Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are all the high income folks? why is every comment on here 5k a month is too expensive for a mortgage, we would never lease a car, this is middle class no that is upper class etc etc


This is money & finances, shouldn't there be, you know, people with money?

There are an abundance of people on this forum who don’t understand how to use low interest debt to their advanatage. That doesn’t necessarily correlate to their income.

+1

it blows my mind.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are not here because they have nothing to bitch about and sure as heck don't want to share their secrets.

X10000

Rich people would feed you bad information, anyway.

LOL, my experience is the other way around. The most valuable thing I have is my knowledge but that's not what people want from me. They just want me to pay more taxes so that the government can spread it around a little more. I draw my share of people coming to me for help through mutual acquaintances. I always make time to mentor them. But most of them just want me to give them seed capital. They feel insulted that banks want them to use their house as collateral for a business loan.

Our HHI is $1.3M. Our 15-year mortgage is under $5K (PITI) for an unremarkable 4 bedroom, 3-bath house in upper NW DC. We own our two cars (one hybrid, one electric). We send our two kids to private schools. I earn $100K, DH brings home $1.2M. I don't intend to quit my career, which has excellent benefits and for which I have earned a bit of seniority and therefore have a lot of flexibility and autonomy. We max out retirement and college savings, and put a lot into CDs and money market accounts.

Once you reach a certain income level to cover basics, it all comes down to budgeting and saving. Obviously, if you have a higher income, there's a lot more wiggle room, but there are many people with very high incomes who manage to spend all their money very quickly.

Our major indulgence is the private school tuition. We have nice, safe Japanese cars (not luxury cars); a perfectly nice home in a perfectly nice neighborhood; and we buy virtually all our groceries from places like Whole Foods. Clothes are purchased on sale from stores like JCrew and Hanna Andersson--so nice, but not designer. While we could afford more expensive things, we have decided to be content with what is objectively more than good enough. We make the exception for private school because we feel that the experience of the superb education is affordable for us, but we would be happy to send our kids to our neighborhood public schools if finances were tighter. I would characterize our lifestyle as comfortable--neither frugal nor extravagant given our income.

Again, what do you consider high income? 500K+? Plenty of folks on here with that HHI. But I am with you...why they think 5K on a mortgage is a lot at that level is crazy to me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are all the high income folks? why is every comment on here 5k a month is too expensive for a mortgage, we would never lease a car, this is middle class no that is upper class etc etc


This is money & finances, shouldn't there be, you know, people with money?

What do you consider high income?

I also want to know this. I am on this board and the travel board more than any other and I've seen tons of people with high incomes and high net worth. I think the OP is relatively low income/net worth and just has a fantasy of what "rich people" should/would be like/live like.

Anonymous wrote:They are not here because they have nothing to bitch about and sure as heck don't want to share their secrets.

X10000

Rich people would feed you bad information, anyway.

Anonymous wrote:Where are all the high income folks? why is every comment on here 5k a month is too expensive for a mortgage, we would never lease a car, this is middle class no that is upper class etc etc


This is money & finances, shouldn't there be, you know, people with money?

There are an abundance of people on this forum who don’t understand how to use low interest debt to their advanatage. That doesn’t necessarily correlate to their income.

They pay other people to handle their money and finance issues, so why would they be on here?

High income, low risk. I don’t want a $5k mortgage and I don’t need one because I can put money down on my house and still have enough leftover to invest. I don’t lease cars because that’s a waste money. I’ll drive me cars for 7-10 years and then decide to sell them or drive them into the ground.

High income people buy their cars. No need to lease.

Anonymous wrote:Where are all the high income folks? why is every comment on here 5k a month is too expensive for a mortgage, we would never lease a car, this is middle class no that is upper class etc etc


This is money & finances, shouldn't there be, you know, people with money?

What do you consider high income?

There are lots of high income folks - haven't you read any of the "what's your net worth" threads?

What do you want to know?

They are not here because they have nothing to bitch about and sure as heck don't want to share their secrets.

Here I am.

$5k is too low for a mortgage.

I don't even lease. I rent daily!

I have a personal shopper to buy my food for me.

Whenever I need clothes, I have the department store bring the clothes to my house.

I don't budget for a lawn person. I just pay him from the orphan bills from the center console of my rental car.

I don't buy ice cream. I own a cow and built a church for an Amish community and they come down every day to my house to milk the cow and make me homemade ice cream.

I also leave my windows open during the summer but blast my air conditioner at 60 degrees because why not, it's just money.

But after all this, I still don't have enough saved up for retirement according to DCUM standards.

Oh, and Amazon is coming to Crystal City.

That is all. Carry on.

Where are all the high income folks? why is every comment on here 5k a month is too expensive for a mortgage, we would never lease a car, this is middle class no that is upper class etc etc


This is money & finances, shouldn't there be, you know, people with money?