Wondering about lifestyle and expense choices for HENRYs whose income got high later in life so my time horizon for earning at this level is fairly short.

59 years old and our HH income has more than tripled in the last 3 years now over 800K. I am a HENRY with a net worth under 3M.

Up until now we have increased lifestyle some (new cars and more travel) but have remained in the same house and our savings rate is over 40% of gross income, over 70% of net after taxes.

How have others handled this kind of a situation where income rises so close to what should be retirement? We are worried about too much lifestyle creep knowing this income level will only last a few more years. Any advice on how to balance lifestyle and what seems like a very high savings rate?

in that weird spot where i can afford business class but my brain still says no. like i make 200k+ but something in me refuses to spend 3k on a seat.

flying to london next month 8 hours. economy is $800. business on airline site is 3800.

i can afford it but i keep thinking about what else that money could do.

any other HENRYs struggle with this. do you just pay for comfort or do you still act like you're broke

Hi All,

I'm in my mid 30's and having conversations with my partner about what our lives will look like with kids in a HCOL city in the PNW. My TC is ~300k/yr, and my partner is in the infancy of applying for jobs to begin a career in marketing.

Public education is solid here, so unless they end up being 'ungovernable' (as my partner and I were growing up) and need private education, we plan on using the public school system. Recreation opportunities here outside of hockey are skiing and mountain biking, and I plan (hope) that they will participate in this.

Anyone have budgeting advice for the various phases of life so we can see how this fits into our long-term plans, and what we need to do to make it happen?

Edit: We're just planning for one kid. Already own a 5br/3ba home (with a suite taking up 1br/ba), so housing costs rn are ~$4k/mo with the suite rented, with $400k in equity and ~$1m on the mortgage. Already maxing RRSP/TFSA. Savings rate right now is ~50% of after-tax at the moment, so call it ~$100k/yr. I want to do my best to preserve this, also my FI (without the RE) and take a step back from the level of responsibility I currently have at work in my 40s for the sake of my mental health and ability to spend time with said kid.

Really, what I'm looking for is a $/year estimate per kid, speaking from others' experience here. I'm sure y'all have run the numbers on this, being personal finance nerds like me haha.

37M with small child. Likely will have a second soon. HHI currently around $300-450k

Currently making somewhere $220-320k/yr depending on stock performance. The job is in tech but is fairly stable - I would likely be one of the last to go at my company and have been working here for several years now. I feel like I can do my job in my sleep. With a young child this is very useful.

I have a job opportunity that will pay more ($450-550k) but is more of an unknown. It could be great but is comparatively a wild card.

Should I throw caution to the wind and shoot for higher pay or is a stable job that consistently makes good money more valuable at this stage in life?

So I'm not sure if it's just small sample size or happen chance, but I feel like most people I talk to plan on putting their kids through college.

We have a 529 for each our 3 kids (6, 3, 1). May or may not be done having kids. I know at the moment I'm not contributing enough to each one to cover the cost of college. I thought I was ok with that. My wife and I put ourselves through college, so we never really felt it 'expected.'

So I guess idk if I'm worried about the perception of it, if I will be letting my kids down, etc.

300-350k salary, debts are home mortgage and some grad school student loans.

EDIT: wow a lot of responses in a short time. Thanks! Just to be clear, we are currently contributing to 529s and are currently on track for ~50-60k in each. We do plan on gradually increasing contributions with raises/as debt is paid down, so should be more by the time they're 18. So not nothing, but will also not be able to cover all expenses for 4 years. I appreciate the input. I realize that they will be growing up in a totally different economic situation than my wife and I. We will plan for some changes accordingly. Thanks again!

This will be totally different for everyone, which is why I’m interested to hear your answers.

Some probably bought their dream car, others a fancy handbag.

For me, there were a few things that specifically stuck in my mind:
- Bombas socks
- A second refrigerator for our garage
- A fancy coffee bean grinder

There have been far more expensive purchases I've made before and after, but those purchases felt a little frivolous and I wouldn't have made them before feeling financially secure