Anonymous wrote:If your HHI gross income is $200-250K, what does your lifestyle look like?

Two incomes or one SAH or part time?
Kids or DINC?
SFH, townhome, or condo? Cars? Vacations?
What do you feel like you can afford and what feels out of reach for you.

This is specific to the DMV. $200K is rich in West Virginia or Ohio or Iowa, and poor in Manhattan or San Francisco, so DC metro only please.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$225k here in DC.

Two incomes, two kids with a third on the way.
We're in Columbia Heights in a 2000 sq ft 3 bdrm/3 full bath row house that we bought when rates were low in 2020. It's our forever home and we love it. PITI is $4k a month all in.
We do not have a car, which we're quite happy about.
We've splurged on childcare. Our younger child is in a nanny share so that costs a lot. There was a time when both our kids were too young for school and for about a year and a half we paid full freight for our own nanny, about $5k a month. We'll never have to do that again, thank god (middle kid starts school next year). That was a tight time!

We currently only travel to see people we love, and we stay with them (grandparents, siblings, the occasional close friend). We do two weeks at the beach each summer, one with each side of the family. We handle transportation (rent a car) and expenses, but the grandparents on each side rent the house for everyone to stay in, which we are very grateful for. We have no interest in real travel right now with the kids so little anyway.

We have decent retirement funds (though not contributing a ton at this moment, maybe 6% of our income), a solid emergency fund, and no debt besides our mortgage. We also give about 3% of our take home pay to charitable causes right now. We hope to get both our retirement contributions and our charitable donations up to 10% each once we're done with the nanny years, and the rest of the money will go to college savings (basically non-existent at this point, a few gifts in their only, but our oldest is still in PK.)

Besides the year of our own nanny (that was tight!), we feel very comfortable. Basically - we can have anything we want, we just can't have everything we want. So, we splurge on housing, living in the city, number of children, and childcare, and we go cheap on the other stuff - we don't eat out, we don't have a car, we don't travel, we get all the kids clothes from thrift stores, etc.

We could easily commute out and live in a bigger house and travel. Or we could have one or two kids and eat out and buy lots of nice stuff. Or we could use daycare instead of a nanny and own a car. With $225k, you have choices, you just have to see them that way. Perspective is huge at this income. If you want to feel comfortable, you can. If you want to feel like you never have any money, you can.

Why are you making charitable contributions before saving for college? Will the grandparents pay? Not snarking, just curious.

PP here. The median household income in the US is $75k, and the worldwide median household income is $12k. At $225k, we have dramatically more than most, and it's important to us to give back. Honestly, I hate that it's only 3%, but it's where we are right now. Until we had to start paying for childcare, I had always given 10% of my money to charity. Bottom line, I guess it's important to me.

The funny thing is that none of the other people care about you and wouldn't lift a finger to help you. But it is important for you to buy away your self-imposed guilt.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$225k here in DC.

Two incomes, two kids with a third on the way.
We're in Columbia Heights in a 2000 sq ft 3 bdrm/3 full bath row house that we bought when rates were low in 2020. It's our forever home and we love it. PITI is $4k a month all in.
We do not have a car, which we're quite happy about.
We've splurged on childcare. Our younger child is in a nanny share so that costs a lot. There was a time when both our kids were too young for school and for about a year and a half we paid full freight for our own nanny, about $5k a month. We'll never have to do that again, thank god (middle kid starts school next year). That was a tight time!

We currently only travel to see people we love, and we stay with them (grandparents, siblings, the occasional close friend). We do two weeks at the beach each summer, one with each side of the family. We handle transportation (rent a car) and expenses, but the grandparents on each side rent the house for everyone to stay in, which we are very grateful for. We have no interest in real travel right now with the kids so little anyway.

We have decent retirement funds (though not contributing a ton at this moment, maybe 6% of our income), a solid emergency fund, and no debt besides our mortgage. We also give about 3% of our take home pay to charitable causes right now. We hope to get both our retirement contributions and our charitable donations up to 10% each once we're done with the nanny years, and the rest of the money will go to college savings (basically non-existent at this point, a few gifts in their only, but our oldest is still in PK.)

Besides the year of our own nanny (that was tight!), we feel very comfortable. Basically - we can have anything we want, we just can't have everything we want. So, we splurge on housing, living in the city, number of children, and childcare, and we go cheap on the other stuff - we don't eat out, we don't have a car, we don't travel, we get all the kids clothes from thrift stores, etc.

We could easily commute out and live in a bigger house and travel. Or we could have one or two kids and eat out and buy lots of nice stuff. Or we could use daycare instead of a nanny and own a car. With $225k, you have choices, you just have to see them that way. Perspective is huge at this income. If you want to feel comfortable, you can. If you want to feel like you never have any money, you can.

Why are you making charitable contributions before saving for college? Will the grandparents pay? Not snarking, just curious.

PP here. The median household income in the US is $75k, and the worldwide median household income is $12k. At $225k, we have dramatically more than most, and it's important to us to give back. Honestly, I hate that it's only 3%, but it's where we are right now. Until we had to start paying for childcare, I had always given 10% of my money to charity. Bottom line, I guess it's important to me.

