Come again?

Claude! said:

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ChoppinDs40 said:

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Principal Uncertainty said:

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You seem like a nice guy, so I'll give you some advice in these tough financial times. That $650/month for a part time nanny seems a bit unnecessary and selfish. With that money you could afford a nice Nautilus ski boat. You need to take a long look in the mirror and decide what kind of man you are. Are you the kind of man who wants to make your own life more convenient by having Janita doing dishes a couple times a month, or are you a real father who is willing to make memories for your children that will last a lifetime by being the daddy who drives the ski boat? I trust you'll make the correct decision.

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Bro. Once rv is paid off… then the boat. Then we pull the boat and RV to redneck heaven.

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Branson?

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Nah, prolly PK or Texoma.

SF2004 said:

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FIDO*98* said:

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AozorAg said:

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What is six figures? If it's like $120k, then that was $75k like 10 years ago and who cares. That's not much at all these days.

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It's dumb this term sticks around. It originated to refer to the top 1/2%

To have a nice home in an upper class neighborhood with a single income, savings, play money, etc. you need at least 350K in today's world. Nobody making that kind of money uses the term 6-figure so anyone who does is likely just north of 100 and basically working to barely get by

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I think you are actually serious and not trolling...

That is $29,000 a month. You are out of touch.

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Again, not trolling, or being out of touch. Just an overall commentary on what the term "6-figures"

Take the number I put out. 350K and let's roll with that assuming a single income earner:

$350,000 income
-$37,000 401K
-14,000 529
-18% adjusted Income tax ($53,000)
=$246,000
-42,000 personal savings
=$204,000
Mortgage on a 30 year with 600K financed
-$44,12 Mortgage
-10,000 Property tax

You are left with $12,500 monthly to cover Insurance, bills, utilities, vehicles, etc. All said and done, you have a few grand left at the end of a year. Now figure most people in life who manage to hit that number get there later in life and you don't have a ton of time to capitalize on it. That's what the term "6-figure" was meant to convey.

I'll say this to anyone who thinks they need dual incomes. When my wife left her "6-figure" (low 100's Pharma job) to be a SAHM, it allowed me to focus on my career. I'd never be where I am today had we not given it up when it seemed impracticable financially at the time. Don't let strangers raise your kids so your wife can make 100K. The idiots running your company are no smarter than you are. I was a C Student with an Ag Eco degree when I graduated. I now have a Director position at a medical device company because I could give 10% more than the guy next to me.

37k to 401k? Even with over 50 catch up isn't the max personal contribution like 30k?

I was adding her IRA to my 401K to abbreviate use rounded numbers. It's been a few years since I had to get by on that so forgive my error

AozorAg said:

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FIDO*98* said:

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AozorAg said:

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What is six figures? If it's like $120k, then that was $75k like 10 years ago and who cares. That's not much at all these days.

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It's dumb this term sticks around. It originated to refer to the top 1/2%

To have a nice home in an upper class neighborhood with a single income, savings, play money, etc. you need at least 350K in today's world. Nobody making that kind of money uses the term 6-figure so anyone who does is likely just north of 100 and basically working to barely get by

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Agreed completely. If you use the term "six figures" like it's a lot of money, then you don't make very much. The women in this video clearly don't make very much. They might as well be telling people why they quit working at McDonald's.

I also agree on your $350k number these days. I reached $325k total comp about 6 years ago right after I turned 30, and that was when I got my house paid off, started paying cash for cars, and didn't have concerns about money from that point forward, even with saving for college, paying for private school and childcare, eating out a lot, etc.

But I will say, even making significantly more than $350k now, I still think about money and wish I had more. The people advertising that they make "six figures" are nowhere close to wealthy, and most are probably just getting by. That is just not a lot of money in 2025.

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GB Chris Chris wins

If that poster was truly making $350k at age 30, he needs to live way below his means and retire at 40. I'm 63 and not earning nearly that kind of coin.

This thread smells like Barnes...

... or lolpoors. Yeah, definitely the poors.

