Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a lot of you try to live a lifestyle fit for the rich and famous. A lot of your expenses are because you want the best of everything. Kind of hard to have sympathy or compassion for folks that live in the DC bubble of overpriced shit shacks, house and child help, basically a life of luxury yet you seem so fucking unhappy working like dogs and having a shitty family life.

Rather pathetic.

Agreed. That's why I quit my job when I had kids.
So much simpler.

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a lot of you try to live a lifestyle fit for the rich and famous. A lot of your expenses are because you want the best of everything. Kind of hard to have sympathy or compassion for folks that live in the DC bubble of overpriced shit shacks, house and child help, basically a life of luxury yet you seem so fucking unhappy working like dogs and having a shitty family life.

Rather pathetic.

Lol, I love you.

Sounds like a lot of you try to live a lifestyle fit for the rich and famous. A lot of your expenses are because you want the best of everything. Kind of hard to have sympathy or compassion for folks that live in the DC bubble of overpriced shit shacks, house and child help, basically a life of luxury yet you seem so fucking unhappy working like dogs and having a shitty family life.

Rather pathetic.

I don't think I'd even consider buying a car worth more than $25K, and our HHI is in that range.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious how this is for others too. We are closer to 400k but we can't seem to wrap our heads around the fact that this is what doing well in this economy in DC looks like. Our money goes to mortgage, one car payment, student loans, max out 401k, childcare so we can remain in our busy jobs, preschool, life insurance and other insurances (homeowner, car, etc). We don't worry about money day to day in terms of buying food out at lunchtime, family meals out a few times a month, babysitters here and there, but I can't remember the last time we had money to pay for a nice vacation or buy a new piece of furniture. Our house is a close-in townhouse so we can get to our jobs with modest commutes that is 3 bedrooms and we can't figure out how we will afford to move to anything bigger in a good school district. Private school is impossible to pay for long term, at least with current childcare costs.

Are you serious?? You sound like a horrible money manager or not giving the full story. What a joke... Like the previous PP said Boo hoo..

Agreed.
We do better on 280k HHI.

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious how this is for others too. We are closer to 400k but we can't seem to wrap our heads around the fact that this is what doing well in this economy in DC looks like. Our money goes to mortgage, one car payment, student loans, max out 401k, childcare so we can remain in our busy jobs, preschool, life insurance and other insurances (homeowner, car, etc). We don't worry about money day to day in terms of buying food out at lunchtime, family meals out a few times a month, babysitters here and there, but I can't remember the last time we had money to pay for a nice vacation or buy a new piece of furniture. Our house is a close-in townhouse so we can get to our jobs with modest commutes that is 3 bedrooms and we can't figure out how we will afford to move to anything bigger in a good school district. Private school is impossible to pay for long term, at least with current childcare costs.

Are you serious?? You sound like a horrible money manager or not giving the full story. What a joke... Like the previous PP said Boo hoo..

Anonymous wrote:Here is what I see:

$1-1.4m house
Nice but not extravagant cars (Acura or Lexus. No AMG or M class)
1 week of skiing in winter
2 weeks of summer vacation at the beach
A few expensive weekends away
Retirement and college funds are well funded
Private school for kids

this is us almost exactly

Anonymous wrote:At risk of stating the obvious, *nobody* has significant assets only a few years into the workforce (without inheritance or other non-earned money). Making $300k, $400k, or more will allow you to build up wealth incredibly quickly as long as you don't succumb to living the $300k, etc, lifestyle.

Well right, but I think that's the point. Folks seem to be shocked or skeptical or accusing people of whining if they say they make $300k or 400k but don't live extravagent lifestyles. But none of those people are claiming they're not well off, they're just saying they don't feel rich yet. Which, if they are young, is probably correct.

We make 500K and our lifestyle is very comfortable but not outrageous.

We live in a 1.5 million dollar house. We put down 50% but our mortgage payment is still $4500 all in. I wanted something less expensive but we loved the house/neighborhood and plan to live here for a long time. The house is probably our big indulgence. We decorated it with a mix of low, mid, and high end pieces. I decorated it myself but if I made more money, I would have hired a decorator.

Have two older kids in public school and the youngest in private preschool. If I made more money, I would love to send my kids to private school. Instead, we chose to live in a good public school district, put money in their college funds, and let them do whatever sports/activities/camps/etc. they are interested in without worrying too much about the cost.

We have two modest cars that are paid off and that we will drive until they die.

We have a maid service that comes once every other week. If I made more money, I would hire one to come weekly.

