Those of you with $200k+ income, what’s your typical monthly spending like?

[use2betrix]

I’m just curious about spending levels for those with higher incomes. I know the premise of the forum is to spend a small amount regardless in pursuit of fire.

I just have a hard time really getting to bare bones spending. I do contract work all over and often spend months to a year+ in locations I would never live during FIRE. (South, hot). Because of this, hobbies I would like to do, I can’t really enjoy. It really limits our activities outdoor in general during about 8 months of the year.

So - much of our entertainment is going out to dinner on weekends, nice martini bars, concerts, etc. when I work a ton or during 8 months of sabbatical last year, we had no problem dropping our spending a lot. Our lowest spending month last year was a month which we camped every single night.

Right now if we really tried, and have a lot in the past, we could save another $1k-$2k/mo. As-is, we’re still saving about $10k/mo and I feel like that’s still pretty good and I have a hard time justifying a big cut to our entertainment to get it even higher.

Just curious what others are at. I have the $200k+ income stipulation because I do feel like there’s a bit more of a challenge to spend $50k/yr when you make $200k, vs when you make $60k.

[Paul der Krake]

We're at 45-50k/year of spending for 2 adults, of which 30k is in housing fixed costs. I don't really know where the rest goes, nor do I care to get an exact breakdown.

[EnjoyIt]

If I posted our spending on this forum I would be getting punched unconscious over and over again for at least 3 weeks.  We save well over 50% of our post tax income and are an arms length away from FI.  In my  opinion, just because MMM can live on $24k/yr does not mean you have to.  You do you.  Find what is right for you, and accept the pros vs cons of your spending decision.  For example, we love to travel and willing to spend a lot on those experiences.  Last year we spent over $25k on travel expenses alone which included a total of 47 days of staying in hotels, Air b&b, and lodges.  To us this is money well spent and I am happy to work a little longer in my career to be able to continue this lifestyle.

[AccidentalMiser]

Last year, we made about 200k.  I paid about 50k in taxes of various kinds and we saved about 80k. 

I also finished an apartment in my basement which cost about 20k out of pocket and now yields $700/month in rent.  We also rehabbed an older rental for about 25k, also out of pocket. 

We spent the rest on stuff, from food to insurance to travel to magazines.  We bought some stupid things and some needed things.  If we spent a little less, it would be fine.  If we spent a lot less, the quality of our lives would suffer.  I spent the first 25 years of my adult life worrying about pennies.  Now that I don't have to, I don't.  Life is for living.  Some people enjoy maximizing and leveraging opportunities to wring every useful drop out of every dollar.  I am not that way but I understand people who are.

If I didn't work and we weren't in the middle of a five-year property improvement plan, we could spend very little and be quite happy. 

Sorry I didn't really answer your question.  Some months we spend $3000, others we might spend $9000, it just depends on what's going on.

[brooklynmoney]

I’ve dropped down from 5k a month(2k if that on housing) to 4500 by cutting back on restaurants and food outside the home (aka no more $10 salad bar a day for lunch)

[TheAnonOne]

225->250 HHI here.

We spend 2700->3300 a month tracked via personal capital. This puts us right around 40k a year, and housing costs are in ADDITION to this (IE: not included) but our mortgage is only 600 a month so its basically inconsequential.

We are able to save over 100k per year.


NOTES: We do occasionally splurge with cash and other income I generate that I don't count. These are not FIRE expenses but it's fair for me to admit to these here. (Car racing, quite a bit of travel)

[Abe]

We spend, in order, per month:
Rent - 4400 (boo housing bubbles!)
Nanny - 3000
Groceries/supplies - 500
Restaurants - 500
Utilities (heating, electricity, cellphones, internet) - 200
Health insurance - 200
Cars (insurance, gas) - 150
Entertainment (including gym) - 150
All other stuff (travel, clothes, etc) - 450
Total: 9550 per month, ~10% of which is fat

We save about the same per month in retirement and non-retirement accounts. We save a lot of money by having a routine of work - take care of baby - sleep - work, etc

[CoffeeAndDonuts]

I answered $5500 to $7000 but think it's actually lower by a fair definition.

