Life is Easy in NW DC on $300k, AMA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see so much confusion on here, and I thought I'd try to clear some stuff up. My central point is that life is easy, downright cushy even, on $300k per year gross income in the DC area. My wife (38) and I (40) raise our two kids (6 and 3) in upper NW DC and our gross income in 2016 was $300k. People who suggest they are scraping by at this income are either deluding you or deluding themselves.

I am happy to answer any questions and dispel any other related myths you may see on DCUM.

Some of our details:
- ~$300k gross income
- $about 70k in total income and payroll taxes
- PITI is about $3500 (we bought a 4 BR house near AU park in 2012 for low $800s. Before that we owned a small condo in Logan Circle)
- Public school (but we did daycare for both kids from 4 months - 3 years)
- I graduated from law school in 2004 with about $150k in student loans. Those are all paid off now.
- We don't do fancy luxury cars, but it's not bargain basement either. The last car we bought was in 2012 and it cost about $30k.
- We eat at nice restaurants weekly, travel several times a year, and buy more consumer goods (clothes for her, gadgets for him) than we probably should
- We save amply $36k per year in the 401k/TSP, $10k per year in the 529s, and $30-40k in the taxable brokerage account. Our savings balances include $750k in retirement accounts, $60k in 529s (kids are still young), and $250k in taxable brokerage accounts.
- We give to charity an amount that I think is generous, about $5k per year usually.

Imagine one of your kids were constantly bullied at school, so after a while had to send her (and her sibling, so they stay together) to private school.

How would the financial picture change if you had to pay $70k in tuition year after year?

This is a one-off scenario, extremely rare. Not only being bullied, but move both kids. What is one spouse gets sick, what if the neighborhood burns down.

No one would force you to move both kids so that you now had to pay 70K in additional tuition. If you're wealthy enough to afford private for 1, you move kid1 who is being bullied, and keep kid2 where they are presumably doing fine. If you choose to move both, because it's too much trouble/morally troubling to have them in two schools, presumably you can afford 70K in additional tuition.

NP here but if the choice is between putting both kids in a new private school wouldn't it make more sense to just move to a different house and pay one-time transaction costs rather than ongoing private school expenses?

But what if you move and your child is bullied at the new public school? One of the reasons you choose private is for the (more) controlled social environment (read: poorly behaved children and bullies can be kicked out)

I don't think private school is some sort of panacea. Bullying exists everywhere.

Bullying does exist everywhere, but it can be dealt with much more effectively at private schools (i.e., selective admissions, more uniformly involved parents paying a lot of $$ for tuition). I know from personal experience, and the experiences of friends, that DC private schools are, for the most part, very good with squashing bully--especially if any physical contact is involved.

[Anonymous]

this thread confirms that private schooling is the most insanely wasteful thing ever. I love how people compare it to "luxury cars" where there is really no comparison at all. if you have two kids in private school it's like buying 2 luxury vehicles every year - not one every ten years. ridiculous. so glad I was able to talk my husband out of the private school idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:oP, thanks fo posting.
My spouse is periodically considering getting a lower paid job and I’ve had trouble thinking through what our budget would be. I’m really interested to see how little you pay in taxes. We currently pay 50-60% of income in taxes so that takes a big swath. We have 3 kids and they are older so more expensive (we definitely couldn’t get by on 900/month in groceries unless we were seriously coupon clipping!!) but your post makes me feel like 350 or 400 would be do-able.

As some posters have pointed out, the big problem with any family budget is that there are so many unknown factors. For us, we didn’t anticipate certain special needs our kids have, so we pay a lot of money in unreimbursed therapies plus we really can’t use the cheapest after-cares and camps. We’ve managed to stick with public school so far but I’m no longer so confident that will be a good idea for the long-term.

Sum up all your taxes and divide by all compensation, including deferred compensation and corporate health insurance contributions . It would not be 60% or even 50%, unless you spend it all and add sales tax to it. Even then it wouldn't be 60%.

[Anonymous]

How much did you pay for childcare, and how much do you pay now for childcare? That is hard part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much did you pay for childcare, and how much do you pay now for childcare? That is hard part.

If you're asking me, the OP, our 2016 daycare expenses were about $21k. I provided that number (and others) upthread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:this thread confirms that private schooling is the most insanely wasteful thing ever. I love how people compare it to "luxury cars" where there is really no comparison at all. if you have two kids in private school it's like buying 2 luxury vehicles every year - not one every ten years. ridiculous. so glad I was able to talk my husband out of the private school idea.

You sound envious. Private school is not wasteful if you can comfortably afford it; and if it's the educational environment you want for your children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see so much confusion on here, and I thought I'd try to clear some stuff up. My central point is that life is easy, downright cushy even, on $300k per year gross income in the DC area. My wife (38) and I (40) raise our two kids (6 and 3) in upper NW DC and our gross income in 2016 was $300k. People who suggest they are scraping by at this income are either deluding you or deluding themselves.