So true. Both my parents were teachers and then my mom went back to school to pursue administration and leadership.

I married a teacher and she did the same thing. She's now an HBIC.

AozorAg said:

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FIDO*98* said:

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AozorAg said:

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What is six figures? If it's like $120k, then that was $75k like 10 years ago and who cares. That's not much at all these days.

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It's dumb this term sticks around. It originated to refer to the top 1/2%

To have a nice home in an upper class neighborhood with a single income, savings, play money, etc. you need at least 350K in today's world. Nobody making that kind of money uses the term 6-figure so anyone who does is likely just north of 100 and basically working to barely get by

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Agreed completely. If you use the term "six figures" like it's a lot of money, then you don't make very much. The women in this video clearly don't make very much. They might as well be telling people why they quit working at McDonald's.

I also agree on your $350k number these days. I reached $325k total comp about 6 years ago right after I turned 30, and that was when I got my house paid off, started paying cash for cars, and didn't have concerns about money from that point forward, even with saving for college, paying for private school and childcare, eating out a lot, etc.

But I will say, even making significantly more than $350k now, I still think about money and wish I had more. The people advertising that they make "six figures" are nowhere close to wealthy, and most are probably just getting by. That is just not a lot of money in 2025.

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Serioussly, I'm curious... whwould you pay off your mortgage in your 30s/high income years? No mortgage interest deduction? Please share your strategy. Seriously. Tx.

JamesPShelley said:

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AozorAg said:

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FIDO*98* said:

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AozorAg said:

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What is six figures? If it's like $120k, then that was $75k like 10 years ago and who cares. That's not much at all these days.

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It's dumb this term sticks around. It originated to refer to the top 1/2%

To have a nice home in an upper class neighborhood with a single income, savings, play money, etc. you need at least 350K in today's world. Nobody making that kind of money uses the term 6-figure so anyone who does is likely just north of 100 and basically working to barely get by

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Agreed completely. If you use the term "six figures" like it's a lot of money, then you don't make very much. The women in this video clearly don't make very much. They might as well be telling people why they quit working at McDonald's.

I also agree on your $350k number these days. I reached $325k total comp about 6 years ago right after I turned 30, and that was when I got my house paid off, started paying cash for cars, and didn't have concerns about money from that point forward, even with saving for college, paying for private school and childcare, eating out a lot, etc.

But I will say, even making significantly more than $350k now, I still think about money and wish I had more. The people advertising that they make "six figures" are nowhere close to wealthy, and most are probably just getting by. That is just not a lot of money in 2025.

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Serioussly, I'm curious... whwould you pay off your mortgage in your 30s/high income years? No mortgage interest deduction? Please share your strategy. Seriously. Tx.

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I paid off my mortgage because I didn't want to have any debt, and the mortgage interest deduction doesn't save you as much money as not having to pay mortgage interest in the first place. It was a 4% mortgage, and I possibly could have made more than that investing the cash, but having zero debt in my early 30s was more important to me.

My income has only gone up significantly since then, so I'm still in my high income years and will be until I decide to stop working as much.

fc2112 said:

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Meanwhile, all the teachers watching us claim 6 figures isn't that much money anymore....

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Teachers in HISD will start their first year at $64,000. A married couple of teachers will have a household income of $128,000. Median household incomes in 6 states is over $95K. Six figures isn't that much anymore. One million is the new six figures.

fc2112 said:

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If that poster was truly making $350k at age 30, he needs to live way below his means and retire at 40. I'm 63 and not earning nearly that kind of coin.

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I was making $325k at age 30. Now it's not quite double that at age 36. I don't think I'm even close to being able to retire. Whatever I'm making, after maxing out 401ks and paying income tax and property tax, you can take about 30% off the top, so it's not as much as it sounds like.

