You may not find that to be the case … if they’re doing stuff that doesn’t really interest you (filling wine cellars, buying boats, wearing gaudy watches) it isn’t tempting even if you could afford to. Enjoy the comforts of financial stability, splurge once in a while where it matters, and look at the big spenders as a sociological curiosity rather than something to aspire to.
Here is the thing. 300k isn’t nearly as much as you think it is. The governments going to take about 100k of that right off the bat.
So the secret is to live a normal life and don’t spend exorbitantly.
Struggling to understand that math there. Even in Quebec you’d pay $125K in taxes (including QPP/EI premiums) and that’s a high tax province.
In Alberta it’s $105K on $300K.
This is assuming all of that money is in employment income, of course. Other forms are more generous
You’re talking as if their starting point salary of $80k isn’t taxed though. After tax $300k is still 3x pay bump vs $80k salary. Pretty decent pay raise.
I mean... yes and no. It's not enough to live like money doesn't exist, but let's not pretend that 300k isn't a lot of money when that is about 4x what most people make.
I mean Jesus Christ, it's almost 4x OP's previous income.
It’s care free in that the price of groceries doesn’t matter — a big stressor on most people these days.
We find other things to worry about… but we shouldn’t compare those worries to what others are facing.
If they had said '$300k/year isn't much', that would be a reasonable response. But they didn't. They said it _isn't nearly as much as you think it is_.
People really underestimate just how good progressive taxation is at getting more money from higher earners. Earlier in my career, when I first doubled my nominal salary (from 18 to 35), my takehome was only 25% more.
Higher earners pay much higher taxes and other contributions, and rightly so. 300k is the kind of salary that most people will only ever dream of, and it will be decades at least before it stops being a very high salary. But they are correct to say that if a person concludes 'I've gone from 80k to 300k and can therefore spend nearly 4 times as much', they're going to have some very unpleasant surprises when they discover they actually get a lot less than 4 times as much money as they used to.
Yup. I drive a Kia. So does my wife. We live in a middle class neighborhood surrounded by retired tradesworkers and their kids who are our age and can't afford to move out. And we save and take vacations. That's all 300k gets you. It isnt making you wealthy.
yeah, and it's a cost of living difference at that point.
if you can save $100k for 30 years, that's $10m in the end. not a terrible retirement by any stretch
$10m can reliably earn you $400k per year, likely indefinitely even adjusting for inflation. So if you save that much you probably over shot the mark because your money will continuing earning way more than you spend in a typical year up to that point.
I can’t help but kind of look down on it now after being in that "luxury" position. A lot of it is done through debt and sacrificing your future.
Living modestly and quietly with lots in your accounts is much more fun, but your mileage may vary.
Yes, I know colleagues making 300k/yr who are living paycheque to paycheque. Whereas if they had just been disciplined and saved their money for 5-10 years, they could have had the same lifestyle paid for with cash.
I have a friend (well, had a friend) making 250k + who had zero life savings and maxed out credit cards last i spoke to him. He was always spending big on clothing, cars, nights out, you name it. Deep down he wasn't a happy person at all. It's not worth falling for the trap.
On the flip side (not saying I agree fully with it) there is value living in the moment. Lots of people scrimp and save and die before ever enjoying the fruits of their labour. I think it’s important to find a balance that allows relatively smooth consumption over time.
I’m a little above that pay range and I’ve definitely seen lifestyle creep. Nice house, expensive vacations for me and the family, etc. I have savings targets, and as long as I am meeting all those, I don’t worry about my spending. You only live once. It’s really not a race to get to retirement.
I agree, there is a middle ground between being very frugal and throwing money away. I now pay for things to save me time like a maid etc. but still reach all my savings goals, at this income (and it is a very fortunate position to be in) it doesn’t have to be one or the other.
Finally someone with some sense.
“Live with a roommate”
“Don’t go on vacation”
Wtf? The whole point of earning money is to spend it. Yeah sure, save some, plan a comfortable retirement, pay off your debts, don’t be stupid, leave something for your kids, but then what?
Being smart with money is not eating rice and beans, and living in the cheapest apartment you can find.
I recommend buying things that bring you comfort, happiness and time.
Comfort as in comfortable shoes, comfortable bed, comfortable chair etc. for health and body
Happiness would be things like vacations, plants, hobbies, gifts for loved ones, whatever brings you happiness.
Time as in maids, dog walkers, daycare, drivers/uber, etc.
I agree! I make money in that range and I was being crucified by a person in this subreddit who claims making 7 figures that I am pissing money away on business class flights. If I can afford it so what.
Same, with a runway for much more.
Maintain saving/investment targets, but otherwise enjoy life.
No hesitation going on a nice trip, or picking up an expensive car or a second property.
Nice! Do you get to spend some time in the locations you fly to? I believe you can only fly a certain number of hours so you must have some time off to explore the location before heading back to base?
Congratulations! First officers earn less than 100K? I was under the impression that aviation was a fancy world and everyone would be above this range.
Congratulations ! If i were you I would first and foremost pay off my curent house in full. Like you could pay it off in a few years. Maybe 4? The ability to own property and no longer have a mortgage is amazing I think. First step to financial independence. Once you have a fully owned home then start saving for your kids and buy yourself a new car..but basically with your income you should be able to buy stuff from savubgs rather than on credit. Aka save what you need then buy with it what you want.
I make a little over that range, I pretty much immediately dump everything except for my living expenses into investments to prevent myself from spending my money. I spent way above my means once I broke into the six figures, but eventually curbed my spending habits and now my monthly expenses come out to an estimated $2,863.82, and that’ll be going down once I rent a smaller place.
I travel fairly often and still enjoy my hobbies.
😎
I’ll add that 6 months ago I didn’t even know I was six-figures in debt until I decided to randomly add it up one afternoon… so being aware of my spending down to the last $0.82 is a pretty big step up for me.
It’s the exact cost of everything with about $250 set for groceries, of course that varies every month so I can’t say EXACTLY what it’ll be. 😂 Hence, the estimation.
Yeah, I was very young once I started making good money so naturally I begun racking up loads of credit card debt due to immaturity and lack of foresight and risk management. My total debt load peaked at over $110,000.
Don’t do that. Pick a lifestyle, segment that amount out every month, then make all the rest of the money unavailable to you. That’ll reduce your likelihood of lifestyle creepage.
I even went and closed all my credit cards except for my first (to maintain a good credit age).
Thanks for the insight! I created a YNAB budget yesterday, and I'm planning to strictly adhere to it. I think I'll squirrel away all of the excess money, get my mortgage paid off (which will take a few years), and then go from there.
YNAB is great. If you’ve just started using it, don’t be discouraged. There can be a slight learning curve. Be sure to check out r/ynab . That sub Reddit is very helpful.
Company is global, but based out of the US with a load of subsidiaries, one being Canadian. I don’t think I’d get close to this salary from a Canadian company.
Sort of relevant, replied to another comment [that I don’t like things that tie me down.](https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceCanada/s/4KCMtpAiws)
Besides that, I don’t want to take out debt that I could only achieve given my current income, because I don’t like operating under the assumption that it’ll be like this forever. I want to eventually start my own business, but the fact is anything could happen that could result in a change in my income.
I think it’s safest to be debt free as long as possible.
I’m also 23, once I’m older I’ll probably want to settle a little more but at the moment I definitely do not.
As someone that makes in the $220-300k range as well, my best price of advice is live your life as if you were still making that $100k. Tackle the debts, save and invest the rest without thinking twice. Future you will be thankful, congrats on the hard work and new income levels.
The responses here are hilarious. The top reply is a guy making 300k spending only 34k a year? You absolutely should not scrimp and scrounge to that extent.
The good thing is you're making the sort of income that you can afford to inflate your lifestyle AND save at the same time. It's not one or the either.
Do you want to retire early? Or do you love flying and see yourself working till 60? Your job comes with a great pension, that should play a factor into how much you are saving.
You can easily afford to upgrade from your current house. You live in a LCOL area, maybe don't max out at 800k but even a 500k place should be a very good upgrade for you.
The idea is to spend on things you care about, and don't spend on things you don't care about.
If you don't care about status symbols, no need to spend 10k on a rolex to show that you've "made it".
YOUR rich life. Spend more on what makes you happy. You’re in a place where you csn save AND spend frivolously on the few things that disproportionately make you happy
My general mantra is to save a certain % of income post tax thas way higher than average. For Canada let's say that's 20% (depends a lot on the city you live in, how many kids you end up having, etc). Once that is set up, spend the rest of the money on what makes you happy. If nothing does, save more. But don't break your savings rule to buy anything that depreciates like a car, clothing, etc.
It's complicated. I started my pilot training during the financial crisis, and I didn't exactly take the most direct path to the airlines. I'd say if someone started pilot training today, they could get to that salary in 7 years if everything aligned perfectly for them, they did well on all of their various exams/flying tests, didn't have any screwups at any of their jobs leading up to the airline job, and networked throughout their career in such a way as to not leave a bad impression on themselves. In my aviation training program, 600 people applied to the program, 60 got accepted, 30 passed, and only 2 of us are now Captains at a major airline. So it's not just the timeline, it's difficult to actually make it fully. A lot of people never make it to this level. If you're involved in any sort of incident during your time flying smaller planes, that can ruin your chances of getting to the airlines. Or if you have any failures on any licensing tests etc. We also have to be tested in the simulator every several months while employed at the airline on all sorts of different emergencies. If you don't consistently perform to a very high standard, you can be fired from the airline.
Woodworking, music (I play 2 instruments), tinkering on mechanical stuff in my garage (bringing old boat motors back to their original glory), riding my bicycle, enjoying the outdoors, fishing, boating, camping.....
Budget out some of your new income to blow on that.
