Am I spending too much? Is it even possible to retire early?

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Laqueefa

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Laqueefa
Mar 20 83 Comments

Am I spending too much? Is it even possible to retire early?

Monthly Expenses for me and my wife:
Mortgage $3,953
Water $121
PG&E $225
Phone bill $155
Allowance to parents $1,000
Car payment $1,300
Gardener $155
Property tax $873
Total is $7,782.

This is excluding ALL food and ALL credit card expenses. I'll estimate that my wife and I (no kids) spend $6,000 on our credit cards for food and other expenses, like buying stuff on Amazon and internet, netflix etc. per month.

So the total spent per month is $13,782 = $165,384 per year. That number seems really high tbh. We're also going to do a $140k remodel on our home since we just bought it and it’s old (4 beds 2 bath). (Got lucky and bought for 300k under market rate). We're also expecting a child in the next two years.

My wife and I both are senior software engineers at FAANG. Right now our combined TC is $700k. Our TC was never that high before, as we just got into faang less than 3 years ago, and we just got promoted recently. The total net after-tax income, including bonus and RSU's is $30k a month. If you only count the base salaries, it’s $17k a month, which barely covers the $13k we spend a month, and most of the time that $13k number is higher lol.

Are we living outside of our means? Can we even retire early? We’re in our very early 30’s. Wife will probably stop working in the next 5 years to take care of our future children. But what about myself, am I doomed for a lifetime of work? We have around $300k in cash in our bank account.

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TOP 83 Comments
  • $1300 on car payments Jesus H Christ. Are you both driving Ferraris?

    Having kids will impact your finances greatly, so I suggest fixing your shit before even thinking about it. Day care full time is about 3k/month.
    Mar 20 20
    • Google / Ops
      para para

      Go to company page Google Ops

      para para
      The issue is that OP is planning to have a kid, maintain the same lifestyle, his SO might quit after the child is born and potentially retire early.
      Mar 21
    • Netflix
      mxKM46

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      mxKM46
      the real issue is that OP seems to constantly judge by what other families are song or what they “should” be able to do

      which doesn’t bode well for financially planning for a child
      Mar 22
  • Yahoo
    WhatNext!

    Go to company page Yahoo

    WhatNext!
    How come u r spending $6,000 per month on shopping? May be u need to look into those expenses. Once in a while I believe expenditure could be 10-15k in a month, but average would come to 3-3.5K for me n even my frnds.
    Mar 20 4
    • Thoughtexchange
      ksgr1

      Thoughtexchange

      ksgr1
      Why not just... cook?
      Mar 20
    • Yahoo
      WhatNext!

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      WhatNext!
      Do you realize it’s $200 per day? Are you sure you are saving costs?
      Also, your credit cards and some other apps help you budgeting and identifying where most of the expenses go. You could save a lot if you could cut down on it
      Mar 20
  • Allowances to parents? Lol, nope
    Mar 20 9
  • Square
    ChE891x

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    ChE891x
    $6k per month on food, subs and random purchases seems like your problem. Which one of you has the spending problem?
    Mar 20 0
  • Have you only just started making that much money. $300k savings seems low based on your expenses and income.

    You need around $4.2m to retire at your current spending level. Given a TC of 700k, your take home should leave well over 200k for saving each year.

    If you can maintain that savings rate, you can retire in 11-12 years.
    Mar 20 2