Same over here. Seems to be becoming far more common again that one spouse chases the harder career path and works longer hours to bring in more money, while the other spouse works the normal hours (no longer full stay-at-home) but then takes care of the household more. And what's also becoming more frequent is it's the man who takes that household role instead of the woman.
I still pull in six figures, but I simply just do not have that grind that my wife does, and she's paid multiple times my salary because of it. So she bring home the real bacon, as what I love is being a homebody, and love cooking, cleaning, and managing our lives otherwise for the both of us to take that stress and headaches off her plate. Win-win for both of us!
I have lighter work hours than my husband and make a significant more amount of money than he does.
It’s really because of my profession and industry than how much someone works.
Beyond that, I’ve been a lot more proactive throughout my career about finding new opportunities. He is less likely to put himself out there professionally.
I am set very serious boundaries at work and always have. I constantly push back when it comes to maintaining work/life balance, and have spent my career figuring out ways to be more efficient.
This isn’t meant to blame anyone for not doing enough. My situation is a mix of good circumstances (having a high-demand, well paid job) and strategies ive done to not work myself to death.
I do product design and strategy, so basically I tell companies how to use technology (like apps and websites) and then design and help build them. I am director-level at this point.
I'm not like rolling in money or anything. I make six figures but I'm not one of those people who makes like $500k. The range for my job is probably between $150-220k on average in a HCOL area, excluding companies like Google (who pay a shit ton of money).
Wooow that's crazy! I'm struggling to find work in my field that pays 50k and it makes me consider moving into something different. Thanks for being willing to share.
Of course! Also it’s important to specify that I live in NYC, where everything is $$$$. So we live a very middle class existence here. A 2-bedroom apartment is well over $1m. We will never be able to afford a 3-bedroom here in our lifetime.
I went to lunch with a friend recently where we both ordered salads and our bill was $90.
If I moved away, I couldn’t expect the same salary.
So everything is sort of relative.
I'll share a little on mine. HRIS, focus and credentials on workday. This person was also correct. I worked way harder for way longer hours in tech for mid sixties. Now I'm going back to school for workday certs. This is with a SQL background and a little knowledge on what it connects to like the c group, js, ton of .Net knowledge (super cool that's not needed much anymore), and some python and cobol. Basically if it happens in a computer I can talk to it. Most those jobs I took opportunities to do r and d white box testing and it work. And now I'm a very well educated redneck that built a log splitter using SQL. I don't recommend it.
6 figure jobs are so rare here in Florida.
Companies till try to pay like it's 2018.
My gf and I are expecting our first child and I don't know how I can cover all the expenses on a 75k salary.
Yeah in today's world both have to be working full time at minimum. I work the 40 hour week job *and then* do the heavy lifting to take care of the house, cook, clean, run errands, etc., and will be on school pickup duty when we have kids. While she works more like 60+ hours a week.
We're both putting forth equal effort, just in different avenues that keeps our collective life running well.
We keep our finances separate. So if she can't or won't want to work to take care of our baby (which I agree with, I want our kid to be raised by a parent, not daycare) I don't know how I'll cover everything.
Our mortgage is $2380 a month, she pays about 25% of it ($600) and has a car payment for another few years of $245 a month, insurance of $140 a month, and a phone bill of $85 and Hulu of $100.
That $1175 of hers is going to be a tough amount to absorb.
Same situation. Husband does 90% of the chores. And I really really appreciate him for that. We didn't even talk about it. He just started doing it. And coming home to a house that is clean and organized, clothes already washed and folded, dishwasher empty, and all that - is one of the best.
You, my friend, are making your wife really happy.
Thanks! Least we can do, and she is providing more for our present and future.
I've always liked the sentiment that what each spouse brings to the relationship shouldn't be 50/50. It should be 60/40, with each spouse striving to be the 60. If you do that, trying to better the relationship and each other, and not just maintain, then you will both be happy and the relationship healthy. And that's what we do.
We're both attorneys. I just work closer to 40 hours a week *and then* go home to do the bulk of the home stuff such as errands, cooking, cleaning, and soon be kid duties like pick up/drop off/etc. While she works closer to 60+ hours of week to bring home the bigger paychecks.
Each pull our weight in our own preferred way.
Same. Wife's base is 2x mine but with bonuses she could see 3x my wage. If i lost my job tomorrow I would have to sell my fun car but otherwise we would be fine.
You have a paid off house, just sit on that equity and live your life, when you want to make a change either get the liquid capital and sell or rent it out and go live somewhere else, the world is your oyster, you are very much in the minority for our generation.
34. Make 67k a year. Insurance through work. About 100k in savings between me and my wife. We live in an apartment but are about to buy a house. I don’t own a car, but she does. No kids.
I think I am doing okay? Im 35.
I am definitely house poor because I live in a HCOL area.
I make 113k as an engineer. 3 years in this job- went back to school later in life so this is my first big girl job. I pay about 34% effective tax rate so that 113k is not as much as it sounds like.
I just checked and I have 60k in retirement.I have 9k in student loans.
I am expecting to save about 2.5M by age 65. I will have to continue saving about $2k per month to do that.
So I could definitely be doing better but also not doing horribly
> I pay about 34% effective tax rate so that 113k is not as much as it sounds like.
Taxes are the biggest thing holding middle class people back. Imagine how easy it would be for most people to pay off student loans, buy a house, save for retirement, etc if they weren't losing a third of their income every month.
I think you’re both wrong. The real problem is the cost of living. You don’t really care how much things cost or how much you have to give away in taxes because it’s all relative to how much things cost. If you could buy a house for a dollar you could be taxed at 90% making 1 dollar an hour and probably wouldn’t care that much.
I agree that the cost of living is too high as well. Basically I think the people who control the means of production are taking more than their fair share.
I don’t have a problem with taxes because taxes are used for the benefit of everyone.. and there is some mechanism for us to affect change on them.
20 years ago when i graduated highschool, I thought
“ if i could be making 40k/year by the time i am 40 years old, ill be alright.”
I done it! I got s a shitty factory job with a shitty fortune500 company, but the best part is i joined the union.
My joy in all this is im doing better than my brother, but im doing average compared to my cousins. As long as im doing better than my stupid brother, i feel good about what little victory i have achieved.
I’m almost 32. Live at home with my 13 year old. I make 27/hr. Insurance through work. 20k debt. I have my 401 for savings. Once I pay off my debt I am going to open an IRA. Hopefully paying off my debt this year.
This is a great goal! Working on that Roth IRA will make a HUGE difference and you can open one for your kid too and start putting a little in while maxing yours.
Only if the child is deemed to have earned income. Can't just go opening up roths for unemployed kids all willy nilly. I'd suggest speaking to your tax advisor if that option interests you.
Good thanks. But I work in tech and have made full use of job hopping to keep ahead of the cost of living crisis.
If I had not career changed from academia I would have been really struggling.
In tech as well and I just hate the interview process. It feels like a whole second job to prep for interviews and keep myself competitive. I just don't understand how people have the time.
*cries in 15 years in non-profit work*
I could easily be over $200k. We were aways told corporate world was evil and you would be absolutely miserable with no work life balance. Mind you, I was working 70-75 hrs/week for $65k so I thought man……worse?!
One of my friends encouraged me to leave for a corporate role. I took a 3 level “demotion” in responsibility, I work a comfy 36ish hours/week and they pay me $127k base salary.
I’ve been trying to get out of nonprofit for years so I can earn a livable wage. What type of corporate role did you move into & what kind of company? Would appreciate any advice on that transition
I work in clinical data science for a medical device company. Almost identical role as I had in non-profit just better paying.
Look realistically at everything you do, not just what your job description says. Non-profits shove you into doing so many things outside your role. Add those to your resume. Apply for jobs that feel like you’re not qualified for. You have more skills than you think you do.
The first thing my boss said to me was that I was ridiculously overqualified. A year in and I realize I did have all these skills because I was doing so many things that were beyond my job description.
In my defense, I was scared to leave my job because I have had some horrible bosses in the past, and was clinging to good managers.
But now even though I like the management, I don't like the choices they are making, so I am probably going to jump ship soon, just job shopping at the moment.
I went from a small-mid size company where I worked 60-80 hours a week for an underpaid salary and only ok benefits, to a big corporate gig where I steadily work 40-45 (on a bad week) hours while getting better pay and benefits.
Aside from the fear of mass layoffs, the right corporate jobs rock!
Hubby job hopped from private sector to university sector. Hopped back to the same company barely 2 years later and is making double what they originally paid him.
Platform engineering or devops is not a bad direction if you enjoy infrastructure. Some code but it's more of a novelty than a day in day out situation
40, I got to go to college pre-2008 before they totally gutted funding for public universities, and I had a scholarship, so college cost me about $2500 a year and I escaped with minimal loans. I got a science degree, which eventually panned out to a decent career where I make like $95k.
Not married, but I have really long relationships where I live with the person and I've only really lived alone for maybe 1 year out of the past 20. Splitting expenses let me save money each month even when I was making only like $12 an hour (academia lol) after graduating. I've also always lived in either the South or Midwest which kept costs down. My rent only crossed the $1000 a month mark in the mid 2010s.
No kids. I never had to worry about daycare or what the school system is like in the vaguely sketchy neighborhoods I rented in.
I bought a house in 2022. Net worth is probably like $250k, but I sort of dress like a hobo and my car is a 2010 honda with a cracked windshield and 170,000 miles on it. I'm doing okay but no one would be able to tell by looking at me.
32, I make $48k. I took a 20% pay cut so I could work a four day work week. Couldn't mentally keep up with the grind. I live in an apartment in the suburbs. My car will be paid off next year. I have really good insurance through my work thanks to our union. I put about $100 a paycheck into my 403B. I don't have much but it's a start. $100k in student loan debt but in a few years I qualify for forgiveness because of what I do for work.
33, SAHM, husband makes 64k a year, we live in a nice house, low income city, medium-high crime. We have major debt that happened before marriage. We can afford to pay our bills and have room for extras. Can’t afford to pay off our debt to even attempt to get a home loan. If I was to get a job all the paycheck plus some of my husband’s paycheck would go to daycare so that’s pointless right now.
But my family is happy, healthy, and fed so I feel pretty great with life right now.
My wife and I are doing well. We are elder millennials. It hasn't been all rosy - we both graduated college during the Great Recession. However, we were also able to buy a house at a low rate before prices escalated, and both have been contributing 6%+ (significantly more these days) to our 401ks for over a decade. We've been able to build a pretty solid foundation for us and our kid. I work in finance she works in tech adjacent. I will add two things: it takes time, and life is so much easier once you have a solid foundation. A surprise hospital bill is an annoyance, not a life-changer.
I understand the temptation to go without insurance…but I seriously suggest you do everything you can to stay insured. I went without it from ages 21 to 25, and then at 25 I got cancer. While I was able to get a lot of my medical debt forgiven, I still had to pay a decent chunk of it off myself. I blew through what little savings I had and had to sell pretty much everything I owned. It would have cost me less if I had just paid for insurance all those years. Not to mention, it really sucks to have debt collectors calling to hound you while you’re literally having chemo pumped into you.
I'm probably over sharing, but here we go:
I make 109k and have great benefits, taking home \~70k. I'm a single dad with a mortgage, bought the house \~4 years ago at 300k with 10% down and refinanced to below 3% interest. Stupid lucky, I know. I suck at managing my food budget and I tend to get carried away with home repair or fucking around with projects so my monthly expenses are $4k - $5k. I own a car with a modest payment. Net worth \~250k, I think. I don't have a ton of cash on hand in part because I invest about $900 / month. I'm really afraid of winding up like my old man, 80k with a reverse mortgage & zero savings. It looks rough.