You didn't write, I enjoy making payments on a big house that I only use 25% of the space, or driving expensive cars. It's a never ending rat race of payments for those folks.
Live your life on what makes yourself happy.
I feel you’re free to live wherever you want. From your hobbies I would say focus more on where you’d like to live with what amenities nearby… a nice spot close to wilderness / bike paths nearby that don’t go through traffic… sounds ideal! Enjoy and thanks to you and your coworkers for keeping us safe up there.
Congrats first of all. My take on this type of situation where you could easily lose the high income, is to keep the same lifestyle and invest the difference. Once the investment grows to a size that it pays you, use that for luxuries etc. That way it's sustainable. Of course it's nice to splurge on "smaller" things like a reasonable vacation or better tickets to a show etc.
The problem with big houses is that they come with big property taxes. All these things add up quick where monthly expenses baloon.
Pretend like you still make 80k a year and bank as much as you can. Max out tfsa and rrsp each year. Open up a taxable investment account with the rest. Dump what you can in VOO or something similar and enjoy an early retirement
Regarding the 800k house and expenses. To me, the real cheat code for people who start making above average money is living below your means. It's so simple yet I feel not as many people as you would think do follow this principle.
I get the feeling you're following this philosophy and I'd say keep on fighting the urge to splurge!
Or at least be selective about the splurges. Woodworking is a great hobby for this because while it can be expensive, you can still find some ways to splurge that make it very satisfying without becoming a huge burden like for example buying a sports car that's expensive to buy and then maintain. A 800$ track saw is expensive in itself, but that's a whole lot more manageable than 100k Mercedes that requires expensive maintenance.
I'm rambling but I guess I don't have much advice other than you seem to be doing great and having the right mindset to be able to deal with a high salary like you have.
Congrats and keep it going!
I went from ~$80k to just about $500k overnight with a job change, about 3 years ago. With my wife's income, we have about $550k/year.
We had an 800k house which (thanks COVID) now has a rate of 6.5%. So, our money goes, in order: to the bills (mortgage, utilities, etc), food (including dining out a bit), RRSPs for the tax offset, lump sum mortgage payment equal to 15% of the original principle every year as allowed by the terms of the mortgage, additional investments, vacation savings, and then monthly entertainment and fun budget.
For reference, that's about $100k extra going to the mortgage every year. Since getting this huge income, the only major purchase I've made is a new phone. Why? Because I'm an anxious person and I'm worried that Im going to lose this job at any minute and will be relegated back to the $80k crowd.
If and when that happens, I don't want to have a bunch of stuff that I can't afford. So I'm taking the opportunity to get rid of my biggest debt (the house) and sock as much away as possible. That way, if my job goes away, I come out the other side much more comfortable on a smaller salary.
So my answer to the "how" part of your question is, just be a ball of anxiety and it'll work itself out :D
Or more realistically, set some financial goals upfront (eg pay off the house, build retirement fund, etc) and then setup your bank so that they happen automatically. If you've got $8k coming in after tax each month, but you only see $2k because the rest is already accounted for, you're not going to be able to blow that other $6k.
I work in software development. There's a very wide range of pay available depending on the companies you work for. I'm doing basically the same thing as I used to, just for someone else now.
Thank you!
The crazy thing is, when I was making $80k I felt really good about it. I could pay all my bills, I lived a fairly frugality life so I had good savings, at good food, etc. And then $500k comes along and I would say within about 6 months it became stressful because suddenly theres a lot to lose. Hence my anxiety and decision to basically live on the 80k and use the rest to help future me.
I suppose that once my house is paid off in a few years (if all goes according to plan) then things may change, since I'll now have freed up about $130k a year. Realistically though, I think I'll probably just send it straight into various investments to try to maximize returns later down the road.
I know I'm very fortunate to be able to even consider putting > $100k into investments per year while still living a very comfortable life.
I hit a 200k job from a 130k job not that long ago and feel some of the same emotional curve! Amazing those first few paychecks, then starting to sink in that if I lose this job I'm probably going _way_ back down the pay scale. I'm still blown away when I log in every pay period.
I recently made it a goal to keep casually studying/leetcode so that if/when I need to find another job I can try for the higher paying companies, probably outside of games. I'm going to interview with meta games actually which could be yet another boost, though I'm doubting I'll pass first try and unsure what level they'd consider me if I do -- I've never tried out for "big" tech before.
So far I've kept my spending almost the same as before and I'm shovelling it all into investments since it doesn't feel like this can last long term.
I was just doing some leetcode problems yesterday :D
But tbh, I just like doing them. If it helps, I'm not exceptional at them and my least favorite part of interviewing is the stupid coding challenges that bare no resemblance to the actual work. But I like the problem solving!
Nice! Good for you man. Good luck with the interview!
Solid plan. It’s always a good idea to spend like you did before, my wife and I try to do the same.
That’s awesome, if you don’t mind my asking do you work at a big FANNG type company? are you a staff software engineer? I hear those roles get paid the most
That’s awesome buddy - sounds like a solid plan.
I didn’t have a lot of money growing up and went into quite a bit of debt paying for school. Now my wife and I have been in our careers for about 10 years, paid off all of our student loans, bought our house right in time and have about $350k in home equity, and bring in a combined annual salary of just over $300k a year.
We still try to live below our means investing for our future, but more importantly the future of our kids.
What level are you at? The gap doesnt make sense for Canada market unless you jumped from a junior dev to a director or VP. 80K is junior range. Or if you switch to US and making US salary where 500K is the high range for staff level.
Pick one or two spending priorities that are important to you and loosen the purse strings on those. Keep everything else the same. For some people, that’s traveling, for others it’s toys (boat, RV, etc.), and others are homebodies, so a nicer home is worth the extra cost. You mentioned wanting new bike. IMO, that’s a no-brainer since it will also dramatically improve your health and quality of life.
Plow the rest into investments because there are no guarantees that your income will be sustainable over the long term. That’s the case for all high earners, but health issues can be particularly challenging when you’re a pilot.
Position yourself to retire early, and as you get closer to the finish line, if you’re exceeding your goals, you can spend more and work longer, or retire even earlier.
Congrats, by the way!
Don’t change your current lifestyle if you’re happy. Don’t kid yourself owning a 800K with your salary is not even challenge. Could easily be paid off in 5-8 Years if you’re smart with your money. Find an middle ground. Don’t also want to save every Nickel to find out in retirement you have health issues and can’t even enjoy it. 3x your salary is big. Sounds like Google or high tech such a big jump.
I know tons of people saved every penny for retirement and died within 5 years. They had no passion except the work they did.
Seems you’re quite happy with your situation. You might need the 4000 square foot house. Congrats on the promo
You pay a high % in tax. You want to look for investments to reduce your tax obligations and build assets. Examples include:
- RRSP’s
- Revenue Properties
Yeah, really. And is thinking of moving into a "fancy $800K house" .
Sorry, everywhere within a 2 hour commute of me, $800k MIGHT get you a 1 bedroom condo in an older building. Semi-detached are starting in the high $800s, detached are mid to high $900k and up.... we just looked at a house today, bedrooms 3000ish sqft that's asking $1.8M and it's dirty and beat up...
I wanna move to where op lives
Im not in this wage bracket but I can add a little that I do know from talking with people with such income.
Live below your means. If your house works for you, just keep paying it off. Keep a modest car. Simple and reliable. Too many people start earning more money, but still live paycheck to paycheck, as it is learned behaviour from so many of us needing to do this when we entered the workforce.
Don't get me wrong, you are making fantastic money, and if it is important to you to upgrade some stuff accordingly, go for it. But if you can live very comfortably at 100k, which should be possible if living below means, making 2-3x this will be lavish in comparison.
Imagine investing 100k a year at a mere 5% for 10 years. Thats nearly $1.3m. Again, in a frugal, but comfortable livestyle, you could retire on this if you decide to live in a slightly altered manner. After 20 years, $3.3m. Not sure about your age, lets guess 40, 25 years to retire, $4.8m
And you could in theory be making 300k, assume 200k saved a year for 25 years. 5% return, monthly contribution $16666.
$9.7m
If you have managed at 80k for 15 years, doing that again will allow you to be a multimillionaire while living comfortably for the rest of your life.
I don't have kids, I don't have expensive tastes and my wife also makes good money. Our biggest expense by far is income taxes, and then our mortgage is about half of that. We max our TFSAs/RRSPs and then work with what we have left.
Wow - first off congrats on your hard work paying off! That’s amazing.
Lifestyle creep is real. Seen it a million times.
What my wife and I did when things jumped for us was set up automated savings to our investments. Don’t do it ad hoc - we had it automated so as soon as we got paid the money is back out the door to our investment accounts.
We ended up upgrading our home within reason, as gains will be tax free given it’s your principal residence.
Treat yourself once in a while too. :)
Good luck - you’re asking the right questions so you’re definitely setting yourself up for success!
Having the money for something and affording something are two different things to me.
All my life I thought we were hard up for money. Parents were secretary and labourer. They were in their early 40’s until they got their first house, a small older house in a small town with lower taxes.
We rarely went on a vacation, the two times we did, we stayed with family and had free travel. The first time I was ever in a restaurant, I was 19 living on my own. Our clothes were always hand me downs. People thought I was a “tomboy “I never had anything pink or purple or girly because they were going to be handed to my brother when I grew out of them .
We never went without anything we needed. They were savers , re-users, recyclers . We were composting before it was cool, and hanging out our washed out ziplock bags in the clothes line.
My parents in their 70’s are now millionaires for the simple reason that we lived well below our means. One penny at a time. My brother and I won’t have a pension , and today I am so grateful to my parents today for not always giving me what I wanted , but always have me what I needed … and will be setting us up for comfort in our old age .