A rough tally was $6700 but:
-$650 : cost of health insurance and spending for spouse and kid, no subsidy.
-$550 : mortgage principal pay down
-$1025 : mortgage interest at low rate allowing more equity exposure. We could pay this off in full so I see this more like an investment cost.
-$1350 : Pre-K, necessary to earn 2 income. Costly market.
= $3125 other consumption.

We eat out too much but don't buy much otherwise.

Of that $3125, major elements are around:
$500 : prop taxes and homeowners ins
$800 : personal allowances that cover alcohol, fun, clothes, toys, eating out not as a family (work lunches), coffee out.
$700 : groceries and household consumables
$300 : dining out (as a family)
$225 : gas, insurance, maintenance for 2 old cars.
$200 : gas, electric, sewer, internet.
$400 : other I'm too lazy to detail since this isn't a full case study.

I debated whether college savings are savings or current spending. Same with charity. Since they weren't about our lifestyle, I decided to think of them as savings.

So, $37k to $80k per year depending on your perspective on childcare, healthcare, and never paying off your mortgage.

Business income can be pretty variable. Our 3 yr avg is over $200k total income on tax returns but we've often left capital in the business so I think we function more like a $150k household.

[moof]

Recently into the 216k gross rate club now that my wife picked up a job a month ago.  Our annual spend is unchanged from before, about 70k a year, 22k of which is mortgage.  The extra is going to max out her new 401k bucket by the end of the year.  Our spend has been slowly going down for the last few years. 

[webguy]

We earn around $1M/year at the moment and our yearly spending is around $125k. That includes a part time nanny, lawn mowing service, and some other extravagances we won’t be paying for once I retire. We live a pretty cushy lifestyle on that amount and it would be difficult to spend much more.  Family of 4; wife and 2 young kids.

Home (mortgage/taxes/ins/repairs): $3,645/month
Utils: $672/month
Food/drink (grocery/takeout/liquor): $1,030/month
Health (ins/copays/dental/prescrips): $1,475/month
Kids (nanny/babysitters/clothes): $1,530/month
Giving: $803/month
Fun (dates/vacay fund): $450/month
Misc (target/umbrella ins): $430/month
Cars (gas/new car fund): $365/month

Total: $10,400/month

[We be free if we try]

Yes, I really like this forum, but could never do a case study because I'd be blown out of the water. I'm the people old timers here complain about. Our AGI was $193k last year, but will be lower this year ($165k) because I downshifted, and by the time we pay taxes, we spend, um, a lot. Roughly:
$2k high school tuition,
$3k housing / maintenance /utilities,
$2.1k healthcare (self-employed so deducts from AGI),
$1.5k food inc. restaurants, kids' school lunches and dh's lunches, (I know, I know)
$.5k cars/maintenance/public transport,
and about another $1k on everything else (travel, entertainment, clothes, garden).
And then fed and CA and SE taxes.
 
But, we have aging and in one case terminally ill parents in other states and countries requiring regular visits, and 2 kids in high school - one in private, one with learning differences. I'm downshifted to help care for both these responsibilities (and also working on switching careers - to post-retirement work I love). I also wear the only mustache in the family, and I started proselytizing to the family too late to turn the Titanic too hard.

So, I believe in mustachian principles, but we're relying on past 'stacheing, our absurd housing market, kids eventually launching, and (sorry, but it's true) future inheritances to eventually drift us into FIRE.

(Edited for clarity)

[middo]

We are pretty much on the 200K combined income, but in Australia so taxes are probably a little different. Our monthly spend works out around:
Food: $550
Non-food: $450
Eating out and booze: $450
Medical: $550
Kids (Uni housing etc): $3500
Mortgages (multiple): $5300
Utilities (on 5 properties): $1900
Transport: $1500
Home maintenance: $450
Hobbies/holidays: $500

Total: $15 150 per month.

