with money. You seem to have an idealized version of life and want to slot kids into it, but that’s not how it works. Maybe when the kids are very young, but if your kids do serious sports or school activities, a lot of your schedule will revolve around that. For vacations, it depends what level of nice you want, but we have 4 kids, and a ski week alone is well over half your travel budget. You also seem to be ignoring sleep away camps, sport camps, etc. I think you want some instagram version of parenting.
Where do you ski if you spend 40K on a sling trip??? We've done a lavish skiing trip in Canadian Rockies at $10K for the whole week and fantastic nordic spas this year
Anonymous
02/16/2026 11:56
Subject: S/O American Dream. Would $500-750k HHI be enough for this lifestyle?
This seems like some lala land weird idea of what family life should look like. We have an 8 figure hhi yet don’t take that many vacations, and it’s nothing to do with money. You seem to have an idealized version of life and want to slot kids into it, but that’s not how it works. Maybe when the kids are very young, but if your kids do serious sports or school activities, a lot of your schedule will revolve around that. For vacations, it depends what level of nice you want, but we have 4 kids, and a ski week alone is well over half your travel budget. You also seem to be ignoring sleep away camps, sport camps, etc. I think you want some instagram version of parenting.
Anonymous
02/16/2026 11:46
Subject: S/O American Dream. Would $500-750k HHI be enough for this lifestyle?
No! That is not nearly enough. That’s our income range and we take one vacation, have a nice-but modest- home in a suburb of an expensive city, and pay for college full-price. We budget and things go undone - home maintenance, for example. It’s comfortable, but we watch expenses carefully and don’t do anything luxury, ever.
Anonymous
02/16/2026 11:41
Subject: S/O American Dream. Would $500-750k HHI be enough for this lifestyle?
IMO this is a 7 figure income lifestyle
Anonymous
02/16/2026 11:30
Subject: S/O American Dream. Would $500-750k HHI be enough for this lifestyle?
We have this in chicago with that income. Probably need more in dc.
Anonymous
02/16/2026 11:29
Subject: S/O American Dream. Would $500-750k HHI be enough for this lifestyle?
Anonymous wrote:You should be putting at least 20% into savings, and you should not be spending more than 10% of your gross income on travel.
Where are you getting this 10% travel limit? People spend money on different hobbies, if travel is yours then budget for it. There's no arbitrary limits.
I've got family that buys a new car every few years. Other family keeps the same car until it falls apart, but travels all the time. It probably costs about the same.
Anonymous
02/16/2026 11:26
Subject: S/O American Dream. Would $500-750k HHI be enough for this lifestyle?
I think the house you want is more than 1.5.
We basically have most of that except for the vacations. We do watch our dining out, we do not spend with abandon, and we are putting our 2 kids through private college without any debt.
HHI of 450K, but we have a mortgage around $4K, house worth about 1.6+, ideal location in NWDC, but we bought 22 years ago and renovated our way into it. It’s sound like you want a step up from our house which would be over 2M.
We could easily do everything but a bigger house on 600K but we have the low mortgage.
We basically have most of that except for the vacations. We do watch our dining out, we do not spend with abandon, and we are putting our 2 kids through private college without any debt.
HHI of 450K, but we have a mortgage around $4K, house worth about 1.6+, ideal location in NWDC, but we bought 22 years ago and renovated our way into it. It’s sound like you want a step up from our house which would be over 2M.
We could easily do everything but a bigger house on 600K but we have the low mortgage.
Anonymous
02/16/2026 11:15
Subject: S/O American Dream. Would $500-750k HHI be enough for this lifestyle?
Anonymous wrote:4 bedroom house in a close in suburb of a US city. Is this possible with a 1.5 mil mil budget? We are willing to relocate to a cheaper city, if necessary.
3 kids - college 100% paid for, no worries about paying for activities or day camps. No worries about paying for the things teens want: nice clothes, sneakers, gadgets, sleep away camp, basic first car. So planning 1 mil for college savings alone.
4-5 vacations per year. This is my big ask, I know. I like to go on vacation and don’t want to have to give it up when we have kids. My ideal travel schedule would be: 1 week long winter ski trip out west (we love Breck), 1 week long spring break to the Caribbean or Central/South America, 2 week summer trip to Europe, 1 week trip to an East Coast beach town. 1 week couples only trip. This is what we do now. My idea is that we’d take our 3 kids on the first 4 trips with 1 couple trip. Tbh, I’m thinking this would be like 70k a year with 3 kids?
No worries about eating out at casual dining restaurants whenever we want, no worries about grocery prices, occasional fine dining experiences for anniversaries or celebrations
Responsible saving for retirement
I feel like this is the true “American Dream” as portrayed in the mainstream media we all consume endlessly. A nice suburban house where everyone has their own bedroom, there are lots of books, art, fresh flowers everywhere. The kids do lots of activities and go to camp in the summer. Frequent travel over every school break. Nice cars. No worries about things like grocery prices. College is paid for. It used to be possible on a lot less bit now 500-750k is needed? Or is even that amount too low?
If you do not want your lifestyle to change, do not have a child ( let alone three).
What are your childcare plans?
What happens to your vacation time when you have to stay home with a sick child?
What happens when you get the kids you get and not the ones you think you’re going to get?
Anonymous
02/16/2026 11:13
Subject: S/O American Dream. Would $500-750k HHI be enough for this lifestyle?
