r/HENRYfinance

I have a 10 year old son and 8 year old daughter. We plan to fully fund their college education at a top tier private school. If they don't use the funds (scholarship, no college, state school, etc.), we plan to let it compound to pay for our grandkids' college. Worst case scenario (unlikely) is we withdraw the money due to hardship and pay a relatively small penalty. If their income post-college allows for the IRA contributions, or course we'll do that too.

We contribute ~$1,000 / month / kid, and have done so since they were born. Most of it is automated through our biweekly paychecks, but I've also added larger amounts during bigger market downturns.

I don't know why this milestone brought me joy in hitting, but for my son, we just crossed the line where his balance is now primarily driven by investment returns.

TOTAL ACCOUNT BALANCE: $243,677.37
PRINCIPAL: $121,750.01
EARNINGS: $121,927.36

My daughter's account is close but not quite there yet

TOTAL ACCOUNT BALANCE: $118,450.77
PRINCIPAL: $68,750.00
EARNINGS: $49,700.77

My partner and I both have our Masters degrees but went untraditional routes. To make it a long story short, yes we went to college but it didn’t cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

We are not doubting our kids going to college but aren’t sure if 529 is the best route to be putting money away for them. I understand it’s not strictly for college and if they want to go then that’s great but I don’t want that money locked up in there. As far as I understand, I know you can take out $35k eventually and transfer to IRA and/or transfer the account to another family member. I looked into UTMA/UGMA but am not fully convinced.

Am I looking for a unicorn here or should we just open IRA accounts for them? If you don’t use a 529 for your kid, then what did you decide on? TIA

I'm a 40-year-old VP at an S&P 500 company in the U.S., feeling increasingly stuck in my career.

I started my career with five years at McKinsey and before this interned at Meta. Now I've been 10 years at the company, where I did some high-profile strategy and finance work very successfully, and spent the last five years in the same VP role in a low-cost region that I moved to for the role. In this role, I have significantly less exposure and struggle to see what's next. The role will probably dissolve within the next half-year as my work is done.

I am still considered a high potential by the company and have performed very well over the last five years, as shown in evaluations and bonuses. My total comp is around 300k USD.

My biggest weakness is compelling storytelling, and the company uses an interview process that relies purely on situational questions where I struggle to perform well. I tried to work on this, but remain below average both objectively and for my level. There are enough people in the company who know that I can do great work, but it seems I cannot make it through the interview process. I have not gotten the job in three interviews over the last year, even though an SVP was very keen to have me and credibly told me I'm his favorite candidate. After the interviews, he said I still was his favorite candidate, but he couldn't get me through the panel process with HR and other stakeholders given my interview performance.

I know that I need to work on my weakness, but still perform very well in my job and know I have a lot of potential being 40 years old and with my trajectory. It feels like the process in my company overindexes my biggest weakness, and therefore I'm not sure what to do. I doubt the company will fire me in half a year, but I also do not see a clear way forward.

I would also consider switching companies after my 10-year mark, but in my current low cost-of-living area where I probably have to move anyway, there are not many comparable companies. I feel like my interview weakness and the current economic situation make jumping ship fairly hard.

I just needed to get this off my chest as I feel stuck. Financially, I'm comfortable enough to bridge a year or two or potentially do something more entrepreneurial, but I'm not yet done with my career or financially able to retire early. About 2m usd net worth, family with 2 young kids

My wife (26F) and I (30M) are about to have our first kid in January (yay!) and I am trying to figure out how much to budget for next year. I know I can go on some of the parenting subs on Reddit, but given we are higher earners and might splurge a bit more on our kids, I wanted to see what a realistic number is. We wont need to move into a house and most of the startup costs (furniture, stroller, etc.) is already paid for so we wont need to worry about that. Just more so the ongoing costs.

Edit: I should also mention that my wife will be staying at home so we daycare also shouldn't be too much of an expense (if anything at all).

Family of three. Spouse (SAHM) and I are in our early 40s, one kid in elementary school. I currently make $650k/yr W2 + I get to sell a % of my vested equity annually for another $100k - $250k per year. At fmv I have about $1.25m in post-tax vested options and another $1.5m not yet vested, but there is no exit in sight and the competition is currently better than us. I can likely get to C-suite in less than a year if I really want to play the game, but I don’t for the reasons already listed and the ridiculous amount of ego/hubris of the C-suite members. I’m just over the corporate life, or at least need a break. I also travel a lot! > 80 flights per year.

Our current monthly burn is $23k across housing, private school, a reno loan with 3 years remaining, car lease, and general stupid spending. By the start of 2027 we can realistically bring this down to $16k including marketplace insurance.

