>I'd actually take a guess that a typical family wouldn't be able to spend $200k in a year if they did not make purchases whose primary purpose was to display status.
Mortgage + 3 cars + 2 kids in college + 1 in a private high school + 1 family vacation = ???
I don't think any of that stuff is a status symbol, or excessive. And it seems like that would easily exceed 200k a year, and that's excluding utilities, food, etc.
> it seems like that would easily exceed 200k a year
it seems to me like that wouldn't exceed 100k a year, and "2 kids in college, 1 in private high school" is probably your highest consumption year. Seems like we have vastly different expectations as to what's reasonable to spend on those things. See also my comment [0] and kscaldef's [1] on the previous thread.
I'd also assume you don't have mortgage/car payments with a $4.3m buyout, but instead pay those things in full but amortize the costs in your budget spreadsheet.
Well, were talking about somebody with $4m to play with.
Unless they expect to get a better return from investing the money than the rate they are paying for their mortgage it makes sense that they would have bought the house.
You don't think three cars is excessive? We'll have to differ in opinion there.
A lot of your costs depend on location obviously but, yes, I stand by my hunch.
Mortgage + 3 cars + 2 kids in college + 1 in a private high school + 1 family vacation = ???
I don't think any of that stuff is a status symbol, or excessive. And it seems like that would easily exceed 200k a year, and that's excluding utilities, food, etc.