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Clytemnestra3

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Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by Clytemnestra3 » Wed Aug 24, 2016 5:36 am

I've tried to figure this out on my own, but I'd appreciate any advice. I'm a 4th-year in biglaw. I never intended to be a corporate lawyer. Instead, I'd like to start my own Internet-related business (unrelated to law) and in my free time I've been trying to get that together. At the same time, because I knew after being a summer associate that I didn't want to be a lawyer for my career, I've been doing my best to save/invest as much cash as possible. After I repaid all my loans after my first year, I thought I could get to $1 million in savings by the end of my sixth year. I'm currently on track to achieve $1 million in just five years (i.e. in December 2017). I'm confident I could manage this amount to support me to work on my business and pursue other projects that I find meaningful. But to achieve this figure by the end of December 2017, I need to accept a biglaw lateral position that I've been offered in a different country. I'm not concerned about the location (it's a great place to be and should be easy to make friends - though I will miss my friends and family).

The problem is: the thought of continuing to work in biglaw beyond this year (whether at my current firm or elsewhere) makes me sad to the point of it being hard to get up in the morning.

I was able to ignore the meaninglessness of my job for these past four years, but it's been getting harder and harder. I still believe that achieving the $1 million that I associate with financial independence is worth sucking it up for another year. But at the same time, perhaps i should say that I have enough money and I should take a chance on myself and just start this business, especially if it means I'll be unhappy and often depressed in biglaw. I know I won't have the strength to return to biglaw or any legal position if my first attempt at a business fails so maybe accumulating as much cash as I can right now while I'm still on the biglaw track makes sense. Plus I've come so close to my financial goal....but maybe it's not worth it? Ugh. I don't know. Advice is appreciated.

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by Rowinguy2009 » Wed Aug 24, 2016 9:01 am

First off --- you're on track to save a million in five years? I've never made biglaw level money, so I'm not as familiar with the take-home pay as some here, but damn, that is impressive. How is that even possible? I'm assuming some of the money came from another source?

Getting to your question (and assuming this isn't an elaborate flame) -- I doubt that many on here will be able to give you meaningful advice because your plan to achieve 1 mil before leaving is largely self-imposed and your goal to start an internet based business could result in anything from total impoverishment (regardless of how much you save now) to billionaire status.

My $0.02 -- go ahead and leave now. Life is short. It sounds like you are in a great position, and the extra year is going to be more useful developing whatever new life/business you make for yourself than it will be doing biglaw. I am sure you have run numbers on how long you think you can last with your current savings vs. how long you will last with an extra year of biglaw. As long as that math doesn't necessitate that you stay an extra year -- pull the trigger now.

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by dixiecupdrinking » Wed Aug 24, 2016 9:13 am

I doubt there's any real reason to save $1 million and put yourself through a bunch of shit you don't want to do rather than save, say, $800k.

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sayan

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by sayan » Wed Aug 24, 2016 9:57 am

You should quit immediately and keep doing your investing. Seems like your investment returns will keep you living quite well for years to come.

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by Clytemnestra3 » Wed Aug 24, 2016 10:25 am

Thanks for the advice guys. It's good to hear that I'm not crazy for considering to leave so much money on the table. Also, this isn't a flame (but it's funny to consider someone doing that). Maybe I should have written a post on how to save $1 million in biglaw and entitled it something like "How I'm Saving $1MM in 5 years of BigLaw - But is it Worth It?" One blog that inspired me (called Power of Thrift) is by a Chicago-based lawyer who paid off $100K in loans and saved $700K in about 5-6 years. So it's definitely possible. In my case, I've only been able to exceed that blogger's savings rate because (i) I work in biglaw abroad and (ii) the stock market has done really well over the last 4 years. This wouldn't be possible in NYC biglaw (outside Wachtell), where you wouldn't even hit $1MM in total earnings until year 5.

I see the argument that an extra $300K (which is about what I'd save in 2017) may not be worth it at this point. But on the other hand, at 5% interest, that's $15,000 of passive income a year FOREVER. Plus the only way I would ever make this kind of money again is if my business were successful. It seems like a tough thing to give up...but it's nice to know I'm not demented for thinking about walking away.

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sayan

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by sayan » Wed Aug 24, 2016 10:34 am

The only place I know that lets you save that much is HK with its lower tax rate and COL adjustment + stipend + starter bonus, and I've spoken to friends who've made that move... they all work terrible terrible hours.

