A $100K salary still leaves this family short: r/personalfinance weighs in
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 17, 2026.
Your mortgage is way too high. You also can’t afford that car payment. What deductions are coming out of your paycheck? Your take home seems low.
A $100,000 salary still leaves this household short, with $4,605 in fixed bills against $5,800 of take-home before groceries. The 706 comments agree on the order of operations: gut the fixed costs first, and leave the $17,000 retirement account alone or risk a second tax bill on top of the IRS plan.
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PrudentWind813, a 35-year-old sole earner supporting a spouse with a disability and a baby, posted a breakdown showing $4,605 in fixed monthly bills against take-home pay that leaves almost nothing for groceries, gas, baby supplies, or healthcare.
The top comment, from Mental-Volume4395, said the mortgage and car payment are simply too large for this income, and other highly rated replies pointed to the phone bill and auto insurance as obvious places to cut.
The credit card balance sits at 0% until the promotional rate expires January 27, 2027, after which a variable APR of 21.49% applies, and the community consensus is to attack those fixed costs and variable rates before touching anything else.
The $17,000 retirement account is the most debated asset in the thread, since a prior 401(k) withdrawal left federal taxes withheld and state taxes unwithheld, and commenters warned that a second early-withdrawal tax bill on top of an existing IRS payment plan would deepen the hole.