I'm trying to remember where all of that money has gone, but we haven't lived too extravagantly. We both graduated law school with about $120k in student loans between us and had to pay those off. We bought a $400k house only putting 10% down and paid that off within 6 years. We bought new cars for roughly $30k a piece when we got out of school and paid those off within 3-4 years, and both bought new ones for cash last year. Bought a new house for $1 million a few years back and paid off that one within a year. On top of that, we've had a few kids that cost $10k-12k each per year for private school, on top of higher household expenses and kids' activities. We've done some remodeling on the house…just call that $50k. We've fully funded college tuition for our oldest two kids at about $60k a piece.

It's only been within the last 3-4 years that we've been able to really start putting money away and accumulating wealth.

I guess if I lived in a ****hole house, had no kids, had ****ty cars, never went to law school, pinched pennies on everything, and still somehow made as much money as I make now and never used it to enjoy life, I could retire in a few years….but that's just not how things work in reality.

No offense, but your numbers don't add up. Living in a house comparable to me, driving cars comparable to mine, with double the household income and saying you haven't been able to start saving.

Perhaps your student loan burden makes the difference. Or maybe you go out to eat - A LOT.

Offspring will result.

fc2112 said:

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No offense, but your numbers don't add up. Living in a house comparable to me, driving cars comparable to mine, with double the household income and saying you haven't been able to start saving.

Perhaps your student loan burden makes the difference. Or maybe you go out to eat - A LOT.

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Maybe I wasn't clear. That was just a very quick list of the expenses to which our money has been directed over the years, and I'm sure I'm leaving out a few sizable items. I'm just saying there were a lot of hard costs before we could start accumulating wealth (other than our home, which I don't really count).

I didn't include the money I've saved and spent on actual productive things like raw land, rental properties, equities, bitcoin, etc., which probably totals another $2 million. But my point was that accumulating all of that is still fairly recent, like within the last 4-5 years, which is when my income really spiked, especially the last 3 years. Retirement at 40 is not even a remote possibility just because I was making $325k at age 30. Retiring at 40 is outlandish under almost any scenario, especially when you have kids who are only going to get more expensive. Maybe at age 55.

I don't deny I've had some lifestyle creep even though I swore I wouldn't. It's just what happens.

I didn't say I was broke. I was saying making $325k at age 30 does not mean you can retire at 40. Not even close.

ChoppinDs40 said:

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AggieArchitect04 said:

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$350k to live "comfortably"? That's over $29,000/mo gross. That represents 2%-4% of earners in America.

I don't consider myself rich, but certainly blessed enough to live pretty comfortably. Maybe I have low standards but I don't want for much. I make 6 figures but less than $350k and do just fine supporting 2 kids and a household. And that's with 25% of my NET income going entirely to their mom for "child support" that pays for her brand new Lincoln. Sock away a little each month. Max out my 401k and Roth. Able to take 2-3 nice trips a year, plus weekend trips away. I probably eat out more than I should. I also have a gf and she's expensive, lol.

What are you people pissing your money away on?

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I made a long post on this sometime earlier this year in the B&I board. Don't take this as "hating on" or whatever because I simply laid out our monthly budget by category to show how $450k annual income (gross) can be absorbed very simply. With bonus, my household is now in the 625k arena and often times I still feel poor. This is how:

I do not "budget" for bonus income. It is found money to me and goes to large chunks of savings, home projects, or investments. $150k of that is bonus. Post taxes, roughly 80k. Thanks Uncle Sam.

Post taxes, health insurance, max 2x 401ks, max HSA, and max child care FSA, we net roughly 23k/month. Live in "nice" suburb of DFW.

Now, I think the first cost people tend to homogenize is housing. Varies quite a bit, even in the same counties within Texas. Property taxes in Texas absolutely crush people right now after what we've seen on property values over the last 5 years.

I won't go into as much detail but here's "how you can blow all your money". These are also monthly rolling budgets.

Mortgage + taxes + insurance + HOA = about $5000. This is a 2.5% mortgage, mind you. Taxes are about $1600/month currently.

