If you made precisely $400,000 a year how would you live differently?

[nancyjnelson]

I would stay in better quality AirBnBs when I travel.

[NorCal]

Easy enough for me to answer.  Oddly enough, we make just shy of $400K (joint, pre-tax) today.  We save about 60% of our take-home pay.

Things in our life that are more expensive than "normal" (whatever that is):

1. We spend $35K/year on daycare for two kids.  I'm really looking forward to reducing this expense as the kids get older.
2. We bought a nice house in an upper-middle class area at $700K.  In hindsight, I wish we had bought something slightly smaller.
3. Our food budget is somewhat high, particularly compared to the crowd here.  We frequently eat out after a busy week.  I do bulk cooking, but it does involve a decent amount of meat.
4. We pay for a house cleaning service.

Other than that, our expenses are probably slightly higher than the mustachian average, but not higher than the average consumer sucka (making considerably less) spends.  Our vacations are roadtrips, we don't have fancy cars, and we don't do much shopping.

[EscapeVelocity2020]

Depends on if I like the work or not.  So far, most have assumed that the job sucks (long hours, high stress, etc.) if it is paying that much, but MMM himself claimed to make 400k/yr on this blog and it is still up and running.  He hasn't changed his life much (except test driving Teslas and owning a HQ) and seems pretty content to keep it going.  I make a better salary now and the job treats me much better, has better benefits, and respects that I can manage my own time much more than my former, lower-paying consulting job did, so I'd assume I'd keep working for that great salary until I didn't enjoy the work enough to trade away my time.   I also look up to Bill Gates and how he uses his time and wealth - it would be fulfilling to use my windfall to pursue greater philanthropy than the little bit I currently do. 

[ColoAndy]

More vacations, more eating out, hire a cleaning lady, upgrade the house, and save a ton.  Retire in about three years.  Oh, the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette would have to be purchased.

[TVRodriguez]

I would be miserable, overworked, deeply unhealthy, and probably end up divorced.
I already walked away from the kind of career that results in that kind of income, so thanks, but no thanks.

All of this.  I purposefully did not pursue the $400K plus career.  Friends of mine did, though.  Some of them are happy and find balance and some are not.  I think I'd have fallen in the "not" category.  Probably would have developed a chemical dependency, too.  Happier without it, thanks!

[LonerMatt]

With the given that I'll never earn that much and don't want to work that hard, if someone started paying me $400k to work as hard I am now (totally sustainable for 10+ years more).

- Buy a nice house with a nice yard, get gardening, plant some trees and some food plants - close enough to work and the city
- Fit out a room as studio to make art
- Save 50%
- Give more to charity (maybe $500 a month)
- Spend a bit more on making art
- Try to keep spending time with friends, time outdoors and time making things -> these are what make me feel most calm and content and wholesome, so gotta make sure to keep that in mind