The math doesn't give a shit about your savings rate

[nereo]

For the record I was brought up in a very middle class household.  My mother worked for the IRS and my father was a construction supervisor at The Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Not saying you weren't "very middle class," but with two Fed earners in the house, it's likely you were upper middle class, income-wise.  Especially when you factor in the pensions (and I'm guessing your parents were CSRS pensioners, which was a very generous pension). We all think we are middle class -- it's a much-reported phenomenon, and depends a lot on where you live -- including myself. ...

Overwhelmingly we believe that we are above average drivers, have superior children and are solidly middle class.  We are certain that our party would do a better job leading the country if they were only allowed to do so, and we firmly believe that we will live slightly longer than average.  2/3rds of us are overweight or obese but we see ourselves and our children as being less heavy that we are (even when we know our exact weight).  OTOH, we tend to rate our attractiveness as below average and we think we aren't paid as much as we should be. 
None of this really pertains to the OT, but I just find it interesting.  Move along...

[dude]

They made nowhere near $170k/year.  Perhaps we were a bit above the median income, but we certainly weren't fat cats by any stretch.

Well, that's in today's dollars.  Adjusted for inflation?  I suppose if your mom was an administrative assistant as opposed to being an agent or accountant or the like for the IRS.  I don't consider myself a fat cat (like your folks, I'm a Fed, and like your dad, I'm BOP), but when I look at IRS/Census numbers, it's very clear that I'm MUCH better off than I would otherwise consider myself, but that's probably got more to do with me considering my income relative to the guys I went to school with.  And perhaps relative to your $400K side gig, "middle class" means something different to you than most. Not trying to start an argument here, just pointing out that many folks in the top 5-10% (doctors, lawyers, professionals, small business owners) consider themselves "middle class," but the real numbers tell a different story.

[mr_orange]

I don't consider myself middle class and have never stated that I do. 

My family was in the meaty part of the bell curve when I grew up though and I think it would be hard to argue we weren't middle class. 

[human]

I'm bumping this for the spreadsheet. I've been dicking around with dinky interest calculators and this thing is waaayy more useful. The debate on savings rate verssus actual spending or whatever however bores me to tears. Then the four pages on side business is also very useless but the spreadsheet really should be posted somewhere prominently.

[PAstash]

And OF COURSE if making money was my primary motive in life, I would suck it up and suffer through the things I hate to make it happen.

Bingo. 

There is nothing wrong with prioritizing making money lower and other things higher in one's life.  Folks should, however, avoid "face-punching" people that choose a different path than they do.  For some it is far easier to make more money or make their investments work harder while participating in activities they enjoy than it is to shave every last femto-cent out of their budget and focus all energy on this type of activity.

Hey there! been following this conversation up to this point. I've noticed by this point in my life it has a lot to do with effort put in. However I've been struggling between maxing out retirement accounts paying off a house and keeping the day to day running. I have some side cash but the idea of taking a shot and missing would be dire. Can you give me a  few ideas of things to try that would be on the low end of the risk scale but would have a high enough pay out to be worth while? no idea is too out there just shoot from the hip. Don't have a lot of hard skills just a good paying job with a bit of extra time and a serious want to become more successful.