How do people afford it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like private school is paying for bottled water if you have good tap water available.

The better analogy IMO is taking a cross-country trip by private jet vs. car (good public) or bus (bad public).

You are an idiot lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like private school is paying for bottled water if you have good tap water available.

The better analogy IMO is taking a cross-country trip by private jet vs. car (good public) or bus (bad public).

You are an idiot lol

No need to state the obvious

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like private school is paying for bottled water if you have good tap water available.

The better analogy IMO is taking a cross-country trip by private jet vs. car (good public) or bus (bad public).

You are an idiot lol

No need to state the obvious

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people who are not law firm partners have grandparents who pay for private school.

Some who are law firm partners also have grandparents or parents who pay. There can be a benefit from a tax perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:on a $300k income, half goes to taxes

Something seems way off if this has been your experience. Our income isn't significantly more and according to TurboTax our effective federal tax rate (with the standard deduction) has usually been around 20 percent.

[Anonymous]

Well, if anyone invested in amazon or google, for example, 15 years ago, the value of that position today could very well pay for a few years at a private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:on a $300k income, half goes to taxes

Something seems way off if this has been your experience. Our income isn't significantly more and according to TurboTax our effective federal tax rate (with the standard deduction) has usually been around 20 percent.

Add in FICA and state and you're probably closer to 30%. No idea where pp gets half though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:on a $300k income, half goes to taxes

Something seems way off if this has been your experience. Our income isn't significantly more and according to TurboTax our effective federal tax rate (with the standard deduction) has usually been around 20 percent.

Add in FICA and state and you're probably closer to 30%. No idea where pp gets half though

Maybe they meant just money before take home(federal & state taxes, retirement, medical insurance, etc.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe they meant just money before take home(federal & state taxes, retirement, medical insurance, etc.)

You'll have to show the math, because using this calculator with the standard deduction, $300K married filing jointly and two dependents (with no retirement contribution that would lower AGI), it spits out $53,455 in estimated taxes. Nowhere near $150K.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/taxes/tax-calculator

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:on a $300k income, half goes to taxes

Something seems way off if this has been your experience. Our income isn't significantly more and according to TurboTax our effective federal tax rate (with the standard deduction) has usually been around 20 percent.

plus 10% state tax, plus social security and medicare. So you lose 40% to taxes.

[Anonymous]

So, if you assume that, your net would be $15,000 a month. Take away $10k for school, and you have $5k to cover mortgage, food, medical, car insurance, 401k contribution, summer child care. Good luck with that, I think you need to make $400k to have a shot at sending two kids to private school,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:on a $300k income, half goes to taxes

Something seems way off if this has been your experience. Our income isn't significantly more and according to TurboTax our effective federal tax rate (with the standard deduction) has usually been around 20 percent.

plus 10% state tax, plus social security and medicare. So you lose 40% to taxes.

OASDI is capped at between $9K and $10K, and Medicare is 1.45% (which multiplied by $300K is $4350). That's under 5 percent. Nowhere near 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, if you assume that, your net would be $15,000 a month. Take away $10k for school, and you have $5k to cover mortgage, food, medical, car insurance, 401k contribution, summer child care. Good luck with that, I think you need to make $400k to have a shot at sending two kids to private school,

You can do it with a cheaper school and mortgage half the size.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I’m not the same poster that talked about having a housekeeper. That is absolutely not us. We clean our own toilets. We rarely eat out and when we do it’s a fast casual spot. We take trips to visit family or day trips that don’t require overnights. Even with that I don’t see how the numbers work out unless we move into an apartment and don’t save for retirement, which perhaps is a choice we could make, but doesn’t seem prudent. I appreciate the replies!

So it seems like you know your answer. And you probably have known it all along—you can’t make the numbers work.

Agree. Not sure how you make it work for two kids with that mortgage payment.
One strategy might be to consider a career pivot for either/both you and DH to yield higher salaries.
I left non profit sector for private a few years after having my first kid. Kicking myself I didn’t do it sooner. The salary/bonuses etc are worth it.

We're facing this challenge now. $350k HHI, $3200 monthly mortgage. Old cars, paid off. 2 kids currently in public, looking at private, but really reluctant to "sacrifice" jobs we adore -- true unicorn gigs perfectly suited to our personalities, family obligations, and professional aspirations -- for more $$ in private sector gigs guaranteed to be a poorer fit. If the school upgrade is truly worth it, I'd rather dip into home equity or retirement savings to fund it. But I'm not yet convinced it's truly worth it

What grades are the kids in? Do they seem happy? I feel like private school is paying for bottled water if you have good tap water available.

Are you my financial advisor? Because if not, you're the second person this week to give me this advice.

Younger kid has one more year at our delightful elementary school before (potentially) joining older sibling at (rather less delightful) middle school. Older kid is happy bc they can coast at this school and do reasonably well. Younger may not have as easy a time academically (unclear what effect pandemic/zoom school had on these delays, but if it did not cause them, it certainly didn't help). I feel like the right private could be worth it for each of them, but the best schools come with unreasonable price tags.

In theory we could take the budget for a more reasonable private school and instead spend it on tutors, supplements, camps, programs etc. But I would probably be the one in charge of arranging and supervising that whole project, and I don't know where to begin. Private also offers the advantage of being a turnkey solution. My dismal failure as a "homeschool mom" during distance learning is not a strong predictor of success at Jerry rigging an academic infrastructure, like so much scaffolding, around the basic product our public school provides.

(We are not Catholic and it seems that most reasonably-priced private schools are, more's the pity.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In theory we could take the budget for a more reasonable private school and instead spend it on tutors, supplements, camps, programs etc. But I would probably be the one in charge of arranging and supervising that whole project, and I don't know where to begin.

This makes sense only by assuming that the opportunity cost of time for your child (and you, to some extent) is zero.