What kind of colleges are we talking about? Because for even UVA in state, COA is conservatively projected to be 100k per kid per year in 18 years.
Anonymous
02/16/2026 11:12
Subject: Re:S/O American Dream. Would $500-750k HHI be enough for this lifestyle?
A lot of this depends on wheee you live.
Anonymous
02/16/2026 11:11
Subject: S/O American Dream. Would $500-750k HHI be enough for this lifestyle?
Who is taking care of the kids when you and your spouse are on your couples only vacation?
Anonymous
02/16/2026 11:10
Subject: S/O American Dream. Would $500-750k HHI be enough for this lifestyle?
Anonymous wrote:4 bedroom house in a close in suburb of a US city. Is this possible with a 1.5 mil mil budget? We are willing to relocate to a cheaper city, if necessary.
3 kids - college 100% paid for, no worries about paying for activities or day camps. No worries about paying for the things teens want: nice clothes, sneakers, gadgets, sleep away camp, basic first car. So planning 1 mil for college savings alone.
4-5 vacations per year. This is my big ask, I know. I like to go on vacation and don’t want to have to give it up when we have kids. My ideal travel schedule would be: 1 week long winter ski trip out west (we love Breck), 1 week long spring break to the Caribbean or Central/South America, 2 week summer trip to Europe, 1 week trip to an East Coast beach town. 1 week couples only trip. This is what we do now. My idea is that we’d take our 3 kids on the first 4 trips with 1 couple trip. Tbh, I’m thinking this would be like 70k a year with 3 kids?
No worries about eating out at casual dining restaurants whenever we want, no worries about grocery prices, occasional fine dining experiences for anniversaries or celebrations
Responsible saving for retirement
I feel like this is the true “American Dream” as portrayed in the mainstream media we all consume endlessly. A nice suburban house where everyone has their own bedroom, there are lots of books, art, fresh flowers everywhere. The kids do lots of activities and go to camp in the summer. Frequent travel over every school break. Nice cars. No worries about things like grocery prices. College is paid for. It used to be possible on a lot less bit now 500-750k is needed? Or is even that amount too low?
How do you have so much time to take off for your 6 weeks of vacations?
Anonymous
02/16/2026 10:28
Subject: S/O American Dream. Would $500-750k HHI be enough for this lifestyle?
You should be putting at least 20% into savings, and you should not be spending more than 10% of your gross income on travel.
Anonymous
02/16/2026 10:08
Subject: S/O American Dream. Would $500-750k HHI be enough for this lifestyle?
😐
Anonymous
02/16/2026 10:07
Subject: S/O American Dream. Would $500-750k HHI be enough for this lifestyle?
4 bedroom house in a close in suburb of a US city. Is this possible with a 1.5 mil mil budget? We are willing to relocate to a cheaper city, if necessary.
3 kids - college 100% paid for, no worries about paying for activities or day camps. No worries about paying for the things teens want: nice clothes, sneakers, gadgets, sleep away camp, basic first car. So planning 1 mil for college savings alone.
4-5 vacations per year. This is my big ask, I know. I like to go on vacation and don’t want to have to give it up when we have kids. My ideal travel schedule would be: 1 week long winter ski trip out west (we love Breck), 1 week long spring break to the Caribbean or Central/South America, 2 week summer trip to Europe, 1 week trip to an East Coast beach town. 1 week couples only trip. This is what we do now. My idea is that we’d take our 3 kids on the first 4 trips with 1 couple trip. Tbh, I’m thinking this would be like 70k a year with 3 kids?
No worries about eating out at casual dining restaurants whenever we want, no worries about grocery prices, occasional fine dining experiences for anniversaries or celebrations
Responsible saving for retirement
I feel like this is the true “American Dream” as portrayed in the mainstream media we all consume endlessly. A nice suburban house where everyone has their own bedroom, there are lots of books, art, fresh flowers everywhere. The kids do lots of activities and go to camp in the summer. Frequent travel over every school break. Nice cars. No worries about things like grocery prices. College is paid for. It used to be possible on a lot less bit now 500-750k is needed? Or is even that amount too low?
3 kids - college 100% paid for, no worries about paying for activities or day camps. No worries about paying for the things teens want: nice clothes, sneakers, gadgets, sleep away camp, basic first car. So planning 1 mil for college savings alone.
4-5 vacations per year. This is my big ask, I know. I like to go on vacation and don’t want to have to give it up when we have kids. My ideal travel schedule would be: 1 week long winter ski trip out west (we love Breck), 1 week long spring break to the Caribbean or Central/South America, 2 week summer trip to Europe, 1 week trip to an East Coast beach town. 1 week couples only trip. This is what we do now. My idea is that we’d take our 3 kids on the first 4 trips with 1 couple trip. Tbh, I’m thinking this would be like 70k a year with 3 kids?
No worries about eating out at casual dining restaurants whenever we want, no worries about grocery prices, occasional fine dining experiences for anniversaries or celebrations
Responsible saving for retirement
I feel like this is the true “American Dream” as portrayed in the mainstream media we all consume endlessly. A nice suburban house where everyone has their own bedroom, there are lots of books, art, fresh flowers everywhere. The kids do lots of activities and go to camp in the summer. Frequent travel over every school break. Nice cars. No worries about things like grocery prices. College is paid for. It used to be possible on a lot less bit now 500-750k is needed? Or is even that amount too low?