High Income Kith

[Telephus44]

Well, I'm defining high income as over $75,000/year.

Anyone else in this club? When I was working we made $110,000/yr. Now we're making just under $70,000. When I go back to work (hopefully in a month or so) we should be back up over the $100,000 mark again.

[AmyBoz]

Sara, Do you mean together or individually?

[Neeley]

We have pretty much always lived off of DH's salary only - he makes more than $75,000 a year.

[freedeal]

DH and I do. Well, I should say DH does. I am a SAHM.

[brenda67]

If I worked 40hrs (I only work 24) we would be over $82.000...However unless I had to I like working my 24hrs ....This keeps the balance between work and my family..Years ago when I did work 40hrs and my first son was around a year old I missed out on alot..It's more important for me to live within my means then making more money and my family having a tired and mean mom..JMHO...

[Sundae]

I'm a SAHM and dh makes well over the 75,000 he farms and the 75k might pay his interest bill yearly!! He is a nut in the cattle market! his banker loves hime too!

I am not a high end spender either. I get excited if I make a few bucks on ebay!!

[Amanda W]

We make right around 100K, but honestly I don't consider us to be high income.

[Telephus44]

Sorry, I did mean collectively. DH makes $70K and I made $40K at my last job, I'm hoping to make at least $45K if I get this job I'm interviewing for.

And I'm not sure if it's really "high income" either - but I just wondered who was in the same boat. It's a different mindset to be frugal when you make decent money than it is when you make almost nothing. I know that this may not be the best way to phrase it, but it's true. A lot of articles on the web and such are supportive of people making minimum wage while raising a family and trying to make ends meet (and don't get me wrong, I am very supportive of people in these situations - I don't think it's that they're lazy or "it's all their fault" or whatever), there aren't as many people who practise frugality at higher income levels.

Most of our friends don't understand why we do what we do because "we can afford" to do this, that, or the other. We could take expensive vacations, and we could easily swing a new car payment. So we get that pressure from our parents and friends. On the other hand, there are a lot of people in the larger online frugal communities (and I never get this vibe here - FV is awesome!) that because we don't "need" to do all this frugal stuff just to survive that we aren't "really" frugal - we're just yuppies pretending to be for fun. There's also a competitive vibe out there that I feel masquarades as frugality - the "oh yeah? Well I feed 30 kids and 10 dogs while living on my husband's income, and he only makes $.05 an hour..." kind of competition. I don't mind competing to see how low I can get my food bill, or how many days I can go without spending money, but I hate competing with how "poor" you can be. I've always defined frugality as stretching your resources, not necessarily only having limited resources. I don't think having less money makes you more frugal. In fact, I think the more resources you have you should be able to be more frugal!

(off soapbox now)

So that's why I started this kith thread - find other people on FV who can appreciate the nature of our situation. I can think of a few members off-hand, but we've got a lot of new members lately.

[3-boys-4-me]

DH, currently makes well over 100k a year. Dear God, please allow that to continue. I am, currently, a SAHM.
Telephus44, I know what you mean about the "other" sites.

[i.m.cheap]

I was reading this thread and wondering what types of jobs provide this kind of income? The most we have ever made is $52,000 a year, when we both were working full-time.

[emily_hope]

My DH and I make over $75,000. I should say he makes it. I work 21 hours per week. If I had to I would work more, but right now I am enjoying the freedom I have working as I do.

[pita1213]

with our current jobs, dh and i make just over 75,000, most of that dh's income. dh is in internet secruity stuff right now. new job is still computer related, but it's all stuff i don't understand. his job is techincal and specialized so that helps with the pay rate. i work in retail. compared to his rate mine stinks, but compared to most nonmangment retail, i'm making a good rate. but i have had management experience and have lucked into a promotion in the past that offered an increase in payrate just a couple of months before my yearly review and pay increase. dh's new job will pay enough that once school ends i won't have to work. we have been very blessed this past year.

i know what ya mean about some other sites where it's a compitition to see how poor you are or there is a stigma because of what your income is. i got jumped on once because i expressed an opion about an article someone brought up and was pretty much told my opion didn't matter because of our income. thankfully FV has never been like that!

[FarmerSue]

After taxes my hubby made $95,000 so including taxes he's well over $100,000. That's just his regular job, we also run a ranch with 120 black angus cows......if you know anything about farming you'll know we need the big money job just to pay for the farm.
We have been very blessed that our hard work has paid off and we will soon be better off financially than we ever have been. As far as what he does for a living, he works in the oil patch. Fancy company truck and expense account. He also worked for 12 years, shift work, drilling on an oil rig. He has definitely worked his way the HARD way to where he is today.
Now MY job as the family manager is to make sure we use those resources as smart as we can. I used to spend about 5 minutes a week on our finances and boy could you tell. Now sometimes I can spend hours a day learning, researching, staying organized and on top of things.
My husbands' salary is definitely a gift from God and I pray it stays where it is. We are definitely a closet frugal family to many people. It boggles my best friends' mind. "DO something! GO somewhere!" she is always saying. I like to go shopping with her and just watch HER spend. I can tell some people I know wonder when they see me carting snacks and drinks to the rink but they never say anything. HMMMMM......you've got me thinking now, why aren't I more open about this????????

[Ani]

Sara, I totally "get" why you started this thread (sometimes it shocks me how alike we are). I currently make $45,000 and my hubby makes $40,000 (soon to be $42,000) which is a really large combined income for our area, considering cost of living etc. I also know what you mean about getting pressure from friends and family to live more extravagently. We are not super-frugal by any means, but we are smart with money which I think is a foreign concept for a lot of consumers.

It's very interesting to find those who live frugally and are intelligent with their money but that don't "HAVE" to be.

Deb, I don't know about everyone else, but my hubby and I both work in the technical industry, where pretty much everyone in a somewhat prominent positions makes at least what we do. I would expect that in just a few more years, we will both be making a good deal more than that. I'm telling you, come to Utah and work for eBay! Your technically inclined husband would love it!

[Neeley]

I was reading this thread and wondering what types of jobs provide this kind of income? The most we have ever made is $52,000 a year, when we both were working full-time.

DH is a CPA. He has been above the $75,000 mark for several years now. He finished college in 1995 and passed the CPA exam in 1996. If he were a work-a-holic he would be making a lot more than he does now. However he chooses to come home every evening on time, coach our kids' sports teams, be home on the weekends with us instead of being in the office, take vacations....basically he puts our family first.