r/HENRYfinance

Income blew up in the past 8 weeks. Went from about $220k to $300-$330k. We are 27M/26F so I think we count as HENRY for our age. Regardless of whether we qualify I would like the advice from this crowd

Wife was laid off. Rebounded very well but now has a 80 mile (round-trip) commute 3x per week.

My car is due. Trade in value is $600 which tells you all you need to know. She drives a 2022 Equinox that we can get another ~150k miles out of (and plan to)

Want to buy a 2026 Tesla Model Y Premium. Test drove, love it. Very safe, less maintenance and gas with all that mileage, and the Full Self Driving is big value for spending 2.5 hours commuting.

58k OTD. $15k down. 0.99% for 72 months. $600/mo.

Looked at used ones (2024) - even considering depreciation savings, its about $10-$13k more to buy new. Over 10+ years I feel thats worth it for the new features.

This is far more than I ever thought I’d spend on a car and swore off buying new. I find that relative to income and savings it’s not very consequential, but I’m kind of uncomfortable spending money like this.

I almost feel like I’m too young to be enjoying nice things.

Is that a normal feeling or should I listen to my gut and stay cheap?

Edit:
$100k annual spend

$250k in retirement
$80k in cash
$75k home equity

$80k/year contributed to retirement ($12k space left in her 401k)
$3,000/mo saved in brokerage before bonuses (estimated to net another $17k - $30k)

My fiancé left her job and moved out of state to be with me. She left a great paying corporate job making 250K/year. I myself make around 650k/year. We decided that I would pay for both of our expenses until she found a job. It’s been a year now and she still has yet to find a job she sees herself enjoying. We live in a High cost of living city and before I took on her expenses my own personal monthly expenses was around 6k a month not including rent/mortgage. Now with her it’s about double that (10k)again not including rent/mortgage. Even with my 650K salary I’m beginning to feel the weight of all this money going out the door every month. I don’t know if this is typical spending for a couple in their late 30s that lives in a high cost of living city.

31M living in a VHCOL city and HHI of $750k+. I was quoted a $1,600 annual premium for a 15 year term and $3m of coverage. This includes a Waiver of Premium rider and a conversion option to whole life. Mass Mutual. They are assuming the second healthiest tier. Worth getting other quotes or is this broadly market?

Alternatively (or in addition) they have quoted $40k in annual premiums for 20 years for a whole life insurance with a $1.8M death benefit and $11k cash value in year 1.

I’m 33 and looking for a gut check on a financial advisor’s recommendation.

Current situation:
- Taxable brokerage: $314K, 100% FBGRX (Fidelity Blue Chip Growth)
- Roth IRA: $52K, 100% FXAIX (S&P 500)
- No debt
- $100k in a 3.3% HYSA (thinking of moving 40k to brokerage)
- $220k TC

I previously worked for a company with significant investment restrictions, which limited what I could invest in. Now in a new job and have more options.

My advisor (through Fidelity) recommends gradually selling FBGRX and moving the taxable account into a diversified managed portfolio for a 1.6% annual fee. The rationale is diversification + managing the sell-down in a tax-efficient way.

I agree I’m too concentrated and want to diversify. My hesitation is:

- 1.6% feels steep for something I could potentially accomplish with low-cost index funds.
- I don’t know how to sell off the $314K tax-efficiently (which lots to sell, how much per year, tax-loss harvesting, etc.). This is where professional help seems valuable.
- I haven’t saved as much as I’d like over the past 2 years, so I’d rather avoid realizing gains in 2026 and creating an additional tax bill next spring.
- I may use a meaningful portion of this account for a home purchase in late 2028/2029.

My alternative: Stop contributing to FBGRX now, put all new investments into diversified funds (thinking FSKAX + FTIHX), leave FBGRX alone through 2026, then start a tax-conscious sell-down in January 2027. I’d separately de-risk money earmarked for the house as I get closer.

