A Week In Denver On A $294,750 Household Income

Occupation: In-house senior paralegal
Industry: Litigation
Age: 51
Location: Denver
Salary: Me; $129,225 (base) + ($28,525 bonus); partner’s salary: $137,000 on average.
Household Income/Financial Setup: $294,750. My partner, L., is a therapist and also receives oil and gas royalties each month, so her salary can fluctuate. Each month we each put $3,000 into a shared account to pay all the household bills: mortgage, groceries, streaming subscriptions, utilities, trash and internet. We also have a joint credit card we use for any joint expenses like going out to eat. I did not track L.’s purchases this week (unless they were joint).
Assets: Joint savings account: $11,000; my individual savings/checking account: $8,000; L.’s savings account: $28,000; my 401(k): $690,000; L.’s 401(k): $2.3 million; my HYSA $94,000 (this is high because I will need to pay for prep school soon to receive a 5% discount for the next school year for my son); my pension from previous job: $46,000; my Roth IRA: $3,000; my son’s 529: $70,000. House: worth $830,000. L. owns land in Texas worth $2-$3 million (she owns 350 acres and it increases in value every year). Cars: mine: $34,000; L.’s: $72,000.
Debt: Mortgage: $410,000; L.’s car loan is $18,000.
Paycheck Amount (biweekly): Me: $3,075; and a yearly bonus (20-25% so it averages around $28,000). I don’t know L.’s paycheck details.
Pronouns: She/her

Monthly Expenses

Housing Costs: Our mortgage payment is $2,710 for a three-bed, three-bath house purchased in 2020 (but we pay $700 extra each month).
HOA: $295 (L. pays this because I cover the family insurance, but it includes pool and access to lakes in our community as well as lawn maintenance and snow removal).
Loan Payments: $0. My car is paid off and I do not have any student loans. I do not know what L. pays on her car loan.
Utilities: $100-$200 (depending on the season).
Water: $25 (average). 
Trash: $15
Family Health Insurance (Health, Vision, Dental): $109 deducted from each paycheck.
401(k) Contributions: $1492 (15% of my paycheck and a company match at 6%).
Car Insurance: $517 for six months for K. and me (I am not sure how I got such a great deal but I do not drive much and I am charged by the mile and K. just started driving but I will take him off my insurance when he goes away to prep school. L. pays $183 per month.
Netflix: $32 (we share with my mom).
Hulu: $89
Phone: $25 for my son. My work pays for mine, L. pays $108 a month.
Internet: $79
Cleaning Fee: $130 (L. and I take turns paying each month).
Athletic Greens: $170

Yearly Expenses

Sewer/Sanitation Bills: $650
Chase Card: $65
Travel Hockey: $18,000 (which I pay, but can vary) K. plays high-level travel hockey and yes, it is expensive, but this covers an eight month season and 10 trips out of state.

Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes, I was expected to go to college and grad school like my siblings. I attended a liberal arts undergrad on athletic scholarships and Pell Grants and took out some loans, which I paid off. I then went to paralegal school, landed a job as a paralegal and enrolled in grad school. I paid for my master’s degree while working as a paralegal.

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s)/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
There was always talk from my parents about working hard and saving your money. Both my parents grew up poor and worked very hard to become successful. I had a checking account when I was 8 or 9 years old and I remember going to the bank and balancing my checkbook. We were taught to only use credit cards if you had the money to pay off the purchases at the end of the month. We were also taught to start a 401(k) as soon as we had a real job in order to receive compound interest.

What was your first job and why did you get it?
My first job was at 10 years old and delivering the local paper on my bike in the afternoons. I would collect money from houses at the end of each month. I also mowed lawns in the neighborhood, babysat and worked at a golf course when I was 14 in the summer to make money.

Did you worry about money growing up?
I did not worry about money growing up until my parents divorced when I was in 4th grade. Then I remember my mom saying we could no longer afford certain things. But we were definitely upper middle class, so I don’t think I really worried about money as a kid.

Do you worry about money now?
I worry about having enough money to retire and to make sure my son is covered for his school and college. I know I make decent money, as does my partner, but I do not want to work forever and I want to be able to retire or semi-retire in the next five or six years. I also know my son’s hockey/prep school in the last two years of high school will be expensive, (even though he was awarded a big scholarship this week). L. and I would like to retire in another country and travel so our money can last. L. is very well off financially, but I have really been trying to save as much as possible to ensure I can retire in five years.

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I became financially responsible for myself at the age of 23 when I bought my first house for $97,000 (with my mom’s help). She gifted me $20,000 for the down payment, but from that point on, I had to take care of everything financially. My financial safety net is my emergency savings and also my partner, L.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
Yes, as mentioned, my mom gifted each of her children $20,000 in 1996, but the money had to be used to buy real estate. I expect to receive some money after my parents pass away but I really have no idea how much. 