Way to much, but without selling properties (and the market most of them are in is down at the moment) or not supporting our kids, which isn't going to happen, it isn't going to change too much in a hurry.  The transport costs included 2 car purchases over the last 12 months, one for us and one for a kid, and Australian registration fees on 4 cars, three motorbikes and a trailer.  Running a hobby farm and living interstate from it also costs. 

Facepunch me if you want.
 

[MrThatsDifferent]

Geez, I now feel much better. Not having kids and living in a country with affordable healthcare seems to make a huge difference. Downside is the rents are insane, but clearly renting is less costly than buying.  Not going to feel so badly about my rare splurges now.

[Bucksandreds]

We are pretty much on the 200K combined income, but in Australia so taxes are probably a little different. Our monthly spend works out around:
Food: $550
Non-food: $450
Eating out and booze: $450
Medical: $550
Kids (Uni housing etc): $3500
Mortgages (multiple): $5300
Utilities (on 5 properties): $1900
Transport: $1500
Home maintenance: $450
Hobbies/holidays: $500

Total: $15 150 per month.

Way to much, but without selling properties (and the market most of them are in is down at the moment) or not supporting our kids, which isn't going to happen, it isn't going to change too much in a hurry.  The transport costs included 2 car purchases over the last 12 months, one for us and one for a kid, and Australian registration fees on 4 cars, three motorbikes and a trailer.  Running a hobby farm and living interstate from it also costs. 

Facepunch me if you want.

If any of those 5 properties mortgages or Utilities are generating income, then they shouldn’t be included in personal expenses. If none of them are generating income then WTF?

[hops]

We're very new to a high income level and are still figuring things out. Our previous monthly spending was around $4,500, which includes an $830 mortgage and $1,100 in student loan minimums. With better health insurance our spending should now decrease by several thousand per year; the savings will go directly to debt repayment. Once my wife's student loans are paid off (we anticipate paying off $230k within 36 months) our housing costs will at least double and we'll start to aggressively invest in taxable accounts since we're already maxing out retirement.

(Edited to remove typos.)

[Irregular Joe]

$4,200 for Rent (2 bedroom)
$1,800 for Childcare (1 kid)
$715 for Health Insurance for a high deductible plan

That's already $6,715 a month before any other expenses.  sigh.  Another kid's on the way, so Childcare will jump to $3,500 or so.

I work in Manhattan.  We could cut rent by moving out of the city, but the commute time jumps a lot, and it would basically mean I'd lose 1-2 hours of my day to commuting that I now spend with my kid. I'd never get home before bedtime.

We're saving a lot, at least. Last year we saved 32%, spent 31%, and taxes took 37%.  The year before we saved 42%, spent 20%, and taxes took 38% (but that was pre-kid).

[wageslave23]

As someone who does not make >200k and has comparatively bare bones spending, I would spend a lot more if I was making 200k+.  So I don't think there is anything to be ashamed of.  First, I would probably be living in a high cost of living area so my housing expenses would double for a comparable home.  Second, I would probably be working more hours so would have less free time and would hire out more household work and/or pay for conveniences.  Third, my circle of friends would make more and have more expensive tastes.  Fourth, I judge the cost of everything based on amount of work hours it would take to pay for it.  Since my hourly rate would be higher, that would skew my decision towards spend more often.  Plus, I would probably continue to work a little longer past FI. 

I'm completely satisfied with my lifestyle and wouldn't trade it, but I understand the other side and realize its sometimes like comparing apples and oranges.

[Much Fishing to Do]

I’m just curious about spending levels for those with higher incomes. I know the premise of the forum is to spend a small amount regardless in pursuit of fire.....

Right now if we really tried, and have a lot in the past, we could save another $1k-$2k/mo. As-is, we’re still saving about $10k/mo and I feel like that’s still pretty good and I have a hard time justifying a big cut to our entertainment to get it even higher.

