Anonymous wrote:We feel stretched on 750k. Three kids in daycare, two SUVs, a couple vacations a year, housecleaner, $8k mortgage, home maintenance and landscaping, and a modest vacation home...it adds up a lot faster than it seems.

Then you're doing something wrong. Or living way above your means.

They haven't learned "no". Each kid in Pre-k can have one lesson. They don't need two cars, one of which is a BMW. They live in NYC, so one nice "away" vacation a year - do stuff n ear home. Take all that money and throw it at the loans.

Not. That. Difficult.

We feel stretched on 750k. Three kids in daycare, two SUVs, a couple vacations a year, housecleaner, $8k mortgage, home maintenance and landscaping, and a modest vacation home...it adds up a lot faster than it seems.

Anonymous wrote:Way too much for charity and cars. Put that towards school debt and worry about nice cars and charity in 20 years.

You can still do charity.

Surprise! If you spend all of your money, you will have none.

They're not saving for college??? What the hell???

18K for three vacations a year? Cry me a river.
No one is "scraping by" with that budget.

Saw that yesterday on another board. A BMW and a Land Cruiser in Manhattan?? Obviously they lack judgment so I can't feel all that bad for them.

Way too much for charity and cars. Put that towards school debt and worry about nice cars and charity in 20 years.

So many things in that budget are unnecessary. They are choosing the best (or a really good version) of everything. Really, a 3 year old needs weekly lessons in addition to the zillion dollar a week daycare? And has to get driven there in a leased BMW?

No pity from me.

Thanks, OP - eye-opening indeed.

In the book the Millionaires Next Door, it states that the majority of millionaires have an annual income of $131K. They don't exhibit their wealth for all to see, bling isn't their thing. I know several millionaires who are quite wealthy and no college education, but they are smart about business and money.

http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/stanley-millionaire.html

It's not how much you earn, it's how much you spend. Plenty of millionaires have gone bankrupt from mismanaging $$.

Interesting article, OP.

Our HHI is 550 and we've made serious changes in the last year so we didn't feel stretched so thin. Namely, move to a lower COL area outside the beltway - now we're not quite so house poor.

Saw this via Twitter and it reminded me of debates here about people with high salaries feeling poor or average.

http://www.financialsamurai.com/scraping-by-on-500000-a-year-high-income-earners-struggling/

Before you flame me, please note I'm not endorsing the idea that a family with HHI of $500k has a right to feel stretched. But I'd never seen a breakdown like this and it does help explain those periodic posts here.

For a powerful reality check, here's a link to a good Twitter thread about what a $30k income feels like: https://twitter.com/absurdistwords/status/845347868756099072