What is the lifestyle difference of 400-500k/yr and 800-1M/yr

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:is private school really better than top public plus 1:1 tutoring?
Im pretty sure the latter gives better outcomes, unless your looking for your kids to start networking in school for life...

Private schools give 15-16 kids in a classroom vs 30-40 in public. Overall a very different learning environment. And wouldn't it be nice if your kid didn't have to spend 6-7 hours in school and another hour or two in tutoring daily?

+1
There is a opportunity cost in terms of time that never gets factored in to PPs way of thinking. Plus the resources are better at private schools that enable a student to bond closely with like minded peers. For example, DDs advanced history class took a trip to Boston to supplement what they were learning in class. Lots of conversations about history (and not about history) took place outside of class hours. It's far more memorable this way. She is having a similar experience in her Spanish class traveling to Costa Rica. This doesn't happen with the entire class in public school; it just doesn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:is private school really better than top public plus 1:1 tutoring?
Im pretty sure the latter gives better outcomes, unless your looking for your kids to start networking in school for life...

Private schools give 15-16 kids in a classroom vs 30-40 in public. Overall a very different learning environment. And wouldn't it be nice if your kid didn't have to spend 6-7 hours in school and another hour or two in tutoring daily?

Where are public classes 40 kids? Arlington's max ES class size is around 24. We're at one of the option schools so the classes are always at that max. I don't know that the environment would be hugely different if were were 9 fewer kids (class of 15) like the private's apparently have, certainly not worth the $$$. Some are more than college will cost!

My kids were in a Top public in our area (not DCUM). Their HS was built for 1800, but had 2600 students. majority of their classes were 30+ students, some were closer to 40 (think AP Calc BC, we have 37 students and that's not enough to justify 2 sections so we will just cram them all into a single class)
Our ES are using 28-30 kids.

However, locally to you, it's happening in Howard county and has been for 15+ years. My now in college kid had 30 in their 1st grade class, because there were not enough kids to justify another section until end of October. Then, after getting the extra 5 kids registered, they added a teacher and broke up 1st graders 2 months into the year and put some into the new class. But HoCo has been increasing class sizes for years, every year with budget cuts. So it does happen and its not the best for most kids. Sure my kids did okay, but I'm 100% certain they would have done better with only 20 kids in their classes.

See, this is when the national reach of this website becomes unhelpful. It just isn’t the norm in the DMV school systems where there are 35 or 40 students at a class.

If I were making $1 million a year but living outside of the DMV in a lower cost of living area with public schools with 35 or 40 kids in the class, sure, I’d think about private schools. But that is not the DMV equation.

Who said that PP‘s area was cheaper? You all don’t realize how affordable the DMV is compared to more desirable areas in the country.

Please elaborate on all of these more desirable areas that are significantly more expensive than the DMV. I can think of about two metro areas that are meaningfully more expensive and I would not want to live in either of them.

NY, LA, Boston, San Fran, heck even Tampa is more expensive for the desirable areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting thread. Our HHI right now is about $700k. We live very comfortably and basically do what we want when we want it. Don’t spring for business class airfare, but we take lots of vacations and stay in nice places. We drive nice cars and buy the things we want when we want them.

I just became a partner in big law, so we’re about to go to $1.5 millon to start. I honestly don’t know what we’re going to do with the extra $$. Our elementary school kids are in public school and we’re happy with that right now. We both went to public schools and did just fine, and don’t really think we’ll go private. I guess we could look for a second house, but where do people buy nice second houses in the DMV? And also, how do you find time to actually use it? Our weekends are already over programmed with sports/friends/birthdays/etc. I still can’t imagine dropping $25k for the family to fly business to Europe, but maybe that will change. I’m not complaining, I’m just honestly stumped on how our life will change. I feel like it’s already so great and we don’t need more, and yet… here it is.

I’ll be interested to know what first year partner in big law in the DMV starts at 1.5 million

They’re real and they’re spectacular. Welcome to the big leagues.

No, I’m actually serious. As an insider that seems on the high end to me.

There are still a few big law firms left that pay this level. I’m not at one of them, but I have friends who are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make 850k and fly economy, only time I pay for premium economy is when we travel to Asia. I don’t know who these people are who are traveling business class on 600-800k.

