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My expenses are about $150K a year. Fixed costs per month: * $5K mortgage * $1.2K health insurance * $300 life and disability insurance * $800 utilitie

My expenses are about $150K a year. Fixed costs per month: * $5K mortgage * $1.2K health insurance * $300 life and disability insurance * $800 utilities * $2K home services: nanny, sitter, cleaner * $800 school / preschool and kids activities * $2K groceries, essentials, etc I have a family, two small kids (4 and 2), and live a comfortable life in Seattle. I could obviously adjust my standard of living, move somewhere cheaper, etc, but I didn't want my family to have to change anything from this experiment I'm doing with my life.

Jotra7 8y ago
$2K home services: nanny, sitter, cleaner. Spends more per month on luxuries than most people make in the US, cries. Get a grip, dude.
deleted 8y ago
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hinkley 8y ago
I live a comfortable life in Seattle and my mortgage is $3k a month including taxes, in a house that’s too big for us to keep clean. I think “comfortable” might be understating things. If I moved into my neighborhood now it might be closer to $5k (without a bigger down payment) but I wouldn’t recommend it.
- DVassallo 8y ago
  $5K includes property taxes, HOA, and home insurance. The total was $4K originally when I bought a $850K townhouse in 2015. But I refinanced recently to get some cash out and that got it to $5K.
  - antongribok 8y ago
    As someone trying to do something similar in 5 years (not nearly in the same situation), I'm having a hard time imagining why you would refinance and take money out (and not the opposite, refinance and pay things down or pay off your mortgage completely). A lot of the things in your post resonated with me, but seeing this in the comments really got me curious about your math. Good luck with your endeavor!
    - DVassallo 8y ago
      I didn't need the cash out, but it adds a bit of a safety margin. Liquid cash gives you optionality. For example, if things don't work out as I hope, I could use that cash to try to buy another small business, or something like that. It would have been harder (or impossible) to refinance without a steady paycheck, so I planned for that while I still had the job. My mortgage interest rate is 4% and I've put the cash I've withdrawn in short term US treasures at 2.5%, so that cash is only costing me 1.5%. Another reason I did a refinance was that when I bought my house I had only been in the US for 2.5 years and my credit score wasn't great (in the 600s IIRC). I could only get an 5/1 ARM loan that was about to start becoming variable at a higher interest rate.
fjp 8y ago
Wow how much nanny-ing are you getting for $2k a year?
- SatvikBeri 8y ago
  Those are monthly costs

Jotra7 8y ago

$2K home services: nanny, sitter, cleaner. Spends more per month on luxuries than most people make in the US, cries. Get a grip, dude.

deleted 8y ago

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hinkley 8y ago

I live a comfortable life in Seattle and my mortgage is $3k a month including taxes, in a house that’s too big for us to keep clean. I think “comfortable” might be understating things. If I moved into my neighborhood now it might be closer to $5k (without a bigger down payment) but I wouldn’t recommend it.

DVassallo 8y ago
$5K includes property taxes, HOA, and home insurance. The total was $4K originally when I bought a $850K townhouse in 2015. But I refinanced recently to get some cash out and that got it to $5K.
- antongribok 8y ago
  As someone trying to do something similar in 5 years (not nearly in the same situation), I'm having a hard time imagining why you would refinance and take money out (and not the opposite, refinance and pay things down or pay off your mortgage completely). A lot of the things in your post resonated with me, but seeing this in the comments really got me curious about your math. Good luck with your endeavor!
  - DVassallo 8y ago
    I didn't need the cash out, but it adds a bit of a safety margin. Liquid cash gives you optionality. For example, if things don't work out as I hope, I could use that cash to try to buy another small business, or something like that. It would have been harder (or impossible) to refinance without a steady paycheck, so I planned for that while I still had the job. My mortgage interest rate is 4% and I've put the cash I've withdrawn in short term US treasures at 2.5%, so that cash is only costing me 1.5%. Another reason I did a refinance was that when I bought my house I had only been in the US for 2.5 years and my credit score wasn't great (in the 600s IIRC). I could only get an 5/1 ARM loan that was about to start becoming variable at a higher interest rate.

fjp 8y ago

Wow how much nanny-ing are you getting for $2k a year?

SatvikBeri 8y ago
Those are monthly costs