Real-Life Budget: Physician & Stay-at-Home Dad Earn $215K/Year

Welcome to YNAB Money Snapshots—where you see a real picture of someone else’s budget and finances. They’re all anonymous, because sharing money is still a squirrelly topic for many, but we think airing them out in the open makes you better with your own money story. 

As you read these budgets, keep in mind that some people make lots of money and some people make a little bit of money, but we know it’s what you do with that money and how you feel about that money that means more than any yearly salary. 

See how a family of five in Philadelphia making $215,000 a year spent their money in April.

About

• Names: Doc & Superdad
• Ages: 34 & 35
• Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Jobs: Physician & Stay-at-Home Dad
• Living situation: Married with three kids

Income: $215,000

Savings: $158,166

• Checking: $8,000
• High yield savings account: $41,806
• 529 accounts: $16,360 combined (not included within YNAB)
• Retirement accounts: around $92,000 combined (not included within YNAB)

Debt: $530,000

• Mortgage: $408,000
• Student loans: $122,000

April Inflows: $18,448

• Take-home pay: $8,927
• Interest from savings account: $45
• Proceeds from sale of stock from Superdad’s former employer: $9,154 (this has been pending for many months and happened to finally hit our account in April)
• Refunds from canceled travel plans: $322

April Spending

Budget

Catego­ry	Target Amount	Notes
Weekly
Groceries	$1,173
Gas	$18	A normal month is closer to $120-$150/month
Dining Out	$202
Banana Stand	$33	This is our “Stuff I Forgot to Budget For” (hat tip to Arrested Development)
Household supplies	$99
Date night	$0
Monthly
Car insurance- 1st	$99
Internet, TV, music	$196
Utilities	$346
Disability/Life insurance	$254
Mortgage – 5th	$2,669	Includes escrow
Superdad student loans – 10th	$127
529 contributions – 16th	$120
Sprint – 16th	$88
Gym and Beachbody	$41
Doc student loans – October 27th	$0	Actually had an inflow of $873 this month – got a refund from March. My loans were put in automatic forbearance.
Next month	$0	$6,116 saved
Annual
Credit card annual fees	$0	$77 saved
Pool- $392 June 30	$0	$312 saved, TBD if it’ll be open this summer
Costco annual fee	$60
Synagogue- $5800 in July	$0	$277 saved
YNAB- $75.59, Oct	$0
Taxes	$0	I set money aside from my side hustle for taxes
IRA contribution	$0	Recent addition and stretch goal for the year
Cars
Car maintenance- general	$0
Tires	$0
Registration	$0
Inspections	$0
Superdad
Superdad fun money	$54
Computer parts	$839	Superdad purchased parts and assembled a new computer
Races	$0
Running shoes in May	$0
Doc
Master’s program tuition- $1850	$0	$1,845 saved, employer will reimburse 80% after class completion
Doc fun money	$74	We each get $50 every 2 weeks.
Personal care/Haircuts	$50	Bought a gift card from salon to use when they reopen
Clothing	$0
Apple Watch replacement	$0
Work reimbursable	$0
Kids
Tuition and camp- spend here	$0
Summer camp- $7600 April 2021	$0	Camp got cancelled this year, so we got a refund and will save it for next year
Preschool tuition- $4000 in July	$0	$3,486 saved
Allowance	$6	Not tied to chores (the Jesse method) and the older kids have YNAB budgets
Diapers	$38
Extras- spend here	$8
Haircuts	$0
Clothing & Shoes	$0
School supplies- $100 August	$0
Activities- spend here	$0
Kid 1 extracurriculars	$0	$233 saved
Kid 2 extracurriculars	$0	$177 saved
Kid 1 bat mitzvah	$0	New aspirational goals
Kid 2 bar mitzvah	$0	New aspirational goals
Occasional
Travel	$65	$200 saved, refund from canceled travel
Doctor/healthcare	$0
Entertainment	$15
Giving	$117
Home furnishings	$0
Gifts
Holiday Gifts	$0	$167 saved
Other holiday spending	$0
Weddings & babies	$0	$392 saved, got $257 refunded from canceled travel
Brother’s wedding	$0	$450 saved
Kid 2 birthday	$42
Kid 3 birthday	$0
Kid 1 birthday	$0
Kids’ friends birthdays	$0
Home Maintenance
General home maintenance	$0	$639 saved
Roof	$0	$174 saved
Driveway resurfacing $500	$0
Refrigerator- $800	$0
garage door- $1800	$0
DEBT CRUSHING
Extra loan payments	$4,806	$3,924 saved
Wish List
Anniversary trip	$0
Girls birthday trip 2021- $1200	$0
Car purchase	$0
Down payment for next home	$0	Dreaming of a neighborhood closer to the train station!
Emergency fund
Mortgage- 3 months	$0	$8K saved
Monthly essential bills- 3 months	$0	$2.7K saved
Groceries and gas- 3 months	$0	$3.4K saved
Emergency home repairs	$0	$4.4K saved
Credit Card Payments
Southwest- due on 5th	$0	I’m a bit of a rewards junkie. Balances are paid in full each month.
Hilton- due on 8th	$410
Sapphire- due on 17th	$2,041
Target- due on 20th	$498
Blue- due on 24th	$127
SW Personal- due 26th	$49
Freedom- due on 28th	$50
Total Needed $14,814

On the 1st of the month, I move all the money from my Next Month category into To Be Budgeted and use my budget template to quick-fund all of my non-weekly expenses.

For the Weekly category groups, I fund these every two weeks when I get paid. I do the same with our fun money: $50 each, every 2 weeks. 

At first I funded these categories for the whole month but I found that we would overspend on groceries/fun early in the month and feel short at the end of the month. Dealing with these frequent transactions in shorter chunks of time has just been easier for us.

We have been working hard towards getting one month ahead for all expenses and sinking funds. We weren’t quite there for April but we are now!

We also throw every extra dollar to the Extra Loan Payments category once the next month is fully funded. We are holding the money here until COVID forbearance ends and will make a lump sum payment towards Superdad’s loans then. In April we paid off one of Superdad’s loans!

My Savings Categories

Right now my top savings goals are:

1. Save for next month’s expenses
2. Kids’ expenses (preschool tuition, activities)
3. Upcoming family wedding

My Month

April was definitely not a normal month, as I worked from home about 75% of the time. We decided to order lunch once a week from a local restaurant, so we spent more on restaurants than usual. Gas expenses were at a record low, while groceries were higher than usual.

My student loans are federal and in April they were put into automatic forbearance and aren’t due until October. I also got a refund of my automatic payment from March, which I shunted into my Extra Loan Payments category. 

Our Story

Our finances have changed a great deal over time. Years ago when we were both working for much lower salaries and had two kids in full-time daycare, we didn’t really have any sort of financial plan. We used to use a different budgeting program but we always seemed to be struggling and couldn’t figure out why.

We switched to YNAB (I’m much more YNABy than Superdad), and we discuss the status of our budget several times throughout the month. My husband and I still have a combined six figures of student loans, which have been weighing heavily on us. In summer 2019, we made it our mission to pay off my husband’s, which totaled around $40,000 at the time, by the end of 2020. I’m happy to report that we are halfway to that goal, and YNAB made it possible. 

We have been able to save for our true expenses, of which we now realize there are many (mostly kid-related!). We are also putting the real-deal extra money into extra loan payments. I cannot wait to achieve this major financial milestone and continue using this momentum to work towards financial independence.

Our Financial Goals

Pay off our student loans so we can start saving more for retirement and our children’s education! Think about saving a down payment for our next home purchase in a few years. 

I would rate my current financial situation: 5/5 

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