We have a HHI of $2-3m and we fly economy plus. We just booked our flights for spring break. Our economy plus tickets to Asia cost $3k. I looked into flying first but just couldn’t do it. Could we afford it? Sure. I don’t think it is worth 10k extra per person.

No way it was 3k unless it was for one person. My family of four bought tickets to Asia economy plus and it was nearly 10k.

Yes, it was 3k per person or 15k for our family of 5. Could not pay over 60k for just flights for spring break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:is private school really better than top public plus 1:1 tutoring?
Im pretty sure the latter gives better outcomes, unless your looking for your kids to start networking in school for life...

Private schools give 15-16 kids in a classroom vs 30-40 in public. Overall a very different learning environment. And wouldn't it be nice if your kid didn't have to spend 6-7 hours in school and another hour or two in tutoring daily?

Where are public classes 40 kids? Arlington's max ES class size is around 24. We're at one of the option schools so the classes are always at that max. I don't know that the environment would be hugely different if were were 9 fewer kids (class of 15) like the private's apparently have, certainly not worth the $$$. Some are more than college will cost!

My kids were in a Top public in our area (not DCUM). Their HS was built for 1800, but had 2600 students. majority of their classes were 30+ students, some were closer to 40 (think AP Calc BC, we have 37 students and that's not enough to justify 2 sections so we will just cram them all into a single class)
Our ES are using 28-30 kids.

However, locally to you, it's happening in Howard county and has been for 15+ years. My now in college kid had 30 in their 1st grade class, because there were not enough kids to justify another section until end of October. Then, after getting the extra 5 kids registered, they added a teacher and broke up 1st graders 2 months into the year and put some into the new class. But HoCo has been increasing class sizes for years, every year with budget cuts. So it does happen and its not the best for most kids. Sure my kids did okay, but I'm 100% certain they would have done better with only 20 kids in their classes.

See, this is when the national reach of this website becomes unhelpful. It just isn’t the norm in the DMV school systems where there are 35 or 40 students at a class.

If I were making $1 million a year but living outside of the DMV in a lower cost of living area with public schools with 35 or 40 kids in the class, sure, I’d think about private schools. But that is not the DMV equation.

Who said that PP‘s area was cheaper? You all don’t realize how affordable the DMV is compared to more desirable areas in the country.

Please elaborate on all of these more desirable areas that are significantly more expensive than the DMV. I can think of about two metro areas that are meaningfully more expensive and I would not want to live in either of them.

NY, LA, Boston, San Fran, heck even Tampa is more expensive for the desirable areas.

Lol at anyone considering Tampa more expensive or desirable.

[Anonymous]

We're between $400-500k now. If our income were to double, I think the two main changes would be planning for an earlier retirement, and getting upgraded plane tickets (currently buy economy or economy plus).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting thread. Our HHI right now is about $700k. We live very comfortably and basically do what we want when we want it. Don’t spring for business class airfare, but we take lots of vacations and stay in nice places. We drive nice cars and buy the things we want when we want them.

I just became a partner in big law, so we’re about to go to $1.5 millon to start. I honestly don’t know what we’re going to do with the extra $$. Our elementary school kids are in public school and we’re happy with that right now. We both went to public schools and did just fine, and don’t really think we’ll go private. I guess we could look for a second house, but where do people buy nice second houses in the DMV? And also, how do you find time to actually use it? Our weekends are already over programmed with sports/friends/birthdays/etc. I still can’t imagine dropping $25k for the family to fly business to Europe, but maybe that will change. I’m not complaining, I’m just honestly stumped on how our life will change. I feel like it’s already so great and we don’t need more, and yet… here it is.

Key point- you have elementary kids. We don’t make anywhere near what you make, about $420 and going up to about $500 this year, but we did public for our kids through elementary (I went to public schools all the way through law school and my spouse switched to private in hs) and even tried to go through middle but 6th grade was a game changer in terms of environment we found acceptable for our child to be exposed to day in and day out. We are in DC, so there is that. So now we have one in private and one on the verge of private. Doubling the income would be a game changer for that expense. We can do it now, but it’s definitely a sacrifice. It wouldn’t be if our income were double.

[Anonymous]

Income is just one variable here. If you've invested or inherited a lot and already have a high net worth, very little will change with a few hundred thousand in income.