8:30 a.m. — Sleeping in and waking up slowly with coffee is so nice. We bought a Jura coffee maker about a year ago and it may be our best purchase ever. Before we bought the Jura, we bought a ton of coffee outside the house, but now we rarely do. Today is Sunday and we have a free day to catch up and play before the week gets going tomorrow. I make breakfast for my partner, L., and son, K. We have eggs, avocados and hash browns from Trader Joe’s. After breakfast, I check my emails and see I need to contribute to the end-of-season coaches’ gifts for my son’s hockey season. $80

11:15 a.m. — It is such a nice day, we load up three bikes on L.’s bike rack and head down to the path by the river. We had a bunch of snow two days ago, my son had a snow day from school, but today it is sunny and melting and we are ready to get outside and ride. It seems like everyone in Denver had the same idea, as the path is pretty crowded.

1:20 p.m. — We ride almost eight miles on the path and are covered in mud and water from the snow melt. We load up the bikes and decide to head to our favorite hole-in-the-wall drive-thru for burritos. We get home and can only manage about half of each burrito because they are so big, but so good. $37.07

3:45 p.m. — The rest of the day is spent walking the Frenchie, W., washing the sheets and towels, taking a shower to get the mud off, and watching Love Is Blind season 8 (David is a jerk to Lauren. She is way too good for him. Run girl, run).

6:15 p.m. — L. runs to Whole Foods for dinner. She grabs chicken, rice, asparagus, and milk. After dinner, L. and I watch an episode of Prosecuting Evil with Kelly Siegler. Why don’t these men just divorce their wives instead of killing them? What is wrong with people? $23.18

9 p.m. — After a crime drama, we need to unwind with some trash TV and watch an episode of The Kardashians. Lamar comes back to see Khloe with flowers, champagne, and a cake with the date of their wedding written on top. That’s not weird at all. He is SWEATING. It might be the cringiest, most awkward TV I have seen in a while, and I am here for it.

6:15 a.m. — I wake up before the house wakes up and make my coffee. I bring my coffee back to bed and check my banking app, emails, and work calendar for the day. Take a shower and get ready since I have an on-camera meeting this morning. K. is up and ready for school, so I make him breakfast to eat on the way. He is a sophomore in high school and gets his license in a few weeks. I am trying to soak up these last few weeks when I drive him to school. We have the best conversations in the car, and I will definitely miss these times. I stop for gas on the way home and fill up for the week. $44.82

8:15 a.m. — I am back home. I grab a quick bite, make my Athletic Greens to drink and get ready for my morning meeting. We have a call with counsel in Singapore regarding a matter in Indonesia. The call goes well, and we will retain this firm to represent us. I continue to work and prepare for another meeting this afternoon for a different matter. We have a hearing in District Court tomorrow and I need to review some documents before this afternoon’s call. I take a break from work and log on to the website to pay the toll bill for the month. The charges are from running back and forth to the airport for my son for his hockey trips last month. He is on a high-level travel team. $47.15

12:05 p.m. — I take a break for lunch, throw a load of laundry in, and make a turkey sandwich with an olive tapenade. L. has gotten me hooked on this lately and it is really good. L. comes back from the gym and has lunch with me. We take the dog on a walk around the neighborhood after lunch and I put the clothes in the dryer. I make a point to step away from my computer over the lunch hour and get some fresh air whenever possible to break up my day. W. basically requires a walk around the block so she can sleep for 20 hours a day. It is 64 degrees outside and another beautiful day in Denver. Three days ago, we had 13 inches of snow and today I am in shorts. You gotta love Denver weather.

1:45 p.m. — The rest of the afternoon is spent in meetings and working. My afternoon meeting lasts 90 minutes and is to prep a witness for the hearing tomorrow and to discuss our position and arguments before the judge. As a paralegal, I am responsible for case documents and keeping things organized. After the meeting, I need to send materials to our outside counsel for tomorrow. L. picks up K. from school and takes him to his math tutor. He has a big test this week and will see his tutor twice before the test. $75

4:10 p.m. — L. and K. are home. L. and I take W. around for another spin and to soak up the last bit of sunlight for the day. K. works on homework, and I wrap up work with a few more emails. L. runs to Whole Foods for pizza dough, sauce, cheese, sausage, mushrooms, and a bagged salad. $17.64

6:25 p.m. — L. makes pizza on the grill and it is really good. She rests then stretches the dough, puts it on the heated grill, flips it and starts building it — olive oil and herbs, sauce, cheese, sausage and mushroom. After dinner, I clean up the kitchen and K. takes the trash and recycling out to the curb for trash pick-up tomorrow.