Would you pay 1.6% AUM for professional management in this situation? Or would I be better off paying a CPA/fee-only fiduciary to develop a tax-efficient sell-down/allocation plan and managing the portfolio myself?

Also curious whether waiting until January to start selling FBGRX is reasonable or if I’m letting taxes drive the investment decision too much.

I’m 37, pension pot is about £115k so nothing particularly special.

A lot of HENRYs seem to focus largely on building as big a pension pot as possible, at the expense of everything else. I understand the theory, but it is still going to be taxed when you draw (perhaps at a lower rate) and pension rules may (and probably will) change by the time I retire. I imagine this is just a HENRY on Reddit thing but why is everyone in here obsessed with pension and not building much outside of it?

Curious if anyone has good book or blog recommendations for choosing a school district for their children. I have 2 toddlers and we are looking at purchasing a home in the area. We have the ability to choose the highest rated schools or slightly below highest rated. We are highly unlikely to choose private.

I haven't been able to find good articles on the topic. Maybe because there's a mountain of literature on the topic -- just not exactly what I'm looking for. I'm looking for practical, succinct data/advice on choosing between elite and very good schools (something this community probably faces).

And there are common refrains on reddit for this. Elite is pressure cooker, but highest rated so high earners gravitate there. Very good can be just as good as elite, especially when you factor in home conditions (more help for kids). Though, the slight increase in variance worry parents their child will be that much more likely not to succeed.

Given we can make the choice to buy into elite, I'm wondering what the data shows.

My family is looking to plan a winter vacation to somewhere warm and I'm struggling to find something that makes me excited. Seems like places are significantly raising prices while also cutting service.

Criteria:

-Classy, but also friendly for a 4 year old

-Pool and warm enough to swim in Feburary

-Direct flight less than 4 hours from Chicago

-Lodging for under $1000 per night

Looking forward to your recommendations!

Feeling behind financially after dental school and the military — am I actually behind?
I’m looking for some perspective because I’ve been feeling financially behind lately, even though I know I’ve taken a somewhat unusual career path.
I went to dental school and then joined the military as a dentist. Between school and the relatively low income compared with what I expect to earn later in my career, I didn’t really start seriously investing until a few years ago.
I currently have about $80k invested and no debt. I’m investing around $5k/month right now.
Next year, I’ll be leaving the military and starting a 2-year endodontics residency. Obviously, that means delaying my higher earning years even further. By the time I finish residency, I’ll be around 34.
The upside is that once I finish, I expect our household income to be somewhere around $600k/year, potentially higher as my career progresses. My plan is to avoid immediately inflating our lifestyle and aggressively build our investments. I’d like to eventually invest around $15k/month, while still enjoying life and potentially pursuing endodontic practice ownership down the road.
I think what gets to me is seeing people my age who already have several hundred thousand dollars invested and have had 10+ years for their money to compound. Meanwhile, a huge portion of my 20s and early 30s has gone toward dental school, military service, and then specialty training.
I know comparison isn’t particularly useful, but I sometimes feel like I’m starting the wealth-building process extremely late.
For those of you who were in a similar high-income-but-late-start situation: how would you think about my position?
Would you prioritize aggressively catching up once the income increases, or is there a point where I’m putting too much emphasis on investing at the expense of enjoying the higher income we’ve worked so long to reach?
My long-term goal isn’t necessarily FIRE. I actually expect to enjoy working as an endodontist. I mainly want to build substantial financial independence and wealth while still enjoying my 30s and 40s.

For context, early/mid 20s looking to FIRE/FATFIRE at say 45 - I am currently at 280k, in line for a promo next review cycle, and at my firm VPs are averaging 355k.

I run a low overhead, my current car payment is 350 a month for a decent trim, but non-luxury car it’s functional but not fun or super comfortable. I am balancing with the idea that I can easily afford say an 800 a month car payment, but trying to set goals and boundaries to not inflate my life. I’m able to aggressive invest in pre and post tax investments/retirement, and have a small (but growing!) RE portfolio.