Utilities: nat gas, water, trash, electricity = $600
Groceries/costco runs = $900
Eat out/bars = $700. (Cost of food is outrageous post covid)
Gasoline + tolls = $500
Child care: 1 in day care, other with afterschool care = $2,100
After school activities: tennis, dance, swim lessons (rotates throughout the year) = $250. For 1 kid!
Internet/cable/streaming = $175
Personal Care: haircuts, nails, etc = $200 (women hair is expensive)
Household maintenance: lawn care, monthly house cleaning, alarm service, pest control =$500
Insurance: 2 vehicles, 1 camper, home = $800
Clothing: again, for the family = $200 (budget rolls)
Medical costs (HDHP plan) = $400

Subtotal this for "wake up, eat, go to work, keep everyone fed, clothed, groomed and alive". Drumroll. $12,325.

$10k to go. Far more discretionary, somewhat.

Entertainment (includes country club dues) $1,300
Travel budget (again, annualized) $1,500 (this is hard these days if you want to do some nice vacations - ski trip for 4 nearly cost me $8k earlier this year.. driving to CO!!)
Part time nanny $650/mo
Car payments plus RV $2,800 (don't judge almost paid off)
529s for kids $600
Vacation home savings $2k
Life insurance $250
General target, Amazon, etc (wife kills us here) $250

There's the other $10k. This doesn't include Christmas, general home improvement (I like to landscape), etc.

Now, I'd like to think this is a pretty comfortable life but honestly nothing on that list isn't common up and down my street. And you frequently see people doing far more, with less income.

I think what I've found the most troublesome is general lifestyle creep for people in upper middle class. Every few years we make a jump and then I have to reign it back in. Then it repeats. The nanny that does everyone's laundry, grocery pickup, household chores, is a godsend.

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ChoppinDs40 said:

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She gets a tongue lashing at least once a month

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They usually charge more for letting you do that

AozorAg said:

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FIDO*98* said:

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AozorAg said:

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What is six figures? If it's like $120k, then that was $75k like 10 years ago and who cares. That's not much at all these days.

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It's dumb this term sticks around. It originated to refer to the top 1/2%

To have a nice home in an upper class neighborhood with a single income, savings, play money, etc. you need at least 350K in today's world. Nobody making that kind of money uses the term 6-figure so anyone who does is likely just north of 100 and basically working to barely get by

---

Agreed completely. If you use the term "six figures" like it's a lot of money, then you don't make very much. The women in this video clearly don't make very much. They might as well be telling people why they quit working at McDonald's.

I also agree on your $350k number these days. I reached $325k total comp about 6 years ago right after I turned 30, and that was when I got my house paid off, started paying cash for cars, and didn't have concerns about money from that point forward, even with saving for college, paying for private school and childcare, eating out a lot, etc.

But I will say, even making significantly more than $350k now, I still think about money and wish I had more. The people advertising that they make "six figures" are nowhere close to wealthy, and most are probably just getting by. That is just not a lot of money in 2025.

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Its good to know all the money didn't keep you from being a loser. Stick to your guns

maroon barchetta said:

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Is this a new Barnes sock?

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gotta be brags about how rich he is in every post...Forget to add everyone is making 1 mil on texags banging 10s.

HoustonAggie11 said:

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maroon barchetta said:

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Is this a new Barnes sock?

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gotta be brags about how rich he is in every post...Forget to add everyone is making 1 mil on texags banging 10s.

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With a million dollars he could do two chicks at the same time.

maroon barchetta said:

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HoustonAggie11 said:

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maroon barchetta said:

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Is this a new Barnes sock?

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gotta be brags about how rich he is in every post...Forget to add everyone is making 1 mil on texags banging 10s.

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With a million dollars he could do two chicks at the same time.

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Not all women are into money...

SF2004 said:

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maroon barchetta said:

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HoustonAggie11 said:

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maroon barchetta said:

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Is this a new Barnes sock?

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gotta be brags about how rich he is in every post...Forget to add everyone is making 1 mil on texags banging 10s.

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With a million dollars he could do two chicks at the same time.

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Not all women are into money...

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The kind that would double up on this dude are into money.

The reactions from the poors are the best part of these threads

Somewhat related.

Lifestyle creep is real. That's all I'll say. Thought I was better than it but im not.