[Anonymous]

You can't count on being at the higher level forever. Depending on the industry, people burn out of biglaw, get laid off in tech, banking, or consulting consolidations, or get sued for medmal. I didn't feel comfortable spending or doing much more for several years after seeing a big HHI jump.

[Anonymous]

questions like this are stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’re around 500k. At a million, private school is a lot more accessible as is three kids.

500k is solidly UMC in a HCOL area.

It’s about the 96th percentile of HHs in the DMV, so UMC is being used a bit loosely here.

yeah, f off with the "500k is UMC ..."

500k is not UMC anywhere you loser!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:is private school really better than top public plus 1:1 tutoring?
Im pretty sure the latter gives better outcomes, unless your looking for your kids to start networking in school for life...

Private schools give 15-16 kids in a classroom vs 30-40 in public. Overall a very different learning environment. And wouldn't it be nice if your kid didn't have to spend 6-7 hours in school and another hour or two in tutoring daily?

Where are public classes 40 kids? Arlington's max ES class size is around 24. We're at one of the option schools so the classes are always at that max. I don't know that the environment would be hugely different if were were 9 fewer kids (class of 15) like the private's apparently have, certainly not worth the $$$. Some are more than college will cost!

My kids were in a Top public in our area (not DCUM). Their HS was built for 1800, but had 2600 students. majority of their classes were 30+ students, some were closer to 40 (think AP Calc BC, we have 37 students and that's not enough to justify 2 sections so we will just cram them all into a single class)
Our ES are using 28-30 kids.

However, locally to you, it's happening in Howard county and has been for 15+ years. My now in college kid had 30 in their 1st grade class, because there were not enough kids to justify another section until end of October. Then, after getting the extra 5 kids registered, they added a teacher and broke up 1st graders 2 months into the year and put some into the new class. But HoCo has been increasing class sizes for years, every year with budget cuts. So it does happen and its not the best for most kids. Sure my kids did okay, but I'm 100% certain they would have done better with only 20 kids in their classes.

See, this is when the national reach of this website becomes unhelpful. It just isn’t the norm in the DMV school systems where there are 35 or 40 students at a class.

If I were making $1 million a year but living outside of the DMV in a lower cost of living area with public schools with 35 or 40 kids in the class, sure, I’d think about private schools. But that is not the DMV equation.

Who said that PP‘s area was cheaper? You all don’t realize how affordable the DMV is compared to more desirable areas in the country.

Please elaborate on all of these more desirable areas that are significantly more expensive than the DMV. I can think of about two metro areas that are meaningfully more expensive and I would not want to live in either of them.

NY, LA, Boston, San Fran, heck even Tampa is more expensive for the desirable areas.

Lol at anyone considering Tampa more expensive or desirable.

NP here - Tampa is more expensive overall but definitely not more desirable. It has some s* parts, but so does DC area, please visit Woodbridge, silver spring, border of MD with dc etc.

[Anonymous]

Reading this thread, how have people managed to have 80 percent of the benefits of these salaries while earning 50% of the money?

It seems to me that if one saved and invested early, it’s possible to skip the stress of these high paying jobs, spend more time with family, etc. How much joy is there in unlimited takeout, a Range Rover vs a used Subaru, and business class? I realize these things are all nicer, but are the people who have them really happier and more relaxed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading this thread, how have people managed to have 80 percent of the benefits of these salaries while earning 50% of the money?

It seems to me that if one saved and invested early, it’s possible to skip the stress of these high paying jobs, spend more time with family, etc. How much joy is there in unlimited takeout, a Range Rover vs a used Subaru, and business class? I realize these things are all nicer, but are the people who have them really happier and more relaxed?

You are probably right but I feel like in the DMV, even people with “chill” government or similar jobs are still stressed or unhappy about something or other.

[Anonymous]

This thread is making me think there’s something to the Succession lines about $5M being poor. Many of the replies here talk about schools and plane tickets as the only real additional benefits. It’s not private jet money.

“ Connor: You can't do anything with five, Greg. Five's a nightmare.

Connor: Oh, yeah. Can't retire. Not worth it to work. Oh, yes, five will drive you un poco loco, my fine feathered friend.

Tom: The poorest rich person in America. The world's tallest dwarf.”