Is your (or others) spending also affected by where you are on your FIRE path?  pushing savings rate from, e.g., 50% to 60% was something that seemed critically important to me when savings are at 10x spending, but not so big a deal now that I am around 25x.  I think thats both reasonable (I already have enough savings) but also potentially dangerous (is any of the 'extras' I spend on that I dont plan for for retirement spending inflating my lifestyle enough to make the coming 'cut' in retirement painful or even altering my needed stache?

[FIRE 20/20]

The discussion is interesting, but I think the polling numbers won't be worth very much.  There are a few people here with $4k-$5k / month housing costs, and that's just rent/mortgage.  At those prices I suspect property taxes and insurance would be very significant as well.  Others may have a paid off mortgage and include essentially nothing for housing.  That difference alone overwhelms any ability to compare the survey results. 

[Slow2FIRE]

Not including taxes for a married couple both working:
$2100 for PITI (15yr mortgage)
$70 Gigabit internet (high level of service required for work)
$50-60 cellular depending on data usage away from home
$120 electricity in the summer (live in the hot humid southeast and work from home plus electric vehicle charging)
$15 natural gas (in the summer)
$60 water, sewer, trash, recycling (no lawn to water)
$425 life insurance, auto insurance, umbrella insurance, health insurance
$500 groceries, household consumables, pet consumables (4 pets)
$525 car payment
$300 "entertainment" spending (dining out, movies, etc)
$150 Estimated "off the books" cosmetics/skin care/ etc spending by DS that I really don't know about and only comes from DS' income which is inconsequential since we hit our savings targets each month of minimum 40% gross annual salary.

I suppose there are also occasional one time yearly charges that should be broken out into monthly costs such as:
$600 typical vet bill yearly
$500 out of pocket medical and dental costs yearly (maybe more like $1000 every other year)
$100 vehicle maintenance (mostly the cost of tires)
$1500 home maintenance or improvement projects

So maybe an extra $230 / month to save up for these once a year expenses.

[use2betrix]

Wow - I appreciate all the honesty and I feel less embarrassed about my spending. My current take home is about $17,200/mo. Married, single income, im 30 and wife 24, no kids. We keep our bills/fixed expenses relatively low. Doesn’t include things like the $3000 in 5th wheel repairs we’ve had this year (we live in it full time). I also put $8k down on a vehicle this year.

The first 4 months this year we stayed under $6k/mo. February of last year we were under $3500 but we stayed with family (we paid for food and everything, just no housing cost). I just checked again and one month last fall where we camped every night was actually just under $5000 spending. So, I know we have the capability, unfortunately due to my work locations and such, our entertainment is more costly. As a whole, by the end of this month we should be at about $100k saved for the year. Based on my sabbatical periods, I think $5k/mo should be pretty reasonable most months in FIRE.

$700 trailer,
$875 Rv spot,
$250 phones,
$80 gym,
$220 insurance,
Netflix $10, Apple Music $10, Pandora $5.
Bodybuilding.com $140
Gas $200 (me) $100 (wife)
EZ Pass $50
Groceries $600
Life Insurance $90
Dog Food $40
Electric $200
Motorcycle payment/insurance $300

$3870

[starguru]

700k of income (last year, this year will be within 100k)

6000/mnth (mortgage + property tax)
5000-6000/mnth credit cards (includes 2000 for daycare + after school activities, and food,  utilities, cellpone)

we paid about 200k in federal taxes, 50k state taxes, 10k property taxes

[big_slacker]

I'm in that $5500-$7k range but it's probably worth noting the mortgage/house expenses is $4400 all up. We're fairly frugal with the rest but definitely not MMM level. Just 20% auto savings/investing, don't eat out a lot and don't go crazy on toys.

[mm1970]

I'm guessing in the 5500-7k range, just from adding up the big items I get $6100.

Mortgage/prop taxes/ etc is around $4000 of that.
Next biggest is food $600
Then childcare $500

But I wouldn't be surprised if it's a bit over $7k either

[onlykelsey]

A lot. The big fixed expenses are about $6400.

