O.K., I've been on this board for some time, and compared to the average Joe we aren't spendthrifts. But it occurred to me we seemed to have lost our way in my household. When DW stayed home to take care of the kids, we knocked down our expectations for saving money. At first we needed to just to get by, but as DW's consulting work got well established, our household income is now higher than ever, and almost no daycare costs to boot. Yet instead of increasing our savings, we've mostly increased our lifestyle. Nothing fancy, no new cars or things like that. Just spending on projects around the house, tree removals, home depot purchases, some more dinners out, etc.
This year we will have gross earnings right around $170k. But our total deposits towards net worth will be $37,000 - including principle payments towards the house! That's a savings rate of less than 22%!
We are slacking, I'll have to see where we are bleeding our money. Our net worth is under 300k so it's not like we are sitting on a big pile and just cruising to the finish line. I think it's the rapid increase in income that's skewed this, since 5 years ago we earned under $100k combined.
Who else out there is looking at the "I save 60% of my gross" posts on this board and thinking, "how?" Who isn't really a hard core LBYM'er - I know you are out there! I do have two kids, one with costly health problems, but I've also got a 50" HDTV, Nintendo Wii, Core 2 Duo, Nice treadmill, play structure for the kids, jacuzzi, fancy BBQ, so I am living like a king. I think what really did it was the realization that retiring before 55 would take enormous sacrifice as the pension calculus falls off a cliff before then. Scrapping my original plan of FIRE at 45 took some LBYM motivation away. Even if we up this number a bit, I just don't see us ever being a member of the militant LBYM club.
Anyone else not socking away a huge chunk of their income? Am I now officially a leper?
This year we will have gross earnings right around $170k. But our total deposits towards net worth will be $37,000 - including principle payments towards the house! That's a savings rate of less than 22%!
We are slacking, I'll have to see where we are bleeding our money. Our net worth is under 300k so it's not like we are sitting on a big pile and just cruising to the finish line. I think it's the rapid increase in income that's skewed this, since 5 years ago we earned under $100k combined.
Who else out there is looking at the "I save 60% of my gross" posts on this board and thinking, "how?" Who isn't really a hard core LBYM'er - I know you are out there! I do have two kids, one with costly health problems, but I've also got a 50" HDTV, Nintendo Wii, Core 2 Duo, Nice treadmill, play structure for the kids, jacuzzi, fancy BBQ, so I am living like a king. I think what really did it was the realization that retiring before 55 would take enormous sacrifice as the pension calculus falls off a cliff before then. Scrapping my original plan of FIRE at 45 took some LBYM motivation away. Even if we up this number a bit, I just don't see us ever being a member of the militant LBYM club.
Anyone else not socking away a huge chunk of their income? Am I now officially a leper?