8:30 p.m. — We watch another episode of Prosecuting Evil, and another man has killed his wife instead of filing for divorce. We watch Ryu Camp on YouTube, which is basically a dude who camps with his cute dog and makes food then packs up and drives home. It is a nice way to unwind before bed. Lights out around 10 p.m.

6:45 a.m. — I wake up and grab a coffee, careful not to wake up L. or the dog. L. has a heated blanket, and the dog is attached to L. and the blanket at night, so I have been sleeping wonderfully without the 20lb potato lying on me. K. is up and I make him breakfast — four eggs inside a tortilla with shredded cheese and a protein drink — and run him to school. He pretty much eats this every morning on the way to school. Home by 8:15 a.m. and start working.

8:45 a.m. — I toast a waffle with peanut butter and drink my Athletic Greens for breakfast. I drink this every morning but add iced tea to help with the taste, so I don’t feel like I am drinking seaweed. Take a break from work and walk the pup with L. around the block. It is warm but windy today. We have been served with a few new complaints, so I update things, notify the key players and docket the dates for the new matters. Someone is always suing somebody. Job security.

11:45 a.m. — L. leaves to head to the gym after her call with her client and will grab K. this afternoon from school and take him to his tutoring session again. I work on my Money Diary and break for lunch, where I make another turkey and cheese sandwich with veggies chips. I empty the dishwasher, talk with my sister then take a quick shower before my afternoon meeting. $75

2:45 p.m. — The rest of the afternoon is working and one last meeting on setting up a database to track case information with a coworker in Canada. The coworker asks me when I am moving to Canada to escape the political climate in the US, and I tell her to start looking for places for me. 

6:30 p.m. — K.’s end-of-season hockey banquet is tonight and lots of awards are given out. Players go free but tickets for others are $30 each. It’s always bittersweet to end the season, but it is a long season after eight months and we are ready to be away from the cold rinks for a bit. We say goodbye to friends and parents and head home and quickly get ready for bed at 10 p.m. $60

7:15 a.m. — K. has a late start on Wednesdays, so I get to sleep in a bit. I wake up, drink my coffee, and hop in the shower. K. changes things up and makes eight packets of oatmeal for his breakfast this morning. Teenagers eat a lot, but they eat a lot of the same things. I run him to school and head home to begin work.

9:20 a.m. — Once home, I make my greens and peanut butter waffles. Today is payday. My direct deposit is $3,696. It is higher this time because I had some wellbeing reimbursements in there from my company. I move some money into our joint account since it is almost the end of the month, and the mortgage and house bills will be due soon. I also see that my sale of my David Gray tickets has hit my account for $138.76. L. was sick last week, and we could not go to the concert, which was a bummer. I love David Gray.

1:10 p.m. — L. took W. on a hike in Golden and wants Firehouse subs for lunch. I place an order which she will pick up on her way home. We split a large turkey with chips. $16.63

3:40 p.m. — The afternoon is a complete cluster. A work email goes out to wipe and reset our work phones and install new profiles for new company apps. I have several issues with the install, and it ends up taking over two hours, but the IT helpdesk guy is very helpful, and he gets me back on track. Once things are fixed and my phone is rebooted, I see that I have lost all my apps and my text messages are all from 2022. Ugh. I need wine.

6:15 p.m. — L. makes dinner to try to cheer me up and suggests we watch 1000-lb Sisters — a bit of trashy TV always makes me feel better about things. 

5:40 a.m. — Groundhog day. I did not sleep well last night. W. was all over me last night. I finally get up around 6:15 a.m. and grab coffee, make a breakfast burrito for K., drop off at school and go back home. The cleaning lady comes today and it is my turn to pay. I write her a check for $130. She charges us $100 but we tip her because she is amazing. She usually comes once a month. 

8:15 a.m. — Home from school drop off and take a quick shower before the cleaning lady comes so I can be out of her way today. I get an email to pay the internet bill which I do. I get an email from a coach in Boston offering K. a spot on his team for next year. They offer him a big scholarship and I am very relieved. This is exciting as this is his first choice for prep schools for hockey! He will have two years of prep school and finish his high school in Massachusetts. He wants to play college hockey and needs to play in prep school to continue to get exposure for juniors then college. I am excited for him, but it will be hard to let him go. 

