Mortgage + 3 cars + 2 kids in college + 1 in a private high school + 1 family vacation = ???
I don't think any of that stuff is a status symbol, or excessive. And it seems like that would easily exceed 200k a year, and that's excluding utilities, food, etc.
it seems to me like that wouldn't exceed 100k a year, and "2 kids in college, 1 in private high school" is probably your highest consumption year. Seems like we have vastly different expectations as to what's reasonable to spend on those things. See also my comment [0] and kscaldef's [1] on the previous thread.
I'd also assume you don't have mortgage/car payments with a $4.3m buyout, but instead pay those things in full but amortize the costs in your budget spreadsheet.
[0] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1627640 [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1627551
You don't think three cars is excessive? We'll have to differ in opinion there.
A lot of your costs depend on location obviously but, yes, I stand by my hunch.