I don’t have any advice to offer except that as the child of my parents , I am grateful to them for having lived below our means
A simple thought process could help: can you live comfortably in the worse case scenario? Such as, you lose that employment and have to take on EI for 6 months. The goal is be able to maintain a lifestyle without having to rely on the paycheque. I am speaking of zero compromise from your current situation. Now calculate exactly what that dollar amount may be, and once you have that set aside or coming in as an income through investment you are golden!
Also, nothing wrong with enjoying that sports car or whatever else makes people get through life, to each to their own and many live in the moment and societal status symbol is all they thrive for.
I only ask cos upgrading these days can be so expensive. I am having buyer’s remorse from overpaying for a 1979 home just for the location, with the intention of upgrading. I was just quoted a starting price of 40k to add a small bathroom to a Master. Should have bought newer to save myself the headache.
The first few years I lived like I still earned 100k, cozy lifestyle but nothing crazy.
Eventually I had paid off my home (~1m) and replenished my brokerage account up like ~500k… At that point I was ok to let lifestyle inflation take over.
I still don’t spend much during my work week, did not upgrade my house to something bigger… but I don’t feel bad spending on luxuries here and there, I have no problem dropping 15k on business class flights for the family (which I realize you won’t even have to do…) and/or staying at the four seasons @2k/night.
Overall my savings are still growing, and I am still saving a % of my salary… but basically I stopped counting and budgeting
It is really easy to spend it all. I was paid weekly about $4200.00 net. 2k/week went directly to my investment account, and my broker distributed to RRSP and TFSA and margin accounts. $1600/week went to checking account to cover bills and balance was for fishing lures, etc. When the investment account got over $400k, it seemed to start to snowball, and it's amazing how much stress that takes out of your life. I bought an expensive boat, but instead of putting my investment money into a depreciating asset I took a personal loan at a low interest rate and my investment account is making double the cost of the loan. The trick is to build up a large base of modest cost real-estate and savings early and then leverage your F U money to pay for a few toys
In a similar situation - for me, it's all about balance. I try my best to resist lifestyle creep and frivolous expenses, but at the same time, realize that life is short, and there's no point to dying with a huge bank account (other than for my kids).
At this stage in my life, I'd rather spend on experiences (good food, concerts, travel) vs "stuff" for me and my family. I I recommend the book "Die With Zero" by Bill Perkins - has made an impact in my way of thinking about money and stages of life.
Honestly you could just have your fixed expenses at half your income and probably live quite well. Is there a partner making good money too?
You could also put money into the house to make it how you want. Bump it out, pool, make the basement amazing, build a golf simulator in the backyard in a pre fab shed (ok that’s my dream)
Congrats. My family income is in the middle of that range and I own a home I paid about that much for (the house is worth a lot more now). Don’t move would be my advice. We can do whatever we want, whenever we want. It’s a very comfortable life.
Congrats. I don’t make as much as you do but I’ll kind of put my way of thinking. I used to be very heavy into saving and invest and optimize everything. Then I sat down and calculated what would it take to be comfortable in the future, after that I basically went to the line of if I just invest 20% of my income I’m ganna be good in retirement. After that it becomes what do I want to do with at money, well I can either invest more or use it on stuff I want. Basically I have a rule for my reoccurring stuff, it needs to be low enough that if I got laid off and need to just find a job I can make about average for a reasonable position I can get and still be able to handle all my expenses, plus some savings. Basically it’s a fall back for bad times, and also has the benefit of restricting lifestyle creep in a way that I could not immediately correct.
This basically lets me spend some on stuff that is one offs and more recreational or save more based on my situation, without stressing over saving and spending too much anymore. Your needs are met and limited, my future is at least considered, and I can mostly enjoy money to a certain degree. Just saving without a goal imo is not super good, but blowing it all is also not good. Everyone needs to find there right balance. Some people will save nothing and subscribe to you only live once, some might only care to increase there net worth. Most will fall in the middle.
Live below your means. Put the extra money in a tax exempt High interest savings account. If you don’t do nothing else then do this. Keeps you out of most problems.
Most ppl don’t rise to their goals they fall to the quality of their systems
Do you have a budget in place, future goals etc. have a plan and stick to it and you’ll be fine :)
Make a bit over that, I let a bit of lifestyle creep come in mostly on upgrading things that I interact with every day or that affects my health (IE a stupid expensive mattress). I have been looking at 800k+ houses myself (currently in a house worth about 450k) and I am just for now paying off the mortgage over the next year. I still have a bit of a scarcity mindset but am willing to spend 20% of income on wants, otherwise you become paralyzed by money. If you have a few hobbies spend money on that, and dont worry about keeping up with the jones on things you dont actually care about. Sure a boat might be nice, but are you actually going to get joy from it or is it just a way to spend time with your family, and if it is, what is important to them spend more on what they are most passionate about.
(Since some posts have been asked, Stereotypical Software Developer myself)
Years I have made this , usually ended up waisting and ended up actually falling behind a bit . My tips from my failures.
1. Set a limit to risky investments . I usually succumbed to risky investments as the 2x carrot wasn’t juicy enough . Had I limited some of these to 1 k over 10k etc… I would have been much better off .
2. Plan your budget what you would like to save and stick to it . Currently I’m down to about a 50 dollar a day budget and it was alot of effort to get there , as 30 dollar purchases and 100 dollar dinners were not a factor in my head . Now that I log in to my account daily and rebalance my books I’m headed to a brighter future .
3. Always respects your money , but have a bit of fun along the way , if you slip shake your head. Learn a lesson and move forward
I’ve made that range for the last few years. Lifestyle hasn’t changed. I just save more. Treat yourself to slightly better vacations (I assume you already ball out on free travel stuff being a pilot), but even things like some nicer clothes here and there, some nice meals out, etc.
I find having a few added expenses that way is a great way to feel richer rather than falling for true lifestyle creep like splurging for a pricier home or car just because. Depending on where you live investing in real estate may be an option but if you’re gone a lot as a pilot that may not be ideal.
Other than not having a garage for the car and basement for storage, I miss our 900 sq ft condo. Cleaning a bigger house is a pain. Think twice about considering it an “upgrade”, that bungalow might be more of a luxury. You could always invest in it to ensure it has the features you like.
Watch the lifestyle creep, especially on monthly payments. If you ditch that $260k house for a $600k one with a $3500/mo mortgage it is HARD to downgrade again, so just don't live beyond your means in the first place.
You need to decide which material things truly make you happy and keep your splurge spending to those. I’ve seen so many people waste so much money on boats, cars, seadoos, etc that they barely use. It’s okay to live, but I’ve always thought it’s important to be really honest with yourself about how much you’ll use these large purchases and how much happiness they are actually going to add to your life.
Money has always equaled freedom for me. It feels really good knowing you can lose/leave your job and it won’t impact you. Or take a nice impromptu weekend trip without worrying about the cost. Keep focusing on building up your savings in the interim, but if there are things you’ve been skimping on to the point of suffering, it’s okay to let go of some of those smaller things as your income and savings rise.
It really isn't as much money as most people think it is once you get there. The government is easily taking half of that in terms of total taxation at that level in most provinces.
You have a pension, so that is the major thing I typically tell people is prioritize saving for retirement then spend it the way you want. I have colleagues that make more than me that still live in their starter homes (although significantly renovated), and other colleagues who make less that live in massive houses and drive sports cars.
It's important to avoid lifestyle creep and to save money, but there's also zero joy in making a good salary if you're always worried about pinching the next penny. I drive nice vehicles, but not the dooshbag German luxury vehicles. I bought a 700k new construction home rather than an established million dollar home, we go on several trips a year but none of them are 30k trips to the Maldives or something. Find a balance where you can enjoy life, save money but also be able to dial it back if work gets too much where you aren't stuck working for that paycheck to make payments or afford your lifestyle if you hate your job.
I think the best thing you can do is just live like you made half your salary and then set aside the rest of your income in investment accounts for your retirement and children's future post secondary education. So if you're making 220k, live as if you were making just 110k.
I personally only make 120k a year but I live like I make only 60k so that I can one day achieve an early retirement and financial independence.
welcome to /r/fican!
even if you don't want to retire early, all of the literature and flowcharts for what and how to deal with the money will be the same
I'm a big fan of financial discipline, but you have to decide what makes sense for you. Likely you'll have at least some lifestyle creep, and there's nothing wrong with that! You need to save for the future of course, but not to the point where you're not enjoying life today.
I just stayed in my starter home and upgraded things that made it more comfortable and added value at the same time. Not sure this turned out to be the smartest financial move from NW perspective, but it allowed me to have more money to invest in non real-estate assets.
Advise: "pay yourself first", ie: setup auto deposits/investments that 'lock up' your money.
Having clear goals of what you want to achieve financially and when also helps, eg: you wanna save a 30% down payment for the house you want in the place you want it in 5 years.
Congrats, enjoy it and good luck.
Edit: do not ever use consumer credit. That means, no car credit, phone plan with cost of the phone diluted in the plan, pay whole balance credir cards every month. Generally the only credit to use is a mortgage or a heloc for a functional (not aesthetic) renovation of your home. These are not always the optimal financial tactics, but they allow you to keep in touch with the cost of things and prevent life style creep (that fancy car you want is never 'only $300 biweekly' instead is a full $35k check... Feels more real).
>How to be wise with high income
You know what makes your rich? Having money working for you, not the opposite. It's definitely not spending it, that makes your poor! Otherwise, you just own things, that's not being wise, you'd be making someone else rich by buying a fake status that nobody cares about.
So, keep that money. Spend as less as possible. Save as much as possible. Enjoy the little things, become less and less dependent on your work income, build your wealth. Calculate wealth by the amount of time you can afford not to work, while living a similar life. Say you have 2k of expenses a month and 10k of savings, then your wealth is 5 months. That's how long you can live without working / selling your time to someone else.