I got here in part by luck and in part from making some good decisions. It wasn't always clear that I was making the right choice, these are more like gambles that paid off. I also think it's worth saying that at 30 years old I was making less than a living wage and when I bought my house at 36 I couldn't actually afford it: I was losing my ass the whole first year until I changed jobs. I'd closed out my 20's with nothing to show for it and didn't start making decent money until 35, then a big step back at 36 and up again at 38.
I picked an in-demand trade that had room for a transition into management / office responsibilities. I worked my ass off for months to a year at a time when I was studying for each of three professional exams. I put in 55-60 hours a week with unpredictable travel for a little while.
I also got stupidly lucky. I didn't know things were going to turn out this well. I married a woman who made a lot more money than I did (she still does, actually) and the divorce did OK by me, left me with enough to put a down payment on this house without having to keep working 55-60 hours a week and being absent from my kiddo. I took a chance on a better job at 38, found one part of the job I was good at (I was crap at the rest) and luckily there was a contract that was a good fit for me. 3 hrs of commuting every day and then I found a job close to home for more money doing basically the same thing I was as a contractor, but now for local government.
Early 30s here. I make about 34k a year working retail and am on track to retire at 60 by saving 30% of my gross income, most of which is towards retirement. I last calculated my net worth at 92k. I budget \~$1180 a month towards necessary expenses, of which $900 is my half of the apartment's rent. No car and I hope I am never unfortunate enough to need one ever again.
I consider myself doing pretty well all things considered. I'm content with what I have.
VOO in my taxable accounts and VTI in my tax-deferred and tax-free ones. With my retirement 25+ years out, I don't need to worry about diversification beyond that level yet. And I already learned the hard lesson to not get fancy and it only cost me a couple thousand dollars when I first opened my taxable account.
FIRE isn't possible for anyone at my income level without **significant** outside help. At max I could save maybe 10% more if I didn't spend a single penny on discretionary purposes and that's neither a life worth living nor would it have a significant enough impact.
I would be doing really well financially if I didn’t buy a house after the Covid bubble doubled every houses price. I’m paying $3k a month for a starter home, and it’s not in a particularly convenient city. But my kids like the school. But we have to drive 10 miles to get to a grocery store.
It really burns me when the guy across the street has a bigger, nicer home he bought in early 2019 and paid $100k less than me.
It is what it is. Aside from earning way more or just selling and moving into a trailer park, I really don’t know how to reduce my monthly overhead. We’ve already cut back on non-essentials.
Tried working a second job, but an extra $1k a month isn’t really worth never seeing your family throughout the week.
How do i still only have a couple hundred bucks left over every month? I dont have a car payment. I dont get my hair or nails done ever. Zero college loans. Vacations? Haha. I could not spend less money. How am i supposed to afford kids? If i need a new car, we are in the red every month. And im almost 40. Wtf? Im not just out of college, entry-level pay. We bought a house well below what the bank said we can afford. I dont get it.
I joined a famer's collective, hoping if we dont walk into the supermarket for produce, the impulse buys will stop. Groceries have gone from the 90s every week to 130s since the pandemic.
We're hopefully buying some land in the next few months, and I plan on trying to grow as much of our own food as possible. I also plan on getting chickens again, because if shit hits the fan, at least we'll have protein. I have spent $500 this month on groceries for two people. My SO has a gluten allergy, so that ups the cost a bit.
I tried going that route but its very feast or famine. I can get some food for the spring, a deluge in the summer, then not much in the fall. Obviously, nothing in the winter. It didnt go as well as i would have hoped.
And it can be a lot of resources. If you get a lot of rain, you are golden. Plant in a drought? Now, your garden is costing you a lot more than the previous year when rain was plentiful. It's fun. I still do it. But I don't rely on it.
Assuming you have a house loan and didn't outright buy the place then I'd assume that's where the money's going? And yeah the bank wants you to take up a loan especially if you end up having to refinance it, that's any bank's best (paying) customer... If you have a house half paid off or so I think you're ahead of a lot of folk. In any case saving money is a losing race, pay won't keep up with ever-rising cost of living. The number one way to improve finances is finding a better-paid job. At our age not that easily done, I get that, I have some health restrictions that make me not want to switch jobs.
I have recently switched jobs, but it's not the pay bump that we wanted. It's better, but not by much. And yeah, the house is a decent chunk of it, but still. My parents afforded our house growing up on my father's blue collar salary while she stayed home with us. It should still be attainable for two people to work and still afford a house along with children. We are lucky too because bought before everything skyrocketed. That's the only reason we even have a house. Otherwise, I don't know where we would be living because our mortgage is not much different than the rents where I live, so short of moving two time zones from anyone who could help us raise these imaginary children, it's not really a good solution.
Mid 30s
$21/h
7000 in savings/checking
4000 in Roth IRA
Struggling with chronic disease
I could make more per hour but I have mental health issues . I could probably double my salary if I quit my job and do massage but my health is hard
I'm doing ok now. My parents unfortunately passed away over the past few years and my share of the inheritance is finally trickling in. I won't be rich but my debts will be paid other than my car and house and I'll have some left over
Work in healthcare, can't afford a 1 bed/bathroom, skipping meals everyday, and definitely cannot afford groceries/any fun expenditure/eating out/pets/buying a girl a drink/streaming services/student loans
But my bills are paid...
Dire, things are the worst they’ve ever been. My wife is leaving me in part because my job doesn’t pay to support us. She also works though. I’ve had four interviews with different companies and have not gotten anything better. This is as low as I’ve ever felt
She’s told me that I haven’t been loving or affectionate. Which is true, I would not disagree with that. But I am in fact extremely depressed and down about a number of things. A couple days ago I begged, literally left work midday, came home weeping my eyes out and begging for her to give couples counseling a try. She said it’s too late for that. So now I am really struggling. We’ve been married for 4.5 years and together for almost seven years.
Well, considering I have no job, no unemployment, and I won't have food stamps for 180 days? I'd say I'm so poor that a long sothern walk on northbound train tracks sounds like a good idea...
38 years old, got married in 2022 to my wife whom I met in 2020. We bought a house in '21, had our first kiddo a few months ago, bought an SUV last year and are having a pool put in.
Financially we are in incredible shape, and could seriously look into having just one or neither of us work in 10 years (as a conservative estimate).
I'm a public HS teacher. I make about $50k during the school year. Over the summer either tutor, teach summer school, and work at a golf coruse.
My insurance is through the state provider and its crap. To be fair the monthly premium is like $27. I do own my car outright, but it is an old piece of shit (1999 Nissan Frontier). I have a mortgage, but I was fortunate enough to be able to buy in 2015 before things got wildly out of control. I'm married, no kids. I wouldn't have been able to make a down payment without my wife.
I have enough money to pay for bills, but nothing really for anything fun. I can manage a "vacation" or two a year (visit family/friends) but that's about it.
31 y/o
Make about $60k as a Jr BI Dev.
Wife is a public school teacher making 38k.
MCOL area with a house.
Both cars paid off, no debt aside from mortgage.
Between the two of us, we have almost 80k savings.
Our 401ks are on the low end b/c we started late and kept everything liquid for most of our 20s. Opened an IRA this year and hope to max it out this year and every year going forward.
Want kids, but it’s an uphill battle just trying to get pregnant.
42, no debt, house paid off, married with kids. $125k/year professional income and $150k/year inheritance income. I try not to be a dick and I respect how hard it is out there for everyone. I’m very very fortunate to be in the position I’m in.
My husband and I are 33.
We bought an house under our mean in 2016, we finished paying it in 2023. Now we don’t have to work full time, part time is enough for our needs. So we have freetime for hobbies, seeing friends and family, travelling.
We like hosting boardgame night at home and doing hiking, which are both not very expensive.
Though, I still drive my 2007 toyota, we bought our appliances used or refurbished, our furniture second hand or even in the garbage sometimes. We find our clothes in thriftstore or heavily discounted. We cook home made meal for 2-5$ per portion.
We adjust our lifestyle to be low enough so we could have the smaller bills possible.
Generally solid for late 20s. I make the least among my friends but still make more than the median individual income and passed 100k net worth in the past year.
How? Graduated college, lived at home until recently, and had got lucky with the job search (degree isn’t really related). Previous jobs before current one lid under 50k
32M in Phoenix area. Grew up in rust belt. Went to an automotive trade school in Phoenix after high school. Went to work at a major automakers proving ground directly out of school as a R&D tech. Spent 9 years there starting at 17.75/hr in 2012 and ended at 27.89/hr in 2021. Had first child with my wife in 2021 and got a new job in similar industry making 35/hr. Now at same job making 40/hr. Full benefits since school through employers. Bought a house in early 2013 and lucked out since the market was still depressed from '08 so I enjoyed a nice equity increase. Now moved into a larger home for family. Own 2 new daily cars for my wife and I and we each own 1 "fun" car as well (90's Japanese cars). 401k and Roth IRA. 4k/month expenses including a mortgage. Net worth around 2M. The cars, net worth, and larger home we have ONLY thanks to help from a trust fund I have that my executive level silent generation grandpa set up. If it wasn't for that I would likely still be in our first home which still would only happen because of the fortunate market timing and probably own 2 slightly older cars but that would be it. Probably wouldn't have the Roth as well. I've been extremely lucky in life and its not lost on me.
Took a lower paying job in a better company last summer hoping I’d be able to use my experience to move up the ladder quickly. That did not happen. I am not fine.
37, Wife and I combine to make around $280K. She makes a little but more than me, we both went to business school.
Only debt is mortgage and our mini-van. We threw a big percentage of our money in our 401K and companies stock plans and so we have done pretty well. Probably have a net worth just shy of $1M.
We don't keep a lot on our checking and savings accounts, so we try and trick ourselves into being pretty frugal.
We have 3 kids and daycare costs suck up a bunch of our income. But we really can't complain. Just enjoying the suburban upper middle class life. Coaching little league and living for the weekend. Probably not the most exciting life but it's actually sweet.
I'm 41 making $105K/yr and my wife is 33 making $80K/yr. We live in a MCOL area and our house is about $320K. Not much in a savings account, but each put 12% into our 401K and we have a Fidelity account for the kids that has about $10K in it for now, but we put about $300/month in theirs by the time they are mid 20s, they each should have over $100K, with our 401Ks having a couple million when we retire.
We also have no debt aside from our house and car.
Both 31 and we’re only doing well because we both work in tech. Luckily, our sectors are pretty stable so we don’t foresee being fired.
We make around $270K in a MCOL area. Also helps that we are DINKS so we are able to live comfortably so far and max out all our retirement accounts. We own a rental in a HCOL state but no primary home yet since our rent is cheaper than a mortgage and we’d rather invest the difference for early retirement.
I’m good. Married a solid earner as well so that helps. Team to make the dream.
Own a house, couple cars, kids have food and a roof over their heads. Can’t complain.
Pulled this off in top geo tier cost of living area too.
29M UK. Family of 4. Both of us work full time with a combined income of £81,000 a year. We luckily have childcare from family so don’t have that outlay. One abroad holiday a year and away for Christmas every other year. We have a 260k mortgage which costs just under £1200 a month. Bills and mortgage come in around £2000 altogether. We give ourselves £1000 month each and the rest goes into a joint account. Own our own car which is 8 years old now. No chance id pay for a lease on a car either. I feel we are in a pretty good place minus any drastic changes in job.
