What to do?
My partner and I bring home a little over $12k/month after taxes, sometimes more, and somehow it still feels like we’re barely building wealth. It’s honestly stressing me out because on paper we thought we were doing everything “right.”
Monthly breakdown is roughly:
• Housing: ~$3.5k–4k
• Cars + insurance: ~$2k
• Private school: $1.5k
• Credit cards: ~$1.5k
• Investing: ~$2k
• Food/misc: ~$1.5k
After all of that, we’re left with almost nothing some months, and occasionally even pull from investments, which obviously defeats the point.
What’s confusing is that our lifestyle doesn’t feel extravagant. We live in a modest ~$300k home despite qualifying for far more. We don’t buy luxury clothes or constantly shop. Most of our spending creep seems tied to years of schooling, student loans, moving around, kids, and finally allowing ourselves to enjoy life a little after living broke for nearly a decade.
We both work part-time and prioritize time with our kids/family over maximizing income. We genuinely love our lives. But it’s hard reconciling the fact that we make more money than we ever imagined and still don’t feel financially secure.
The obvious answer is probably the cars and lifestyle inflation. But I guess I’m wondering: did anyone else hit a higher income bracket and realize their spending scaled up just as fast? How did you actually start building wealth without feeling like you had to stop enjoying life completely? It’s strange because we’re not exactly struggling, but we’re also really not doing well.