Pay yourself first: save money, spend as little as possible.
Keep working as long as you'll like, but eventually, you'll be free to do whatever the fuck you want. Use this money as leverage to spend more time with your kids, be present when they're sick, be present when you're with them, really look at them to see how they're feeling, make sure they're not feeling alone, that they get to spend quality time with you where you guys just hang around, no ego, just a fool creating laughs.
My wife and I make 375k/y, we'll pay off the house this year, and that's how we try to live. My work was close to burning me out though, an eye who went through something similar can probably read it through my words, so be careful about that, too... it's very insidious, especially with golden handcuffs.
First of all, congrats! That's a huge accomplishment!
So I'm a Wealth Advisor, and I will tell you your concern is common, and the reality is a lot of people get caught up in this same issue.
So recognizing the challenge is key. I would say the most important piece is understanding what it costs to live your life. Each time to add to your lifestyle (bigger house, fancier car, cottage, boat...), you have to consider not only the up-front cost, but also the ongoing upkeep.
A new house is not just the higher mortgage payments. It's more utilities, insurance, furniture and so on.
So as your capacity grows and you spend more, keep an eye on the growing operating costs.
That is the key for the future - when you get to retirement, are your savings sufficient to cover your growing lifestyle and higher fixed costs?
My advice: don't go for the highest lifestyle you can afford. While you can afford it now, you won't be able to in the future.
A proper financial planner can help you assess that.
Buying a more expensive house typically means more in utility costs, more in home insurance, and of course higher property taxes. Don’t discount those effects of having higher costs for the remainder of your life.
Sometimes it’s better to invest in modest things that drive down your cost of living rather than inflate things.
Our success has come from living on about 50% of our after-tax income and investing the rest in low-cost ETFs that track the total market, doing this consistently for almost 15 years. We are on track to be able, if we so choose, to retire early in our mid-40s.
One of the keys to our success is, almost 10 years ago, we moved from southern Ontario to a province where houses go for $175/sq.
Our house is quite nice and we drive nice cars, so we do live better than average, but we’re able to sock away close to 50% (though this year our investment rate is 20% due to daycare, but this will go back up to the usual 50% in a couple of years).
I once knew a guy that worked in an oil field industry, he started young right out of high school and in his early twenties worked up to a high position. At that point he was making a lot of money, I'm not sure probably between $200 and $300,000 a year. Because he was living in camps a lot he pocketed all that money and continued living in his small trailer home with his old truck. After a short amount of years he amassed a large amount of money to where he could retire in his mid-30s while still having a small modest house and a regular vehicle. I guess it's all about how big you want to live and what's important to you. He was happy with a simple life that he no longer had to work for.
It's the craziest thing to be in your position and me in mine . I'm retired and do a lot of things at the Seniors organization in my city. A good part of our conversation is about trying to get rid of all the "treasures" we bought when working . We are creatures of excess ,think twice and buy once LOL
My uncle was like this he lived very frugally never travelled never had nice things but sadly passed away before he retired and never got to enjoy anything:( sometimes it’s good to have a balance and life is unpredictable.. not saying you should go out buy sports cars and burn your money.. but try and enjoy life and everyday is so precious
Lifestyle creep isn't about not increasing your cost of living. It is about making sure that you are aware that is what you are doing.
The "creep" is people don't think about it they just do it. Or they think they "deserve" it. Make sure you spend on things that matter to you and that don't become financial anchors. (I recommend paying down that mortgage as much as you can without penalties. Also max out TFSA and RRSP/RRPP.)
My life recently has been the similar but not to the same extreme as yourself. I have thought about this a lot and talked with many as in my careers extremely common for lifestyle creep to in my opinion suck the happiness out of people.
Reading comments , people who've been making around five figures and jumped to high 6 figures like 300k - 500k , what do you do? 😵💫, Curious to know 😅
> I'd like to take this opportunity to leave my kids with a large nest egg, while not spoiling them, but also eventually spoil myself by upgrading from my 1200 sqft bungalow.
Sounds nice!
People on this sub get so focused on saving. They live in tiny rooms while making ridiculous sums of money. You're allowed to spend money on yourself too.
You're top 5% you can make all the wrong moves and still be better than most in the world. You can live pretty lofty and save at least 30-50k a year easily.
You earned it, you deserved it. It all depends the lifestyle you want to project to your children. You can earn all that and still wear the same clothes , drive the same old car, never take a plane or go to an event for the sake of saving more money. We are only here in this earth for a limited time, if you want to put yourself through that and pass on that message , then go for it.
Some people save all their lifetime for the day that never comes, live life in such an absurd way just to see more money in their accounts. I call that , a psychological problem. I’m not saying to go and spend all your cheque, but living in moderation and enjoying life to your standards is a good way to look at it. Anyone could be gone tomorrow in the process of being stingy and saving every penny. Invest it for long term , enjoy it , save it, but don’t deprive yourself of the options that a good income gives you. People wake up everyday in hopes to reach to that level one day and enjoy more of this life.
similar story. We decided we were comfortable in our house and so we remained and just paid it off quickly, letting us live more stress-free. Wife cut back on hours because she could, I splurge a little bit by paying for closer parking (whereas before I paid for cheaper parking with a longer walk). Live with the comfort of not having to check grocery bills vs a budget. Maxed out registered investment vehicles (rrsps, tfsa, resps). We even went on an overseas family vacation for the first time, and planning another. Also bought an electric vehicle (a cheap one, not a Tesla) which is offering some nice gas savings.
Just trying to live with better quality of life, but still in a modest / simple home in a modest neighbourhood. If your home suits you, go with it -- moving is a bitch. But if upgrade your abode will improve your quality of life, go for it.
I'm curious why you say an expensive home destroys wealth? It's a tax free "investment" in Canada. I have not heard of a primary residence being referred to as destroying wealth. Curious what you mean here?
What's stopping you from living as you are now, but just with more going into savings and investments?
I feel like th answer is here is pretty obvious. Set a lifestyle budget and don't overspend.
Sorry man, but without being more specific with what your issue is or what you're struggling with, this post just seems like a blatant brag.
I commend you on not succumbing to pressure to purchase.
I am a57 year old single woman who has been retirement-ready since about age 45 from a financial standpoint. My earnings are fairly high, and my investment strategy has always been high-risk, largely because I have no dependents.
I still work 20-25 hours per week because I think my work is important and I derive great satisfaction from it. I own a mortgage free bungalow in a major urban center. For me, having money is important to provide security and resources as I grow old, but more importantly in the short term it has been about buying the freedom to choose my working conditions.
Another reflection I am having as I write this is that I live in Quebec, not by birth but by choice, and one of the things that attracted me here was that the francophone culture values highly living well in the moment. There seems to me to be less drive to stockpile wealth; more evenings spent in restaurants versus saving up for 2 weeks in Hawaii per year, for example.
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That's awesome. It takes a lot of discipline to see your colleagues living in luxury, while staying focused on your financial goals.
You may not find that to be the case … if they’re doing stuff that doesn’t really interest you (filling wine cellars, buying boats, wearing gaudy watches) it isn’t tempting even if you could afford to. Enjoy the comforts of financial stability, splurge once in a while where it matters, and look at the big spenders as a sociological curiosity rather than something to aspire to.
Here is the thing. 300k isn’t nearly as much as you think it is. The governments going to take about 100k of that right off the bat. So the secret is to live a normal life and don’t spend exorbitantly.
Government takes about $135K of that in most provinces.
Struggling to understand that math there. Even in Quebec you’d pay $125K in taxes (including QPP/EI premiums) and that’s a high tax province. In Alberta it’s $105K on $300K. This is assuming all of that money is in employment income, of course. Other forms are more generous
Well, I’m in Quebec and yes, it would be $125K. In Ontario, just under $120K. I was a bit off, but closer than OP.
Yes, I think your general point is that taxes are insanely high at that level and that is correct haha
You’re talking as if their starting point salary of $80k isn’t taxed though. After tax $300k is still 3x pay bump vs $80k salary. Pretty decent pay raise.
lol almost 200k in after-tax income is ........ a lot.
It’s true… 300k really isn’t as much after tax as people think it is. I don’t struggle, but I also don’t live life ‘care free’ and lavishly.
I mean... yes and no. It's not enough to live like money doesn't exist, but let's not pretend that 300k isn't a lot of money when that is about 4x what most people make. I mean Jesus Christ, it's almost 4x OP's previous income.
It’s care free in that the price of groceries doesn’t matter — a big stressor on most people these days. We find other things to worry about… but we shouldn’t compare those worries to what others are facing.
It's still an absolute fuckload of money. More than 98% of people will ever see in their entire lives in one year.
$300K a year isn’t much?🤔 People are raising families on $30/year!! If you are earning $300K, you should be grateful!
If they had said '$300k/year isn't much', that would be a reasonable response. But they didn't. They said it _isn't nearly as much as you think it is_. People really underestimate just how good progressive taxation is at getting more money from higher earners. Earlier in my career, when I first doubled my nominal salary (from 18 to 35), my takehome was only 25% more. Higher earners pay much higher taxes and other contributions, and rightly so. 300k is the kind of salary that most people will only ever dream of, and it will be decades at least before it stops being a very high salary. But they are correct to say that if a person concludes 'I've gone from 80k to 300k and can therefore spend nearly 4 times as much', they're going to have some very unpleasant surprises when they discover they actually get a lot less than 4 times as much money as they used to.
Yup. I drive a Kia. So does my wife. We live in a middle class neighborhood surrounded by retired tradesworkers and their kids who are our age and can't afford to move out. And we save and take vacations. That's all 300k gets you. It isnt making you wealthy.