[11,900 on taxes]
2300 on daycare
1900 on mortgage (put 20% down on a 480K apartment, 30 year loan at 4.25%)
900 on health insurance
800 on condo maintenance/common charges
~250 on commuting (public transit monthly card + occasional extra ticket if card is left at home or cab)
200 on utilities, internet and cell phone combined
40 on homeowner's insurance

On top of that there is food, clothing, entertainment, non-insurance health costs, travel, gifts, other insurance, etc.

ETA: Taxes are a huge item I didn't even think about until I saw @starguru 's response.  I am not sure  how much my husband had withheld out of his paycheck, but last year I paid/had withheld 137K of taxes, or about 11,400 monthly. I estimate he had about 6K...

[use2betrix]

I’m just curious about spending levels for those with higher incomes. I know the premise of the forum is to spend a small amount regardless in pursuit of fire.....

Right now if we really tried, and have a lot in the past, we could save another $1k-$2k/mo. As-is, we’re still saving about $10k/mo and I feel like that’s still pretty good and I have a hard time justifying a big cut to our entertainment to get it even higher.

Is your (or others) spending also affected by where you are on your FIRE path?  pushing savings rate from, e.g., 50% to 60% was something that seemed critically important to me when savings are at 10x spending, but not so big a deal now that I am around 25x.  I think thats both reasonable (I already have enough savings) but also potentially dangerous (is any of the 'extras' I spend on that I dont plan for for retirement spending inflating my lifestyle enough to make the coming 'cut' in retirement painful or even altering my needed stache?

My FIRE plan is different than anyone’s I have seen here due to my type of work. While many cut back on hours/days as they near, I actually plan to work 3-4 months out of the year then take the rest off. Once I hit about 750k saved (around 3-5 years depending on sabbaticals in the meantime) I’ll just work like 70-80hrs a week for 3-4 months then take the rest of the time off. My contract jobs are usually new construction and there’s a lot of short term, long hour projects that pay a lot.

Another big deciding factor is where we want to live. We don’t care to live in the south where our families are as we like cool weather. My work will also have no impact on where we live when we partial fire, so that door is wiiiide open and will be a tough choice.

[whywork]

Most of those earning 200K+ will be in HCOL areas. What would make sense is a survey for just the non essential expenses (rent, home owner expenses, preschool or child care expenses and any others that depend on location). I would be interested in knowing how much you spend for entertainment, eating out, vacations, grocery, buying stuff etc...

[dude]

Last year we were @$234k, and we spend a LOT. We live in a HCOL, travel quite a bit, buy organic/grass fed/pastured shit, because well, we can, etc., etc. There's only the two of us, and I'm 8 months away from a pretty good pension and FIRE at age 54. We're saving a ton (more than 40% of gross) and net worth is climbing steadily (currently over $1.8mil), so I don't feel any overarching need to live a leaner lifestyle. We own one car, bought used, and will drive it into the ground like we did the last 2 we owned.

[whywork]

Here are my expenses; I make ~280K and my monthly expenses come to 7000$ and 50% of it goes to rent

Rent: 3500
Grocery & Household: 500
Eat Out   200
Entertainment   200
Misc. (One time buys / Clothes / Shoes etc)   250
Car (gas, ins, registration & maint.)   230
Cell   160
Home Phone   50
Utilities (elec, gas, misc)   150
Internet   65
kids classes   70
kids tutoring    125
kids school     50
Life Insurance   400
Healthcare (Prem. + OOP)   600
Vacation   550
Total: 7000

Total expenses per year: 84K
Total yearly after tax (including 401k match): 220K
Total yearlyROI on investments (700k): 50K
Total networth increase per year: ~190K
Savings Rate: 70%

[Unique User]

Last year, we made about 200k.  I paid about 50k in taxes of various kinds and we saved about 80k. 

