We now have a HHI of over $2m but we used to have a HHi of $1.5m.

Our lifestyle didn’t change that much from when we earned 500k except we bought a house in a good school district. Our kids still go to public. We do stay at nicer resorts when we travel and I don’t look at prices for food.

Anonymous wrote:Husband's W2 showed earnings of $1.3M last year. Our lifestyle hasn't changed in the last 20 years, when he was making $250K a year. We live in the same modest home, drive Japanese cars (one is 10 years old), and travel economy class. We spend our money mainly on private school, college tuition, tutoring (test prep), and charitable donations. Our net worth is $12M as of today.

The main difference I notice is I don't flinch when we have some unexpected expense now. Once our youngest goes to college, we will probably start traveling and spending some of that money on ourselves.

I'm curious as to why your net worth is only $12 million if you're making that much money and spend the way you do. How long have you been making so much money?

I guess it's the private school/college thing?

We make this range - all w2 income. As mentioned above, taxes are murder. Our effective Fed/State tax rate is well over 40%.

Combined income of about $1.2M for the 2nd year in a row, with incomes just under $1M for a few years prior.

We live in $2M house in Mclean but it is definitely not the kind of house I imagined living in at this income level (because prices are so high for what you get here).

Our income is all W2 so taxes are a killer. We have three children and a full-time nanny who costs us $75k/year, and while the children are in public school, they have many activities that add up.

We spend a good bit on vacations annually, probably $40k-$50k, and that's our one real luxury. Cars are nice but not crazy (no Range Rovers, Porches, etc.).

We don't worry about money or expenses on a daily basis - and can buy pretty much anything we want, short of a big-ticket item like a car, without thinking much about it - but do worry about retirement, and having enough to fund a lifestyle we want to live in retirement (vs. worry about survival/paying the bills).

So overall very lucky, blessed, and fortunate but at least in my opinion, not living the way some might imagine at this level of income. I suppose we could move to a $4M house or buy a fleet of cars if we wanted, but that would come at the expense of any savings.

Anonymous wrote:HHI: $1.2 ($1m + $200k for DH)

We live in a modest house, one of our cars is 10+ years old. We take a number of vacations each year: ski trip in winter, Europe in summer, maybe a week in NYC in the fall, etc. We rarely fly first/business. The only time when we even consider it is the flight to Europe. We do not budget, but we transfer a fixed amount to our brokerage account every month. We have two kids in private schools. Overall, our lifestyle is pretty much the same as it was when our income was lower, with the exception of vacations: we travel more these days. The extra money goes toward the private school tuition and savings.

May I ask how much you transfer to your brokerage every month? Our income almost exactly yours. We save $5k/mo to investments (that's in addition to our retirement, 529 and cash savings).

HHI: $1.2 ($1m + $200k for DH)

We live in a modest house, one of our cars is 10+ years old. We take a number of vacations each year: ski trip in winter, Europe in summer, maybe a week in NYC in the fall, etc. We rarely fly first/business. The only time when we even consider it is the flight to Europe. We do not budget, but we transfer a fixed amount to our brokerage account every month. We have two kids in private schools. Overall, our lifestyle is pretty much the same as it was when our income was lower, with the exception of vacations: we travel more these days. The extra money goes toward the private school tuition and savings.

36, not 20, sorry.