Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's your budget? You bring home probably around $10,000 or $11,000 a month, right? And pay, what, $3000 or $3500 towards your mortgage? Where does the rest of it go?

I wish it were this month per month. After taxes health care and 401k max, $230k is trash income. Like I said, I make about $150k and after taxes, 401k healthcare and all of the deductions, I'm only pulling $5000 per mo. My spouse who makes $72k and who contributes only 13% only pulls home about $3500 per mo after contributions, tax, and other deductions. Total take home is about $8500 per mo. Mortgage is $3100 for a $560k loan at 2.87% interest. Internet 80, gas + electric =$200-300, entertainment on streaming apps = $50, groceries = $500-600 per mo..other crap for gas, clothes etc. Not even counting. Then when you get hit with surprise car and hkuse repairs I just get crushed. I feel so stupidly poor on this salary. How the hell do American families making less than $100k survive? The median hhi is well below $100k, so clearly people with families are doing it. I'm also dumbfounded by the savings levels and invesmtnet levels by people on this forum purportedly to be single moms making $140-170k who claim claim to have $50k in emergency savings, $700k in retirement, and $100k saved for college. Yeah sure, do you ever have a home repair, major car repair, or need a new car? I just can't believe these #s on this forum.

You're only spending half your take home. Unless you have another $4k/month in expenses, I'm not sure why you say you don't have any money.

$8500 per mo.take home.

-$3100 mortgage
-$300 gas + electric
-$80 internet
-$100 cell phone
-$600-800 groceries
-$125 gas
-$150 car insurance

=-$5000 before counting for any health problems, car repair, clothes, health care, savings, weddings, parties, and other emergency expenses.

$5k a month should more than enough to cover additional retirement saving (don’t forget you maxed out on your 401k already) + saving for rainy day (car repairs, yearly vacation,etc) + other incidentals (an occasional Al wedding fit of $200 here and there, baby shower or such). If you can’t budget $5k of extra money, you need to learn how to properly manage your money. There will not be a “good” income level to suit your lifestyle.

Tiny tiny violin truly. Many families in the DMV area make it work with way less.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I make 150k and my spouse around 75k. After yearly bonuses, we pull in about 230k. It sucks. I constantly, constantly feel like we still have to watch our spending and can never relax and spend without worrying. Every time the car or house needs to be fixed, I cringe. Every time I go to the grocery store, I cringe spending $120.

We do not have an insane mortgage. We took out $540k, which is only 2.4x our income....not absurd. A lot of pain is self inflicted....I max out my 401k while my spouse puts away 13%. Yet I constantly feel stretched and feel like we live paycheck to paycheck too much. We have zero kids. I'm reading this forum and seeing people making $150k or so claiming they have $60k in saving for emergencies $700k+ in retirements, and no problems upgrading their house or paying for repairs. Wtf? How is this possible?

If we make this much and feel terrible about finances God help the rest of Americans and their median HHIs below $70k. Basically, no one is saving anything for retirement? I can't imagine needing a $1800 in car repairs and making $70k hhi.

Wow, I’m not sure what you’re doing wrong. We make $225k, have our kid in an excellent private school (full pay) and feel rich.

This year has been bad. We had to spend $10k installing brand new brick steps because the stairs to our house were terrible, crumbling, and.had a bad foundation. Right exact at the same.time, a bad storm ruined our fence and we had to replace 100' for about $4k. Simultaneously, our 2016 Mazda needed a lot of maintenance and required about $4000 in repairs etc. Just non-stop hit after hit. But I still feel ridiculously poor making $230k hhi from simply encountering a home an auto repair.

If we struggle this bad, how the hell does rest of America live?

You’re not “struggling.” You’re saving a ton of money, and you can cover these unexpected expenses. You just don’t have a lot of money to throw around on frivolous things. Which is a long way from “struggling.”

How does a couple earning $20,000 gross a month bring home only $8,500 net? That math doesn't work. Did you mess up your tax withholding? Or are you paying like $40,000 a year for your health insurance or something?

Anonymous wrote:OP, this is an online anonymous forum where most of the people claim to be millionaires with unlimited savings. If you haven’t figured it out by now, most people on this forum are lying about everything, including their financial status. Please don’t compare yourself to the made up numbers people throw out on here.

+100

You have an extra $60,000 a year. Maybe $10-$15K of that should go to incidentals and emergencies in a typical year, $20K-$30K in an unlucky year like this one. So you should have $30;000-$50,000 to spare every single year for savings or indulgences (on top of the $30K+ you save for retirement every year.) And you still feel poor? Are you actually just trolling us here?