12:15 p.m. — I need to run to my office and pick up a settlement check and overnight it to our local counsel. The dismissal needs to be filed with the court on Monday and the check needs to be received before then. We settled a big case in mediation a few weeks back. I will work from the office for most of the day today. I grab lunch on the way in to eat at my desk. $12.67

3 p.m. — I leave the office and get a quick car wash to remove all the dirt from my ride from last week’s snowstorm. I grab K. from school and tell him about the offer from his first choice. He is very stunned and happy. I think it is all becoming real to him that he will move across the country in the fall to pursue his dream. He wants to see what happens on March 10 when he will hear from the other prep schools he applied to before making his final decision, but he has a smile ear to ear. $12

5;45 p.m. — We go out to celebrate K. getting the offer from the prep school. K. gets to pick the restaurant and of course picks a steakhouse so he can order ribs and mashed potatoes. L. gets filet and I get salmon and it’s all very good. We head home very stuffed but very happy. We all waddle around the block with the Frenchie to walk off our meal. Head to bed around 10:30 p.m. after watching a few shows about tow truck drivers in Las Vegas (highly entertaining). $88.34

6:40 a.m. — Morning routine and back home, quick call with my boss. My performance review is today and we briefly chat beforehand about what to expect. There has been a lot of reorganization in the company over the past 15 or so months and lots of high-level positions have been eliminated. My boss isn’t super happy with things and tells me if she decides to leave, she will let me know before anyone else knows. I am not sure I would go, as I know I make a great salary and being able to work from anywhere is such a bonus. I am not sure I would ever go back to an office after being remote these past three years. Also, with K. most likely being in New England next year, L. and I want to spend time in the area so we can watch him play hockey while working remotely.

3 p.m. — I have my performance review with my boss, and it goes well. I won’t know my raise and bonus until next week, but I read the official review, and it is good. We wrap up and I am done with this week. I meet up with two friends for happy hour and we each have a few drinks and apps and catch up over the next few hours. We have known each other since elementary school, and we never run out of things to talk about. I get home and catch up with K. and L. on their days. $45.76

7:15 p.m. — L. and I end up watching Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke on Hulu and it is awful. A big part of me wishes we did not watch it as I really didn’t know the full story. I have a really hard time sleeping and toss and turn most of the night. I will never understand how people can harm children and Kevin failed as a father, whether he knew what was happening or not.

8:45 a.m. — Ah, Saturday. It is nice to sleep in and wake up slowly this morning. Coffee in bed and discuss what to do today with L and K. over breakfast. No hockey games or travel tournaments means a free day to play. We make eggs, toast, and hash browns for breakfast. We get a few loads of laundry done and continue to be lazy and let it warm up a bit.

11:15 a.m. — K. takes the electric skateboard and rides down to the basketball courts in the neighborhood to meet some friends and L. and I load up the bikes and head to Waterton Canyon. We find a spot to park and ride up to the dam and back (about 12.5 miles in just about an hour and 20 minutes). The way up is most uphill, but you can fly back down. We get back to the car and load up the bikes and pick up Jersey Mike’s for lunch. We call K. and ask if he wants a sandwich, and he does. L. and I split a turkey and get K. a roast beef and we all get chips. We love Jersey Mike’s. $31.40

3:15 p.m. — I get the mail and see we have an annual sewer/storm utility bill that needs to be paid. L. and I. also received our REI membership rewards for the year so we head to the store to look for our upcoming trip to Ireland, but we leave empty handed. Once K. is out of school in May, my entire family (14 of us) is heading to Ireland for 10 days to travel around the Ring of Kerry. I have been to Ireland before, but I am really excited to show L. and K. around a bit. 

4:30 p.m. — We leave REI and head to Target (even though we should be boycotting since they removed their DEI program) to pick up some groceries and household goods for the week. We get oatmeal, cereal, bananas, blueberries, milk, creamer, eggs, Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches, waffles, butter, two frozen pizzas, hamburgers, buns, lettuce, cheese, tortillas, yogurt, granola, toilet paper, paper towels, ziplock bags, and wipes, plus a few more items. We get home and unload the groceries. L. makes cheeseburgers on the grill and tater tots and we finish out the night playing a few games of Rummikub. $208.12

“I would say this is a pretty typical week for our spending. Our biggest weekly expense is probably food, with a 16-year-old boy. It is good to see all my accounts and spending laid out to get a snapshot of where I am and where I need to be to potentially retire in five or six years. I would say that, ever since COVID-19, we have turned more into homebodies and don’t go out as much. Our entertainment is watching K. play hockey and we try to bike and paddleboard in our neighborhood a lot, so our activity spending isn’t too high. We also try to take one big trip a year and save up for that so it is paid off before we even step foot on the airplane. My goal is to save for prep school hockey for two years and for retirement in five or six years and I feel as though I am on track.”