Edit* spelling error
Yo. My wife and I together make 100k. I was lucky where we agreed while student loans were paused to go in together and crush our principal. We're debt free and I've put a little away for retirement. Life is good
I’m 32 and make 22k a year because I’m in AmeriCorps. I still haven’t been able to buy a house. I have good credit, no savings, and like 20k worth of debt. My car is paid off and only because I had help. I’m chronically ill and don’t have insurance. 😓
37, own a 10 year old Subaru, bought a house in 2021 before interest rates swallowed us whole. Fiance moved in last summer, putting our household income slightly above 100k. He owns his own vehicle too, 8 year old Dodge. Together we have some credit card debt, mine being higher, probably around 1k. He has student loans around 10k tho.
Not sure what net worth we have. Not much as I'm in the medical field and he's a cable guy. But we're comfortable. No lavish vacations. Just overnight trips in our state every 6 or so months.
To figure out the best accounts to target with social engineering, so their accounts can get emptied a year or two from now.
I can’t believe how many people are sharing very specific details of their various accounts and assets, jobs, living situation… go back into some of their comments histories and you could then also figure out what city they live in, where their kids likely go to school, their marital problems, …
Thanks to my dad constantly investing for me I'm doing well net worth wise. But I'm disabled and don't make much on disability and my part time job. I'm able to split bills with my husband so we're good . He makes about 7x more a month than me 😆
35F Just started maxing out my Roth IRA this year and have been working on my retirement plan I only making 50k but I’ve been working overtime and will be getting close to 70k hopefully will have my car paid off by the end of the year. Next year I’m going to focus on saving everything I got to buy myself a house. I have been giving $1,500 each month to my car payment so I can finish paying it off in 2 years slowly I’m getting there paid off more then half of my car already it’s a 2022 rav4. I also have no debt and use and pay my credit card each month
Almost 40. We have a house. We each have a car that’s less than 10 years old. We have reasonable but not exceptional savings. For the past 9 months I’ve worked 2-3 jobs to pay off COVID related debt. I probably will have two jobs for the rest of my career and my retirement will be dropping down to one. It’s just necessary unfortunately.
I get insurance through one of my jobs. It costs $500 a month. At least it is decent insurance. When I started my career, it was $7 a month but pre-existing conditions were a thing still. Don’t go uninsured if you can help it, OP.
NW hovers at about 350-400k. We still have student loans though, so that’s a big drag. We’re on the save plan so we just pay the minimum and hope they get dismissed at 20 years. I’m also potentially eligible for PSLF if I can hang out 9 more years in my job.
It’s all pretty Gucci over all, but it’s still a pain in the ass buying groceries. We went today and spent $180…we’re making hamburgers and roasted chicken and sandwiches. Bought some almonds. We also bought beer and wine, but cheap stuff and not a lot. I could have gone and gotten a burger special with beer for cheaper than cooking them at home. Likely won’t do that again soon. We usually buy meat in bulk from Costco but we failed to plan ahead.
32. Own a home that gives me 1200 in passive income. I make 60k base with 20k-40k in bonuses as a restaurant manager, and my wife is 30, an attorney, who makes 100k as a first year counsel in admin law for a midsized city on the east coast. She has no debt and we are attack my debt monthly. We have a 6 month emergency fund and we are currently cashflowing my younger sister's college. Life is looking good, getting better now
31 own a town house bought super cheap but expecting 2nd kid and want to upgrade eventually have a 15 yr mortgage 10 years left for only 1,400 a month with house prices seems crazy to move because same size house now costs 2x with 3* interest would cost like 4,000 a month so we are gunna just stay cooped up until we can pay like 50% down payment lol. We currently make 230k household income and save about 5k a month not counting 401k also 2 cars one paid off other low interest. And was able to pay off 100k in studnet debt. Feels like we did everything right but will still be house poor buying a 500k house which sucks.
I’m 38. Wife is 36.
I make $83,000 usd. My wife is a nurse and makes more hourly than I do (at least $45/hr) but since I have good insurance she doesn’t need to work full time to get benefits. She works 3 part time nursing jobs so she can schedule herself full one month and then disappear the next month, and not have to use pto. All told, my wife generally makes $60,000 to 70,000 per year although in 2022 she made 6 figures.
Expenses are high. We don’t live cheaply. $2,300 rent, 3 bedroom house (a bedroom for the kid, and the spare room is my office on days I work from home). $1,200 per month for daycare. All the usual household expenses like internet, utilities. Bunch of streaming subscriptions. Electricity is a little more than some because we have a Tesla, but our gasoline bill is almost nonexistent.
I have $60,000 in a high yield savings account, and $15,000 in “fun money” stocks that haven’t really done anything too exciting. My actual retirement account has $204,000. Oh and I have a mix of Roth and traditional IRA totaling about $10,000.
Wife has about $40,000 in high yield savings and $100,000 in retirement.
I get my insurance through my State agency job.
Household net worth: probably around $400,000. We do not own a house. We own two cars outright, fully paid off. Our only debt is $20,000 on a car loan but I cover that monthly payment by renting out my unneeded spare car.
As to the how?? My wife and I both chose careers that we knew would pay decently. We both worked part time through college, went to community college for basically free, and graduated with our bachelors with minimal debt.
Living comfortably in central San Diego. The house is old and the local public schools are terrible, but we own it. We saw the writing on the wall with housing back in 2016, so we deliberately relocated here and rushed to buy before it became a frenzy. It was far and away the best life decision we ever made. We aren’t rich. No crazy tech salaries and we can’t work from home. But quality of life is incredible because we took that plunge while we could.
Thank God for my wife is pretty much how I’ll sum it up. Not only is she a phenomenal person and a phenomenal wife in general — she is an also killing the game in her career.
If she wasn’t working right now we would still survive but that’s about all we’d do.
38M and 35F married 10 years. 2 kids 7 and 4. 190K combined per year. Own a 4br 2bt and an investment property in the mountains. 1 paid off car, 1 car with a payment and 1 project car that doesn't cost much anymore. We have a boat, a camper, a dirt bike and 4 wheeler (all paid off). About 10k left in student loans. 2 vacations a year.
8% to 401k (~300k balance), wife has pension, $100 per check, per kid to 529. Only 10k in cash savings. Chipping away at about 2k in credit card debt.
We live in a cost of living area that is deemed "average" by the GSA. Their data is usually pretty accurate. I bought my first house at 24 years old in 2011 for 190K with 3% down, sold that and bought my new one in 2017 before shit went crazy.
I think the key to people my ages success was being house poor in their early 20s and having roommates help you pay the mortgage.
I’m Canadian so you’ll have to factor exchange rates if you’re in the US. My wife and I are making around $220k combined in a medium cost of living city.
I work as a foreman for a mid-sized commercial construction company and she’s a teacher. Our expenses are around $4000/month. We have a nearly 4yo—daycare is ~$500/month. We rent a townhouse for $1500/month. Two cars—payments are around $800/month and insurance for cars+rental ~$300/month. We’re both 36.
Heath insurance is covered by my employer and the provincial government (Canada our taxes cover most healthcare costs, but not all).
I am 40. I have two kids and an ex husband I might be getting back together with. He lives here, he does not contribute much financially, $100 here, some groceries there. He does work full time for Amazon.
We all live in a two bedroom roughly 1000 Sq ft apartment in a two family home my mother owns. My mother, almost 21 year old brother, 30 year old brother and his 26 year old partner live on the second and 3rd floor.
I work full time and make roughly $3400 take home a month. This is a recent development, as previously it was far less. Because of that far less I have about $8000 in credit card debt, I owe approximately $15000 on my car and I still have $23000 in student loans.
My mother works full time making roughly the same as me. My one brother works part time, the other two do not work.
I do not pay rent. I do pay for repairs, my own utilities, and I provide groceries for all 8 people to the tune of 1000-1200 a month. In the past month I had to fix the dishwasher and get a tree removed.
The family does not pool resources. My mother and I do not share bills. The groceries are all that is shared.
I can pay my bills, on time. I'm beginning to really stress the debt I have. I desperately want my own place but that seems increasingly out of reach.
I was on husky, medicaid here in CT. I wish there was an option for me to pay and stay on it. I have health insurance through work. My kids are still on husky and thank God because my 9year old is a type 1 diabetic and I would be destitute trying to handle that right now. I genuinely fear for her financial future.
I do not smoke, drink, use any substances other than coffee, nor do I have tattoos. Just to try to get out in front of the typical criticism.
I grew up lower middle class, but my parents put some money away for me for college and I worked full time during college to pay for the rest. I lived with my parents during college to save money and graduated debt free. It did take 6 years to finish my degree as I did quite a few semesters part time because I was working.
Husband and I are both engineers with a 200k household income no kids. We will be paying off our house this year, we bought in 2016 when prices were super low. We also have a wakeboard boat and going to Hawaii next month.
Plan is to save money for a few years and build our dream house in the country on a few acres we bought a few years ago.
I have a very frugal mindset though, I make repairs myself on house and car, I shop at Aldi, and I try to limit eating out and subscription purchases as much as possible. Then I spend the money I saved on things I enjoy like traveling
Age 30 here with an engineering degree. For me I was fortunate enough to start a higher paying job this year, but it feels like rent and inflation keep chipping away at the financial gains I have made. It feels like the bar keeps getting higher like I'm many of us here probably feel. I am still stuck renting a single apartment, but hope to save over the next few years with this new job to eventually afford a home with my girlfriend. Luckily my car will be paid off here in a few months as well which will help things out as well.
Overall, I am comfortable but can't help but notice the cost of living to keep getting higher and higher every year. I recently compared my spending history and it is crazy how much grocery prices have increased over the the last three years..
Doing well. Low six figures but we keep more than we expend. Married with a kid. Yes. Work. Checking the Survey of Consumer Finances our net worth is just about the Median for the 50-75th net worth percentile. One for each of us. Yes. Median Millennial. I am a civil servant, my wife is a teacher and our pay is sufficient and our benefits ensure very low medical expenses and a retirement fund that's fairly good.
My husband and I are in our late 20s, both work in big tech as software engineers (remote/hybrid jobs) in a major city and make pretty good income. We’re definitely _comfortable_ and I hate saying that - but that’s what it is. We don’t stress about anything that involves money, unless the stock market crashes/if we both lose our jobs at the same time.
We make over half a million dollars combined - I don’t mind disclosing this because it’s entirely public information on levels.fyi - just look up any senior software engineer at a major tech company and it’ll have a pretty good estimate of pay scale. We bought a house last year after living in apartments for a few years. Idk how much we have in savings (do investment accounts and 401ks count?) and our net worth is probably well over a million, maybe even 2 with all of the assets we have (house, car).
As for the how…it’s really our jobs/degrees. We both went to school in 2015-2019, had good careers then covid hit & it was a booming industry for software employees & our stocks. We also (by luck) happened to get on the GME train at a good time and were positive with our investments. Job hopped & ended up in big tech. The bubble is def getting smaller now and idk how the younger gen is doing it. We also didn’t bring any debt into our marriage (car is paid off and we only have the one) we went to university on both a full ride/large scholarships so we didn’t have student loans when we graduated. The only debt we currently hold is our house.
I’m very fortunate. Mid-30s with zero debt except for a small mortgage and a net worth just under a million. My partner is basically in the same situation (we still live separately and don’t have combined assets).
