A Week In Bay Area, CA, On A $426,000 Joint Income- Money Diaries

Commenters have their feathers ruffled over a nurse practitioner in the Bay Area who makes a good salary, and her husband makes even more. She talks about how generous they are but then lists monthly donation to be $40 and (probably) underpays a maid. Also has a trust fund. Quick rundown:

Salary: $176,000

My Husband's Salary: $250,000

current home value: $1.5 million (bought for $790,000 eight years ago)

Donations: $40

House Cleaner: $360 (she comes weekly, and while it is a huge expense, it saves us so much stress)

no student loans due to parents paying for undergrad, and trust setup by parents (529 plan? who knows)

makes vague statement about controlling spending, proceeds to spend $100+/day on various crap and recently spent $10,000 on dog's surgery (lol)

recently had covid, wants to get 4 year old son vaccinated

Now for the comments:

Seems strange to say “financially independent after college” and in the next paragraph explain that a trust fund paid your loans and living expenses…that is, actually, the opposite of independent financially.

Would that mean that anybody who inherits wealth can never call themselves financially independent? It seems like most of her inherited money went to education and buying a home, which a privilege but not uncommon to receive that sort of help (and yes, those aren't things that should be a privilege, but that is the reality in the USA right now). Plus, she and her husband are high earners and would probably be pretty independent without all of that - they just may have made some different decisions around education and housing without the inheritance. It seems like OP recognizes her privilege and is pretty transparent about what she's gotten.

I'm genuinely asking because while I never had a trust fund, I'm a relatively high earner and my parents have helped me out in similar ways (because they wanted to). I never know whether to say 'financially independent' if asked but I am clear about what I've received that I know many of my friends haven't.

You are financially independent. Receiving help for a down payment doesn’t negate that.

Apparently you can claim to be financially independent while having all your expenses paid for by a trust.

Humble bragging about your family’s privilege allowing you to donate more money but then you only donate $40 a month… yikes this OP could use a bit more self awareness. I don’t think she recognizes her privilege as much as she thinks she does

You don't get rich by donating it all sweaty She explains later that she donates more, but only $40/m is her set amount.

$90 a week for housekeeping is a steal!

Underpaying domestic help is indeed a steal.

Why is it underpaying if that's what the housekeeper sets their rate as? Is OP a charity?

Putting /r/antiwork'er in their place.

Why do adults continue to let their parents pay for their cell phones?

This one caused butthurt. 2 thumbs up, 38 thumbs down. 7 responses saying it's totally okay. One of the responses I found interesting:

I agree. My husband and I pay for our three kids phone plans. Why? Well, each would have to pay $70 more than we pay for a family plan. The family comes out ahead by $2,500 a year. That is a win for our family. One day our three kids may take over the phone payment for us.

Do people really still have those $70/m phone plans?