Saving $1000 a month towards retirement and an additional $500 for anything else is actually doing very well by American standards.  Saving $1,500 is no small feat for most families, that&#x27;s more than half of the take-home pay for the median family in America.  Plus, you have the copays+transit+random crap = $1000&#x2F;mo bucket that has a lot of obvious savings.<p>Your post solidifies my point.  Saving that much money in the midwest would be difficult on $50k&#x2F;yr, but doing so on $100k in SF requires a little self-control.