
← House of Arete26 aug · 1 u 07 min
How to Have the Bigger House, the Nicer Car & Still Build the Work-Optional Wealth
There is a peculiar thing that happens when a woman begins making very good money.
The house gets bigger. The car gets nicer. The kitchen that seemed charming at $150,000 a year becomes an intolerable human-rights violation at $500,000.
None of it feels reckless. She can afford every payment.
She just can’t stop working.
This is the crux high earners run into on their path to building work optional wealth— The loan officer will tell you that you can afford the home. The dealership will tell you that you can have the car. It turns out everyone is thrilled to help you spend all of your income.
But the math that you begin calculating becomes VERY different when you decide to have two things:
* Work optional wealth for the future AND
* An extraordinary lifestyle NOW
My husband and I are considering buying a multimillion dollar home, and today I am breaking down what I’m doing after joyously perusing shimmering pools on Zillow, to calculate the less photogenic realities: property taxes, insurance, landscaping, maintenance— and how much future income the house will require.
Because Zillow tells you what it costs to buy the house. It does not tell you what kind of life you’ll need to maintain to keep it.
In this episode, you’ll learn how to:
* Createa deep understanding of what is “affordable” based on your current income and the wealth you intend to build (not the debt someone will approve!)