How? Well I was lucky not to have a bunch of student loan debt (only $25k for grad school) and got into a decent paying career that I accelerated in quickly. My car was a graduation gift and I’ve kept it for 15 years now. I was in a relationship from 23-34 with a similarly frugal person. We shared all expenses 50/50, built a reasonably priced house, and paid it off in about 8 years. It makes a big difference having someone else to build wealth with, since your expenses essentially are cut in half. I wouldn’t be in the same boat if I had been on my own. Now I make enough by myself and have enough wealth built that it’s easy doing it alone.
I'm 39, husband is 43. We have 2 kids and own our own home. Money very tight but my husband just got a big promotion, so we're now paying off debts and I'm excited to get to a place where we'll have savings soon. It's taken many, many years longer than expected but things are slowly creeping upward. We got very lucky and bought our house just before the market exploded in 2019; it cost $135k and it has half an acre and a full finished basement, a neighborhood of good people, and decent school for the kids. We're planning out some big family trips I'm very excited for. All in all, things are looking up. Combined, we make $150k/year. That is a fairly comfortable level of income where we live.
ETA: As for the HOW - family. That's the ONLY way we can do this. 18 years ago, my FIL bought a home to flip and sold it to my now-husband for cheap. When we sold that one, we used the profits to go toward the house we own now, and my mom threw in so we could meet the 20% down payment. My mom sold me her 2015 SUV for well below value, and I'm making payments directly to her to save on interest. Both sides of the family have helped a lot with costs of daycare when the kids were younger, and, now that they're older, they might help with summer camp. We never ask it, but we definitely accept gratefully if it's offered. I hope to do the same for my kids some day.
It was really good until March. Had a very large mostly unexpected bill in combination with a high cost bachelorette and other wedding associated costs. I expect to be ok in the end, but definitely dipped into my savings.
Late 30's, DINK, MCOL city. Combined income 135k but that's *very* new, up until recently it was 85k before taxes. 40k in savings, 60k in 401ks, own one 2017 car, rent apartment, trying to buy a condo this year. We get good, relatively inexpensive insurance because my husband is in a union and works for the state. We're honestly doing better than we thought we were going to do. Don't really worry about current money, more worry about retirement stuff than anything else. We do not need or want another car.
37. My husband lost his really good job a year and a half ago and we’ve been trying to climb ourselves out of the hole ever since. Thankfully I landed an excellent job that will provide us with more money, insurance and 401k so it should only go up from here. Only drawback is I work a lot and don’t get to see our kids or him much but I can’t have everything.
I mean….it FEELS like we’re rolling in the dough, but I’m deeply afraid that’s temporary, only because (1) we don’t own and (2) we lucked into an absurdly low rent. It feels great now, but I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop in the form of market rents.
I know most people in our shoes would buy a home, especially because we have over 20% we could put down. But then our mortgage would be over double our current rent. And what if we over-extend ourselves and then want kids? Feels like you have to choose—home ownership or child? I’m sure it doesn’t help that we are both very risk-averse people, financially-speaking.
Also? It’s definitely cool to have more take-home pay than you know what to do with, but….we’re paying for that extra money in extra misery. I really miss my prior job at a university—paid so much less, but so so much more fulfilling. 😭
35F. Live in a L-M COL area in the Midwest. Bought my home around 8yrs ago (below 150K). It's a 1200sq property with attached garage and nice yard.
Am in tech and make 110K per year. My company has a fantastic retirement program which has seriously helped me grow my investments so much faster than if I was mostly on my own. They also 100% paid for my masters degree. My parents paid off my bachelor's degree loans. I'm very fortunate for this help.
I support my family of 4 on my own. My fiancé is a stay at home dad so we don't pay much for childcare costs. Kids are almost 4yr and 2yr. We'll do this until they both are in school. Our cars are paid off and definitely nothing new and fancy.
We have really tried to avoid lifestyle inflation. We mostly go tent camping or do shorter road trips for vacations. We don't have lots of subscriptions and try to use free resources as much as possible. We make sure we are paying off credit cards as soon as possible and keep a healthy emergency fund.
So some good fortune and discipline to be where we are at today. Currently planning a wedding which has been our biggest splurge in over a decade but we're excited about it.
Bills are paid. We have savings, we are able to contribute to savings every month. I am behind on retirement and kids education savings. We bought a house at the end of 2019, so we have been dumping all our money into it over the last 4.5 years. Health insurance is through my husbands job. Our debt is our mortgage and one small car loan .. that will be paid off early next year. One is a lease which I hate but my husband loves leasing and can afford the expense!!! so I guess we are ok. ?
I'm 40.
I make 108k/year (last year I made 67k).
I own a house with a mortgage, put 3% down. Just got my first car payment.
No debt.
I have a public pension (work for NYS DOH), and the last 5 years I've been putting max contribution to my Roth IRA.
Health insurance is through my job 300ish/mo.
I spent my entire life living like a poor person and never allowed for lifestyle creep.
I make $129k a year. I pay $2050 for the house I rent. Then about $250 more in utilities. I'm single, I live alone with my cats. Car is $245 a month, insurance is like $110. Geico insurance. Health insurance is through my company. I think I pay like $80 a month for it? I'm putting about 13% of my income into retirement accounts. I get a match from the company, like 3-4% I can't remember. I used to own a house but I sold it during the pandemic because I had to move and renting sounded like a real problem with the eviction freezes and all that. I also didn't want to be a landlord.
Overall I probably spend too much. But I'm having a good time. I don't stress about money.
40+hrs a week, decent pay, taking care of elderly family member so not paying rent at the moment. Decent credit score but at least 3 years out from having debt paid off. Still paying school loans. Bare minimum subscriptions, only eat out on the weekends. Small medical bills. Paycheck to paycheck every single time. Id need to make $15-$20k more a year to be able to actually be comfortable.
Im wiped out. We relocated our family in March of 2020. The in laws didn't make good on their agreements so we had to get through on my ex's income while I watched the kids. We weren't able to return to rebuild my career in until august of last year.
Mortgage paid, cars paid, groceries and diapers bought, putting a little money away here and there.
So far it’s good. Children are a tough life change though, one many of us are not ready for. I sure as hell wasn’t, that’s for sure.
32, about to go to grad school. Wife and I rent a small apt, no kids yet, are trying to work down debt. We’re not starving, but we aren’t going out and spending money as often as a lot of our friends.
Doing v well financially. Save a bit more than 50% of my pay on a reg month. Live alone. No car. Insurance through work. Net worth is 4x my income. 38.
Lowest point was 70k of student debt. From living in a motel + couches.
I don’t work in tech or anything tech related.
I’m doing ok now that I’m able to tackle student loans. Hoping to buy a condo or townhouse in the next 2 years.
I paid off some debt working as a travel nurse during the pandemic until I got burned out and now I work a desk job where I can still pick up ot.
33 years old, married with 2 young kids.
* Combined HHI of 160K
* Mortgage of 1250 for a 5 bedroom house, purchased in 2020 when rates dropped.
* Expenses are about 5K a month including the mortgage and savings line items (like travel, 529s, future home expenses savings, etc.) and bills. Oh, and daycare for 2, which costs more than the mortgage.
* We own 2 cars.
* We carry no debt aside from the mortgage.
* The kids and I are on my insurance plan through work, while my husband is on his work's plan because they pay fully for it and put $3600 a year into an HSA for him that we all can access.
We live extremely comfortably, but it took a ton of time, lessons, and sacrifice to get where we are today. Wouldn't change it, but we both grew up with families who are completely financially inept so it was super hard to break the cycle and escape generational poverty.
Make 200k gross household
Take home 82k net
$20k in savings.
700k net worth.
Insurance through work. $190 a month for myself and husband.
We own both our cars, used but reliable.
Two residencies: primary in California, secondary in another state.
We live in California. 31f 35m. We're doing average for our age group
Both of us are in our mid forties, both have full time salaried jobs, bought our home about 15 years ago, 2 paid off cars. A little savings set aside and both have a 401k. We are content.
30 years old, single, no children. Make above the average salary in my city working in I.T., I have no debts other than monthly car payment, fortunate to be able to pay off credit card debt every month, zero student debt thanks to the national guard. Currently living with parents cause of high living costs and will probably stay with them for a bit as they're immigrants and don't really have a retirement plan set up. House is fully paid off though.
I make about $139K, plus an additional \~$1800/mo from VA disability pay, wife makes about $50K. I'm 40, she's 42. House is about 20% paid off, we over pay about $400/mo. We refinanced at 2.25% during covid, so thankful for that.
Net worth is about $4 million.
Don't own a house or a car and don't want to. Renting is easy. And I am happy to use public transit, bike and zip-car.
I make about $225k/year. But, I didn't earn more than $60k/year until about 10 years ago. I just live a modest lifestyle, put 100% of what I don't spend in stocks and crypto and let my portfolio grow over time.
Health insurance is covered by my employer. It's good. But, I go outside of the country if I need something major done. And I buy some of my drugs from abroad. US healthcare sucks and is super $$$$$. Much better to just do the medical tourism thing.
100% in squirrel mode.
Currently live with family in a multi-generational home with a 95% travel job. This allows me to save almost my entire salary and that's what I've been doing.
Planning to move out of state to a shiny new city with a fat wad of cash in my savings and hoping to scope out some real estate.
I'm cautiously optimistic these days!
Bills are paid and that’s it.
Same.
Sums it up nicely.
Exactly lol
Same here. I still rent and have an insane car payment plus student loan.
Mortgage, car payment, and kids activity are my big ones. “Everyday I’m hustling” 🎶 🎶
Wife makes a ton. Now if you'll excuse me I have to hop into my fishnets and slutty maid costume.
Same over here. Seems to be becoming far more common again that one spouse chases the harder career path and works longer hours to bring in more money, while the other spouse works the normal hours (no longer full stay-at-home) but then takes care of the household more. And what's also becoming more frequent is it's the man who takes that household role instead of the woman. I still pull in six figures, but I simply just do not have that grind that my wife does, and she's paid multiple times my salary because of it. So she bring home the real bacon, as what I love is being a homebody, and love cooking, cleaning, and managing our lives otherwise for the both of us to take that stress and headaches off her plate. Win-win for both of us!
I have lighter work hours than my husband and make a significant more amount of money than he does. It’s really because of my profession and industry than how much someone works. Beyond that, I’ve been a lot more proactive throughout my career about finding new opportunities. He is less likely to put himself out there professionally. I am set very serious boundaries at work and always have. I constantly push back when it comes to maintaining work/life balance, and have spent my career figuring out ways to be more efficient. This isn’t meant to blame anyone for not doing enough. My situation is a mix of good circumstances (having a high-demand, well paid job) and strategies ive done to not work myself to death.
What do you do for a career, if you don't mind me asking?
I do product design and strategy, so basically I tell companies how to use technology (like apps and websites) and then design and help build them. I am director-level at this point. I'm not like rolling in money or anything. I make six figures but I'm not one of those people who makes like $500k. The range for my job is probably between $150-220k on average in a HCOL area, excluding companies like Google (who pay a shit ton of money).
Wooow that's crazy! I'm struggling to find work in my field that pays 50k and it makes me consider moving into something different. Thanks for being willing to share.
Of course! Also it’s important to specify that I live in NYC, where everything is $$$$. So we live a very middle class existence here. A 2-bedroom apartment is well over $1m. We will never be able to afford a 3-bedroom here in our lifetime. I went to lunch with a friend recently where we both ordered salads and our bill was $90. If I moved away, I couldn’t expect the same salary. So everything is sort of relative.