We have $1.6m in retirement, $950k in taxable, $200k in cash, and $1.1m in home equity. We bring in an additional $5.3k per month in rental income, and the side business currently gives me a $1.5k/mo stipend. I can raise the rent on the two units to $6k and still be under market. This would mean we’re spending $8.5k/mo more than we make. I would also take advantage of the year of no income (plus a $250k loss I’m carrying) to do a mega-backdoor.

The business - I started it a little over 3 years ago with two partners who collectively spend 25 hours a week on it. I currently spend less than 2 hours per week on mostly behind-the-scenes strategy, but if I leave my job I’ll be able to leverage my background to be prospect-facing and try to scale the business 2x faster. The business currently makes about $600k annually with ~70% margins. I wouldn’t take a salary in 2027, but instead set milestones that if hit would unlock health insurance coverage and increase the amount of distributions we could possibly take at the end of 2027. The business is also sitting on nearly $200k cash that we are hoping to use to buy another business to help increase revenue faster.

I really want to chart my own course. I’ve made good money over the last decade working my way up the corporate ladder, but I’ve made the owners multiples more. Time for a change. I’m definitely getting older and cherishing the family/friend time more now than ever before. I think I only have a few more years of working at high revs so I’d rather spend it growing my thing with my partners than growing someone else’s nut.

Am I taking on too much risk?

Hi everyone! My husband and I would appreciate some objective financial advice from the White Coat Investor community.

We’re in our early 30s, entering a new phase of our careers, and trying to balance building wealth, buying a home, and starting a family without compromising our long-term financial security.

Our financial snapshot:
Ages: 31 and 34
Household gross income: Approximately $425–430k/year
My career: endocrinologist transitioning into an attending role, earning approximately $275–280k (starting base) with potential
Husband’s career: Senior product manager in tech, earning approximately $150k-180k
Total assets: Approximately $700–800k across all accounts, including investments, retirement accounts, and cash
Debt: No student loans or other significant debt
Location: NJ
Family plans: Hoping to have two children in the coming years (at least 1)!

We are trying to make thoughtful decisions about our next major financial milestones especially when it comes to future investments.

Are we on track financially for our ages?
How would you assess our financial position given our income, ages, and current assets? Are there particular benchmarks you would use to evaluate whether we’re on track for financial independence?
How much house should we buy?
We’re considering a newer single-family home or an end-unit townhome in Central New Jersey in the $900k–$1.1M range. We value good schools, a family-friendly community, and reasonable commutes. However, property taxes, childcare, maintenance, and other expenses in New Jersey can add up quickly.

Would this price range be reasonable for our household, or would you recommend buying less house to preserve flexibility? Would you use a physician mortgage or a conventional mortgage, and how much would you put down?
How should we allocate our existing assets?
With $700–800k in total assets at present, how much would you maintain in cash versus retirement accounts and taxable investments? Would you sell investments to fund a down payment, or preserve the portfolio and finance more of the home?
What should our annual savings target be?

Given our household income, what percentage would you aim to save and invest annually while accounting for taxes, homeownership, and two future children?
We want to build wealth aggressively but also enjoy life, travel, and avoid feeling like every financial decision has to be optimized.

Would you buy now or continue renting?
Would you purchase a home within the next year or two, or keep renting while investing more? We don’t want to become house-poor, but we also don’t want to delay homeownership unnecessarily if it fits our financial situation.

For those who have navigated a similar stage of life, what would you prioritize over the next 3–5 years? Is there anything you would do differently?

Bottom line- Are we in good shape financially? Given I am starting my attendinghood at 31 as an endocrinologist?

Thanks for your perspective!

How do you store your bags? I’ve gotten my wife some pretty nice ones at this point. Just curious if you have a good solution for storing them. We dont have a walk in closet yet just seeing how the Henry girls handle displaying/keeping them organized. Hat rack? Clear boxes? I’m lost

Thanks in advance!

Am I doing something wrong or this the boring middle?

Only HENRY for the last 2-3 years after finishing grad school and finally making good money. Used that time to pay off all our debt, so only debt we have is the house, no credit card debt, cars are paid off and plan on driving them until the wheels fall off. Lifestyle inflation is minimal outside of frequency of travel, which we just enjoy.

Doing all the right things now having not been in the greatest financial place because of a combination of being underpaid, grad school, school loans, daycare, and some poor choices and living beyond our means (and the majority related to too high of a frequency of travel over the years, a few designer bags here and there) because we truly weren't making enough to live on the expenses we had. Fast forward to present, maxed out to IRS limit of 401K, maxed out backdoor roth, maxed out to IRS limit of megaback door roth, and full 1-year emergency fund. In addition, spouse became service-time eligible for retirement, took it and has a pension of $80K. Opted for survivor benefit, so that is guaranteed for life. Only place where we are lacking IMO is funding kids' 529 and the horizon for college is 6 years. We could be "saving" elsewhere, but for what? We put aside a few hundred each month to fund other things - vacation, car repairs, home repairs, kids' stuff, etc. The 529s could be better funded if we sacrificed travel (budget is easily $30-40K annually) but we are also focused on enjoying this time and the greater financial freedom we have. We continue to travel a few times a year with 1 international trip, but since becoming HENRY, we now also choose to pay for grandparents to travel with us so they can enjoy the time where they are still physically capable of traveling and vacationing with grandkids.