As others have said “use your bonus” I don’t touch my bonus really - it’s already preallocated each year - I add a property to my RE Portfolio and then use the rest to take a trip with my partner.

Hi everyone! Short term lurker, first time poster.

At what point did you start working with a financial advisor/fiduciary? What triggered that shift? Or, if you aren't using one, why not?

I haven't yet felt that our situation was large or complex enough to warrant the added help but I also don't know what I don't know. For example, I'm sure I could be thinking differently about the balance of where we're investing our money (tax advantaged vs brokerage, etc).

The stats:

Married - 35F/47M, 1 child 3M
LCOL Area
Net Worth: $870k
Income: Between $400,000 - 600,000/year for the past few years dependent on value of RSUs

We didn't start earning at this level until about 4 years ago which is around the time we bought our house. We're super behind in investing and planning to make significant progress against that in the next year with my upcoming bonuses/RSU vests.

Update: Since this has been mentioned a few times, I don’t count my RSUs as part of the net worth until they are vested. I sell them as soon as I’m able and reinvest them in diversified accounts. The income numbers above include vested RSUs only. Thats why there has been so much variance.

So I’ve done the math like 20 times. 7% returns, 4% rule, every FIRE calculator I can find.

They all basically say the same thing: I’m fine. I could stop saving so aggressively, coast for a while, and probably be okay.

And yet I’m still maxing my 401k, still at the same job, still stressed out.

Every time I think about taking my foot off the gas, my brain immediately goes: what if the market tanks at the worst possible time? What if I leave tech for a few years and can’t get back in? Especially with AI changing everything so fast, it feels like stepping away could make me obsolete overnight.

I know the numbers say otherwise. The problem isn’t really the numbers anymore. It’s fear.

Part of me wants to finally do something I actually cared about when I was younger. Maybe try documentary filmmaking or something completely different.

But there’s also this uncomfortable question: if I’m not working toward the next salary bump or savings milestone, who am I?

I even dumped all my accounts into edwealth just to see everything in one place and run different scenarios. It actually helped seeing the whole picture instead of numbers scattered everywhere.

Still haven’t pulled the trigger though.

Has anyone here actually reached the point where they could coast and then... actually did it? How did you get past the mental block?

hello all. I'm mid 40s and here are my stats:

1. 1.9MM 401K

2. 200K Roth

3. 250K brokerage

4. 3 kids / 529 total ~400K

5. 890K mtg / 3% interest rate. 25 years to go..

combined HHI income is 450K; and would like to possibly start winding down by age 55-57. as others have said I'm too burned out. What I've realized is my brokerage is probably light and I need a bridge before the 401K can be tapped. we are targeting 5-6MM in retirement

spouse and I are corporate drones with most of the income is from salary, and little from bonus. No equity. So the point is - our HHI income is likely tapped out from an upward mobility perspective.

Should we re route some of the 401K (we are both maxing) instead try beefing up the brokerage? I think its trade off for us given our current spend

I’m getting different takes depending on whether I pose this to Gemini, Claude, etc. so I’ll ask here for advice.

Details:
- Late 30s with multiple kids
- HCOL area
- Work in tech at more stable company (you know if you’re not at one for sure, but even stable ones can change course)
- Liquid NW of $1.5 million
- HHI of about $750k
- Bought a house with good public schools
- Owe 900k on the mortgage at 5.625%

Goals:
- Outside of our mortgage payments, we spend about $120K per year
- Want to pay the costs of our kids to attend public universities
- Also want to provide some support towards weddings and housing down payments; I’d rather give with a warm hand instead of having them inherit all the money when we die
- Across the bullet points above and using some back of the napkin math like the 4% rule, I think we need about $4 million

One decision we’ve been wrestling over is how much to put towards our brokerage account vs the mortgage. To be clear: We put about $100k in various tax advantaged accounts every year and will continue to do so. But for money left over beyond that I’m not sure what we should do.

