We only make slightly more than you and we have 2 million liquid and another 500k in home equity. How?

Monthly Expenses
Mortgage - 15 year (no HELOC - we pay cash for home repairs/renovations): $4700
Two Luxury SUVs (one 11 year old SUV and 2 year old Honda Accord that we paid cash for): $0
Eating Out: $400
Entertainment $400
Clothes and other Miscellaneous $400
Utilities, Cable, Etc. $700
Gardener, Tutor, Maid Service, etc. (we have none of these and do our own cleaning and yardwork) - $0
Groceries $600
Gas $150
Insurance and other similar Crap $1000 (Homewowners, Life, Disability, etc)

2 maxed out 401ks plus matches, 2 maxed out Roths (backdoor), plus taxable investments = around 100k a year invested/saved.

You are living a fancy lifestyle for your HHI and that's where you money is going. Because you have done that it is likely you won't be able to get off the hamster wheel since you won't be able to save enough to ever pay for your lifestyle creep out of savings/investments and SS sure won't cover it. We have chosen to live a slightly more frugal, yet comfortable life and will both be retired with a paid off house in our mid-50s. Nothing wrong with what you are doing, but just realize that crying poor is kind of a bullshit excuse. The real problem is you want to live like you are rich on a 300k HHI and something has to give in order to support that lifestyle so you have chosen not to save much.

Anonymous wrote:Thant entertainment line item has to include travels, right? I can't imagine how your spend that much otherwise.

Yep it does. We save for travel. Good catch.

Thant entertainment line item has to include travels, right? I can't imagine how your spend that much otherwise.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tend to agree with the 3 million number. HHI is 300,000 in Northern VA and I feel broke.

My Net Worth is around 1.3 million but most of it is not liquid. I often told my spouse that we would feel comfortable if we had 2-3 million in the bank, liquid.

You got budget problems. Seriously.

Umm not really.

Take Home after only 401K: $15,000ish (depends on time of year) a month

Monthly Expenses
Mortgage (first and HELOC): $4300
Two Luxury SUVs: $2000
Eating Out: $2500
Entertainment $1500
Clothes and other Miscellaneous $500
Utilities, Cable, Etc. $1000
Gardener, Tutor, Maid Service, etc. $1200
Groceries $1000
Gas $500
Insurance and other similar crap $1000 (Homeowners, Life, Disability, etc)

Those were your mistakes....and if you are spending more on eating out than groceries, you really have a problem.

+1. I'll even give you a pass on the two car payments -- you have to drive after all. But, my God, man, who needs to spend $1000 per week on entertainment and eating out??? You really spend $1000 on that -- every week of your life?? That's friggin insane.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tend to agree with the 3 million number. HHI is 300,000 in Northern VA and I feel broke.

My Net Worth is around 1.3 million but most of it is not liquid. I often told my spouse that we would feel comfortable if we had 2-3 million in the bank, liquid.

You got budget problems. Seriously.

Umm not really.

Take Home after only 401K: $15,000ish (depends on time of year) a month

Monthly Expenses
Mortgage (first and HELOC): $4300
Two Luxury SUVs: $2000
Eating Out: $2500
Entertainment $1500
Clothes and other Miscellaneous $500
Utilities, Cable, Etc. $1000
Gardener, Tutor, Maid Service, etc. $1200
Groceries $1000
Gas $500
Insurance and other similar Crap $1000 (Homewowners, Life, Disability, etc)

So, you max your 401ks, live in an expensive home, have 2 luxury SUVs, spend $4k per month on restaurants and entertainment, you pay for private tutors, maids, and gardeners, and you feel broke? It sounds like you have a lot of nice things -- not sure why you feel broke. If you were broke, you wouldn't have all that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tend to agree with the 3 million number. HHI is 300,000 in Northern VA and I feel broke.

My Net Worth is around 1.3 million but most of it is not liquid. I often told my spouse that we would feel comfortable if we had 2-3 million in the bank, liquid.