Wait, are you seriously saying "I'm so poor because I only have an extra $5000 a month"?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's your budget? You bring home probably around $10,000 or $11,000 a month, right? And pay, what, $3000 or $3500 towards your mortgage? Where does the rest of it go?

I wish it were this month per month. After taxes health care and 401k max, $230k is trash income. Like I said, I make about $150k and after taxes, 401k healthcare and all of the deductions, I'm only pulling $5000 per mo. My spouse who makes $72k and who contributes only 13% only pulls home about $3500 per mo after contributions, tax, and other deductions. Total take home is about $8500 per mo. Mortgage is $3100 for a $560k loan at 2.87% interest. Internet 80, gas + electric =$200-300, entertainment on streaming apps = $50, groceries = $500-600 per mo..other crap for gas, clothes etc. Not even counting. Then when you get hit with surprise car and hkuse repairs I just get crushed. I feel so stupidly poor on this salary. How the hell do American families making less than $100k survive? The median hhi is well below $100k, so clearly people with families are doing it. I'm also dumbfounded by the savings levels and invesmtnet levels by people on this forum purportedly to be single moms making $140-170k who claim claim to have $50k in emergency savings, $700k in retirement, and $100k saved for college. Yeah sure, do you ever have a home repair, major car repair, or need a new car? I just can't believe these #s on this forum.

You're only spending half your take home. Unless you have another $4k/month in expenses, I'm not sure why you say you don't have any money.

$8500 per mo.take home.

-$3100 mortgage
-$300 gas + electric
-$80 internet
-$100 cell phone
-$600-800 groceries
-$125 gas
-$150 car insurance

=-$5000 before counting for any health problems, car repair, clothes, health care, savings, weddings, parties, and other emergency expenses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's your budget? You bring home probably around $10,000 or $11,000 a month, right? And pay, what, $3000 or $3500 towards your mortgage? Where does the rest of it go?

I wish it were this month per month. After taxes health care and 401k max, $230k is trash income. Like I said, I make about $150k and after taxes, 401k healthcare and all of the deductions, I'm only pulling $5000 per mo. My spouse who makes $72k and who contributes only 13% only pulls home about $3500 per mo after contributions, tax, and other deductions. Total take home is about $8500 per mo. Mortgage is $3100 for a $560k loan at 2.87% interest. Internet 80, gas + electric =$200-300, entertainment on streaming apps = $50, groceries = $500-600 per mo..other crap for gas, clothes etc. Not even counting. Then when you get hit with surprise car and hkuse repairs I just get crushed. I feel so stupidly poor on this salary. How the hell do American families making less than $100k survive? The median hhi is well below $100k, so clearly people with families are doing it. I'm also dumbfounded by the savings levels and invesmtnet levels by people on this forum purportedly to be single moms making $140-170k who claim claim to have $50k in emergency savings, $700k in retirement, and $100k saved for college. Yeah sure, do you ever have a home repair, major car repair, or need a new car? I just can't believe these #s on this forum.

You're only spending half your take home. Unless you have another $4k/month in expenses, I'm not sure why you say you don't have any money.

OP is also saving super aggressively for retirement and then calling what is left (which pays a 3k mortgage and a nice lifestyle with money leftover) "trash money."

Guess what, the money going into your 401ks is also your income. You are making the choice to save very aggressively for retirement while also building equity in a home. That money is actually still yours, it's just allocated to investments. That's it.

If it feels like you need more cash, you could have more cash very easily. Reallocate your income to create more cashflow. It can be a small adjustment.

Problem solved. OP, you are being melodramatic about this and you don't actually even have a problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's your budget? You bring home probably around $10,000 or $11,000 a month, right? And pay, what, $3000 or $3500 towards your mortgage? Where does the rest of it go?

I wish it were this month per month. After taxes health care and 401k max, $230k is trash income. Like I said, I make about $150k and after taxes, 401k healthcare and all of the deductions, I'm only pulling $5000 per mo. My spouse who makes $72k and who contributes only 13% only pulls home about $3500 per mo after contributions, tax, and other deductions. Total take home is about $8500 per mo. Mortgage is $3100 for a $560k loan at 2.87% interest. Internet 80, gas + electric =$200-300, entertainment on streaming apps = $50, groceries = $500-600 per mo..other crap for gas, clothes etc. Not even counting. Then when you get hit with surprise car and hkuse repairs I just get crushed. I feel so stupidly poor on this salary. How the hell do American families making less than $100k survive? The median hhi is well below $100k, so clearly people with families are doing it. I'm also dumbfounded by the savings levels and invesmtnet levels by people on this forum purportedly to be single moms making $140-170k who claim claim to have $50k in emergency savings, $700k in retirement, and $100k saved for college. Yeah sure, do you ever have a home repair, major car repair, or need a new car? I just can't believe these #s on this forum.