I know Vanguard and others are predicting low stock market returns moving forward. I’m assuming about 3% real.

Leaning towards the mortgage because it is a defensive play. All we need to do now is not mess things up. Reducing liabilities will help us financially survive regardless of what happens in the market or economy.

I was doing my mid year spending review and realized I can tell you exactly what I spent on restaurants, flights, subscriptions and even fucking parking but healthcare was basically one mystery bucket I never looked at. Last year it was $3,840 out of pocket. Nothing catastrophic either. Dentist and the contacts, a couple copays, prescriptions, PT and random lab bills that showed up weeks later.

The dumbest one was bloodwork. I had a few markers I wanted to repeat after my physical and somehow turned it into an office visit + lab bill that came to almost $400. So this year I started treating routine health stuff like car maintenance. $250/month goes into a separate sinking fund before I spend anything fun. I’ve also stopped automatically running every small thing through insurance. Needed repeat cholesterol/A1C labs recently and just ordered the specific ones through goodlabs and paid cash. Way easier to know the number upfront and leave the insurance for things where it actually matters.

This has made me wonder if I’ve been budgeting backwards for years. For people here with high deductibles, how much do you actually budget per year for boring predictable healthcare that isn’t premiums or a real emergency?

I’m becoming increasingly interested in understanding the career paths of people earning significantly more than the average professional.

I’m not looking for a get-rich-quick strategy. I’m more interested in understanding what actually created that level of earning power.

For those earning $500k+ annually…

What do you do, and what was the biggest factor that got your income to that level?

I’d especially love to hear from people who didn’t start their careers as unusually high earners.

Curious how people value fully remote once you’re already at relatively high TC.

For example, if you had these two offers:
- $400k TC, fully remote
- $600k TC, 5 days/week in office

Which would you take? Or would you consider a middle-ground for a hybrid job?

At what TC difference would you give up fully remote? There are clearly diminishing returns after a certain point, where flexibility/location freedom exceeds any additional TC increase.

My partner and I (both HENRY) are getting married and starting the exciting but daunting task of merging financial lives.

Background: we each make comparable salaries ($200-250k) but one of us works for a public company (RSUs with some growth potential) and one of us for a private investment firm (cash bonuses and illiquid investment opportunities). All in we each make $550-750k, so roughly $1-1.5M in aggregate. We each have current NW of ~$1.5M but one of us is more illiquid albeit with higher long term growth opportunities (some of the investments have appreciated and are sunsetting with clear line of sight to liquidity).

It’s important to both of us to truly merge finances, and we have similar philosophies about saving/investing and spending. I have considered a prenup, simply because I’m proud of what I have built for myself and am a “planner” despite of course never wanting to get divorced… but it feels silly asking for a prenup when we’re currently in VERY similar financial situations; with the exception of investment returns.

Thoughts? Ways to think about a prenup while also planning for a long committed marriage?

I (31M, $500k/yr, 2M NW) have been thinking about how it's easy to equate the thinking of my NW fluctuates tens of thousands or even $100k a day, so what does spending another $100 or $200 here and there do. I'm just wondering how much you guys continue to try to spend sparingly and live in a minimalistic way or have you let most of that go and just spend when you want to on most things.

Not necessarily a cream of the crop investment banking or FAANG job. For the purpose of this hypothetical, assume a job at one of the Big 4 or a tier 2/3 consulting company making $80k/year at age 22.

Everyone in your new hire class mostly went to a good public state school, not an Ivy or an expensive private school. Some have student loan debt, but most don’t.

Why is that when you fast forward 18 years to when this new hire class is 40, the vast majority won’t be worth $2-3M+? Is it really just lifestyle inflation that gets most of them? I get that life happens, but I’m just curious about the general trend.

Found a beautiful dress @ $75, just buy it

what’s your threshold where you start thinking “should i spend “

include NW also if you can so we can see nice correlation