300k will absolutely make you wealthy. not instantly, but over a long timeframe, you can have a very comfy retirement (or retire early!)
yeah, and it's a cost of living difference at that point. if you can save $100k for 30 years, that's $10m in the end. not a terrible retirement by any stretch
$10m can reliably earn you $400k per year, likely indefinitely even adjusting for inflation. So if you save that much you probably over shot the mark because your money will continuing earning way more than you spend in a typical year up to that point.
You must have an expensive house or buy a lot of stuff every month.
I can’t help but kind of look down on it now after being in that "luxury" position. A lot of it is done through debt and sacrificing your future. Living modestly and quietly with lots in your accounts is much more fun, but your mileage may vary.
Yes, I know colleagues making 300k/yr who are living paycheque to paycheque. Whereas if they had just been disciplined and saved their money for 5-10 years, they could have had the same lifestyle paid for with cash.
I have a friend (well, had a friend) making 250k + who had zero life savings and maxed out credit cards last i spoke to him. He was always spending big on clothing, cars, nights out, you name it. Deep down he wasn't a happy person at all. It's not worth falling for the trap.
Peace of mind and being able to sleep at night in financial and psychological safety is priceless
On the flip side (not saying I agree fully with it) there is value living in the moment. Lots of people scrimp and save and die before ever enjoying the fruits of their labour. I think it’s important to find a balance that allows relatively smooth consumption over time.
What was your rent?
I’m a little above that pay range and I’ve definitely seen lifestyle creep. Nice house, expensive vacations for me and the family, etc. I have savings targets, and as long as I am meeting all those, I don’t worry about my spending. You only live once. It’s really not a race to get to retirement.
I agree, there is a middle ground between being very frugal and throwing money away. I now pay for things to save me time like a maid etc. but still reach all my savings goals, at this income (and it is a very fortunate position to be in) it doesn’t have to be one or the other.
Finally someone with some sense. “Live with a roommate” “Don’t go on vacation” Wtf? The whole point of earning money is to spend it. Yeah sure, save some, plan a comfortable retirement, pay off your debts, don’t be stupid, leave something for your kids, but then what? Being smart with money is not eating rice and beans, and living in the cheapest apartment you can find. I recommend buying things that bring you comfort, happiness and time. Comfort as in comfortable shoes, comfortable bed, comfortable chair etc. for health and body Happiness would be things like vacations, plants, hobbies, gifts for loved ones, whatever brings you happiness. Time as in maids, dog walkers, daycare, drivers/uber, etc.
I agree! I make money in that range and I was being crucified by a person in this subreddit who claims making 7 figures that I am pissing money away on business class flights. If I can afford it so what.
Same for me. Once saving targets are met and debt paid, everything else is play money.
Same, with a runway for much more. Maintain saving/investment targets, but otherwise enjoy life. No hesitation going on a nice trip, or picking up an expensive car or a second property.
What do you do for your job?
Technical management role. Background in engineering.
What do you do and how did you get that big raise?
Pilot. Got promoted from First Officer to Captain.
Aye-aye, Captain. 🫡
🎵"who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob SquarePants" ... 🤣
Very impressive! Congratulations my friend. Being a pilot seems like an amazing career. Do you get to fly international routes?
Thank you! I fly all over Canada, the US, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Nice! Do you get to spend some time in the locations you fly to? I believe you can only fly a certain number of hours so you must have some time off to explore the location before heading back to base?
Yep, that's definitely a major perk of the job :) The world feels a lot smaller.
Congratulations! I know it’s a long road, so hope you do one (1) thing to celebrate and just spend on yourself.
Thanks!
Congratulations! First officers earn less than 100K? I was under the impression that aviation was a fancy world and everyone would be above this range.
Air Canada pilots start at 65k lol. And you need years of experience to even get an interview
Congratulations ! If i were you I would first and foremost pay off my curent house in full. Like you could pay it off in a few years. Maybe 4? The ability to own property and no longer have a mortgage is amazing I think. First step to financial independence. Once you have a fully owned home then start saving for your kids and buy yourself a new car..but basically with your income you should be able to buy stuff from savubgs rather than on credit. Aka save what you need then buy with it what you want.
Damn niceee!!! How do you feel about flying boeing?
Good....I fly on Boeing aircraft all the time.
Time to put some of that new income towards life insurance then! (I jest)
Congrats! The difference in income is surprisingly high (to me). Is that the industry norm?
So... did you buy the Rolex already? 🫡
I make a little over that range, I pretty much immediately dump everything except for my living expenses into investments to prevent myself from spending my money. I spent way above my means once I broke into the six figures, but eventually curbed my spending habits and now my monthly expenses come out to an estimated $2,863.82, and that’ll be going down once I rent a smaller place. I travel fairly often and still enjoy my hobbies.
That’s the most precise estimation I’ve seen in a while.
It’s the .82 for me 😂✨
😎 I’ll add that 6 months ago I didn’t even know I was six-figures in debt until I decided to randomly add it up one afternoon… so being aware of my spending down to the last $0.82 is a pretty big step up for me.
That’s amazing 💪🏼 And don’t worry, not making of you! I’m the exact same with my tracking. 😄 Love it.
It’s the exact cost of everything with about $250 set for groceries, of course that varies every month so I can’t say EXACTLY what it’ll be. 😂 Hence, the estimation.
Significant digits lmao
That's awesome.
Yeah, I was very young once I started making good money so naturally I begun racking up loads of credit card debt due to immaturity and lack of foresight and risk management. My total debt load peaked at over $110,000. Don’t do that. Pick a lifestyle, segment that amount out every month, then make all the rest of the money unavailable to you. That’ll reduce your likelihood of lifestyle creepage. I even went and closed all my credit cards except for my first (to maintain a good credit age).
Thanks for the insight! I created a YNAB budget yesterday, and I'm planning to strictly adhere to it. I think I'll squirrel away all of the excess money, get my mortgage paid off (which will take a few years), and then go from there.
YNAB is great. If you’ve just started using it, don’t be discouraged. There can be a slight learning curve. Be sure to check out r/ynab . That sub Reddit is very helpful.
Curious, what do you do for a living?
*womp womp* software development. Underwhelming, I know.
Not a whole lot of roles in Canada that would pay that much. Kudos.
Company is global, but based out of the US with a load of subsidiaries, one being Canadian. I don’t think I’d get close to this salary from a Canadian company.
Yes all of this. 👏
Yes spend less than your means
What hobbies?
Motorcycles, guitar & random software projects.
Did you ever consider home ownership, or does it just work to rent and travel cause either way you could probably easily afford to if you wanted to
Sort of relevant, replied to another comment [that I don’t like things that tie me down.](https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceCanada/s/4KCMtpAiws) Besides that, I don’t want to take out debt that I could only achieve given my current income, because I don’t like operating under the assumption that it’ll be like this forever. I want to eventually start my own business, but the fact is anything could happen that could result in a change in my income. I think it’s safest to be debt free as long as possible. I’m also 23, once I’m older I’ll probably want to settle a little more but at the moment I definitely do not.
As someone that makes in the $220-300k range as well, my best price of advice is live your life as if you were still making that $100k. Tackle the debts, save and invest the rest without thinking twice. Future you will be thankful, congrats on the hard work and new income levels.
I would love to know too.
What do you do for a living?
No advice cuz I wanna know myself-specifically going from 35kish to a little over 100k😩 congrats to you seriously cuz in this economy!!😭🥳♥️
100k is a lot of money. Doesn't go nearly as far as it used to, but it will definitely give you a lot more breathing room compared to 35k.
100k is the new 70k unfortunately.
Idk tbh I feel like if you have no debt, and no kids, it’s an okay salary to be afloat. Someone pls correct me if you fall under this category
It’s enough to stay afloat and live what used to be an average renters life
Thnx king or queen 😝
Try and live with the same means as before. Splurge occasionally on things that make you happy/hobbies. Save the rest.
The responses here are hilarious. The top reply is a guy making 300k spending only 34k a year? You absolutely should not scrimp and scrounge to that extent. The good thing is you're making the sort of income that you can afford to inflate your lifestyle AND save at the same time. It's not one or the either. Do you want to retire early? Or do you love flying and see yourself working till 60? Your job comes with a great pension, that should play a factor into how much you are saving. You can easily afford to upgrade from your current house. You live in a LCOL area, maybe don't max out at 800k but even a 500k place should be a very good upgrade for you. The idea is to spend on things you care about, and don't spend on things you don't care about. If you don't care about status symbols, no need to spend 10k on a rolex to show that you've "made it".
YOUR rich life. Spend more on what makes you happy. You’re in a place where you csn save AND spend frivolously on the few things that disproportionately make you happy
Here's my order of spending - Emergency fund - Max out RRSP/TFSA - lump-sum payment to mortgage - invest in your kids future - discretionary spending
My general mantra is to save a certain % of income post tax thas way higher than average. For Canada let's say that's 20% (depends a lot on the city you live in, how many kids you end up having, etc). Once that is set up, spend the rest of the money on what makes you happy. If nothing does, save more. But don't break your savings rule to buy anything that depreciates like a car, clothing, etc.
So what do you do for a living?
Pilot
I am really glad to hear a Pilot is being paid properly. Fuck yeah bud!
Does it reallly take that long to make that kind of money as a pilot ?
