There’s been much ballyhoo lately about cost of living and affordability in media lately (deservedly so, imo) but I’m curious how hard it is for those of us who are a little more capable than normies (we like to think).
Feel free to be somewhat vague. Not asking anyone to doxx themselves. I’ll start.
In my mid-thirties. Married, two kids. Combined income is just under 100k. We live in a low cost of living area which has helped us a lot. We were able to buy a house in ‘21 with a 15 year mortgage and it feels like we got on the last lifeboat off the Titanic. We’ve been able to build about a 200k net worth, about half of which is home equity.
Day to day expenses are getting tougher, however. We’ve never had a car payment but our older kid has started school and that has put a strain on us since he goes to a private Christian school. I’ve worked in education and I consider sending a kid to public school to be akin to child abuse.
It feels harder and harder to save and invest. Just making ends meet with two kids in this red state feels like a Herculean task. Wondering if anyone else feels the same way.
I at least still have a low cost of living (Southern half of Illinois, believe it or not), getting by more than well enough on under $40k/year, but I am still alone at 39. Completely debt free, even my house is paid for (mostly via high growth stocks that someone I trusted invested my money into a long time ago).
Been putting together different growth over time investments with a lot of my assets. Currently have about $30k in my 401k, $22k in a Roth IRA with high dividend stocks, $20k in two local CDs (going to do another $10k CD next month, where all three are 6-month CDs whose cycles are two months apart, so I can have easier access to one of them if needed).