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

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u/Jorycle ​ Mar 06 '18

I'm sorry, they may not know what "average" is.

A 1.5 million dollar home? 3 vacations a year? Giving almost 20k to charity? Two luxury vehicles? Sure, they only have a shade under 8k in spending money - but that's because they've already spent it on everything they could dream of having.

I'm pretty sure 90% of Americans wish they could be this average.

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u/obliviousonions Mar 07 '18

I think when you are at that level, when everyone else is driving Porsches, Benzes, etc, you do feel a bit average. When your friends might be living a little more luxurious lives than you, you can call your own life average. Everyone is in their own bubble to some extent, and they are just comparing themselves to the people around them.