We're about the same, we'll be at slightly under $200k in gross, taxes are around $45k and we'll probably hit around $90k in savings this year since we don't have any big trips planned for this year.  Base spending is around $55k, but that does not include travel/weekend trips, etc.  Next year will be completely different, teen starts college in the fall and we want to do a big trip in June after she graduates high school. 

[Roboturner]

Our Mint Budget:

Mortgage and Bills: $1550
Groceries: $350
Travel Savings: $250
Insurance Savings: $220
Gas: $80
Everything Else: $750

Total: $3,200/mo, or $38,400/yr

Gross ~350k/yr b/w the 2 of us

[GrumpyPenguin]

Wow... I'm blown away by how much people on this forum in this income bracket spend. 

I know I'm unusual for the general population, but I didn't expect to be unusual here.

I live in a HCOL area, but rent a modest apartment and do not own a car.  My annual spend last year was $23,500, so a bit under $2k/month. All (after tax) income in excess was saved and invested...

[use2betrix]

Most of those earning 200K+ will be in HCOL areas. What would make sense is a survey for just the non essential expenses (rent, home owner expenses, preschool or child care expenses and any others that depend on location). I would be interested in knowing how much you spend for entertainment, eating out, vacations, grocery, buying stuff etc...

That does make sense. Though even in HCOL places, people still can live cheap (those McDonald’s workers must live somewhere)

Fortunately most here are at least including their rent in their post. I live in LCOL. If I sell my 5th wheel I’ll probabky move into a 3/2 house for less than $1500/mo.

Wow... I'm blown away by how much people on this forum in this income bracket spend. 

I know I'm unusual for the general population, but I didn't expect to be unusual here.

I live in a HCOL area, but rent a modest apartment and do not own a car.  My annual spend last year was $23,500, so a bit under $2k/month. All (after tax) income in excess was saved and invested...

I assume you’re over $200k income?

[letsdoit]

We're at 45-50k/year of spending for 2 adults, of which 30k is in housing fixed costs. I don't really know where the rest goes, nor do I care to get an exact breakdown.

this is impressive to me that all other spending is only 15 k /yr

[Paul der Krake]

Yeah taxes are a big chunk. Despite our best efforts, federal income tax is our first expense. The second is rent. The third is FICA taxes. Everything else, averaged over the course of the year, fits in < $1,500 month.

But housing isn't an expense you can magically waive away "because HCOL". It's a luxury like any other, we make a conscious choice to live where we live.

[Crabbie]

Income: ~$425k
Expenses: ~$50k, will be lower once we're not carrying daycare costs for 2 kids

[honeybbq]

Most of those earning 200K+ will be in HCOL areas. What would make sense is a survey for just the non essential expenses (rent, home owner expenses, preschool or child care expenses and any others that depend on location). I would be interested in knowing how much you spend for entertainment, eating out, vacations, grocery, buying stuff etc...

For a HCOLA, all the rest is in the noise. :)

After house, child care, and property taxes, it all seems to be peanuts. My property taxes alone rival some people's annual spend.

Insurance: $250/mo (house, 2 cars)
Car payment: 0
Eating out: $100 a month? We eat in almost every meal.
Groceries: $1000/month for a family
Vacation: We spend quite a bit annually but none are super fancy. For example, we're getting a VRBO for a 3 day weekend this fall on a local island (San Juans). The ferry will be $50, and we're looking at around $150/night for the VRBO. We'll pack food so we only eat out once or twice probably.
Electric/garbage/Internet: $250/month
Dogs: $200/month (vet/food)
YMCA: $75/month
Netflix: $12?/month

[GrumpyPenguin]

Wow... I'm blown away by how much people on this forum in this income bracket spend. 

I know I'm unusual for the general population, but I didn't expect to be unusual here.

I live in a HCOL area, but rent a modest apartment and do not own a car.  My annual spend last year was $23,500, so a bit under $2k/month. All (after tax) income in excess was saved and invested...

I assume you’re over $200k income?