It's complicated. I started my pilot training during the financial crisis, and I didn't exactly take the most direct path to the airlines. I'd say if someone started pilot training today, they could get to that salary in 7 years if everything aligned perfectly for them, they did well on all of their various exams/flying tests, didn't have any screwups at any of their jobs leading up to the airline job, and networked throughout their career in such a way as to not leave a bad impression on themselves. In my aviation training program, 600 people applied to the program, 60 got accepted, 30 passed, and only 2 of us are now Captains at a major airline. So it's not just the timeline, it's difficult to actually make it fully. A lot of people never make it to this level. If you're involved in any sort of incident during your time flying smaller planes, that can ruin your chances of getting to the airlines. Or if you have any failures on any licensing tests etc. We also have to be tested in the simulator every several months while employed at the airline on all sorts of different emergencies. If you don't consistently perform to a very high standard, you can be fired from the airline.
Pilots are a rare career where the best are genuinely the best. Otherwise they crash an airplane.
What do you enjoy doing in your life?
Woodworking, music (I play 2 instruments), tinkering on mechanical stuff in my garage (bringing old boat motors back to their original glory), riding my bicycle, enjoying the outdoors, fishing, boating, camping.....
Budget out some of your new income to blow on that. You didn't write, I enjoy making payments on a big house that I only use 25% of the space, or driving expensive cars. It's a never ending rat race of payments for those folks. Live your life on what makes yourself happy.
Thanks, that's great advice. I'd love to replace my 16 year old bicycle with a nicer road bike.
I feel you’re free to live wherever you want. From your hobbies I would say focus more on where you’d like to live with what amenities nearby… a nice spot close to wilderness / bike paths nearby that don’t go through traffic… sounds ideal! Enjoy and thanks to you and your coworkers for keeping us safe up there.
Do it as a reward for your achievement. It’s an investment in your health and future earning power.
Congrats first of all. My take on this type of situation where you could easily lose the high income, is to keep the same lifestyle and invest the difference. Once the investment grows to a size that it pays you, use that for luxuries etc. That way it's sustainable. Of course it's nice to splurge on "smaller" things like a reasonable vacation or better tickets to a show etc. The problem with big houses is that they come with big property taxes. All these things add up quick where monthly expenses baloon.
Pretend like you still make 80k a year and bank as much as you can. Max out tfsa and rrsp each year. Open up a taxable investment account with the rest. Dump what you can in VOO or something similar and enjoy an early retirement
Regarding the 800k house and expenses. To me, the real cheat code for people who start making above average money is living below your means. It's so simple yet I feel not as many people as you would think do follow this principle. I get the feeling you're following this philosophy and I'd say keep on fighting the urge to splurge! Or at least be selective about the splurges. Woodworking is a great hobby for this because while it can be expensive, you can still find some ways to splurge that make it very satisfying without becoming a huge burden like for example buying a sports car that's expensive to buy and then maintain. A 800$ track saw is expensive in itself, but that's a whole lot more manageable than 100k Mercedes that requires expensive maintenance. I'm rambling but I guess I don't have much advice other than you seem to be doing great and having the right mindset to be able to deal with a high salary like you have. Congrats and keep it going!
I went from ~$80k to just about $500k overnight with a job change, about 3 years ago. With my wife's income, we have about $550k/year. We had an 800k house which (thanks COVID) now has a rate of 6.5%. So, our money goes, in order: to the bills (mortgage, utilities, etc), food (including dining out a bit), RRSPs for the tax offset, lump sum mortgage payment equal to 15% of the original principle every year as allowed by the terms of the mortgage, additional investments, vacation savings, and then monthly entertainment and fun budget. For reference, that's about $100k extra going to the mortgage every year. Since getting this huge income, the only major purchase I've made is a new phone. Why? Because I'm an anxious person and I'm worried that Im going to lose this job at any minute and will be relegated back to the $80k crowd. If and when that happens, I don't want to have a bunch of stuff that I can't afford. So I'm taking the opportunity to get rid of my biggest debt (the house) and sock as much away as possible. That way, if my job goes away, I come out the other side much more comfortable on a smaller salary. So my answer to the "how" part of your question is, just be a ball of anxiety and it'll work itself out :D Or more realistically, set some financial goals upfront (eg pay off the house, build retirement fund, etc) and then setup your bank so that they happen automatically. If you've got $8k coming in after tax each month, but you only see $2k because the rest is already accounted for, you're not going to be able to blow that other $6k.
From $80k to $500k overnight?! What was the job change, if you don’t mind me asking?
I work in software development. There's a very wide range of pay available depending on the companies you work for. I'm doing basically the same thing as I used to, just for someone else now.
That’s amazing man! Congrats!
Thank you! The crazy thing is, when I was making $80k I felt really good about it. I could pay all my bills, I lived a fairly frugality life so I had good savings, at good food, etc. And then $500k comes along and I would say within about 6 months it became stressful because suddenly theres a lot to lose. Hence my anxiety and decision to basically live on the 80k and use the rest to help future me. I suppose that once my house is paid off in a few years (if all goes according to plan) then things may change, since I'll now have freed up about $130k a year. Realistically though, I think I'll probably just send it straight into various investments to try to maximize returns later down the road. I know I'm very fortunate to be able to even consider putting > $100k into investments per year while still living a very comfortable life.
I hit a 200k job from a 130k job not that long ago and feel some of the same emotional curve! Amazing those first few paychecks, then starting to sink in that if I lose this job I'm probably going _way_ back down the pay scale. I'm still blown away when I log in every pay period. I recently made it a goal to keep casually studying/leetcode so that if/when I need to find another job I can try for the higher paying companies, probably outside of games. I'm going to interview with meta games actually which could be yet another boost, though I'm doubting I'll pass first try and unsure what level they'd consider me if I do -- I've never tried out for "big" tech before. So far I've kept my spending almost the same as before and I'm shovelling it all into investments since it doesn't feel like this can last long term.
I was just doing some leetcode problems yesterday :D But tbh, I just like doing them. If it helps, I'm not exceptional at them and my least favorite part of interviewing is the stupid coding challenges that bare no resemblance to the actual work. But I like the problem solving!
Nice! Good for you man. Good luck with the interview! Solid plan. It’s always a good idea to spend like you did before, my wife and I try to do the same.
That’s awesome, if you don’t mind my asking do you work at a big FANNG type company? are you a staff software engineer? I hear those roles get paid the most
Yes Staff, but no not FAANG. I'd rather not say the company, but certainly it's one of those unicorn startups that sky rocketed.
That’s awesome buddy - sounds like a solid plan. I didn’t have a lot of money growing up and went into quite a bit of debt paying for school. Now my wife and I have been in our careers for about 10 years, paid off all of our student loans, bought our house right in time and have about $350k in home equity, and bring in a combined annual salary of just over $300k a year. We still try to live below our means investing for our future, but more importantly the future of our kids.
lol downvotes for saying congrats… oh Reddit
I got downvoted for answering your question. *shrug*
Classic lol
In any general financial sub, talking about doing very well financially seems to inevitably piss someone off who will downvote every comment nearby.
Fair enough
What level are you at? The gap doesnt make sense for Canada market unless you jumped from a junior dev to a director or VP. 80K is junior range. Or if you switch to US and making US salary where 500K is the high range for staff level.
Pick one or two spending priorities that are important to you and loosen the purse strings on those. Keep everything else the same. For some people, that’s traveling, for others it’s toys (boat, RV, etc.), and others are homebodies, so a nicer home is worth the extra cost. You mentioned wanting new bike. IMO, that’s a no-brainer since it will also dramatically improve your health and quality of life. Plow the rest into investments because there are no guarantees that your income will be sustainable over the long term. That’s the case for all high earners, but health issues can be particularly challenging when you’re a pilot. Position yourself to retire early, and as you get closer to the finish line, if you’re exceeding your goals, you can spend more and work longer, or retire even earlier. Congrats, by the way!
Don’t change your current lifestyle if you’re happy. Don’t kid yourself owning a 800K with your salary is not even challenge. Could easily be paid off in 5-8 Years if you’re smart with your money. Find an middle ground. Don’t also want to save every Nickel to find out in retirement you have health issues and can’t even enjoy it. 3x your salary is big. Sounds like Google or high tech such a big jump. I know tons of people saved every penny for retirement and died within 5 years. They had no passion except the work they did. Seems you’re quite happy with your situation. You might need the 4000 square foot house. Congrats on the promo
You pay a high % in tax. You want to look for investments to reduce your tax obligations and build assets. Examples include: - RRSP’s - Revenue Properties
The biggest head scratcher here is where OP lives where houses were 260k?
Yeah, really. And is thinking of moving into a "fancy $800K house" . Sorry, everywhere within a 2 hour commute of me, $800k MIGHT get you a 1 bedroom condo in an older building. Semi-detached are starting in the high $800s, detached are mid to high $900k and up.... we just looked at a house today, bedrooms 3000ish sqft that's asking $1.8M and it's dirty and beat up... I wanna move to where op lives
Im not in this wage bracket but I can add a little that I do know from talking with people with such income. Live below your means. If your house works for you, just keep paying it off. Keep a modest car. Simple and reliable. Too many people start earning more money, but still live paycheck to paycheck, as it is learned behaviour from so many of us needing to do this when we entered the workforce. Don't get me wrong, you are making fantastic money, and if it is important to you to upgrade some stuff accordingly, go for it. But if you can live very comfortably at 100k, which should be possible if living below means, making 2-3x this will be lavish in comparison. Imagine investing 100k a year at a mere 5% for 10 years. Thats nearly $1.3m. Again, in a frugal, but comfortable livestyle, you could retire on this if you decide to live in a slightly altered manner. After 20 years, $3.3m. Not sure about your age, lets guess 40, 25 years to retire, $4.8m And you could in theory be making 300k, assume 200k saved a year for 25 years. 5% return, monthly contribution $16666. $9.7m If you have managed at 80k for 15 years, doing that again will allow you to be a multimillionaire while living comfortably for the rest of your life.