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by Frayed Knot » Wed Aug 24, 2016 12:19 pm

A few resources that might be helpful (probably none of this is new to you, since you've been at this a while. But just in case):
Annon LawyerThe blog of a lawyer you did about the same thing you're talking about (though he stuck it out to make it to $2 million). He's thinking about trying to get back into law.
FIRE Calc A financial independence calculator that can show how likely your saving are to last a given time based on historical perfomance.

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by favabeansoup » Wed Aug 24, 2016 12:23 pm

Clytemnestra3 wrote:Thanks for the advice guys. It's good to hear that I'm not crazy for considering to leave so much money on the table. Also, this isn't a flame (but it's funny to consider someone doing that). Maybe I should have written a post on how to save $1 million in biglaw and entitled it something like "How I'm Saving $1MM in 5 years of BigLaw - But is it Worth It?" One blog that inspired me (called Power of Thrift) is by a Chicago-based lawyer who paid off $100K in loans and saved $700K in about 5-6 years. So it's definitely possible. In my case, I've only been able to exceed that blogger's savings rate because (i) I work in biglaw abroad and (ii) the stock market has done really well over the last 4 years. This wouldn't be possible in NYC biglaw (outside Wachtell), where you wouldn't even hit $1MM in total earnings until year 5.

I see the argument that an extra $300K (which is about what I'd save in 2017) may not be worth it at this point. But on the other hand, at 5% interest, that's $15,000 of passive income a year FOREVER. Plus the only way I would ever make this kind of money again is if my business were successful. It seems like a tough thing to give up...but it's nice to know I'm not demented for thinking about walking away.
Are you accounting for inflation? What's your annual spending like? I like the Mr. Money Mustache blog personally, in particular the "4%" rule. http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/05/ ... etirement/ Basically turns out to if you have 25x your annual spending saved up, you are in a good place to retire. This would mean if you get to the $1MM and you can get your spending to $40k a year or less, you are great

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Toni V

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by Toni V » Wed Aug 24, 2016 12:36 pm

To save $200k a year while existing on a frugal annual COL of $34k you would need a gross income of $360k. That would leave $126k for taxes and $200k for your savings goal. Lots of ifs, but doable, maybe.

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by dixiecupdrinking » Wed Aug 24, 2016 1:19 pm

Clytemnestra3 wrote:Thanks for the advice guys. It's good to hear that I'm not crazy for considering to leave so much money on the table. Also, this isn't a flame (but it's funny to consider someone doing that). Maybe I should have written a post on how to save $1 million in biglaw and entitled it something like "How I'm Saving $1MM in 5 years of BigLaw - But is it Worth It?" One blog that inspired me (called Power of Thrift) is by a Chicago-based lawyer who paid off $100K in loans and saved $700K in about 5-6 years. So it's definitely possible. In my case, I've only been able to exceed that blogger's savings rate because (i) I work in biglaw abroad and (ii) the stock market has done really well over the last 4 years. This wouldn't be possible in NYC biglaw (outside Wachtell), where you wouldn't even hit $1MM in total earnings until year 5.

I see the argument that an extra $300K (which is about what I'd save in 2017) may not be worth it at this point. But on the other hand, at 5% interest, that's $15,000 of passive income a year FOREVER. Plus the only way I would ever make this kind of money again is if my business were successful. It seems like a tough thing to give up...but it's nice to know I'm not demented for thinking about walking away.
I mean, another year in biglaw will always mean more savings and higher future ROI. But since you're looking to leave soon anyway, it's just a question of when the additional $15k/year or whatever in investment returns cease to outweigh the costs. My only point is that there's no reason to think that tipping point is at $1 million any more than at $700,000 or whatever other number. It sounds like you've decided the extra year isn't worth it to you and are looking for confirmation. If you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning, time to move on; that'd be true even if you had almost nothing saved, IMO.

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by YourCaptain » Wed Aug 24, 2016 2:20 pm

Clytemnestra3 wrote:At the same time, because I knew after being a summer associate that I didn't want to be a lawyer for my career, I've been doing my best to save/invest as much cash as possible. After I repaid all my loans after my first year, I thought I could get to $1 million in savings by the end of my sixth year. I'm currently on track to achieve $1 million in just five years (i.e. in December 2017).
There is no way this is true.