We have a landscaper that cuts our grass, and does a fall and spring cleaning/mulching. If I had more money, I would hire them to do everything related to yard maintenance.

We go on one nice vacation a year, a couple of shorter trips to visit family, and some weekends away. We fly coach.

We spend a fair amount on food and eating out.

We buy clothes, shoes, etc. as we need them without worrying about budgeting. We don't buy high-end name brand clothes and the kids use a lot of hand-me-downs.

We max out our 401ks and put money into savings/investments every month.

We happily host holidays, birthday parties, and smaller get-togethers throughout the year without worrying about the cost.

We give to charities.

Overall, we don't worry about money too much and lead a very comfortable life. We can not, however, afford private schools, country clubs, and the lifestyle of the truly wealthy.

Pp here, misspoke--the 3-4k monthly expenses includes the $1k/mo for preschool.

Our HHI is $350k but we live in a cheaper city, so not too far off. We spend $4500/mo on housing including taxes and utilities, but not including maintenance. This is our main indulgence. One child in preschool ($12k/yr) other in public school. About $4k/year on vacations (stay with family or use a timeshare). Other monthly expenses $3-4k. I find this more than sufficient for a fairly indulgent but not super extravagant lifestyle. Currently nearly $1k/mo car payment which is almost done. Other car paid off. We drive cars over 10-12 years. We save about $100k/yr now and plan to save the difference once car paid off and younger is in public school.

This is our HHI without factoring in investment income which isn't substantial at the moment. DH works, I SAH so no childcare costs. Private school for two kids. Two cars both paid for. All student loans paid in full. Have 50% equity in our home worth around $1 million. No credit card debt. Basically we paid off everything except all of mortgage before we had kids, and we needed IVF to do that, 100% out of pocket so we saved for that to pay in full as well.

Kids do very few camps bc we travel about a month over the summer. We are lucky to have family with homes in beaches and nice vacation areas so we rarely pay for hotel when we travel. We reciprocate or pay it forward but always offering or opening our home to friends and family who travel here. DH has annual conferences on nice locations we often tag along to make a vacation to take advantage of free hotel and his free airfare.

Retirement funds always maxed. Have separate investment funds also well funded.

We eat out maybe once or twice a weekend, otherwise I cook the meals and we eat at home. DH and I go out a few times a month requiring a sitter. We don't have too many clothes but what we have are much but I'm not afraid or ashamed to buy from old navy or target either. Our house is nice but not nicest on the block. We do splurge on art, in particular paintings, which are worth a substantial fortune. Our home is also decorated with ikea, goodwill, a few things that we saw discarded on the curb, reproductions, customs and some$20,000+ pieces.

We do not belong to a CC but that is by choice, we aren't golfers or tennis players.

We both have trust funds and so do the kids set up by our parents, respectively. We doNt touch that money. We are pretty fiscally conservative.

Our HHI is a meager $280k. Mortgage $2,500. Nanny + school $4,000 are our two biggest expenses. We travel one nice trip a year (Bali, Europe, etc) - usually coach, and do one trip somewhere cheaper once a year (skiing or Florida or something). We drive two relatively new cars but drove our last one until the engine died (literally left us stranded). Bump us up another $200k and we'd probably add private school vs public, another vacation and more aggressive savings.

Anonymous wrote:You people are nuts. Our HHI is $150 and we support a family of five on that fairly comfortably. Our net worth is maybe higher than some younger folks -- we're in our 50s, have equity in our home and no student loans for ourselves. On the other hand, we have one kid in college and another headed there in a few months, and we have to save for retirement. No way do we live lavishly, but we certainly aren't poor either.

Good for you, 19:29.
I am shocked at the number of high-income whiners here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is what I see:

$1-1.4m house
Nice but not extravagant cars (Acura or Lexus. No AMG or M class)
1 week of skiing in winter
2 weeks of summer vacation at the beach
A few expensive weekends away
Retirement and college funds are well funded
Private school for kids

This pretty spot on. You can also afford a maid once or maybe twice a week. And you can do $100 dinners with friends without thinking. ($100 for you and spouse). You can on special occasions afford very expensive dinners ( ie city zen, kinkeads, inn at little washington). You can every few years afford a very high end vacation (Ie African Safari), but definitely fly coach.

This is accurate for us. Private school at 60k a year and a nanny at 40k a year are big expenditures. Plus expensive camps.
I think we should be saving more.
We go out for expensive meals with friends too often - need to cut back on that.
But, we don't spend money on nice furniture or clothes. Maybe an occasional splurge, but we keep those things pretty basic.