Why do I feel like the budget is so tight and a few times a month, I need to pull a few hundred from another accounts to pay for things? Is it a mindset thing, cause we are obviously are not living paycheck to paycheck to have areas to pull from and more than enough emergency fund?

28M married to 30F with a 6 month old daughter. HHI ranges from $500-800k (I’m in sales and have variable income) since moving to NYC about 3 years ago. Just this past week we passed $1m with some room to spare.

Very very high cost of living (day care is especially expensive), but very proud that we’ve been able to put away a large part of our earnings knocking out our student loans in our first year of marriage.

We are excited to hit this milestone and wanted to share :)

For a bit of discussion: although we have a very high cost of living in NYC, I don’t think I could have ever hoped to make this much money in a lesser market. $1m networth at 28 years old just doesn’t happen where I grew up. NYC and other major cities offer so much in terms of wealth creation opportunities. What is your stance on HCOL vs. LCOL?

We had our first newborn and as I’m sitting here feeding her and changing her diapers, I can’t help but think of what we can be doing to set her up for success financially. We already added her to our trust/will, made her our account beneficiary, set up a 529 and Trump account (just for the $1000 right now). Anything else people recommend doing? I’ve heard ways to build credit or have a brokerage for her or something? Thanks in advance!

My son is 3 months old and I'm a FTM working in big tech in Europe. I have 8 months of maternity leave, and he might start daycare in January/February if he gets a spot and I'll be back to work sometimes in March.

My husband (self employed) took two months off and is now back at work. After a month of night shifts and all the babycare alone in September, I hit a wall and said we needed help. We're now looking for a nanny twice a week (my husband is very much supportive he was for hiring a night nurse which I declined and probably shouldn't have but I wasn't thinking straight after a traumatic birth)

I feel so much guilty about it. I'm on maternity leave, my only job is supposed to be taking care of my son so going to the gym, running errands, having lunch with friends or doing nothing feels very superficial... We do have family around ready to help but we also like our space and and all parents are divorced so it means more help but also more people to entertain and who comment on everything and anything and 3 months in we definitely need less visits and to settle in our routine

I love my son to death, but I think I'd be a better mum with some time for myself. Still, it's only been 3 months. Am I weak if all the mums in the world do it without help?

Especially curious what women in HENRY actually do? Where I live hiring help isn't really part of the culture and of course there's the financial aspect

Edit: first time mum

28M, attorney, Houston at about 180k with my bonuses for the year. (Also, I am poor, still 180k in debt)

Do I qualify for HENRY yet, or am I broke boy for this sub? I always see 500k+ in here.

Hey everyone, I'm 28M and turning 29 this month. This is my first year earning at this level, and I'd love to hear from people who've been where I am. This year I'm going to be making $375–400k in W2 income, credits 780-800. While I have a salary, most of it is commission so it varies month to month, some commission checks 10k+ and others 50k+. I also have benefits and a 401(k) through my employer. By the end of the year I expect to have $150k+ sitting in my account. I know seems like a lot, and I'm grateful for it, but nobody ever taught me what to do with this kind of money, and not many people know for that part. I'm the first person in my family to really go after financial independence, so I don't have anyone to model this on.

I live in a HCOL area. Where I live distorts what feels normal when it comes to income and that this amount of income is quite normal for my age, so I try to stay within my means and keep my total monthly spending under $7,500. My only real planned purchases right now are a used car with a solid down payment (35k listing price)
I'm planning to meet with a financial advisor soon, but I want to go in informed rather than just taking whatever they pitch.

I'd really appreciate hearing what you did in your first few years at this income. What would you do with the cash right now? What should I prioritize: maxing the 401(k), a backdoor Roth, a taxable brokerage account, real estate, or something else? Should I look for a fee-only advisor, or is an AUM advisor worth it at this stage? And what mistakes do you wish you'd avoided early on? My goal is to reach financial independence sooner rather than later and would love to just step away from corporate entirely when ready, and I'd value any experience or perspective you're willing to share. Thanks in advance.

Wife and I both work for some place as physicians, middle aged. We max our institutional 401ks, 403b, and 457. Leftover goes into taxable brokerage. We just found out our 457 plan can now be done as a Roth instead of traditional. We have no Roth retirement money, only traditional. Obviously if I could go back in time I would do Roth IRAs at a younger age but that time is past. But should we consider changing our 457s to Roth simply for the income diversity come retirement?