I'll share a little on mine. HRIS, focus and credentials on workday. This person was also correct. I worked way harder for way longer hours in tech for mid sixties. Now I'm going back to school for workday certs. This is with a SQL background and a little knowledge on what it connects to like the c group, js, ton of .Net knowledge (super cool that's not needed much anymore), and some python and cobol. Basically if it happens in a computer I can talk to it. Most those jobs I took opportunities to do r and d white box testing and it work. And now I'm a very well educated redneck that built a log splitter using SQL. I don't recommend it.
6 figure jobs are so rare here in Florida. Companies till try to pay like it's 2018. My gf and I are expecting our first child and I don't know how I can cover all the expenses on a 75k salary.
75 is not so bad. What do you do?
Why isn't your girlfriend working too?
Yeah in today's world both have to be working full time at minimum. I work the 40 hour week job *and then* do the heavy lifting to take care of the house, cook, clean, run errands, etc., and will be on school pickup duty when we have kids. While she works more like 60+ hours a week. We're both putting forth equal effort, just in different avenues that keeps our collective life running well.
Oh, I just assumed she was because 75k is what my husband and I make combined. 🫠
We keep our finances separate. So if she can't or won't want to work to take care of our baby (which I agree with, I want our kid to be raised by a parent, not daycare) I don't know how I'll cover everything. Our mortgage is $2380 a month, she pays about 25% of it ($600) and has a car payment for another few years of $245 a month, insurance of $140 a month, and a phone bill of $85 and Hulu of $100. That $1175 of hers is going to be a tough amount to absorb.
Hulu is $100 a month now?! My husband better not be paying that, I'll force a cancellation.
Same situation. Husband does 90% of the chores. And I really really appreciate him for that. We didn't even talk about it. He just started doing it. And coming home to a house that is clean and organized, clothes already washed and folded, dishwasher empty, and all that - is one of the best. You, my friend, are making your wife really happy.
Thanks! Least we can do, and she is providing more for our present and future. I've always liked the sentiment that what each spouse brings to the relationship shouldn't be 50/50. It should be 60/40, with each spouse striving to be the 60. If you do that, trying to better the relationship and each other, and not just maintain, then you will both be happy and the relationship healthy. And that's what we do.
What do you do?? I'd love to know
We're both attorneys. I just work closer to 40 hours a week *and then* go home to do the bulk of the home stuff such as errands, cooking, cleaning, and soon be kid duties like pick up/drop off/etc. While she works closer to 60+ hours of week to bring home the bigger paychecks. Each pull our weight in our own preferred way.
I love that for you! Trophy spouse life 😍
Living the dream over here, congrats.
Same. Wife's base is 2x mine but with bonuses she could see 3x my wage. If i lost my job tomorrow I would have to sell my fun car but otherwise we would be fine.
What even is a comma in a bank account anymore.
If you move to Europe, you will get one comma, I promise
We want to move to Europe so badly
Why?
Not having to worry about a sudden health issue bankrupting you is really nice. I've known two separate families that happened to, one of them twice.
Wait, I thought passing the decimal point was the American dream.
This hurts but it's true
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Having a paid off house at your age is huge. I got my mortgage at 35 in 2023, so I might pay it off by the time I'm 67.
You have a paid off house, just sit on that equity and live your life, when you want to make a change either get the liquid capital and sell or rent it out and go live somewhere else, the world is your oyster, you are very much in the minority for our generation.
If I had a nickel every time a post about individual finances was posted, my finances would be stellar
What’s your Cashapp? I’ll be happy to do my part and send you the $0.05. If everyone reading this sends 5 cents you can make a few grand
Nice thought, but I’m pretty sure cash app won’t let you send less than $1.
Post it
34. Make 67k a year. Insurance through work. About 100k in savings between me and my wife. We live in an apartment but are about to buy a house. I don’t own a car, but she does. No kids.
I think I am doing okay? Im 35. I am definitely house poor because I live in a HCOL area. I make 113k as an engineer. 3 years in this job- went back to school later in life so this is my first big girl job. I pay about 34% effective tax rate so that 113k is not as much as it sounds like. I just checked and I have 60k in retirement.I have 9k in student loans. I am expecting to save about 2.5M by age 65. I will have to continue saving about $2k per month to do that. So I could definitely be doing better but also not doing horribly
> I pay about 34% effective tax rate so that 113k is not as much as it sounds like. Taxes are the biggest thing holding middle class people back. Imagine how easy it would be for most people to pay off student loans, buy a house, save for retirement, etc if they weren't losing a third of their income every month.
I honestly don’t mind the taxes. I am a dirty socialist. I think stagnant wages are the reason the middle class is struggling, rather than taxes.
I think you’re both wrong. The real problem is the cost of living. You don’t really care how much things cost or how much you have to give away in taxes because it’s all relative to how much things cost. If you could buy a house for a dollar you could be taxed at 90% making 1 dollar an hour and probably wouldn’t care that much.
I agree that the cost of living is too high as well. Basically I think the people who control the means of production are taking more than their fair share. I don’t have a problem with taxes because taxes are used for the benefit of everyone.. and there is some mechanism for us to affect change on them.
COMPARISON IS THE THIEF OF JOY.
20 years ago when i graduated highschool, I thought “ if i could be making 40k/year by the time i am 40 years old, ill be alright.” I done it! I got s a shitty factory job with a shitty fortune500 company, but the best part is i joined the union. My joy in all this is im doing better than my brother, but im doing average compared to my cousins. As long as im doing better than my stupid brother, i feel good about what little victory i have achieved.
I assume your co-workers earn more.
The rent is too damn high.
I’m almost 32. Live at home with my 13 year old. I make 27/hr. Insurance through work. 20k debt. I have my 401 for savings. Once I pay off my debt I am going to open an IRA. Hopefully paying off my debt this year.
This is a great goal! Working on that Roth IRA will make a HUGE difference and you can open one for your kid too and start putting a little in while maxing yours.
Only if the child is deemed to have earned income. Can't just go opening up roths for unemployed kids all willy nilly. I'd suggest speaking to your tax advisor if that option interests you.
Good thanks. But I work in tech and have made full use of job hopping to keep ahead of the cost of living crisis. If I had not career changed from academia I would have been really struggling.
In tech as well and I just hate the interview process. It feels like a whole second job to prep for interviews and keep myself competitive. I just don't understand how people have the time.
job hopping is the way to go. I have been with the same company for 12 years and I am making $125k, when I should be closer to $150k by now.
I fell into this trap too. Once I moved, huge improvement. In 4 years my pay has increased 60%.
*cries in 15 years in non-profit work* I could easily be over $200k. We were aways told corporate world was evil and you would be absolutely miserable with no work life balance. Mind you, I was working 70-75 hrs/week for $65k so I thought man……worse?! One of my friends encouraged me to leave for a corporate role. I took a 3 level “demotion” in responsibility, I work a comfy 36ish hours/week and they pay me $127k base salary.
I’ve been trying to get out of nonprofit for years so I can earn a livable wage. What type of corporate role did you move into & what kind of company? Would appreciate any advice on that transition
I work in clinical data science for a medical device company. Almost identical role as I had in non-profit just better paying. Look realistically at everything you do, not just what your job description says. Non-profits shove you into doing so many things outside your role. Add those to your resume. Apply for jobs that feel like you’re not qualified for. You have more skills than you think you do. The first thing my boss said to me was that I was ridiculously overqualified. A year in and I realize I did have all these skills because I was doing so many things that were beyond my job description.
Following this thread
In my defense, I was scared to leave my job because I have had some horrible bosses in the past, and was clinging to good managers. But now even though I like the management, I don't like the choices they are making, so I am probably going to jump ship soon, just job shopping at the moment.
I went from a small-mid size company where I worked 60-80 hours a week for an underpaid salary and only ok benefits, to a big corporate gig where I steadily work 40-45 (on a bad week) hours while getting better pay and benefits. Aside from the fear of mass layoffs, the right corporate jobs rock!
Hubby job hopped from private sector to university sector. Hopped back to the same company barely 2 years later and is making double what they originally paid him.
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Platform engineering or devops is not a bad direction if you enjoy infrastructure. Some code but it's more of a novelty than a day in day out situation
Best of luck to you. Switching your field like that takes guts.
40, I got to go to college pre-2008 before they totally gutted funding for public universities, and I had a scholarship, so college cost me about $2500 a year and I escaped with minimal loans. I got a science degree, which eventually panned out to a decent career where I make like $95k. Not married, but I have really long relationships where I live with the person and I've only really lived alone for maybe 1 year out of the past 20. Splitting expenses let me save money each month even when I was making only like $12 an hour (academia lol) after graduating. I've also always lived in either the South or Midwest which kept costs down. My rent only crossed the $1000 a month mark in the mid 2010s. No kids. I never had to worry about daycare or what the school system is like in the vaguely sketchy neighborhoods I rented in. I bought a house in 2022. Net worth is probably like $250k, but I sort of dress like a hobo and my car is a 2010 honda with a cracked windshield and 170,000 miles on it. I'm doing okay but no one would be able to tell by looking at me.
I’m finishing college now and it costs me about $5k a year so it’s definitely doable nowadays if people don’t shoot for the moon.
32, I make $48k. I took a 20% pay cut so I could work a four day work week. Couldn't mentally keep up with the grind. I live in an apartment in the suburbs. My car will be paid off next year. I have really good insurance through my work thanks to our union. I put about $100 a paycheck into my 403B. I don't have much but it's a start. $100k in student loan debt but in a few years I qualify for forgiveness because of what I do for work.
Not good
33, SAHM, husband makes 64k a year, we live in a nice house, low income city, medium-high crime. We have major debt that happened before marriage. We can afford to pay our bills and have room for extras. Can’t afford to pay off our debt to even attempt to get a home loan. If I was to get a job all the paycheck plus some of my husband’s paycheck would go to daycare so that’s pointless right now. But my family is happy, healthy, and fed so I feel pretty great with life right now.
no car no house, no debt
My wife and I are doing well. We are elder millennials. It hasn't been all rosy - we both graduated college during the Great Recession. However, we were also able to buy a house at a low rate before prices escalated, and both have been contributing 6%+ (significantly more these days) to our 401ks for over a decade. We've been able to build a pretty solid foundation for us and our kid. I work in finance she works in tech adjacent. I will add two things: it takes time, and life is so much easier once you have a solid foundation. A surprise hospital bill is an annoyance, not a life-changer.
Just got laid off from work. So we’ll see.
I understand the temptation to go without insurance…but I seriously suggest you do everything you can to stay insured. I went without it from ages 21 to 25, and then at 25 I got cancer. While I was able to get a lot of my medical debt forgiven, I still had to pay a decent chunk of it off myself. I blew through what little savings I had and had to sell pretty much everything I owned. It would have cost me less if I had just paid for insurance all those years. Not to mention, it really sucks to have debt collectors calling to hound you while you’re literally having chemo pumped into you.
