Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SMBC—I make $300, 2 kids in public. I put 30k in my 401k including the catch up. My mortgage is $2800, car is paid off. Kids each have $150k in their 529s. They’re not going to BC on that but it will pay for state school.

I have enough for vacations, food, shopping. I have no idea how 2 adults can’t make it on $275..

+1 Last year our HHI was $275, some of which was self employment income, which means we pay an extra 12.5% in taxes. We are a family of 4 -- two teens, one in college.

PITI is about $2400
2 cars paid off

$80K 401k (some from self employment, both over 50.)
$13K 529
$43k taxes

Net Total $136k.

Our total expenses last year was around $125K, including two vacations.

Total $261K

If you are a DINK and are barely scraping by at $275K, you are definitely living beyond your means.

First, if you're barely scraping by at any salary, you're not living beyond your means. It means you're right on the line. Think about the definition of the word "beyond" and whether it applies here. Given OP's criticisms about how a family making 90K a year can't save for retirement, OP probably maxes out his 401K, but finds that he's not rolling in dough afterwards.

Second, your PITI is 2.5K, which is pretty much the PITI for a 350k mortgage at today's interest rates. OP was probably 5 years old when you bought your house. So your mortgage just isn't relevant to his life situation.

You're acting like just because you have kids that somehow it means you would have higher expenses than OP, when in reality, you were able to buy your house 20 years ago, and a house is most people's biggest expense. I could live like a billionaire if I made $10 dollars an hour and buy a house using prices from the 1850s.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SMBC—I make $300, 2 kids in public. I put 30k in my 401k including the catch up. My mortgage is $2800, car is paid off. Kids each have $150k in their 529s. They’re not going to BC on that but it will pay for state school.

I have enough for vacations, food, shopping. I have no idea how 2 adults can’t make it on $275..

+1 Last year our HHI was $275, some of which was self employment income, which means we pay an extra 12.5% in taxes. We are a family of 4 -- two teens, one in college.

PITI is about $2400
2 cars paid off

$80K 401k (some from self employment, both over 50.)
$13K 529
$43k taxes

Net Total $136k.

Our total expenses last year was around $125K, including two vacations.

Total $261K

If you are a DINK and are barely scraping by at $275K, you are definitely living beyond your means.

What would your PITI be if you had to buy your house today using today's interest rates and a 20% down payment?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have some perspective OP. Yes our first house (tiny, not renovated townhouse) was $500k, but interest rates were over 6% (in 2007) and our household income was $140k. The only difference was that we didn’t feel poor - on the contrary we were excited and hopeful. We didn’t expect to be rich or have luxury cars at 30. Have patience and get out of your own head.

Yet another irrelevant Gen X post. Wow, you could survive on $80 per week for groceries back then too. Car insurance rates and home insurance back then were also half the price. Student loan bills were probably half as much as they are now too. A stupidly simple car back then also wasn't $40-50k like they are now too. I bet Chipotle and McDonald's didn't cost $15 per meal back then too. 2007 was 17 years ago. You are living in a delusion world from almost 2 decades ago. $275k is such a mediocre and near poor income now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have some perspective OP. Yes our first house (tiny, not renovated townhouse) was $500k, but interest rates were over 6% (in 2007) and our household income was $140k. The only difference was that we didn’t feel poor - on the contrary we were excited and hopeful. We didn’t expect to be rich or have luxury cars at 30. Have patience and get out of your own head.

Yet another irrelevant Gen X post. Wow, you could survive on $80 per week for groceries back then too. Car insurance rates and home insurance back then were also half the price. Student loan bills were probably half as much as they are now too. A stupidly simple car back then also wasn't $40-50k like they are now too. I bet Chipotle and McDonald's didn't cost $15 per meal back then too. 2007 was 17 years ago. You are living in a delusion world from almost 2 decades ago. $275k is such a mediocre and near poor income now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SMBC—I make $300, 2 kids in public. I put 30k in my 401k including the catch up. My mortgage is $2800, car is paid off. Kids each have $150k in their 529s. They’re not going to BC on that but it will pay for state school.