I am happy to answer any questions and dispel any other related myths you may see on DCUM.

Some of our details:
- ~$300k gross income
- $about 70k in total income and payroll taxes
- PITI is about $3500 (we bought a 4 BR house near AU park in 2012 for low $800s. Before that we owned a small condo in Logan Circle)
- Public school (but we did daycare for both kids from 4 months - 3 years)
- I graduated from law school in 2004 with about $150k in student loans. Those are all paid off now.
- We don't do fancy luxury cars, but it's not bargain basement either. The last car we bought was in 2012 and it cost about $30k.
- We eat at nice restaurants weekly, travel several times a year, and buy more consumer goods (clothes for her, gadgets for him) than we probably should
- We save amply $36k per year in the 401k/TSP, $10k per year in the 529s, and $30-40k in the taxable brokerage account. Our savings balances include $750k in retirement accounts, $60k in 529s (kids are still young), and $250k in taxable brokerage accounts.
- We give to charity an amount that I think is generous, about $5k per year usually.

Imagine one of your kids were constantly bullied at school, so after a while had to send her (and her sibling, so they stay together) to private school.

How would the financial picture change if you had to pay $70k in tuition year after year?

This is a one-off scenario, extremely rare. Not only being bullied, but move both kids. What is one spouse gets sick, what if the neighborhood burns down.

No one would force you to move both kids so that you now had to pay 70K in additional tuition. If you're wealthy enough to afford private for 1, you move kid1 who is being bullied, and keep kid2 where they are presumably doing fine. If you choose to move both, because it's too much trouble/morally troubling to have them in two schools, presumably you can afford 70K in additional tuition.

NP here but if the choice is between putting both kids in a new private school wouldn't it make more sense to just move to a different house and pay one-time transaction costs rather than ongoing private school expenses?

But what if you move and your child is bullied at the new public school? One of the reasons you choose private is for the (more) controlled social environment (read: poorly behaved children and bullies can be kicked out)

I don't think private school is some sort of panacea. Bullying exists everywhere.

Honestly, the psychological warfare in private school is much worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this thread confirms that private schooling is the most insanely wasteful thing ever. I love how people compare it to "luxury cars" where there is really no comparison at all. if you have two kids in private school it's like buying 2 luxury vehicles every year - not one every ten years. ridiculous. so glad I was able to talk my husband out of the private school idea.

You sound envious. Private school is not wasteful if you can comfortably afford it; and if it's the educational environment you want for your children.

People who pay for private schools are losers and suckers. They want to buy "the best" but have no capacity to discern what actually is best.

Not a big deal if you are making millions perhaps but as this threads show @300k one would live a miserable life doing it.

[Anonymous]

I think the entire private school sub-thread is really a deflection. The PP gave this very unique bullying hypo to suggest that even though everything is easy for OP on $300k, well, everything would fall apart if they had no choice but to send their 2 kids to an expensive private school.

But, without arguing about whether there are some unique outlier cases where parents truly have "no choice", the simple fact is that's not why the vast overwhelming majority of kids are in private school. They are there because their parents made a choice to send them to private school.

I have nothing against people who make that choice. But it's silly to pretend that OP's situation is imperiled because of the possibility that they are put in a position where they have no choice but to pay $70k per year for private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this thread confirms that private schooling is the most insanely wasteful thing ever. I love how people compare it to "luxury cars" where there is really no comparison at all. if you have two kids in private school it's like buying 2 luxury vehicles every year - not one every ten years. ridiculous. so glad I was able to talk my husband out of the private school idea.

You sound envious. Private school is not wasteful if you can comfortably afford it; and if it's the educational environment you want for your children.

People who pay for private schools are losers and suckers. They want to buy "the best" but have no capacity to discern what actually is best.

Not a big deal if you are making millions perhaps but as this threads show @300k one would live a miserable life doing it.

Lol--you are the one who sounds like a loser. A bitter, envious loser who cannot afford private school. It seems as if public school is the ONLY option for your children. And most likely a state university after high school (shudder).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this thread confirms that private schooling is the most insanely wasteful thing ever. I love how people compare it to "luxury cars" where there is really no comparison at all. if you have two kids in private school it's like buying 2 luxury vehicles every year - not one every ten years. ridiculous. so glad I was able to talk my husband out of the private school idea.

You sound envious. Private school is not wasteful if you can comfortably afford it; and if it's the educational environment you want for your children.

People who pay for private schools are losers and suckers. They want to buy "the best" but have no capacity to discern what actually is best.

Not a big deal if you are making millions perhaps but as this threads show @300k one would live a miserable life doing it.