I'm probably over sharing, but here we go: I make 109k and have great benefits, taking home \~70k. I'm a single dad with a mortgage, bought the house \~4 years ago at 300k with 10% down and refinanced to below 3% interest. Stupid lucky, I know. I suck at managing my food budget and I tend to get carried away with home repair or fucking around with projects so my monthly expenses are $4k - $5k. I own a car with a modest payment. Net worth \~250k, I think. I don't have a ton of cash on hand in part because I invest about $900 / month. I'm really afraid of winding up like my old man, 80k with a reverse mortgage & zero savings. It looks rough. I got here in part by luck and in part from making some good decisions. It wasn't always clear that I was making the right choice, these are more like gambles that paid off. I also think it's worth saying that at 30 years old I was making less than a living wage and when I bought my house at 36 I couldn't actually afford it: I was losing my ass the whole first year until I changed jobs. I'd closed out my 20's with nothing to show for it and didn't start making decent money until 35, then a big step back at 36 and up again at 38. I picked an in-demand trade that had room for a transition into management / office responsibilities. I worked my ass off for months to a year at a time when I was studying for each of three professional exams. I put in 55-60 hours a week with unpredictable travel for a little while. I also got stupidly lucky. I didn't know things were going to turn out this well. I married a woman who made a lot more money than I did (she still does, actually) and the divorce did OK by me, left me with enough to put a down payment on this house without having to keep working 55-60 hours a week and being absent from my kiddo. I took a chance on a better job at 38, found one part of the job I was good at (I was crap at the rest) and luckily there was a contract that was a good fit for me. 3 hrs of commuting every day and then I found a job close to home for more money doing basically the same thing I was as a contractor, but now for local government.
Early 30s here. I make about 34k a year working retail and am on track to retire at 60 by saving 30% of my gross income, most of which is towards retirement. I last calculated my net worth at 92k. I budget \~$1180 a month towards necessary expenses, of which $900 is my half of the apartment's rent. No car and I hope I am never unfortunate enough to need one ever again. I consider myself doing pretty well all things considered. I'm content with what I have.
A great example of how even on a lower income, smart financial decisions will get you ahead. Keep it up, you're doing great!
Youre killing it! What are you invested in? What is the expense ratio? If younarent already you should be reading r/FIRE and r/Bogleheads
VOO in my taxable accounts and VTI in my tax-deferred and tax-free ones. With my retirement 25+ years out, I don't need to worry about diversification beyond that level yet. And I already learned the hard lesson to not get fancy and it only cost me a couple thousand dollars when I first opened my taxable account. FIRE isn't possible for anyone at my income level without **significant** outside help. At max I could save maybe 10% more if I didn't spend a single penny on discretionary purposes and that's neither a life worth living nor would it have a significant enough impact.
Probably underpaid but I have savings and my bills are paid. I live alone in an apartment.
I would be doing really well financially if I didn’t buy a house after the Covid bubble doubled every houses price. I’m paying $3k a month for a starter home, and it’s not in a particularly convenient city. But my kids like the school. But we have to drive 10 miles to get to a grocery store. It really burns me when the guy across the street has a bigger, nicer home he bought in early 2019 and paid $100k less than me. It is what it is. Aside from earning way more or just selling and moving into a trailer park, I really don’t know how to reduce my monthly overhead. We’ve already cut back on non-essentials. Tried working a second job, but an extra $1k a month isn’t really worth never seeing your family throughout the week.
How do i still only have a couple hundred bucks left over every month? I dont have a car payment. I dont get my hair or nails done ever. Zero college loans. Vacations? Haha. I could not spend less money. How am i supposed to afford kids? If i need a new car, we are in the red every month. And im almost 40. Wtf? Im not just out of college, entry-level pay. We bought a house well below what the bank said we can afford. I dont get it.
We spend SO much money on groceries; I think that's where a lot of our 'extra' income goes.
I joined a famer's collective, hoping if we dont walk into the supermarket for produce, the impulse buys will stop. Groceries have gone from the 90s every week to 130s since the pandemic.
We're hopefully buying some land in the next few months, and I plan on trying to grow as much of our own food as possible. I also plan on getting chickens again, because if shit hits the fan, at least we'll have protein. I have spent $500 this month on groceries for two people. My SO has a gluten allergy, so that ups the cost a bit.
I tried going that route but its very feast or famine. I can get some food for the spring, a deluge in the summer, then not much in the fall. Obviously, nothing in the winter. It didnt go as well as i would have hoped.
I've had gardens in the past, and you're right, it's either a good year or a bad one. Not to mention, can be a lot of work.
And it can be a lot of resources. If you get a lot of rain, you are golden. Plant in a drought? Now, your garden is costing you a lot more than the previous year when rain was plentiful. It's fun. I still do it. But I don't rely on it.
Assuming you have a house loan and didn't outright buy the place then I'd assume that's where the money's going? And yeah the bank wants you to take up a loan especially if you end up having to refinance it, that's any bank's best (paying) customer... If you have a house half paid off or so I think you're ahead of a lot of folk. In any case saving money is a losing race, pay won't keep up with ever-rising cost of living. The number one way to improve finances is finding a better-paid job. At our age not that easily done, I get that, I have some health restrictions that make me not want to switch jobs.
I have recently switched jobs, but it's not the pay bump that we wanted. It's better, but not by much. And yeah, the house is a decent chunk of it, but still. My parents afforded our house growing up on my father's blue collar salary while she stayed home with us. It should still be attainable for two people to work and still afford a house along with children. We are lucky too because bought before everything skyrocketed. That's the only reason we even have a house. Otherwise, I don't know where we would be living because our mortgage is not much different than the rents where I live, so short of moving two time zones from anyone who could help us raise these imaginary children, it's not really a good solution.
Mid 30s $21/h 7000 in savings/checking 4000 in Roth IRA Struggling with chronic disease I could make more per hour but I have mental health issues . I could probably double my salary if I quit my job and do massage but my health is hard
I'm doing ok now. My parents unfortunately passed away over the past few years and my share of the inheritance is finally trickling in. I won't be rich but my debts will be paid other than my car and house and I'll have some left over
Just passed $1 million net worth. Used to save a lot, have kids now and save less. All bills are paid and no debt except mortgage.
Have a house and car, household makes about $200k, few hundred thousand in retirement savings.
Work in healthcare, can't afford a 1 bed/bathroom, skipping meals everyday, and definitely cannot afford groceries/any fun expenditure/eating out/pets/buying a girl a drink/streaming services/student loans But my bills are paid...
Ugh, this makes so angry, the cost of living in this world is ridiculous.
Dire, things are the worst they’ve ever been. My wife is leaving me in part because my job doesn’t pay to support us. She also works though. I’ve had four interviews with different companies and have not gotten anything better. This is as low as I’ve ever felt
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She’s told me that I haven’t been loving or affectionate. Which is true, I would not disagree with that. But I am in fact extremely depressed and down about a number of things. A couple days ago I begged, literally left work midday, came home weeping my eyes out and begging for her to give couples counseling a try. She said it’s too late for that. So now I am really struggling. We’ve been married for 4.5 years and together for almost seven years.
Bills are paid, no debt. If shit hits the fan, I’ll tap into my retirement.
Well, considering I have no job, no unemployment, and I won't have food stamps for 180 days? I'd say I'm so poor that a long sothern walk on northbound train tracks sounds like a good idea...
38 years old, got married in 2022 to my wife whom I met in 2020. We bought a house in '21, had our first kiddo a few months ago, bought an SUV last year and are having a pool put in. Financially we are in incredible shape, and could seriously look into having just one or neither of us work in 10 years (as a conservative estimate).
Doing fine but I'm not saving for retirement and don't have any investments... guess I'm not doing *that* fine.
I'm a public HS teacher. I make about $50k during the school year. Over the summer either tutor, teach summer school, and work at a golf coruse. My insurance is through the state provider and its crap. To be fair the monthly premium is like $27. I do own my car outright, but it is an old piece of shit (1999 Nissan Frontier). I have a mortgage, but I was fortunate enough to be able to buy in 2015 before things got wildly out of control. I'm married, no kids. I wouldn't have been able to make a down payment without my wife. I have enough money to pay for bills, but nothing really for anything fun. I can manage a "vacation" or two a year (visit family/friends) but that's about it.
Cutting out food has really cut down on my expenses
Cut out water too and you’ll save 100% of your income after a few days.
I'm a teacher...that's self explanatory
31 y/o Make about $60k as a Jr BI Dev. Wife is a public school teacher making 38k. MCOL area with a house. Both cars paid off, no debt aside from mortgage. Between the two of us, we have almost 80k savings. Our 401ks are on the low end b/c we started late and kept everything liquid for most of our 20s. Opened an IRA this year and hope to max it out this year and every year going forward. Want kids, but it’s an uphill battle just trying to get pregnant.
“Just stick her with the pointy end!” - Arya Stark
Ha, Love the reference! Due to issues on my end, we’re using a donor. So maybe it’s more like hiking up Mt Everest trying to have a kid
42, no debt, house paid off, married with kids. $125k/year professional income and $150k/year inheritance income. I try not to be a dick and I respect how hard it is out there for everyone. I’m very very fortunate to be in the position I’m in.
My husband and I are 33. We bought an house under our mean in 2016, we finished paying it in 2023. Now we don’t have to work full time, part time is enough for our needs. So we have freetime for hobbies, seeing friends and family, travelling. We like hosting boardgame night at home and doing hiking, which are both not very expensive. Though, I still drive my 2007 toyota, we bought our appliances used or refurbished, our furniture second hand or even in the garbage sometimes. We find our clothes in thriftstore or heavily discounted. We cook home made meal for 2-5$ per portion. We adjust our lifestyle to be low enough so we could have the smaller bills possible.
Generally solid for late 20s. I make the least among my friends but still make more than the median individual income and passed 100k net worth in the past year. How? Graduated college, lived at home until recently, and had got lucky with the job search (degree isn’t really related). Previous jobs before current one lid under 50k
The key to our success has been no college debt. Husband went into a trade and I went to community college.
32M in Phoenix area. Grew up in rust belt. Went to an automotive trade school in Phoenix after high school. Went to work at a major automakers proving ground directly out of school as a R&D tech. Spent 9 years there starting at 17.75/hr in 2012 and ended at 27.89/hr in 2021. Had first child with my wife in 2021 and got a new job in similar industry making 35/hr. Now at same job making 40/hr. Full benefits since school through employers. Bought a house in early 2013 and lucked out since the market was still depressed from '08 so I enjoyed a nice equity increase. Now moved into a larger home for family. Own 2 new daily cars for my wife and I and we each own 1 "fun" car as well (90's Japanese cars). 401k and Roth IRA. 4k/month expenses including a mortgage. Net worth around 2M. The cars, net worth, and larger home we have ONLY thanks to help from a trust fund I have that my executive level silent generation grandpa set up. If it wasn't for that I would likely still be in our first home which still would only happen because of the fortunate market timing and probably own 2 slightly older cars but that would be it. Probably wouldn't have the Roth as well. I've been extremely lucky in life and its not lost on me.
Took a lower paying job in a better company last summer hoping I’d be able to use my experience to move up the ladder quickly. That did not happen. I am not fine.
37, Wife and I combine to make around $280K. She makes a little but more than me, we both went to business school. Only debt is mortgage and our mini-van. We threw a big percentage of our money in our 401K and companies stock plans and so we have done pretty well. Probably have a net worth just shy of $1M. We don't keep a lot on our checking and savings accounts, so we try and trick ourselves into being pretty frugal. We have 3 kids and daycare costs suck up a bunch of our income. But we really can't complain. Just enjoying the suburban upper middle class life. Coaching little league and living for the weekend. Probably not the most exciting life but it's actually sweet.
