I'll be honest I'm glossing over some details about house refinancing and sales etc. About 40k of it was gains from a house. I'll give you that. About 75k of the 300k is investment gains. Income has remained pretty stable over that time (when I got a raise, my wife worked less or went back to school etc) and we started at that income level right out of college at 22 years old. So of the 500k, 115k is gains, so $375k is contributions/debt payment. In the 8 years since graduating that would be ~$45k/year. $125k-45k= $80k in taxes and spending per year for two people which isn't hard at all. Lived in DC for a year then moved to Denver.