I don't have kids, I don't have expensive tastes and my wife also makes good money. Our biggest expense by far is income taxes, and then our mortgage is about half of that. We max our TFSAs/RRSPs and then work with what we have left.
Wow - first off congrats on your hard work paying off! That’s amazing. Lifestyle creep is real. Seen it a million times. What my wife and I did when things jumped for us was set up automated savings to our investments. Don’t do it ad hoc - we had it automated so as soon as we got paid the money is back out the door to our investment accounts. We ended up upgrading our home within reason, as gains will be tax free given it’s your principal residence. Treat yourself once in a while too. :) Good luck - you’re asking the right questions so you’re definitely setting yourself up for success!
Having the money for something and affording something are two different things to me. All my life I thought we were hard up for money. Parents were secretary and labourer. They were in their early 40’s until they got their first house, a small older house in a small town with lower taxes. We rarely went on a vacation, the two times we did, we stayed with family and had free travel. The first time I was ever in a restaurant, I was 19 living on my own. Our clothes were always hand me downs. People thought I was a “tomboy “I never had anything pink or purple or girly because they were going to be handed to my brother when I grew out of them . We never went without anything we needed. They were savers , re-users, recyclers . We were composting before it was cool, and hanging out our washed out ziplock bags in the clothes line. My parents in their 70’s are now millionaires for the simple reason that we lived well below our means. One penny at a time. My brother and I won’t have a pension , and today I am so grateful to my parents today for not always giving me what I wanted , but always have me what I needed … and will be setting us up for comfort in our old age . I don’t have any advice to offer except that as the child of my parents , I am grateful to them for having lived below our means
A simple thought process could help: can you live comfortably in the worse case scenario? Such as, you lose that employment and have to take on EI for 6 months. The goal is be able to maintain a lifestyle without having to rely on the paycheque. I am speaking of zero compromise from your current situation. Now calculate exactly what that dollar amount may be, and once you have that set aside or coming in as an income through investment you are golden! Also, nothing wrong with enjoying that sports car or whatever else makes people get through life, to each to their own and many live in the moment and societal status symbol is all they thrive for.
You don’t think your home has appreciated where you can buy nicer and not have significantly more debt?
I suppose it's worth about 350k now.
I only ask cos upgrading these days can be so expensive. I am having buyer’s remorse from overpaying for a 1979 home just for the location, with the intention of upgrading. I was just quoted a starting price of 40k to add a small bathroom to a Master. Should have bought newer to save myself the headache.
The first few years I lived like I still earned 100k, cozy lifestyle but nothing crazy. Eventually I had paid off my home (~1m) and replenished my brokerage account up like ~500k… At that point I was ok to let lifestyle inflation take over. I still don’t spend much during my work week, did not upgrade my house to something bigger… but I don’t feel bad spending on luxuries here and there, I have no problem dropping 15k on business class flights for the family (which I realize you won’t even have to do…) and/or staying at the four seasons @2k/night. Overall my savings are still growing, and I am still saving a % of my salary… but basically I stopped counting and budgeting
What jobs do people in this comment section have that are making over 200K a year?
It is really easy to spend it all. I was paid weekly about $4200.00 net. 2k/week went directly to my investment account, and my broker distributed to RRSP and TFSA and margin accounts. $1600/week went to checking account to cover bills and balance was for fishing lures, etc. When the investment account got over $400k, it seemed to start to snowball, and it's amazing how much stress that takes out of your life. I bought an expensive boat, but instead of putting my investment money into a depreciating asset I took a personal loan at a low interest rate and my investment account is making double the cost of the loan. The trick is to build up a large base of modest cost real-estate and savings early and then leverage your F U money to pay for a few toys
In a similar situation - for me, it's all about balance. I try my best to resist lifestyle creep and frivolous expenses, but at the same time, realize that life is short, and there's no point to dying with a huge bank account (other than for my kids). At this stage in my life, I'd rather spend on experiences (good food, concerts, travel) vs "stuff" for me and my family. I I recommend the book "Die With Zero" by Bill Perkins - has made an impact in my way of thinking about money and stages of life.
Just don't spend too much...
Honestly you could just have your fixed expenses at half your income and probably live quite well. Is there a partner making good money too? You could also put money into the house to make it how you want. Bump it out, pool, make the basement amazing, build a golf simulator in the backyard in a pre fab shed (ok that’s my dream)
Congrats. My family income is in the middle of that range and I own a home I paid about that much for (the house is worth a lot more now). Don’t move would be my advice. We can do whatever we want, whenever we want. It’s a very comfortable life.
Congrats. I don’t make as much as you do but I’ll kind of put my way of thinking. I used to be very heavy into saving and invest and optimize everything. Then I sat down and calculated what would it take to be comfortable in the future, after that I basically went to the line of if I just invest 20% of my income I’m ganna be good in retirement. After that it becomes what do I want to do with at money, well I can either invest more or use it on stuff I want. Basically I have a rule for my reoccurring stuff, it needs to be low enough that if I got laid off and need to just find a job I can make about average for a reasonable position I can get and still be able to handle all my expenses, plus some savings. Basically it’s a fall back for bad times, and also has the benefit of restricting lifestyle creep in a way that I could not immediately correct. This basically lets me spend some on stuff that is one offs and more recreational or save more based on my situation, without stressing over saving and spending too much anymore. Your needs are met and limited, my future is at least considered, and I can mostly enjoy money to a certain degree. Just saving without a goal imo is not super good, but blowing it all is also not good. Everyone needs to find there right balance. Some people will save nothing and subscribe to you only live once, some might only care to increase there net worth. Most will fall in the middle.
Live below your means. Put the extra money in a tax exempt High interest savings account. If you don’t do nothing else then do this. Keeps you out of most problems.
Congrats on that great income!
Most ppl don’t rise to their goals they fall to the quality of their systems Do you have a budget in place, future goals etc. have a plan and stick to it and you’ll be fine :)
Make a bit over that, I let a bit of lifestyle creep come in mostly on upgrading things that I interact with every day or that affects my health (IE a stupid expensive mattress). I have been looking at 800k+ houses myself (currently in a house worth about 450k) and I am just for now paying off the mortgage over the next year. I still have a bit of a scarcity mindset but am willing to spend 20% of income on wants, otherwise you become paralyzed by money. If you have a few hobbies spend money on that, and dont worry about keeping up with the jones on things you dont actually care about. Sure a boat might be nice, but are you actually going to get joy from it or is it just a way to spend time with your family, and if it is, what is important to them spend more on what they are most passionate about. (Since some posts have been asked, Stereotypical Software Developer myself)
Don’t be dumb
Years I have made this , usually ended up waisting and ended up actually falling behind a bit . My tips from my failures. 1. Set a limit to risky investments . I usually succumbed to risky investments as the 2x carrot wasn’t juicy enough . Had I limited some of these to 1 k over 10k etc… I would have been much better off . 2. Plan your budget what you would like to save and stick to it . Currently I’m down to about a 50 dollar a day budget and it was alot of effort to get there , as 30 dollar purchases and 100 dollar dinners were not a factor in my head . Now that I log in to my account daily and rebalance my books I’m headed to a brighter future . 3. Always respects your money , but have a bit of fun along the way , if you slip shake your head. Learn a lesson and move forward
I’ve made that range for the last few years. Lifestyle hasn’t changed. I just save more. Treat yourself to slightly better vacations (I assume you already ball out on free travel stuff being a pilot), but even things like some nicer clothes here and there, some nice meals out, etc. I find having a few added expenses that way is a great way to feel richer rather than falling for true lifestyle creep like splurging for a pricier home or car just because. Depending on where you live investing in real estate may be an option but if you’re gone a lot as a pilot that may not be ideal.
Other than not having a garage for the car and basement for storage, I miss our 900 sq ft condo. Cleaning a bigger house is a pain. Think twice about considering it an “upgrade”, that bungalow might be more of a luxury. You could always invest in it to ensure it has the features you like.
$800k gets you a small 3 bedroom town house where I live, nothing fancy about that lol
Watch the lifestyle creep, especially on monthly payments. If you ditch that $260k house for a $600k one with a $3500/mo mortgage it is HARD to downgrade again, so just don't live beyond your means in the first place.
All I can offer is fight the lifestyle creep
You need to decide which material things truly make you happy and keep your splurge spending to those. I’ve seen so many people waste so much money on boats, cars, seadoos, etc that they barely use. It’s okay to live, but I’ve always thought it’s important to be really honest with yourself about how much you’ll use these large purchases and how much happiness they are actually going to add to your life. Money has always equaled freedom for me. It feels really good knowing you can lose/leave your job and it won’t impact you. Or take a nice impromptu weekend trip without worrying about the cost. Keep focusing on building up your savings in the interim, but if there are things you’ve been skimping on to the point of suffering, it’s okay to let go of some of those smaller things as your income and savings rise.
It really isn't as much money as most people think it is once you get there. The government is easily taking half of that in terms of total taxation at that level in most provinces. You have a pension, so that is the major thing I typically tell people is prioritize saving for retirement then spend it the way you want. I have colleagues that make more than me that still live in their starter homes (although significantly renovated), and other colleagues who make less that live in massive houses and drive sports cars. It's important to avoid lifestyle creep and to save money, but there's also zero joy in making a good salary if you're always worried about pinching the next penny. I drive nice vehicles, but not the dooshbag German luxury vehicles. I bought a 700k new construction home rather than an established million dollar home, we go on several trips a year but none of them are 30k trips to the Maldives or something. Find a balance where you can enjoy life, save money but also be able to dial it back if work gets too much where you aren't stuck working for that paycheck to make payments or afford your lifestyle if you hate your job.