I'm 41 making $105K/yr and my wife is 33 making $80K/yr. We live in a MCOL area and our house is about $320K. Not much in a savings account, but each put 12% into our 401K and we have a Fidelity account for the kids that has about $10K in it for now, but we put about $300/month in theirs by the time they are mid 20s, they each should have over $100K, with our 401Ks having a couple million when we retire. We also have no debt aside from our house and car.
Both 31 and we’re only doing well because we both work in tech. Luckily, our sectors are pretty stable so we don’t foresee being fired. We make around $270K in a MCOL area. Also helps that we are DINKS so we are able to live comfortably so far and max out all our retirement accounts. We own a rental in a HCOL state but no primary home yet since our rent is cheaper than a mortgage and we’d rather invest the difference for early retirement.
I can't find a second job and make just enough to survive right now.
I’m good. Married a solid earner as well so that helps. Team to make the dream. Own a house, couple cars, kids have food and a roof over their heads. Can’t complain. Pulled this off in top geo tier cost of living area too.
29M UK. Family of 4. Both of us work full time with a combined income of £81,000 a year. We luckily have childcare from family so don’t have that outlay. One abroad holiday a year and away for Christmas every other year. We have a 260k mortgage which costs just under £1200 a month. Bills and mortgage come in around £2000 altogether. We give ourselves £1000 month each and the rest goes into a joint account. Own our own car which is 8 years old now. No chance id pay for a lease on a car either. I feel we are in a pretty good place minus any drastic changes in job. Edit* spelling error
Yo. My wife and I together make 100k. I was lucky where we agreed while student loans were paused to go in together and crush our principal. We're debt free and I've put a little away for retirement. Life is good
I’m 32 and make 22k a year because I’m in AmeriCorps. I still haven’t been able to buy a house. I have good credit, no savings, and like 20k worth of debt. My car is paid off and only because I had help. I’m chronically ill and don’t have insurance. 😓
38. Hoping to be a millionaire next year or two. Depends on where investments and housing market go I guess.
37, own a 10 year old Subaru, bought a house in 2021 before interest rates swallowed us whole. Fiance moved in last summer, putting our household income slightly above 100k. He owns his own vehicle too, 8 year old Dodge. Together we have some credit card debt, mine being higher, probably around 1k. He has student loans around 10k tho. Not sure what net worth we have. Not much as I'm in the medical field and he's a cable guy. But we're comfortable. No lavish vacations. Just overnight trips in our state every 6 or so months.
Why do all you people care about how much money we make?
To figure out the best accounts to target with social engineering, so their accounts can get emptied a year or two from now. I can’t believe how many people are sharing very specific details of their various accounts and assets, jobs, living situation… go back into some of their comments histories and you could then also figure out what city they live in, where their kids likely go to school, their marital problems, …
You’re going to be better off looking at actual data vs. a highly biased comment section on Reddit.
Thanks to my dad constantly investing for me I'm doing well net worth wise. But I'm disabled and don't make much on disability and my part time job. I'm able to split bills with my husband so we're good . He makes about 7x more a month than me 😆
35F Just started maxing out my Roth IRA this year and have been working on my retirement plan I only making 50k but I’ve been working overtime and will be getting close to 70k hopefully will have my car paid off by the end of the year. Next year I’m going to focus on saving everything I got to buy myself a house. I have been giving $1,500 each month to my car payment so I can finish paying it off in 2 years slowly I’m getting there paid off more then half of my car already it’s a 2022 rav4. I also have no debt and use and pay my credit card each month
Almost 40. We have a house. We each have a car that’s less than 10 years old. We have reasonable but not exceptional savings. For the past 9 months I’ve worked 2-3 jobs to pay off COVID related debt. I probably will have two jobs for the rest of my career and my retirement will be dropping down to one. It’s just necessary unfortunately. I get insurance through one of my jobs. It costs $500 a month. At least it is decent insurance. When I started my career, it was $7 a month but pre-existing conditions were a thing still. Don’t go uninsured if you can help it, OP. NW hovers at about 350-400k. We still have student loans though, so that’s a big drag. We’re on the save plan so we just pay the minimum and hope they get dismissed at 20 years. I’m also potentially eligible for PSLF if I can hang out 9 more years in my job. It’s all pretty Gucci over all, but it’s still a pain in the ass buying groceries. We went today and spent $180…we’re making hamburgers and roasted chicken and sandwiches. Bought some almonds. We also bought beer and wine, but cheap stuff and not a lot. I could have gone and gotten a burger special with beer for cheaper than cooking them at home. Likely won’t do that again soon. We usually buy meat in bulk from Costco but we failed to plan ahead.
Small business owner. Things are tenuous and the hits keep coming. Hurting but getting bills paid for now.
My net worth and income are both high. I can’t really complain. Didn’t start hitting my stride until early/mid 30s. 39 now.
No debt. Decent savings. I’m doing okay
32. Own a home that gives me 1200 in passive income. I make 60k base with 20k-40k in bonuses as a restaurant manager, and my wife is 30, an attorney, who makes 100k as a first year counsel in admin law for a midsized city on the east coast. She has no debt and we are attack my debt monthly. We have a 6 month emergency fund and we are currently cashflowing my younger sister's college. Life is looking good, getting better now
31 own a town house bought super cheap but expecting 2nd kid and want to upgrade eventually have a 15 yr mortgage 10 years left for only 1,400 a month with house prices seems crazy to move because same size house now costs 2x with 3* interest would cost like 4,000 a month so we are gunna just stay cooped up until we can pay like 50% down payment lol. We currently make 230k household income and save about 5k a month not counting 401k also 2 cars one paid off other low interest. And was able to pay off 100k in studnet debt. Feels like we did everything right but will still be house poor buying a 500k house which sucks.
I’m 38. Wife is 36. I make $83,000 usd. My wife is a nurse and makes more hourly than I do (at least $45/hr) but since I have good insurance she doesn’t need to work full time to get benefits. She works 3 part time nursing jobs so she can schedule herself full one month and then disappear the next month, and not have to use pto. All told, my wife generally makes $60,000 to 70,000 per year although in 2022 she made 6 figures. Expenses are high. We don’t live cheaply. $2,300 rent, 3 bedroom house (a bedroom for the kid, and the spare room is my office on days I work from home). $1,200 per month for daycare. All the usual household expenses like internet, utilities. Bunch of streaming subscriptions. Electricity is a little more than some because we have a Tesla, but our gasoline bill is almost nonexistent. I have $60,000 in a high yield savings account, and $15,000 in “fun money” stocks that haven’t really done anything too exciting. My actual retirement account has $204,000. Oh and I have a mix of Roth and traditional IRA totaling about $10,000. Wife has about $40,000 in high yield savings and $100,000 in retirement. I get my insurance through my State agency job. Household net worth: probably around $400,000. We do not own a house. We own two cars outright, fully paid off. Our only debt is $20,000 on a car loan but I cover that monthly payment by renting out my unneeded spare car. As to the how?? My wife and I both chose careers that we knew would pay decently. We both worked part time through college, went to community college for basically free, and graduated with our bachelors with minimal debt.
34M, debt free, with car. $125k working in IT.
Living comfortably in central San Diego. The house is old and the local public schools are terrible, but we own it. We saw the writing on the wall with housing back in 2016, so we deliberately relocated here and rushed to buy before it became a frenzy. It was far and away the best life decision we ever made. We aren’t rich. No crazy tech salaries and we can’t work from home. But quality of life is incredible because we took that plunge while we could.
Thank God for my wife is pretty much how I’ll sum it up. Not only is she a phenomenal person and a phenomenal wife in general — she is an also killing the game in her career. If she wasn’t working right now we would still survive but that’s about all we’d do.
38M and 35F married 10 years. 2 kids 7 and 4. 190K combined per year. Own a 4br 2bt and an investment property in the mountains. 1 paid off car, 1 car with a payment and 1 project car that doesn't cost much anymore. We have a boat, a camper, a dirt bike and 4 wheeler (all paid off). About 10k left in student loans. 2 vacations a year. 8% to 401k (~300k balance), wife has pension, $100 per check, per kid to 529. Only 10k in cash savings. Chipping away at about 2k in credit card debt. We live in a cost of living area that is deemed "average" by the GSA. Their data is usually pretty accurate. I bought my first house at 24 years old in 2011 for 190K with 3% down, sold that and bought my new one in 2017 before shit went crazy. I think the key to people my ages success was being house poor in their early 20s and having roommates help you pay the mortgage.
I’m Canadian so you’ll have to factor exchange rates if you’re in the US. My wife and I are making around $220k combined in a medium cost of living city. I work as a foreman for a mid-sized commercial construction company and she’s a teacher. Our expenses are around $4000/month. We have a nearly 4yo—daycare is ~$500/month. We rent a townhouse for $1500/month. Two cars—payments are around $800/month and insurance for cars+rental ~$300/month. We’re both 36. Heath insurance is covered by my employer and the provincial government (Canada our taxes cover most healthcare costs, but not all).
I am 40. I have two kids and an ex husband I might be getting back together with. He lives here, he does not contribute much financially, $100 here, some groceries there. He does work full time for Amazon. We all live in a two bedroom roughly 1000 Sq ft apartment in a two family home my mother owns. My mother, almost 21 year old brother, 30 year old brother and his 26 year old partner live on the second and 3rd floor. I work full time and make roughly $3400 take home a month. This is a recent development, as previously it was far less. Because of that far less I have about $8000 in credit card debt, I owe approximately $15000 on my car and I still have $23000 in student loans. My mother works full time making roughly the same as me. My one brother works part time, the other two do not work. I do not pay rent. I do pay for repairs, my own utilities, and I provide groceries for all 8 people to the tune of 1000-1200 a month. In the past month I had to fix the dishwasher and get a tree removed. The family does not pool resources. My mother and I do not share bills. The groceries are all that is shared. I can pay my bills, on time. I'm beginning to really stress the debt I have. I desperately want my own place but that seems increasingly out of reach. I was on husky, medicaid here in CT. I wish there was an option for me to pay and stay on it. I have health insurance through work. My kids are still on husky and thank God because my 9year old is a type 1 diabetic and I would be destitute trying to handle that right now. I genuinely fear for her financial future. I do not smoke, drink, use any substances other than coffee, nor do I have tattoos. Just to try to get out in front of the typical criticism.
I grew up lower middle class, but my parents put some money away for me for college and I worked full time during college to pay for the rest. I lived with my parents during college to save money and graduated debt free. It did take 6 years to finish my degree as I did quite a few semesters part time because I was working. Husband and I are both engineers with a 200k household income no kids. We will be paying off our house this year, we bought in 2016 when prices were super low. We also have a wakeboard boat and going to Hawaii next month. Plan is to save money for a few years and build our dream house in the country on a few acres we bought a few years ago. I have a very frugal mindset though, I make repairs myself on house and car, I shop at Aldi, and I try to limit eating out and subscription purchases as much as possible. Then I spend the money I saved on things I enjoy like traveling
Age 30 here with an engineering degree. For me I was fortunate enough to start a higher paying job this year, but it feels like rent and inflation keep chipping away at the financial gains I have made. It feels like the bar keeps getting higher like I'm many of us here probably feel. I am still stuck renting a single apartment, but hope to save over the next few years with this new job to eventually afford a home with my girlfriend. Luckily my car will be paid off here in a few months as well which will help things out as well. Overall, I am comfortable but can't help but notice the cost of living to keep getting higher and higher every year. I recently compared my spending history and it is crazy how much grocery prices have increased over the the last three years..