I have enough for vacations, food, shopping. I have no idea how 2 adults can’t make it on $275..

+1 Last year our HHI was $275, some of which was self employment income, which means we pay an extra 12.5% in taxes. We are a family of 4 -- two teens, one in college.

PITI is about $2400
2 cars paid off

$80K 401k (some from self employment, both over 50.)
$13K 529
$43k taxes

Net Total $136k.

Our total expenses last year was around $125K, including two vacations.

Total $261K

If you are a DINK and are barely scraping by at $275K, you are definitely living beyond your means.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SMBC—I make $300, 2 kids in public. I put 30k in my 401k including the catch up. My mortgage is $2800, car is paid off. Kids each have $150k in their 529s. They’re not going to BC on that but it will pay for state school.

I have enough for vacations, food, shopping. I have no idea how 2 adults can’t make it on $275..

+1 Last year our HHI was $275, some of which was self employment income, which means we pay an extra 12.5% in taxes. We are a family of 4 -- two teens, one in college.

PITI is about $2400
2 cars paid off

$80K 401k (some from self employment, both over 50.)
$13K 529
$43k taxes

Net Total $136k.

Our total expenses last year was around $125K, including two vacations.

Total $261K

If you are a DINK and are barely scraping by at $275K, you are definitely living beyond your means.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, thank you for working hard and pissing away all your hard earned money. Economy is doing well because of people like you.
Rich people see possibilities with any left over money; poor people see what they can't have - an Audi in this case. You lost me at the Audi. I just bought a new Mazda at 0% putting half down from my older car.
I don't put my money in 401k to rot, but I did double my money inside Roth accounts in under 6 months. I'm trying to do it again the next 6 months, so twice a year.
I do budget down to a dollar as I like it so much.
I work two days a week usually. I also took the whole summer off. Seems like my earned income will be $20k a year as it has been the last 25+ years.
Work smarter, not harder.

Oooohhhhh ooooo. I'm so impressed. Congrats, you'll either be the wealthiest corpse in the graveyard or a millionaire crapping in a diaper while you let life blow by with zero enjoyment and repaing the rewards of your labor while younger.

Lame.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have some perspective OP. Yes our first house (tiny, not renovated townhouse) was $500k, but interest rates were over 6% (in 2007) and our household income was $140k. The only difference was that we didn’t feel poor - on the contrary we were excited and hopeful. We didn’t expect to be rich or have luxury cars at 30. Have patience and get out of your own head.

Yet another irrelevant Gen X post. Wow, you could survive on $80 per week for groceries back then too. Car insurance rates and home insurance back then were also half the price. Student loan bills were probably half as much as they are now too. A stupidly simple car back then also wasn't $40-50k like they are now too. I bet Chipotle and McDonald's didn't cost $15 per meal back then too. 2007 was 17 years ago. You are living in a delusion world from almost 2 decades ago. $275k is such a mediocre and near poor income now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am at the point where I can't tell if it's a legit dumb Gen Z/young millennial whining or a troll. I CANNOT TELL THE DIFFERENCE ANYMORE.

the sad thing is i think it's sincere

but i promise anyone who thinks this will also feel poor at $400k, or $600k, or whatever amount. it's just never enough!

that said we're dinks with an hhi of $275 and we do drive a 12 year old Kia Soul, and are really not thrilled at car prices for when we're going to have to replace this reliable car one day.

Anonymous wrote:SMBC—I make $300, 2 kids in public. I put 30k in my 401k including the catch up. My mortgage is $2800, car is paid off. Kids each have $150k in their 529s. They’re not going to BC on that but it will pay for state school.

I have enough for vacations, food, shopping. I have no idea how 2 adults can’t make it on $275..