One last (very-high-end) sample budget with Jessica and James

Jessica and James are two lawyers in their late 30s, with 3 kids. They each make $325,000 a year from their work as lawyers, and they make an additional six figures a year in revenue from renting out five properties other than their primary residence, which they bought in cash after saving aggressively, leaving them with only equity in that home, and not a mortgage. They have mortgages on their five other properties, but those pay for themselves, given how much they charge their renting tenants. 

• Their primary residence was bought outright 7 years ago for $850,000 and has now appreciated to $1,165,000.
• Their first rental property
• mortgage is 1139
• rents for 1460
• has been generating rental income and equity for 8 years
• $177,200 in equity
• had a 20% down payment starting the equity at purchase time 
• Their second property
• mortgage is 1365
• rents for 1750
• has been generating rental income and equity for 7 years
• $132,820 in equity 
• had a 20% down payment starting the equity at purchase time
• Their third property
• mortgage is 1229
• rents for 1575
• has been generating rental income and equity for 6 years
• $110,390 in equity 
• had a 20% down payment starting the equity at purchase time
• Their fourth property
• mortgage is 1619
• rents for 2075
• has been generating rental income and equity for 5 years
• $115,260 in equity
• had a 20% down payment starting the equity at purchase time
• Their fifth property
• mortgage is 1404
• rents for 1800 
• has been generating rental income and equity for 4 years
• They have $119,980 in equity here 
• had a 20% down payment starting the equity at purchase time

In total, the equity in the five rental properties is about $600,280 and growing every month. 

They also have the following:

• $55,000 in a high-yield saving account earning 4.625% annually
• Separate retirement accounts, earning 11.88% annually on average, which have to be in the name of one spouse and not both (even though they're married, and have been for a while), which combine to $1.416 million
• $6.5 million in a joint brokerage account which earns 13% annually
• Their new cars, for which the MSRP is $82,295 (of which 20% was put down at signing) are being financed for 5 years at 4.75% APR
• No debt, because they both had their entire educations financed by scholarships and grants. 

Given that, let's look at the couple's budget:

Gross Income per month	$62,826.67
Taxes	$21,760.00	$261,120.00
Retirement	$1,875.00
Takehome Income	$39,191.67
Investments	$20,000.00	$19,191.67
Equestrian expenses	$2,800.00	$16,391.67
Health	$1,000.00	$15,391.67
Groceries	$1,000.00	$14,391.67
Transportation	$2,800.00	$11,591.67
Utilities	$1,550.00	$10,041.67
Netflix	$90.00	$9,951.67
Clothing, Household necessities	$750.00	$9,201.67
Charity	$5,000.00	$4,201.67
Fun	$1,000.00	$3,201.67
Tax Filing Software	$25.00	$3,176.67
Savings	$3,176.67	$0.00

We've covered that needs should be no more than 50% of a budget, wants no more than 30%, and saving and investments no less than 20%. Let's use this as a benchmark to assess this budget. 

• Needs should be no more than 50%. This fictional couple's budget allocates only 18.1%-- much better than 50%
• Wants should be no more than 30%. This fictional couple's budget allocates only 22.7%-- much better than 30%. 
• Investments and savings should be at least 20%. This functional couple's budget allocates 59.2%-- much better than 20%. 

And now let's look at where their investments will be:

• Their total equity position in the 5 rentals will be $1.045,474.82
• Their savings will have increased to $569,322.88
• They could then earmark $195,958.35 of this for emergencies-- covering 6 months of their expenses
• And the other $373,364.53 could go toward 20% down payments on 6 more rental properties worth about $311,100 each, which they could perhaps rent out for $2200 a month
• Their primary residence's value will have gone up to $1,643,347.56
• The value of their brokerage account will have gone up to $29,586,760.34
• The combined value of their separate retirement accounts will have gone up to $4,768,378.45

This is only a fictitious sample made up for illustrative purposes, but it does teach one concept of profound importance, especially relative to the other sample budgets: as you get richer, if you prevent lifestyle creep from taking over your life, then, once your life gets luxurious enough, you won't feel as much pressure to go after material luxuries, and you'll be able to invest your extra income so it can accrue returns, and let those returns accrue returns, and so on. This is how investing works, and it's a great way to build wealth over time.