Can't speak for those people but our household makes roughly $200,000 and after paying: - Taxes - Mortgage - Interest on the mortgage - Property insurance

Can't speak for those people but our household makes roughly $200,000 and after paying: - Taxes - Mortgage - Interest on the mortgage - Property insurance - Our child's daycare so we can both work - Payments on loans for every appliance that unexpectedly broke - Saving Half those costs would go away if we didn't buy a big house. For example, we have two air conditioning units and the heaters and both heaters died in the past year and costs $2,000+ to repair. More money = more money tied up in assets and "good debt" = less actual discretionary money at the end of the mont It ends up being about the same as someone who makes significantly less BUT we have equity in our property and money in our retirement funds at the end. And I'm not going to lie. I enjoy a nice dinner ($500), a broadway play ($1,000 for good seats), or a Red Sox game ($900) once and a while.