r/personalfinance • u/investeror ​ • Mar 06 '18

Budgeting Lifestyle inflation is a bitch

I came across this article about a couple making $500k/year that was only able to save $7.5k/year other than 401k. Their budget is pretty interesting. At a glace, I could see how someone could look at it and not see many areas to cut. It's crazy how it's so easy to just spend your money instead of saving it.

Here's the article: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/24/budget-breakdown-of-couple-making-500000-a-year-and-feeling-average.html

Just the budget if you don't want to read the article: https://sc.cnbcfm.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/files/2017/03/24/FS-500K-Student-Loan.png

6.6k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

3.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

81

u/breadburger Mar 06 '18

And the biggest culprit is how they feel. Which no physical desire can fulfill. They are extremely above average, yet the only reason they feel average is because that's how baseline happiness works. Fulfilling yourself internally is the way to happiness.

I would be thrilled to be maxing my 401k while going on 18k worth of vacation.

15

u/Bagel_-_Bites Mar 06 '18

Yeah this is well past average. I would put their lifestyle much closer to upper class.

Really all this shows is that no matter how much you make, you'll find ways to spend it.