Anonymous wrote:It totally depends on where you are in your life

I retired early near a decade ago, and we currently budget ourselves about 200 K a year to live. We have our primary home, a second home, and an investment property. We vacation frequently, go out to eat whenever we want, and have a very, very nice life. Frankly, I can’t really even figure out how we do it. Our kids are all grown and launched and weddings and colleges have already been paid for. Maybe that helps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$225k here in DC.

Two incomes, two kids with a third on the way.
We're in Columbia Heights in a 2000 sq ft 3 bdrm/3 full bath row house that we bought when rates were low in 2020. It's our forever home and we love it. PITI is $4k a month all in.
We do not have a car, which we're quite happy about.
We've splurged on childcare. Our younger child is in a nanny share so that costs a lot. There was a time when both our kids were too young for school and for about a year and a half we paid full freight for our own nanny, about $5k a month. We'll never have to do that again, thank god (middle kid starts school next year). That was a tight time!

We currently only travel to see people we love, and we stay with them (grandparents, siblings, the occasional close friend). We do two weeks at the beach each summer, one with each side of the family. We handle transportation (rent a car) and expenses, but the grandparents on each side rent the house for everyone to stay in, which we are very grateful for. We have no interest in real travel right now with the kids so little anyway.

We have decent retirement funds (though not contributing a ton at this moment, maybe 6% of our income), a solid emergency fund, and no debt besides our mortgage. We also give about 3% of our take home pay to charitable causes right now. We hope to get both our retirement contributions and our charitable donations up to 10% each once we're done with the nanny years, and the rest of the money will go to college savings (basically non-existent at this point, a few gifts in their only, but our oldest is still in PK.)

Besides the year of our own nanny (that was tight!), we feel very comfortable. Basically - we can have anything we want, we just can't have everything we want. So, we splurge on housing, living in the city, number of children, and childcare, and we go cheap on the other stuff - we don't eat out, we don't have a car, we don't travel, we get all the kids clothes from thrift stores, etc.

We could easily commute out and live in a bigger house and travel. Or we could have one or two kids and eat out and buy lots of nice stuff. Or we could use daycare instead of a nanny and own a car. With $225k, you have choices, you just have to see them that way. Perspective is huge at this income. If you want to feel comfortable, you can. If you want to feel like you never have any money, you can.

Why are you making charitable contributions before saving for college? Will the grandparents pay? Not snarking, just curious.

Anonymous wrote:$225k here in DC.

Two incomes, two kids with a third on the way.
We're in Columbia Heights in a 2000 sq ft 3 bdrm/3 full bath row house that we bought when rates were low in 2020. It's our forever home and we love it. PITI is $4k a month all in.
We do not have a car, which we're quite happy about.
We've splurged on childcare. Our younger child is in a nanny share so that costs a lot. There was a time when both our kids were too young for school and for about a year and a half we paid full freight for our own nanny, about $5k a month. We'll never have to do that again, thank god (middle kid starts school next year). That was a tight time!

We currently only travel to see people we love, and we stay with them (grandparents, siblings, the occasional close friend). We do two weeks at the beach each summer, one with each side of the family. We handle transportation (rent a car) and expenses, but the grandparents on each side rent the house for everyone to stay in, which we are very grateful for. We have no interest in real travel right now with the kids so little anyway.

We have decent retirement funds (though not contributing a ton at this moment, maybe 6% of our income), a solid emergency fund, and no debt besides our mortgage. We also give about 3% of our take home pay to charitable causes right now. We hope to get both our retirement contributions and our charitable donations up to 10% each once we're done with the nanny years, and the rest of the money will go to college savings (basically non-existent at this point, a few gifts in their only, but our oldest is still in PK.)

Besides the year of our own nanny (that was tight!), we feel very comfortable. Basically - we can have anything we want, we just can't have everything we want. So, we splurge on housing, living in the city, number of children, and childcare, and we go cheap on the other stuff - we don't eat out, we don't have a car, we don't travel, we get all the kids clothes from thrift stores, etc.

We could easily commute out and live in a bigger house and travel. Or we could have one or two kids and eat out and buy lots of nice stuff. Or we could use daycare instead of a nanny and own a car. With $225k, you have choices, you just have to see them that way. Perspective is huge at this income. If you want to feel comfortable, you can. If you want to feel like you never have any money, you can.

Anonymous wrote:We are at about 220k. Two incomes, one full time one part time. SFH inside the beltway, but it’s an “average” house, not a McMansion. We have no kids, which makes it easier for us. Biggest expense is the mortgage. We have plenty saved. Can afford to go on vacation, and can afford relatively high end hotels and such, but I do consider prices—we can’t afford the Four Seasons. We have a second home on the Shenandoah River that DH bought in the 90s; it’s paid off. We renovated it recently and I’m nervous about spending money to furnish it (we got rid of everything that was in there). Buying things like furniture without thinking about the money is definitely out of reach. When I want something like a new bag, I obsess over cost. When I bought my LV Speedy it was pre-loved. We have done an excellent job of saving for retirement and have both inherited a bit.

So, I guess we are very comfortable—all bills are easily paid with me only working part time, and our savings is perfectly on point. With things like food at the grocery store I can buy whatever I want without looking at prices. But we are not in the position to buy furniture or take vacations without considering prices.