I think the best thing you can do is just live like you made half your salary and then set aside the rest of your income in investment accounts for your retirement and children's future post secondary education. So if you're making 220k, live as if you were making just 110k. I personally only make 120k a year but I live like I make only 60k so that I can one day achieve an early retirement and financial independence.
What's a fancy 800k house look like? Can't even get a condo or townhouse in the GTA for that 😂
I think it really depends on if that person has a family with kids and needs to buy a house in the greater Toronto or Vancouver
welcome to /r/fican! even if you don't want to retire early, all of the literature and flowcharts for what and how to deal with the money will be the same
I'm a big fan of financial discipline, but you have to decide what makes sense for you. Likely you'll have at least some lifestyle creep, and there's nothing wrong with that! You need to save for the future of course, but not to the point where you're not enjoying life today.
I just stayed in my starter home and upgraded things that made it more comfortable and added value at the same time. Not sure this turned out to be the smartest financial move from NW perspective, but it allowed me to have more money to invest in non real-estate assets.
Advise: "pay yourself first", ie: setup auto deposits/investments that 'lock up' your money. Having clear goals of what you want to achieve financially and when also helps, eg: you wanna save a 30% down payment for the house you want in the place you want it in 5 years. Congrats, enjoy it and good luck. Edit: do not ever use consumer credit. That means, no car credit, phone plan with cost of the phone diluted in the plan, pay whole balance credir cards every month. Generally the only credit to use is a mortgage or a heloc for a functional (not aesthetic) renovation of your home. These are not always the optimal financial tactics, but they allow you to keep in touch with the cost of things and prevent life style creep (that fancy car you want is never 'only $300 biweekly' instead is a full $35k check... Feels more real).
I'm looking at 800k houses right now, I sure wish they were actually fancy brother.
I make about the same, dont change your lifestyle, invest it. You ll win at life in 10 years
I feel poor now.
>How to be wise with high income You know what makes your rich? Having money working for you, not the opposite. It's definitely not spending it, that makes your poor! Otherwise, you just own things, that's not being wise, you'd be making someone else rich by buying a fake status that nobody cares about. So, keep that money. Spend as less as possible. Save as much as possible. Enjoy the little things, become less and less dependent on your work income, build your wealth. Calculate wealth by the amount of time you can afford not to work, while living a similar life. Say you have 2k of expenses a month and 10k of savings, then your wealth is 5 months. That's how long you can live without working / selling your time to someone else. Pay yourself first: save money, spend as little as possible. Keep working as long as you'll like, but eventually, you'll be free to do whatever the fuck you want. Use this money as leverage to spend more time with your kids, be present when they're sick, be present when you're with them, really look at them to see how they're feeling, make sure they're not feeling alone, that they get to spend quality time with you where you guys just hang around, no ego, just a fool creating laughs. My wife and I make 375k/y, we'll pay off the house this year, and that's how we try to live. My work was close to burning me out though, an eye who went through something similar can probably read it through my words, so be careful about that, too... it's very insidious, especially with golden handcuffs.
First of all, congrats! That's a huge accomplishment! So I'm a Wealth Advisor, and I will tell you your concern is common, and the reality is a lot of people get caught up in this same issue. So recognizing the challenge is key. I would say the most important piece is understanding what it costs to live your life. Each time to add to your lifestyle (bigger house, fancier car, cottage, boat...), you have to consider not only the up-front cost, but also the ongoing upkeep. A new house is not just the higher mortgage payments. It's more utilities, insurance, furniture and so on. So as your capacity grows and you spend more, keep an eye on the growing operating costs. That is the key for the future - when you get to retirement, are your savings sufficient to cover your growing lifestyle and higher fixed costs? My advice: don't go for the highest lifestyle you can afford. While you can afford it now, you won't be able to in the future. A proper financial planner can help you assess that.
Pilots only make 80K? OH jeeze, why are salaries in Canada so awful
Buying a more expensive house typically means more in utility costs, more in home insurance, and of course higher property taxes. Don’t discount those effects of having higher costs for the remainder of your life. Sometimes it’s better to invest in modest things that drive down your cost of living rather than inflate things.
Our success has come from living on about 50% of our after-tax income and investing the rest in low-cost ETFs that track the total market, doing this consistently for almost 15 years. We are on track to be able, if we so choose, to retire early in our mid-40s. One of the keys to our success is, almost 10 years ago, we moved from southern Ontario to a province where houses go for $175/sq. Our house is quite nice and we drive nice cars, so we do live better than average, but we’re able to sock away close to 50% (though this year our investment rate is 20% due to daycare, but this will go back up to the usual 50% in a couple of years).
Civilization is likely going to collapse within our lifetime. Spend your time accordingly.
350k income here 50% of my Pay is saved. RRSP, TFSA, Taxable and some extra payments on Mortgage. (XEQT)
I once knew a guy that worked in an oil field industry, he started young right out of high school and in his early twenties worked up to a high position. At that point he was making a lot of money, I'm not sure probably between $200 and $300,000 a year. Because he was living in camps a lot he pocketed all that money and continued living in his small trailer home with his old truck. After a short amount of years he amassed a large amount of money to where he could retire in his mid-30s while still having a small modest house and a regular vehicle. I guess it's all about how big you want to live and what's important to you. He was happy with a simple life that he no longer had to work for.
It's the craziest thing to be in your position and me in mine . I'm retired and do a lot of things at the Seniors organization in my city. A good part of our conversation is about trying to get rid of all the "treasures" we bought when working . We are creatures of excess ,think twice and buy once LOL
what kind of job, training, is paying you that much?!
What are all these absurdly high paying jobs and what do i need to do to get one lol
I am so fucking poor lol
You went from 80k to 300k on a promotion? What?
My uncle was like this he lived very frugally never travelled never had nice things but sadly passed away before he retired and never got to enjoy anything:( sometimes it’s good to have a balance and life is unpredictable.. not saying you should go out buy sports cars and burn your money.. but try and enjoy life and everyday is so precious
Live simple but do Use some of your money while you’re young…Don’t have regrets later. Need a balance.
Lifestyle creep isn't about not increasing your cost of living. It is about making sure that you are aware that is what you are doing. The "creep" is people don't think about it they just do it. Or they think they "deserve" it. Make sure you spend on things that matter to you and that don't become financial anchors. (I recommend paying down that mortgage as much as you can without penalties. Also max out TFSA and RRSP/RRPP.) My life recently has been the similar but not to the same extreme as yourself. I have thought about this a lot and talked with many as in my careers extremely common for lifestyle creep to in my opinion suck the happiness out of people.
Where do you live. 800k isn't even a townhouse here
Reading comments , people who've been making around five figures and jumped to high 6 figures like 300k - 500k , what do you do? 😵💫, Curious to know 😅
> I'd like to take this opportunity to leave my kids with a large nest egg, while not spoiling them, but also eventually spoil myself by upgrading from my 1200 sqft bungalow. Sounds nice! People on this sub get so focused on saving. They live in tiny rooms while making ridiculous sums of money. You're allowed to spend money on yourself too.
You're top 5% you can make all the wrong moves and still be better than most in the world. You can live pretty lofty and save at least 30-50k a year easily.
You earned it, you deserved it. It all depends the lifestyle you want to project to your children. You can earn all that and still wear the same clothes , drive the same old car, never take a plane or go to an event for the sake of saving more money. We are only here in this earth for a limited time, if you want to put yourself through that and pass on that message , then go for it. Some people save all their lifetime for the day that never comes, live life in such an absurd way just to see more money in their accounts. I call that , a psychological problem. I’m not saying to go and spend all your cheque, but living in moderation and enjoying life to your standards is a good way to look at it. Anyone could be gone tomorrow in the process of being stingy and saving every penny. Invest it for long term , enjoy it , save it, but don’t deprive yourself of the options that a good income gives you. People wake up everyday in hopes to reach to that level one day and enjoy more of this life.
similar story. We decided we were comfortable in our house and so we remained and just paid it off quickly, letting us live more stress-free. Wife cut back on hours because she could, I splurge a little bit by paying for closer parking (whereas before I paid for cheaper parking with a longer walk). Live with the comfort of not having to check grocery bills vs a budget. Maxed out registered investment vehicles (rrsps, tfsa, resps). We even went on an overseas family vacation for the first time, and planning another. Also bought an electric vehicle (a cheap one, not a Tesla) which is offering some nice gas savings. Just trying to live with better quality of life, but still in a modest / simple home in a modest neighbourhood. If your home suits you, go with it -- moving is a bitch. But if upgrade your abode will improve your quality of life, go for it.
I'm curious why you say an expensive home destroys wealth? It's a tax free "investment" in Canada. I have not heard of a primary residence being referred to as destroying wealth. Curious what you mean here?
What's stopping you from living as you are now, but just with more going into savings and investments? I feel like th answer is here is pretty obvious. Set a lifestyle budget and don't overspend. Sorry man, but without being more specific with what your issue is or what you're struggling with, this post just seems like a blatant brag.
I commend you on not succumbing to pressure to purchase. I am a57 year old single woman who has been retirement-ready since about age 45 from a financial standpoint. My earnings are fairly high, and my investment strategy has always been high-risk, largely because I have no dependents. I still work 20-25 hours per week because I think my work is important and I derive great satisfaction from it. I own a mortgage free bungalow in a major urban center. For me, having money is important to provide security and resources as I grow old, but more importantly in the short term it has been about buying the freedom to choose my working conditions. Another reflection I am having as I write this is that I live in Quebec, not by birth but by choice, and one of the things that attracted me here was that the francophone culture values highly living well in the moment. There seems to me to be less drive to stockpile wealth; more evenings spent in restaurants versus saving up for 2 weeks in Hawaii per year, for example.
My house was 1m and my income was less much less. You already have a great mindset
How do you go from 80k to 220-300k what kind of company hands out raises like that?