You're only spending half your take home. Unless you have another $4k/month in expenses, I'm not sure why you say you don't have any money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op says they are maxing their 401k.

Op, so don’t max it. 2023, just invest 4k less overall. Mazda paid for.

The bricks project is paid for right? Next time just get. A little heloc. Pay half now, then spread out the heloc payments over a year. They’ll give you longer, but it’s not burdensome to pay back $5k over a year at your level.

Interesting..so.people around here make it work ny using their homes as a credit card?

It's an option. If paying cash is feasible (as it was for OP....) many people would pick that route.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's your budget? You bring home probably around $10,000 or $11,000 a month, right? And pay, what, $3000 or $3500 towards your mortgage? Where does the rest of it go?

I wish it were this month per month. After taxes health care and 401k max, $230k is trash income. Like I said, I make about $150k and after taxes, 401k healthcare and all of the deductions, I'm only pulling $5000 per mo. My spouse who makes $72k and who contributes only 13% only pulls home about $3500 per mo after contributions, tax, and other deductions. Total take home is about $8500 per mo. Mortgage is $3100 for a $560k loan at 2.87% interest. Internet 80, gas + electric =$200-300, entertainment on streaming apps = $50, groceries = $500-600 per mo..other crap for gas, clothes etc. Not even counting. Then when you get hit with surprise car and hkuse repairs I just get crushed. I feel so stupidly poor on this salary. How the hell do American families making less than $100k survive? The median hhi is well below $100k, so clearly people with families are doing it. I'm also dumbfounded by the savings levels and invesmtnet levels by people on this forum purportedly to be single moms making $140-170k who claim claim to have $50k in emergency savings, $700k in retirement, and $100k saved for college. Yeah sure, do you ever have a home repair, major car repair, or need a new car? I just can't believe these #s on this forum.

I agree that $5000 per month sounds way too low for a $150K salary, but even assuming you're right... where is your money going? Even if it's $8500, you only mentioned a little over $4000 a month in ongoing expenses which would mean saving half your take home. If you're not doing that, then where is the rest of your money going?

OP, this is an online anonymous forum where most of the people claim to be millionaires with unlimited savings. If you haven’t figured it out by now, most people on this forum are lying about everything, including their financial status. Please don’t compare yourself to the made up numbers people throw out on here.

Anonymous wrote:Op says they are maxing their 401k.

Op, so don’t max it. 2023, just invest 4k less overall. Mazda paid for.

The bricks project is paid for right? Next time just get. A little heloc. Pay half now, then spread out the heloc payments over a year. They’ll give you longer, but it’s not burdensome to pay back $5k over a year at your level.

Interesting..so.people around here make it work ny using their homes as a credit card?

I think you need to rethink both how you allocate your money and how you think about your money.

When I save money or put away money for retirement, I find it deeply satisfying. It makes me "feel rich" even though I'm not spending that money. It's hugely relieving to me to know that money is there, both for way down the road and also for the kinds of one-off surprise expenses you are talking about. I don't love having to spend several thousand on a repair, but when we do it, I always think how glad I am that we saved for just such a rainy day. Saving that money feels good and spending it when we need to doesn't feel bad. It's part of the plan.

But also, if I truly felt "poor AF" on our current income with our current savings plans, I'd look to see if there is a way to reconfigure our finances so we had more disposable income. As you said, you guys are saving aggressively in your 401ks. That's good, but you could step it down by one percentage point and have a little more cash on hand. Maybe it just goes straight into ordinary savings so it's not like you're spending it away, but it's liquid so you can use it when you need it. I would consider it if you really feel like you simply do not have enough cash flow.

You also need to thing longterm, especially regarding your mortgage. When are you planning to pay it off? Or maybe you dream of cashing out at some point? Do you plan to have kids? If not, maybe you downsize. Or maybe you stick it out and then you have a major asset and no mortgage. Factor this into your retirement too. If your hours is paid off by, say, 55, and you retire at 60 or 62, based on your current retirement trajectory, what does that look like. I'm betting it looks amazing. You'd have 5-7 years of income with no mortgage, which means you could aggressive save that money, plus you're looking at retirement with no mortgage. Right now that's your biggest expense. One day it won't even exist. Do you still feel poor when you think about it?

Op says they are maxing their 401k.

Op, so don’t max it. 2023, just invest 4k less overall. Mazda paid for.

The bricks project is paid for right? Next time just get. A little heloc. Pay half now, then spread out the heloc payments over a year. They’ll give you longer, but it’s not burdensome to pay back $5k over a year at your level.