5 years @ lockstep + bonus would not get you to $1mm. Unless you are literally eating ramen and making Carl Icahn level returns on your personal investments, it's just not possible. Plus, most firms have a policy against choosing your own investments due to conflicts, so this is even less likely.

I'm at a firm with above-market bonuses and a good COL, I save a lot, and after taxes there's almost no way I could do it. You'd have to make your own lunch and dinner every day, never dry-clean your shirts/suits, no outside expenses.

Massive flame. Feels like a 0L attempting to ask whether it's possible to become a millionaire as a biglaw associate.

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by Clytemnestra3 » Wed Aug 24, 2016 2:21 pm

In a future post, and under a separate thread, I may go into the details of earnings/spending if people are interested. In general terms though, the recipe for saving this kind of money in around five years in biglaw is straightforward: receive a high COLA and market salary/bonuses, pay fewer taxes than in the US, live in a small and inexpensive apartment while carefully monitoring other expenses and finally, when you lateral, try to negotiate a strong signing bonus and choose a location that is beneficial from a tax perspective. Obviously, easier said than done. But the hardest parts by far are landing the job in the first place and tolerating the chronic existential crises engendered by the pointlessness of your daily tasks. But the hours in Asia are not necessarily bad. Yes, some firms are brutal. BRRRRUUUTTTAALLL. But that's true in NY as well and you can often fish them out by asking around (in fact, I regularly warn 1Ls from my alma mater about firms in Asia to avoid). Other firms (or more accurately, other practice groups within firms) are more reasonable. For what it's worth, my annual billables have ranged from around 1800 to 2100, which is reasonable by the standards of biglaw. With the exception of a few painful 250+ hours months, it's not the hours that get to me. It's the total lack of interest in my work, the feeling that nothing I do really needs to be done, and the knowledge that there are plenty of interesting and important problems in the world that I could and should be devoting my precious time on this earth to solving.

And yet...and yet....I would feel more comfortable taking risks on trying to build services that I think are necessary if I had the security of passive income from $1MM (no more is needed, IMO). I'm a big fan of Mr. Money Moustache (MMM) and also have used FIRE calc. I'm persuaded that the 4% rule is a reasonable standard (though this deserves some caveats that I won't deal with here). 4% of 700,000 is a lot tighter than 4% of $1 MM. Like MMM, before I buy something I try to think of how much it will cost me in term of how much would I receive if I were to instead invest the purchase price over 10 years. But the same thing can be applied to the opportunity to save $300K. I just keep picturing how I might feel even two years down the line if my first business attempt fails. Will I be thinking: damn, I really wish I had that extra cash so I don't have to go back to doing more shitty work I don't care about for even less money than I was earning previously....

(Also, I'm aware of what a first-world/top 5% problem this is. I'm posting this dilemma here because I came to really like the TLS community when I first applied to law school (using a different username) and I think that while other lawyers may not have the same financials as me, they still struggle with the same basic choice).

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by Clytemnestra3 » Wed Aug 24, 2016 2:29 pm

YourCaptain wrote:
Clytemnestra3 wrote:At the same time, because I knew after being a summer associate that I didn't want to be a lawyer for my career, I've been doing my best to save/invest as much cash as possible. After I repaid all my loans after my first year, I thought I could get to $1 million in savings by the end of my sixth year. I'm currently on track to achieve $1 million in just five years (i.e. in December 2017).
There is no way this is true.

5 years @ lockstep + bonus would not get you to $1mm. Unless you are literally eating ramen and making Carl Icahn level returns on your personal investments, it's just not possible. Plus, most firms have a policy against choosing your own investments due to conflicts, so this is even less likely.

I'm at a firm with above-market bonuses and a good COL, I save a lot, and after taxes there's almost no way I could do it. You'd have to make your own lunch and dinner every day, never dry-clean your shirts/suits, no outside expenses.

Massive flame. Feels like a 0L attempting to ask whether it's possible to become a millionaire as a biglaw associate.
It's fine if you don't want to believe me. The purpose of this post is not to prove my financials. As I said above, I may post more details in a separate thread at a later time. But if you doubt this can be done, I would point you and anyone else again to the blog the Power of Thrift. That woman essentially saved 800K (700K in savings plus 100K in loans) in 5-6 years by working mostly in the US (it seems she spent some time in Australia, but in terms of savings opportunities that location is at best even with and probably worse than Chicago).