Yes.

edit: FYI, in your poll I clicked the lowest option, even though it's higher than my current average monthly spend.  Others might have had the same problem as I did.

[letsdoit]

housing is 20k /yr. 
30k /yr for the rest of it

[the_fixer]

211k gross

We spend about $4,800 per month everything else we bring home is invested. We live in a medium to medium high cost area.

This includes our housing costs of about $2700 per month.

We would certainly be considered spendy pants and do not deprive ourselves at all including taking 2 - 3 multi week trips out of the country per year going to the movies multiple times per week, eating out at decent restaurants a few times per week, full cable and internet and we have outside hobbies as well.

We even purchased a car this year to replace the wife's car due to it leaving her stranded multiple times so that was $9,000 out of pocket this year plus her trade.

I made some serious cuts over the last few years and there is still a bunch of low hanging stuff to cut that I am slowly working on optimizing so I expect it to drop more in the future.

For me the key is understanding where your money is going after you see exactly what you are spending your money on it is easy to prioritize your spending and not wonder where all of your money went at the end of the month and why it did not bring you more satisfaction.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[MaybeBabyMustache]

The discussion is interesting, but I think the polling numbers won't be worth very much.  There are a few people here with $4k-$5k / month housing costs, and that's just rent/mortgage.  At those prices I suspect property taxes and insurance would be very significant as well.  Others may have a paid off mortgage and include essentially nothing for housing.  That difference alone overwhelms any ability to compare the survey results.

This. Our property taxes & mortgage are insanely face punchy (we live in the Bay Area), but the rest of our expenses are around $43K/year. Still plenty high, but not crazy. We made under $1M last year & I will likely FIRE at the end of this year or early next year. 

[CoffeeAndDonuts]

Most of those earning 200K+ will be in HCOL areas. What would make sense is a survey for just the non essential expenses (rent, home owner expenses, preschool or child care expenses and any others that depend on location). I would be interested in knowing how much you spend for entertainment, eating out, vacations, grocery, buying stuff etc...

Completely agree which is why I broke mine out a bit more. It's also tough to compare single vs. couple vs. family.

The details are interesting though and I'm pretty comfortable with where we're at for a family of 3.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Wow... I'm blown away by how much people on this forum in this income bracket spend. 

I know I'm unusual for the general population, but I didn't expect to be unusual here.

I live in a HCOL area, but rent a modest apartment and do not own a car.  My annual spend last year was $23,500, so a bit under $2k/month. All (after tax) income in excess was saved and invested...

I assume you’re over $200k income?

Yes.

edit: FYI, in your poll I clicked the lowest option, even though it's higher than my current average monthly spend.  Others might have had the same problem as I did.

How many people are in your family?

[schloe]

This is for our family of 5 (3 kids under the age of 8) with my annual gross income of ~$375k.  My wife stays at home with the kids.  Not very mustachian, but here it is!

mortgage: 4,000 (required payment is roughly $1,900 but I pay down some additional principal every month)
amazon/target/other: 1,500
groceries: 1,200
travel/vacations: 1,000
education: 800
clothing/shoes: 600
restaurants: 600
hobbies/kids sports: 500
autos/gasoline/uber: 500
utilities and phones: 400
nanny: 400
gym: 200
insurance: 100

total: roughly 12,000 a month (10,000 if you don't count voluntary additional mortgage principal)

We can't figure out how to get our amazon/target/other spending down.  This is basically all the stuff we buy online and at local big box stores out of convenience to make the family and house and our lives function.  I am happy with all of our other categories, but we need to work on that one big one.  I max out 401k and 529's and save a substantial amount in taxable accounts, but I'd still like to get our spending down more if we can.  We live in a fairly hcol city and my mortgage payment is substantially lower than what most others pay in my income bracket in our city.

[letsdoit]

when ppl talk spending here, does that include?
taxes
health and life insurance
child care?