Lol--you are the one who sounds like a loser. A bitter, envious loser who cannot afford private school. It seems as if public school is the ONLY option for your children. And most likely a state university after high school (shudder).

heh envious... you are a sucker and you know it. because you really have no capacity to judge educational quality, do you?

don't worry about my kids they are profoundly gifted and, at their level, the schools truly are irrelevant. there are some thing money can't buy as you and your dumb spawn must well know

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the entire private school sub-thread is really a deflection. The PP gave this very unique bullying hypo to suggest that even though everything is easy for OP on $300k, well, everything would fall apart if they had no choice but to send their 2 kids to an expensive private school.

But, without arguing about whether there are some unique outlier cases where parents truly have "no choice", the simple fact is that's not why the vast overwhelming majority of kids are in private school. They are there because their parents made a choice to send them to private school.

I have nothing against people who make that choice. But it's silly to pretend that OP's situation is imperiled because of the possibility that they are put in a position where they have no choice but to pay $70k per year for private school.

I see it differently.

OP showed how everything is wonderful...when everything is wonderful.

But in many cases, that's not the case. It could be bullying and then private school, or a disease, or alimony payments, or ID fraud and legal bills, or whatever.

$300k is great money when everything is wonderful. But that's not always the case, even in NW DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this thread confirms that private schooling is the most insanely wasteful thing ever. I love how people compare it to "luxury cars" where there is really no comparison at all. if you have two kids in private school it's like buying 2 luxury vehicles every year - not one every ten years. ridiculous. so glad I was able to talk my husband out of the private school idea.

You sound envious. Private school is not wasteful if you can comfortably afford it; and if it's the educational environment you want for your children.

People who pay for private schools are losers and suckers. They want to buy "the best" but have no capacity to discern what actually is best.

Not a big deal if you are making millions perhaps but as this threads show @300k one would live a miserable life doing it.

Lol--you are the one who sounds like a loser. A bitter, envious loser who cannot afford private school. It seems as if public school is the ONLY option for your children. And most likely a state university after high school (shudder).

heh envious... you are a sucker and you know it. because you really have no capacity to judge educational quality, do you?

don't worry about my kids they are profoundly gifted and, at their level, the schools truly are irrelevant. there are some thing money can't buy as you and your dumb spawn must well know

Both of our children are Mensa junior honor society members, and they're trilingual. On top of that, we are both Ivy grads who can afford private school. Eat it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the entire private school sub-thread is really a deflection. The PP gave this very unique bullying hypo to suggest that even though everything is easy for OP on $300k, well, everything would fall apart if they had no choice but to send their 2 kids to an expensive private school.

But, without arguing about whether there are some unique outlier cases where parents truly have "no choice", the simple fact is that's not why the vast overwhelming majority of kids are in private school. They are there because their parents made a choice to send them to private school.

I have nothing against people who make that choice. But it's silly to pretend that OP's situation is imperiled because of the possibility that they are put in a position where they have no choice but to pay $70k per year for private school.

I see it differently.

OP showed how everything is wonderful...when everything is wonderful.

But in many cases, that's not the case. It could be bullying and then private school, or a disease, or alimony payments, or ID fraud and legal bills, or whatever.

$300k is great money when everything is wonderful. But that's not always the case, even in NW DC.

No, OP was responding the the endless threads that it is hard to get by in DC on 300K/year with an outline of a pretty good life. He did not say tragedy or hard times will never happen to him, although I hope it does not. All we can do is the best we can. People complaining about not getting by on 300K are not whining about their inability to have fallback plans in the event their children are bullied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this thread confirms that private schooling is the most insanely wasteful thing ever. I love how people compare it to "luxury cars" where there is really no comparison at all. if you have two kids in private school it's like buying 2 luxury vehicles every year - not one every ten years. ridiculous. so glad I was able to talk my husband out of the private school idea.

You sound envious. Private school is not wasteful if you can comfortably afford it; and if it's the educational environment you want for your children.

People who pay for private schools are losers and suckers. They want to buy "the best" but have no capacity to discern what actually is best.

Not a big deal if you are making millions perhaps but as this threads show @300k one would live a miserable life doing it.

Lol--you are the one who sounds like a loser. A bitter, envious loser who cannot afford private school. It seems as if public school is the ONLY option for your children. And most likely a state university after high school (shudder).

heh envious... you are a sucker and you know it. because you really have no capacity to judge educational quality, do you?

don't worry about my kids they are profoundly gifted and, at their level, the schools truly are irrelevant. there are some thing money can't buy as you and your dumb spawn must well know

Both of our children are Mensa junior honor society members, and they're trilingual. On top of that, we are both Ivy grads who can afford private school. Eat it.

only low class strivers join mensa. i tested for it when I was 12 and didn't want to join because it was too lame

you are apparently trying to buy class but it doesn't seem to be working