<prompt> Human: I am feeling resentful about my financial situation. I earn a decent salary 70,000year at a job I love, but I always feel broke. I pay 11 of my pretax paycheck into a public retirement system, pay the same amount into a personal tax-sheltered 457 retirement plan, and pay 120 into an HSA. My take-home pay is 1,475 every 2 weeks. 550 of that paycheck goes into a joint checking account which I share with my SO. We live together and split the costs of all of the basics: mortgage, utilities electric, water, gas, phone, and internet, groceries, and pet costs. We pay 550 from each biweekly paycheck into a joint savings account to cover: mortgage, utilities AC, water, gas, trash, phone, internet, groceries, and dates occasional movies, dinners out, museums, camping, and overnight trips. I allocate the remaining 925 of my paycheck according to a strict budget. I put away 700 of that money into savings: 200 to a rainy day fundemergency account which I dip into for car repairs, unexpected medical or vet expenses, etc; the balance fluctuates quite a bit, but I keep about 6 months living expenses in there, 300 to my travel fund, and 200 to my house repair fund. The rest of the money 450month gets eaten up by gas costs 200mo, student loans 125mo, and car insurance 60mo. I get my haircut once a month for 16. And I spend the last 50 on an occasional lunch, drinks, concerts, museums, or movies with friends and co-workers. I havent gone shopping for new clothes in years. I dont party. I dont gamble. My one indulgence is travel carefully budgeted, planned, and paid for in cash; often involving stays in cheap hostels. I always feel like Im on the verge of a financial disaster - because I am. And Im afraid to spend any money. I live like a broke student, but Im a 30-something professional. I live in a little 850 sq. ft. run-down house in a modest neighborhood halfway between my job and my SOs job. Its a fixer-upper and its barely habitable. I saved 25 for a down payment, got a conventional mortgage, and purchased the house in 2010 for more than its worth now at interest rates higher than they are now. Ive been fixing one thing at a time, paying cash, for over 4 years, but the work isnt done. I dont know if the end is in sight because every time I think that I might have the chance to actually make a dent in the renovations, something breaks. Last year, I had to replace the AC unit. This year, Im going to have to fixreplace the roof. In the meantime, I only have half of a functional kitchen. As a result of the construction, Ive been living out of boxes for 4 years. I have no furniture other than a bed to sleep on, and a table and a few chairs to eat and work on. I cant enjoy living in the house yet. I cant have people over because its embarrassing that its always a construction zone and guests cant even have a seat. I tried to sell and I tried to refinance, but I cant do either because I owe more than its worth despite having paid extra toward the principal for the last 4 years. I owe 152,000 on the mortgage. The interest rate is 4.99. I pay an extra 200mo toward the principal. I should have the house paid off in 17 years 9 years ahead of schedule in 2031. I have modest student loan debts. I graduated undergrad and graduate school with 24,000 in federal subsidized loans. I have 17,000 left to pay off at a 3.75 interest rate. I earn too much relative to the student loan to take advantage of public service loan forgiveness, income based repayment, or income contingent repayment. It will be paid off in 2030. I have no consumer debt.I drive a 12 year old car with 125,000 miles on it that I own outright. Its still running fine and I have no plans to replace it for another 100,000 miles. I need it for work because I need to drive up to 30 miles between offices and buildings regularly. What the hell am I doing wrong? Why am I living like a broke student despite earning more than most Americans? Why dont I feel like I have any real assets or material comfort to show for all of my work? Why does everyone around me seem to live better than I do? Finally, is there anything that I can do to actually improve my standard of living besides selling my house, getting a new job, or selling my car?EDIT: Two person income, no kidsThis is the monthly overview: This is the joint account and budget:We both contribute 1,100mo to a joint account. The total 2,200 joint account looks like this:1,300 for housing: 4.99 mortgage property owned by me, property tax, and home insurance are 1,100; extra 200 to principal.100 for family phone plans. SO needs a reliable and unlimited data phone service for work, so Ting is not an option for phone service. 90 for internet. Theres only one provider available and they gouge as much as they can. Again, SO is an IT guy for a private company and needs fast reliable internet. Tethered phones and mobile hotspot devices wont cut it. 200-400 for utilities. Arizona is HOT. We dont use much AC keep the house at 82, but it costs around 250mo to do so in the summer and thats much lower than my friends and neighbors. Gas: 40. Watertrashsewer: 60. Flood irrigation: 40. Remaining 110-550 for groceries, household supplies toilet paper, soap, etc, dog food, and dates. We usually save during the winter months and use the savings to give us a little more leeway during the summer May-November when utility costs are very high.Personal account and budget: 1850mo income. 125 student loan repayment.400 into emergency savings.600 into vacation savings. Some people say this isnt savings because you save savings and dont save to use... what do you suggest I call it?400 to house repairremodel savings.200 for gas.60 for car insurance.16 for haircut.50 for miscellaneous expenditures.A note about how long Ive been savingThe savings part is pretty new to me because I was married for 5 years ended about 5 years ago and earned less money. My spouse did not work, but went to school. I paid everything in the joint account on my salary and had small savings, which often went to pay school tuition. After my divorce, I still paid for all of my living expenses on my own and tried to save for house repair. Ive only been saving aggressively for the last 14 months after my SO moved in with me and freed up a lot of my money by paying rent. SO doesnt pay for the cost of the house repairs and maintenance because he doesnt own the house. He earns less than I do. And his fixed costs are higher than mine he financed a car years ago, took out more student loans, etc. To a degree, Im subsidizing his lifestyle which is far from extravagant but allows him to save, pay off debts, and travel because he doesnt have as much dedicated savings. To another degree, hes subsidizing my assets by paying rent toward my mortgage. Its not really unfair to either of us. And were both comfortable with our arrangement. As a result of prior years paycheck to paycheck lifestyle, the savings balances arent very high. And most of the savings are allocated to specific future expenditures. This is the part where Im really struggling. How much money in the bank is enough to be able to dial back and spend a little more on frivolous things? About Retirement Savings11 goes into a pension account which does not pay very much unless I stay for 28 years. If I move jobs within the next 5-10 years which is likely, the pension will replace 21 of my wages at the time I left public service after I retire in 25 years or so. This translates to about a 500mo stipend. Factoring in inflation, thats a drop in the bucket and will be worth about 150 of todays money in 30 years. If I stay and work for 28 more years, then the pension will replace 70 of my wages at the time of retirement. Social security will pay approximately 1,438 in todays dollars if my salary remains the same. So, in order to retain my standard of living 3,000month costs when I retire after factoring in social security, I need to stock my personal retirement accounts with at least 500,000 within the next 28 years. I currently have about 65,000 saved in a combination of accounts: a Roth IRA with 25,000, a 457 with 40,000. According to every retirement calculator that Ive seen, Im falling short. Its mysterious to me. And Im kind of panicked about it.  <response>: Youre like my dad, saving so much that it seems like youre actually broke when in fact you have more money than 80 of other people around you.Dial down on the savings and live a little man! 