You got budget problems. Seriously.

Umm not really.

Take Home after only 401K: $15,000ish (depends on time of year) a month

Monthly Expenses
Mortgage (first and HELOC): $4300
Two Luxury SUVs: $2000
Eating Out: $2500
Entertainment $1500
Clothes and other Miscellaneous $500
Utilities, Cable, Etc. $1000
Gardener, Tutor, Maid Service, etc. $1200
Groceries $1000
Gas $500
Insurance and other similar Crap $1000 (Homewowners, Life, Disability, etc)

Your diamond shoes are too tight.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tend to agree with the 3 million number. HHI is 300,000 in Northern VA and I feel broke.

My Net Worth is around 1.3 million but most of it is not liquid. I often told my spouse that we would feel comfortable if we had 2-3 million in the bank, liquid.

You got budget problems. Seriously.

Umm not really.

Take Home after only 401K: $15,000ish (depends on time of year) a month

Monthly Expenses
Mortgage (first and HELOC): $4300
Two Luxury SUVs: $2000
Eating Out: $2500
Entertainment $1500
Clothes and other Miscellaneous $500
Utilities, Cable, Etc. $1000
Gardener, Tutor, Maid Service, etc. $1200
Groceries $1000
Gas $500
Insurance and other similar crap $1000 (Homeowners, Life, Disability, etc)

Those were your mistakes....and if you are spending more on eating out than groceries, you really have a problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tend to agree with the 3 million number. HHI is 300,000 in Northern VA and I feel broke.

My Net Worth is around 1.3 million but most of it is not liquid. I often told my spouse that we would feel comfortable if we had 2-3 million in the bank, liquid.

You got budget problems. Seriously.

Umm not really.

Take Home after only 401K: $15,000ish (depends on time of year) a month

Monthly Expenses
Mortgage (first and HELOC): $4300
Two Luxury SUVs: $2000
Eating Out: $2500
Entertainment $1500
Clothes and other Miscellaneous $500
Utilities, Cable, Etc. $1000
Gardener, Tutor, Maid Service, etc. $1200
Groceries $1000
Gas $500
Insurance and other similar Crap $1000 (Homewowners, Life, Disability, etc)

Anonymous wrote:I tend to agree with the 3 million number. HHI is 300,000 in Northern VA and I feel broke.

My Net Worth is around 1.3 million but most of it is not liquid. I often told my spouse that we would feel comfortable if we had 2-3 million in the bank, liquid.

You got budget problems. Seriously.

I tend to agree with the 3 million number. HHI is 300,000 in Northern VA and I feel broke.

My Net Worth is around 1.3 million but most of it is not liquid. I often told my spouse that we would feel comfortable if we had 2-3 million in the bank, liquid.

It's an essentially recession proof area. It really took off under Clinton, expanded exponentially with Bush and the contractor brigades, continued to get fat under Obama, and will reach an epic position of royal privilege under Hillary. Is this good for the country overall? It depends. The very rich now send their kids here for starter jobs and starter houses.

Anonymous wrote:nobody is retiring at 35 with $2.5M but you are on a very good arc at that point.

Cue rabid MMM posters in 3...2....1....

Anonymous wrote:Oh nice. We are wealthy! News to me. lololo

I would have said wealthy starts at net worth of > 5 million.

That sounds about right.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, in a few years, when I retire, I can take my 2 mil in 401K + 500K home equity, and move elsewhere and be rich?

I mean, I think you're being tongue in cheek here... but, yes. Of course you could be rich with $2.5M NW in many many parts of the world.

depends on age. NW of 2.5M at 35? Not bad. Not wealthy but not bad. At 55? It's middle class.

Middle class? The average 55 year old has ~120k saved for retirement.

Anonymous wrote:Looks like they used a limited sample (NW) of Washingtonians.

Bologna

This. Ridiculous.