[letsdoit]

We can't figure out how to get our amazon/target/other spending down, either.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

This is for our family of 5 (3 kids under the age of 8) with my annual gross income of ~$375k.  My wife stays at home with the kids.  Not very mustachian, but here it is!

mortgage: 4,000 (required payment is roughly $1,900 but I pay down some additional principal every month)
amazon/target/other: 1,500
groceries: 1,200
travel/vacations: 1,000
education: 800
clothing/shoes: 600
restaurants: 600
hobbies/kids sports: 500
autos/gasoline/uber: 500
utilities and phones: 400
nanny: 400
gym: 200
insurance: 100

total: roughly 12,000 a month (10,000 if you don't count voluntary additional mortgage principal)

We can't figure out how to get our amazon/target/other spending down.  This is basically all the stuff we buy online and at local big box stores out of convenience to make the family and house and our lives function.  I am happy with all of our other categories, but we need to work on that one big one.  I max out 401k and 529's and save a substantial amount in taxable accounts, but I'd still like to get our spending down more if we can.  We live in a fairly hcol city and my mortgage payment is substantially lower than what most others pay in my income bracket in our city.

Re: Amazon/Target - have you taken a few months to track the expenses & bucket them into categories? That might be a helpful way of determining if it's things you want/need that align with your priorities, or where the opportunities are for trimming back.

[GrumpyPenguin]

Wow... I'm blown away by how much people on this forum in this income bracket spend. 

I know I'm unusual for the general population, but I didn't expect to be unusual here.

I live in a HCOL area, but rent a modest apartment and do not own a car.  My annual spend last year was $23,500, so a bit under $2k/month. All (after tax) income in excess was saved and invested...

I assume you’re over $200k income?

Yes.

edit: FYI, in your poll I clicked the lowest option, even though it's higher than my current average monthly spend.  Others might have had the same problem as I did.

How many people are in your family?

1.

[use2betrix]

when ppl talk spending here, does that include?
taxes
health and life insurance
child care?

I made sure to state my income as “take home.” That’s what goes into my accounts. I.e. my checking account and also my 401k. I didn’t list taxes, SS, or even health indusrsnce, because that all comes out of my paycheck before I see it so I dont even worry about it. I minimize it the best I can but that’s all I can do so no point in even calling it an expense.

I am fortunate that I receive $4200/mo in tax free per diem and a $500/mo “trip home allowance.” So those are included in my monthly take home pay. Because of this, my take home is nearly identical to my taxable gross sometimes lol.

I have a small life insurance plan through work but I included my wives and my own life insurance plans as expenses ($90/mo for 30 years, 1 mil coverage for me and 500k on her)

[CoffeeAndDonuts]

Wow... I'm blown away by how much people on this forum in this income bracket spend. 

I know I'm unusual for the general population, but I didn't expect to be unusual here.

I live in a HCOL area, but rent a modest apartment and do not own a car.  My annual spend last year was $23,500, so a bit under $2k/month. All (after tax) income in excess was saved and invested...

My prior post was about 2018 but I've got some changes happening which I think look like this for 2019. Prior post: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/those-of-you-with-$200k-income-whats-your-typical-monthly-spending-like/msg2126313/#msg2126313

$250k'ish gross.
$50k'ish fed and SE taxes
$10k'ish state.
= $190k net.

Spending for 2019
$12.3k Mortgage interest
$16.2k Childcare.
$5k Healthcare
$37k Other

$119.5k Savings which is around a 63% savings rate (excluding taxes).

As I mentioned up thread, this includes a home that we really enjoy and could have paid off but prefer to keep mortgaged given 3.625% 30-year rate and we stay invested. If we paid off the mortgage, I could push the savings rate to 69% but I don't think that's optimal.

Looked at another way, if we compared to Root of Good, our family of 3 using ACA and FIRE'd could get pretty close to them I think with a significant part of the difference explained by property taxes. For me, that's a key reference point. We've optimized housing, healthcare, and childcare very differently than them because our situation is different but in the other areas, we're pretty similar.

I definitely don't feel spendypants (except with the frequency of our eating out).