From DIKs To TIKs

TIKs

Until recently the BITA household were DIKs. Not to be confused with dicks that you would like to punch in the face for being such arseholes, but DIKs – a Double Income family with one Kid.

For those not familiar with this branch of financial taxonomy, I have, with the copious artistic talent at my disposal, created this glorious diagram for your viewing pleasure:

I am pleased to announce that this year we have leveled up (and not by selling Toddler BITA to the highest bidder so that we could be DINKs). I present to you today the new apex predator of the financial food chain, the TIKs: Triple Income with Kids. (Why oh why aren’t we the folks that end up with the cool acronyms? How is being a tik any better than being a dik?).

 

The BITA family now has three streams of income, and those so very smug DINKs can suck it.

 

Whence Comes Our Third Income?

 

No, we have not adopted polyamory as a way of life.

No, we have not put Toddler BITA to work in the mines, although I would be lying if I said I haven’t on occasion been tempted to do so.

 

Our third income is brought in by good old Mr. Stash.

YTD Mr. Stash has earned a most respectable salary for a software developer (which is how Mr. BITA and I both earn a living): $213,254.80.

So now we have Mr. BITA, Mr. Stash and I all pulling in 6 figures. How glorious is that you ask? Very fucking glorious.

 

This year has been rather good for Mr. Market, so it is fair to say that perhaps the Stash has been a tad overpaid. If we slash Mr. Stash’s paycheck by half, we would still be in the 6 figures. If the Stash made just 30% of what he (and yes, the Stash is a he. I’m not having another woman in my marriage) made in 2017, he would still be making $63,976.44 which is above the median household income for the U.S. ($59,039).

 

We talk a lot about the power of investing and compounding and putting your money to work for you. I can testify to the fact that it is one thing to understand and adopt the concept, and quite another to actually see it in action in your life.

There are numerous ways to get your money to work for you. Our path is that of the passive investor in diversified low-cost index funds. Other folks prefer picking individual stock and chasing dividend income. Some ballsy folks aim to have cryptocurrencies do the heavy lifting in their portfolios. We are too conservative to speculate and too lazy to choose stocks ourselves. Some people build passive incomes by building real estate empires. We greatly value the fact that we never have to have a conversation about a backed up toilet with Mr. Stash. Some things are priceless.

 

We Aspire To Be SIKs

For now, we are happy being TIKs. One day though, in the not so distant future, I aspire to be SIKs. Mr. BITA and I will retire and sip colourful drinks with teensy umbrellas at 11 in the morning, while Mr. Stash supports our household single-handedly and works for us until the day we die.

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6 thoughts on “From DIKs To TIKs”

  1. We are currently technically Single Income No Kids. (I say that because one of us earned 95% of the household income for the year.) Thankfully our single income is quite high, so it’s not a huge encumbrance, though it does require a bit more prioritization than when we were Dual Income No Kids.

    But, the Market has been an extra income for us as well. Between the real estate and stock markets, we earned a whole second income. It’s pretty fun to watch the nest egg grow on its own 🙂

    Reply
  2. Wow that is almost SIK. And you are right, the acronyms don’t do justice to the position you are in.
    cd :O)

    Reply
  3. Yep, we’re definitely DIKS, although with your new classification, we’d fit into the TIKS category. TIKS unite! lol I can’t wait to be living off our Stash soon.

    Reply

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