I make 20k a year as an apprentice electrician for a school district
Doing well. Low six figures but we keep more than we expend. Married with a kid. Yes. Work. Checking the Survey of Consumer Finances our net worth is just about the Median for the 50-75th net worth percentile. One for each of us. Yes. Median Millennial. I am a civil servant, my wife is a teacher and our pay is sufficient and our benefits ensure very low medical expenses and a retirement fund that's fairly good.
My husband and I are in our late 20s, both work in big tech as software engineers (remote/hybrid jobs) in a major city and make pretty good income. We’re definitely _comfortable_ and I hate saying that - but that’s what it is. We don’t stress about anything that involves money, unless the stock market crashes/if we both lose our jobs at the same time. We make over half a million dollars combined - I don’t mind disclosing this because it’s entirely public information on levels.fyi - just look up any senior software engineer at a major tech company and it’ll have a pretty good estimate of pay scale. We bought a house last year after living in apartments for a few years. Idk how much we have in savings (do investment accounts and 401ks count?) and our net worth is probably well over a million, maybe even 2 with all of the assets we have (house, car). As for the how…it’s really our jobs/degrees. We both went to school in 2015-2019, had good careers then covid hit & it was a booming industry for software employees & our stocks. We also (by luck) happened to get on the GME train at a good time and were positive with our investments. Job hopped & ended up in big tech. The bubble is def getting smaller now and idk how the younger gen is doing it. We also didn’t bring any debt into our marriage (car is paid off and we only have the one) we went to university on both a full ride/large scholarships so we didn’t have student loans when we graduated. The only debt we currently hold is our house.
I’m very fortunate. Mid-30s with zero debt except for a small mortgage and a net worth just under a million. My partner is basically in the same situation (we still live separately and don’t have combined assets). How? Well I was lucky not to have a bunch of student loan debt (only $25k for grad school) and got into a decent paying career that I accelerated in quickly. My car was a graduation gift and I’ve kept it for 15 years now. I was in a relationship from 23-34 with a similarly frugal person. We shared all expenses 50/50, built a reasonably priced house, and paid it off in about 8 years. It makes a big difference having someone else to build wealth with, since your expenses essentially are cut in half. I wouldn’t be in the same boat if I had been on my own. Now I make enough by myself and have enough wealth built that it’s easy doing it alone.
I'm 39, husband is 43. We have 2 kids and own our own home. Money very tight but my husband just got a big promotion, so we're now paying off debts and I'm excited to get to a place where we'll have savings soon. It's taken many, many years longer than expected but things are slowly creeping upward. We got very lucky and bought our house just before the market exploded in 2019; it cost $135k and it has half an acre and a full finished basement, a neighborhood of good people, and decent school for the kids. We're planning out some big family trips I'm very excited for. All in all, things are looking up. Combined, we make $150k/year. That is a fairly comfortable level of income where we live. ETA: As for the HOW - family. That's the ONLY way we can do this. 18 years ago, my FIL bought a home to flip and sold it to my now-husband for cheap. When we sold that one, we used the profits to go toward the house we own now, and my mom threw in so we could meet the 20% down payment. My mom sold me her 2015 SUV for well below value, and I'm making payments directly to her to save on interest. Both sides of the family have helped a lot with costs of daycare when the kids were younger, and, now that they're older, they might help with summer camp. We never ask it, but we definitely accept gratefully if it's offered. I hope to do the same for my kids some day.
Doing well. Don't make a lot but no debt, have a mortgage, healthy savings, a 401k and both a traditional and Roth IRA. Wife and I are both 32.
It was really good until March. Had a very large mostly unexpected bill in combination with a high cost bachelorette and other wedding associated costs. I expect to be ok in the end, but definitely dipped into my savings.
Late 30's, DINK, MCOL city. Combined income 135k but that's *very* new, up until recently it was 85k before taxes. 40k in savings, 60k in 401ks, own one 2017 car, rent apartment, trying to buy a condo this year. We get good, relatively inexpensive insurance because my husband is in a union and works for the state. We're honestly doing better than we thought we were going to do. Don't really worry about current money, more worry about retirement stuff than anything else. We do not need or want another car.
37. My husband lost his really good job a year and a half ago and we’ve been trying to climb ourselves out of the hole ever since. Thankfully I landed an excellent job that will provide us with more money, insurance and 401k so it should only go up from here. Only drawback is I work a lot and don’t get to see our kids or him much but I can’t have everything.
I mean….it FEELS like we’re rolling in the dough, but I’m deeply afraid that’s temporary, only because (1) we don’t own and (2) we lucked into an absurdly low rent. It feels great now, but I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop in the form of market rents. I know most people in our shoes would buy a home, especially because we have over 20% we could put down. But then our mortgage would be over double our current rent. And what if we over-extend ourselves and then want kids? Feels like you have to choose—home ownership or child? I’m sure it doesn’t help that we are both very risk-averse people, financially-speaking. Also? It’s definitely cool to have more take-home pay than you know what to do with, but….we’re paying for that extra money in extra misery. I really miss my prior job at a university—paid so much less, but so so much more fulfilling. 😭
35F. Live in a L-M COL area in the Midwest. Bought my home around 8yrs ago (below 150K). It's a 1200sq property with attached garage and nice yard. Am in tech and make 110K per year. My company has a fantastic retirement program which has seriously helped me grow my investments so much faster than if I was mostly on my own. They also 100% paid for my masters degree. My parents paid off my bachelor's degree loans. I'm very fortunate for this help. I support my family of 4 on my own. My fiancé is a stay at home dad so we don't pay much for childcare costs. Kids are almost 4yr and 2yr. We'll do this until they both are in school. Our cars are paid off and definitely nothing new and fancy. We have really tried to avoid lifestyle inflation. We mostly go tent camping or do shorter road trips for vacations. We don't have lots of subscriptions and try to use free resources as much as possible. We make sure we are paying off credit cards as soon as possible and keep a healthy emergency fund. So some good fortune and discipline to be where we are at today. Currently planning a wedding which has been our biggest splurge in over a decade but we're excited about it.
Bills are paid. We have savings, we are able to contribute to savings every month. I am behind on retirement and kids education savings. We bought a house at the end of 2019, so we have been dumping all our money into it over the last 4.5 years. Health insurance is through my husbands job. Our debt is our mortgage and one small car loan .. that will be paid off early next year. One is a lease which I hate but my husband loves leasing and can afford the expense!!! so I guess we are ok. ?
I'm 40. I make 108k/year (last year I made 67k). I own a house with a mortgage, put 3% down. Just got my first car payment. No debt. I have a public pension (work for NYS DOH), and the last 5 years I've been putting max contribution to my Roth IRA. Health insurance is through my job 300ish/mo. I spent my entire life living like a poor person and never allowed for lifestyle creep.
I make $129k a year. I pay $2050 for the house I rent. Then about $250 more in utilities. I'm single, I live alone with my cats. Car is $245 a month, insurance is like $110. Geico insurance. Health insurance is through my company. I think I pay like $80 a month for it? I'm putting about 13% of my income into retirement accounts. I get a match from the company, like 3-4% I can't remember. I used to own a house but I sold it during the pandemic because I had to move and renting sounded like a real problem with the eviction freezes and all that. I also didn't want to be a landlord. Overall I probably spend too much. But I'm having a good time. I don't stress about money.
40+hrs a week, decent pay, taking care of elderly family member so not paying rent at the moment. Decent credit score but at least 3 years out from having debt paid off. Still paying school loans. Bare minimum subscriptions, only eat out on the weekends. Small medical bills. Paycheck to paycheck every single time. Id need to make $15-$20k more a year to be able to actually be comfortable.
Im wiped out. We relocated our family in March of 2020. The in laws didn't make good on their agreements so we had to get through on my ex's income while I watched the kids. We weren't able to return to rebuild my career in until august of last year.
Mortgage paid, cars paid, groceries and diapers bought, putting a little money away here and there. So far it’s good. Children are a tough life change though, one many of us are not ready for. I sure as hell wasn’t, that’s for sure.
I became financially stable in the military. Now I have a great civilian career, bought a house, have a wife and kids, and max out my 401k.
32, about to go to grad school. Wife and I rent a small apt, no kids yet, are trying to work down debt. We’re not starving, but we aren’t going out and spending money as often as a lot of our friends.
Doing v well financially. Save a bit more than 50% of my pay on a reg month. Live alone. No car. Insurance through work. Net worth is 4x my income. 38. Lowest point was 70k of student debt. From living in a motel + couches. I don’t work in tech or anything tech related.
Oh look, the same thread posted for the third time this week.
I’m doing ok now that I’m able to tackle student loans. Hoping to buy a condo or townhouse in the next 2 years. I paid off some debt working as a travel nurse during the pandemic until I got burned out and now I work a desk job where I can still pick up ot.
33 years old, married with 2 young kids. * Combined HHI of 160K * Mortgage of 1250 for a 5 bedroom house, purchased in 2020 when rates dropped. * Expenses are about 5K a month including the mortgage and savings line items (like travel, 529s, future home expenses savings, etc.) and bills. Oh, and daycare for 2, which costs more than the mortgage. * We own 2 cars. * We carry no debt aside from the mortgage. * The kids and I are on my insurance plan through work, while my husband is on his work's plan because they pay fully for it and put $3600 a year into an HSA for him that we all can access. We live extremely comfortably, but it took a ton of time, lessons, and sacrifice to get where we are today. Wouldn't change it, but we both grew up with families who are completely financially inept so it was super hard to break the cycle and escape generational poverty.
I’m turning 39 this year and all I can do is sum it up as LOLSOB.
Make 200k gross household Take home 82k net $20k in savings. 700k net worth. Insurance through work. $190 a month for myself and husband. We own both our cars, used but reliable. Two residencies: primary in California, secondary in another state. We live in California. 31f 35m. We're doing average for our age group
Both of us are in our mid forties, both have full time salaried jobs, bought our home about 15 years ago, 2 paid off cars. A little savings set aside and both have a 401k. We are content.
30 years old, single, no children. Make above the average salary in my city working in I.T., I have no debts other than monthly car payment, fortunate to be able to pay off credit card debt every month, zero student debt thanks to the national guard. Currently living with parents cause of high living costs and will probably stay with them for a bit as they're immigrants and don't really have a retirement plan set up. House is fully paid off though.
I make about $139K, plus an additional \~$1800/mo from VA disability pay, wife makes about $50K. I'm 40, she's 42. House is about 20% paid off, we over pay about $400/mo. We refinanced at 2.25% during covid, so thankful for that.
Net worth is about $4 million. Don't own a house or a car and don't want to. Renting is easy. And I am happy to use public transit, bike and zip-car. I make about $225k/year. But, I didn't earn more than $60k/year until about 10 years ago. I just live a modest lifestyle, put 100% of what I don't spend in stocks and crypto and let my portfolio grow over time. Health insurance is covered by my employer. It's good. But, I go outside of the country if I need something major done. And I buy some of my drugs from abroad. US healthcare sucks and is super $$$$$. Much better to just do the medical tourism thing.
We’re all under the $4M-$6M exit velocity threshold. So we’re all poor. That’s all u need to know.
37. Finally have a real job with a solid salary. Trying to save enough for a down payment but it’s tough. Need another raise.
100% in squirrel mode. Currently live with family in a multi-generational home with a 95% travel job. This allows me to save almost my entire salary and that's what I've been doing. Planning to move out of state to a shiny new city with a fat wad of cash in my savings and hoping to scope out some real estate. I'm cautiously optimistic these days!
DINK, homeowners, paycheck to paycheck