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sayan

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by sayan » Wed Aug 24, 2016 9:45 pm

Clytemnestra3 wrote:In a future post, and under a separate thread, I may go into the details of earnings/spending if people are interested. In general terms though, the recipe for saving this kind of money in around five years in biglaw is straightforward: receive a high COLA and market salary/bonuses, pay fewer taxes than in the US, live in a small and inexpensive apartment while carefully monitoring other expenses and finally, when you lateral, try to negotiate a strong signing bonus and choose a location that is beneficial from a tax perspective. Obviously, easier said than done. But the hardest parts by far are landing the job in the first place and tolerating the chronic existential crises engendered by the pointlessness of your daily tasks. But the hours in Asia are not necessarily bad. Yes, some firms are brutal. BRRRRUUUTTTAALLL. But that's true in NY as well and you can often fish them out by asking around (in fact, I regularly warn 1Ls from my alma mater about firms in Asia to avoid). Other firms (or more accurately, other practice groups within firms) are more reasonable. For what it's worth, my annual billables have ranged from around 1800 to 2100, which is reasonable by the standards of biglaw. With the exception of a few painful 250+ hours months, it's not the hours that get to me. It's the total lack of interest in my work, the feeling that nothing I do really needs to be done, and the knowledge that there are plenty of interesting and important problems in the world that I could and should be devoting my precious time on this earth to solving.

And yet...and yet....I would feel more comfortable taking risks on trying to build services that I think are necessary if I had the security of passive income from $1MM (no more is needed, IMO). I'm a big fan of Mr. Money Moustache (MMM) and also have used FIRE calc. I'm persuaded that the 4% rule is a reasonable standard (though this deserves some caveats that I won't deal with here). 4% of 700,000 is a lot tighter than 4% of $1 MM. Like MMM, before I buy something I try to think of how much it will cost me in term of how much would I receive if I were to instead invest the purchase price over 10 years. But the same thing can be applied to the opportunity to save $300K. I just keep picturing how I might feel even two years down the line if my first business attempt fails. Will I be thinking: damn, I really wish I had that extra cash so I don't have to go back to doing more shitty work I don't care about for even less money than I was earning previously....

(Also, I'm aware of what a first-world/top 5% problem this is. I'm posting this dilemma here because I came to really like the TLS community when I first applied to law school (using a different username) and I think that while other lawyers may not have the same financials as me, they still struggle with the same basic choice).
Thought so. Alas, the tax advantage is unfortunately unavailable to US citizens. COLA gap has been narrowed now that NY base is 180k, but still pretty great that you were able to save up so much. Kudos.

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by Clytemnestra3 » Thu Aug 25, 2016 1:26 am

sayan wrote:
Thought so. Alas, the tax advantage is unfortunately unavailable to US citizens. COLA gap has been narrowed now that NY base is 180k, but still pretty great that you were able to save up so much. Kudos.
I'm a US citizen. It's true that non-US citizens will be able to save a lot more on account of not being taxed on their worldwide income, but there are still tax advantages that US citizens enjoy when they work abroad. For example, you don't pay US state or city taxes. That's very significant. Firms may also structure your compensation in ways that limit both your US and foreign tax liability. There are other tax advantages and they will depend on your location, your family size, how your firm structures compensation and how comfortable the firm-provided tax preparation assistance is with various claims.

As for the COLA gap, it really depends on the firm. You are right that some firms have reduced their COLAs, but others haven't, and new US entrants in Asian markets sometimes try to attract talent with above-average COLAs. In sum, I think there is still opportunity out there....I just wonder whether it's worth continuing to pursue it. But thanks for the input and kind words guys. It's helpful as I debate what to do.

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by cookiejar1 » Thu Aug 25, 2016 4:56 am

Clytemnestra3 wrote:In a future post, and under a separate thread, I may go into the details of earnings/spending if people are interested.
I don't mean to derail from the purpose of this thread but I'm chiming in to say that this future thread would be amazing and I look forward to reading it!

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by Jchance » Thu Aug 25, 2016 8:45 am

you should check out this blog: https://anonlawyer.wordpress.com/, from the beginning. He did the same thing you did, but is further in life.

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by Clytemnestra3 » Thu Aug 25, 2016 9:00 am

Jchance wrote:you should check out this blog: https://anonlawyer.wordpress.com/, from the beginning. He did the same thing you did, but is further in life.
That's also a good blog. I was surprised to read that he was considering going back to work (albeit on reduced hours). That writer also worked in law for over a decade and at the time he left was either counsel or some kind of partner. I admire what he did and appreciate his thoughts, but I don't see how a typical biglaw associate lasts that long unless he or she enjoys the job at some level.

