My spouse and I are 42 with two kids age 3 and 7, living in an expensive NYC suburb. We both work and our combined annual salaries are about $550k-600k. $450-500k of that is from my fairly high-stress job (biglaw, never really off the clock) and my spouse makes the rest with a more steady job where the end of the day is really the end of the day. I'm tired and am looking for someone to tell me how much longer I need to keep this up before I can just walk away or take a huge pay cut and do something less stressful. My spouse wouldn't mind continuing to work.
We have:
Assets
$1.8M in taxable investments
$200k in cash
$850K in our 401(k)s
$500k in our Roth IRAs
$40k across our kids' 529s
$20k in an HSA (HDHP just became available last year)
$250k in home equity (based on purchase price two years ago; home has probably appreciated so we might have more but trying to be conservative)
Pretty much all investments (97%+) are in VFIAX or an equivalent S&P 500 or total market index fund
Expenses
Around $20k/month, including:
$8,400 mortgage payment (30-year fixed at 5%, $1.5M balance/28 years remaining)
$3,000 in property taxes
$300 in home insurance
$2,200 in 2 car loan payments (financed cars at $0 down/0.9% just to take advantage of low rates and invested the cash prices of the cars instead; 18 months left to go)
The rest goes towards food, other insurance (auto/life/umbrella), utilities, childcare, home maintenance, shopping, etc.
We always max out 401(k), IRA, HSA, 529, and have put away another $60k or more after all is said and done. Our housing payment is insane, but as anyone who has recently tried to buy in any suburb within a 45-minute train ride of NYC in a decent school district knows, even a "starter" home around here can easily cost $1M+.
As the title says, I just want to live my life and enjoy my time with my family, instead of always feeling like any time taken for myself or my family is borrowed from work. Even just knowing that I don't need to depend on my job makes it a lot less stressful, because then I can work more on my own terms and without worry of consequences.
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