TLDR: why am I spending so much money and is it ok EDIT: JUST TO CLARIFY I still save $85K a year from my RSUs (sell on vest and diversify) and 401K for those who missed it. Yes they are a variable and can fluctuate. The equation below is ONLY for my base. It just seems like an absolute crazy amount to me for 2 people in Texas. I feel like it wasnāt always thing expensive but maybe Iām crazy. Here is the breakdown of my budget: Take home base (after tax and deductions): $10,189 Rent: $4,500 (I know this is crazy but I can explain) Utilities (electric, internet, phones): $450 Car Payment: $600 (Mercedes C300) Car Insurance: $150 Subscriptions (Netflix, etc.): $50 Credit Card Spend: $3,500 Debts: $903 Left over: nothing CC spend includes everything from food to entertainment to my wife buying clothes I do get $100K of RSUs a year from Amazon, which after taxes are about $75K. My 401K is also worth $10K a year so thatās roughly $85K saved. Of course the stock can fluctuate (Iām actually still on my cash bonus but trying to simulate everything for the future). I also will probably be rated higher than Iām currently at (Iām an L6) in the future but I donāt count any chickens before they hatch. Also working towards a promotion in the next few years but not there yet. I also have a side hustle that brings in about $15K a year but this quickly evaporates for any big purchases, vacations, etc. Now NW wise I have a home with roughly $120K of equity and I have $80K of cash/investments so worth about $200K total. THINGS IM PLANNING TO DO BETTER THIS YEAR: Live someone cheaper (itās just insane, itās one of the best places to live in the state but not worth it). I think I can drop this to $3,500 and still be kicking it. Pay off my debts: I have a terrible habit of sitting on debt. I literally didnāt realize how much the payments added up. One of them is a personal loan that will be done this year so itās all principle, and the other is a CC I just paid off. I have tried to cut back on my CC spend between my wife and I but I swear itās just impossible. Life is fucking expensive, we donāt even go anywhere or each out much. But just having fun a couple weekends a month and it adds up. Am I the only one? I think by paying down my debts and living somewhere cheaper I can recoup about $1,500 more a month this year. LONG TERM GOALS I am saving for a nice home we can live in for many years. Targeting $800K which in Texas is pretty nice. Past that, I really donāt have any big plans besides saving a healthy amount in order to be financially independent one day. We do play to have kids and my wife loves to travel. I think she would love to just travel the world if we could. I think Iād also like to build out a ranch/complex in Texas one day with a nice pool, barn/man cave/mother in law suite, etc. would probably cost easily over $1M all in, but that could be years down the line. Iād love to hear peoples feedback good and bad. Open to suggestions. TC: $280K total
Why your rent sooooo high?!
Dude fuck me. I know. Itās some like penthouse shit and itās not worth it. Thatās actually like half my problem lol
Lol same dude the worst. The WORST. Iāve been here like 3x as long as I said I would butā¦just canāt get myself to move
tl;dr: way too much hiding behind the CC line for anyone to help, all else we know is house and car and utilities. you better have a real real real good story for your rent :p Iām probably $9K/month salary and Iām single, no car, $3500/month and I donāt really save much if at all myself, Iād have to do same as you, start thinking about CC or cut rent
Yeah definitely gonna cut rent I dive into my CC every month, let me see if I can get a better breakdown for you
No silver bullet, i live more conservatively, others like to stretch themselves. All depends on your financial goals. š¤·āāļø
Sure, at least Iām still saving $84K a year right
Rent + utilities easily gobble half of your salary. Can you explain why you have to pay 4500 in Texas? It's like you are living in a penthouse in a 50 storey new construction. Utilities at 450 are again a lot given that Amazon pays you for telephone and internet bills, so that essentially can be 0 or lesser than 450 atleast.
Yes thatās exactly what it is, pent house in new high rise Totally not worth it Utilities break down like $200 for electric (I swear this was $60 before) $80 for internet (solid deal for gig fiber and HBO max) $160 for phones (service + iPhone payment no interest) I guess subtract $50 for that from Amazon so youāre right itās actually like $400 plus I could probably drop my phone bill a bit and my electricity with a cheaper provider I think it all adds up more than I realize
I understand the charm of living in a high rise and have a nice apartment. I do that too but then I don't intend to have kids and don't intend to continue that forever
$4500 rent = ?
Bruh your spending is out of control AND youāre living beyond your means for the goals youāve stated. Flex less, be happy with less material objects, donāt spend or buy random shit cause itās interesting, tell wife to chill out on the wardrobe. Iām sure itās been a good rise to the life youāre living but with a kid now you should think longer term and find peace with less luxury. āA couple fun weekends a monthā you have no control and find pleasure thru spending.
Well to be fair I still save $85K a year from my 401K + RSUs But point taken
Do not factor your 401K as your expendable cash within a year cmon now
Get rid of the car. Buy a cheap econobox and deal with it. Downsize the house. Like, by a lot. You're describing penthouse living in a comment above, when you're holding onto personal debt and no month over month savings, and I can't impress on you enough how pants on fire crazy that is. Expand on credit cards being $3500, beyond "life happens." Like, categorize it down to the penny month over month. Odds are very good it's mostly just BS spending and that you're both totally out of control.
This is just my base I save 100% of RSUs but yeah I really need to break it down
Thanks for paying rents to landlords like us š
Well my tenant pays rent to me so itās the circle of life lol
Start by tracking spending to the penny. Optimize from there. We spent a little over $10k/month last year, but it was an outlier with many one off expenses. Also made $420k though.
Get rid of the Merc while you can..
What do you mean while you can? And pretty much any car these days is gonna cost money every month, no?
Not the car you buy with cashā¦