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by ruski » Thu Aug 25, 2016 10:16 am

i guess the giant elephant in the room is what about having a family, kids. heck, how do you even have a girlfriend if you refuse to take her our anywhere. the only way this is sustainable is if you stay single your whole life. 700k in the bank is not enough to support a family of 4 for very long.

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by LTL2018 » Thu Aug 25, 2016 10:22 am

cookiejar1 wrote:
Clytemnestra3 wrote:In a future post, and under a separate thread, I may go into the details of earnings/spending if people are interested.
I don't mean to derail from the purpose of this thread but I'm chiming in to say that this future thread would be amazing and I look forward to reading it!
+1

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by PeanutsNJam » Thu Aug 25, 2016 10:23 am

OP said stock market is doing well, so if he's getting something like 12% annual interest compounded it's certainly possible. Yes you'd have to live very frugally and your girlfriend/spouse (kids prob not possible) will have to be okay with it, but I'm sure there are plenty of girlfriends/spouses out there that would be. A couple can live off 40k just fine in Asia. Although HK is certainly not low CoL, so I doubt OP is there. It's probably Shanghai.

I'd be very much interested in reading your investment strategy OP. At the very least, how you plan to get 5% out of 1MM consistently every year (and live off some of that?).

eta- It looks like, at 12% interest, in order to get to 1 mil in 5 years, OP will have to put $13,114 away every month. http://www.timevalue.com/products/tcalc ... ue#results I think OP managed to do this with some very luck stock market trades and people shouldn't expect to be able to replicate this at all. This is way beyond living frugally. 13k/month... how good are the tax benefits of working in Asia? Jesus.
Last edited by PeanutsNJam on Thu Aug 25, 2016 10:32 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by RaceJudicata » Thu Aug 25, 2016 10:29 am

Shit... I'd rather just work my ass off and be able to take trips, buy nice things, etc., than "retire" and be constantly stressed about finances and living like a pauper. Just my $0.02...to each his own.

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by A. Nony Mouse » Thu Aug 25, 2016 10:40 am

ruski wrote:i guess the giant elephant in the room is what about having a family, kids. heck, how do you even have a girlfriend if you refuse to take her our anywhere. the only way this is sustainable is if you stay single your whole life. 700k in the bank is not enough to support a family of 4 for very long.
This kind of argument always seems to assume that the girlfriend/SO doesn't have any income of their own, though. (I'll grant you the kids, for sure.)

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by PeanutsNJam » Thu Aug 25, 2016 10:43 am

A. Nony Mouse wrote:
ruski wrote:i guess the giant elephant in the room is what about having a family, kids. heck, how do you even have a girlfriend if you refuse to take her our anywhere. the only way this is sustainable is if you stay single your whole life. 700k in the bank is not enough to support a family of 4 for very long.
This kind of argument always seems to assume that the girlfriend/SO doesn't have any income of their own, though. (I'll grant you the kids, for sure.)
I think this assumption comes from OP's "I am saving..." tone. If OP has a SO with an income and they are living together, that SO is bearing the burden of this aggressive saving one way or another. I also think ruski is just talking about dating, like how do you afford to date, which is an expensive endeavor, even if you go dutch every date.

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Re: Need Advice re:Biglaw and Financial Independence

Post by A. Nony Mouse » Thu Aug 25, 2016 10:48 am

PeanutsNJam wrote:
A. Nony Mouse wrote:
ruski wrote:i guess the giant elephant in the room is what about having a family, kids. heck, how do you even have a girlfriend if you refuse to take her our anywhere. the only way this is sustainable is if you stay single your whole life. 700k in the bank is not enough to support a family of 4 for very long.
This kind of argument always seems to assume that the girlfriend/SO doesn't have any income of their own, though. (I'll grant you the kids, for sure.)
I think this assumption comes from OP's "I am saving..." tone. If OP has a SO with an income and they are living together, that SO is bearing the burden of this aggressive saving one way or another. I also think ruski is just talking about dating, like how do you afford to date, which is an expensive endeavor, even if you go dutch every date.
I agree it's likely to affect a relationship. It's more the "supporting a family of four" part that I question - why would you be supporting them single-handedly? (If you make it to the family of 4 part you've obviously made it past the relationship issues.)

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