Go read "The millionaire next door" -- it's eye-opening, particularly about the relative importance of saving and keeping a cap on expenses.
Saving $500k should be trivial on the $400k annual income you describe. Dual income, put $46k per year into tax advantaged retirement accounts (401k + backdoor Roth). Wait 8 years including interest.
Done.
They pay over 12k a year in property taxes alone. They pay tons of local and state taxes, etc... Yes of course they could do more and be smarter with their money, but it's really expensive to live where they are at, but it's also why they make so much as well.
I've read plenty of books on getting rich, and all it takes is a couple disasters or huge expenses (adopting kids, legal fees, tax audits, etc...) and all those money making plans are worthless.
They don't solve real life problems, they only work for those with charmed lives.
I think you are surrounded by rich people and don't realize the vast majority of people live pay-check to pay-check or worse.
I'm not talking about normal people. I'm talking about the couple you described that makes slightly more money than I and my wife and yet has less than half the savings I do.
Edited to add: And I'm surrounded by academics more than anything else. To quote the millionaire next door (page 136):
> Isn't it interesting that a disproportionately high number of used-car shoppers come from the ranks of teachers and professors?
> How did Dr. Bill, an engineering professor who never had a total household income of more than $80,000 become a millionaire? [...] His success in accumulating wealth is based on living well below his means. The professor is a classic example of a used vehicle-prone shopper. [...]
You'd be surprised how well that description fits me and many of my colleagues. So in a sense, yes, I'm surrounded by rich people, but they're rich because they're comparatively frugal, not because we all earn bay area tech salaries (trust me, we don't -- I grouse enough about this that I wrote a blog post about it a few years ago: https://da-data.blogspot.com/2016/12/finances-for-recent-cs-... )
Saving $500k should be trivial on the $400k annual income you describe. Dual income, put $46k per year into tax advantaged retirement accounts (401k + backdoor Roth). Wait 8 years including interest. Done.
Edit: Found a PDF online: https://www.pdfdrive.com/the-millionaire-next-door-book-mant...
(and verified that it actually downloads).