We moved our kid to private for MS. We’ll apply out for DC magnets when the time comes, if still local. |
We found one for 25 and managed it, but just barely. |
We have a HHI of 450-460… some of it is tax free so hard to calculate the exact amount (330 take home). We have 3 kids in private 2 at 42-50k schools and one at a 34k school, but will join siblings to more expensive school next year.
We are very tight, but we are still able to pay for extra curricular activities, save for retirement and vacations (not expensive ones). We also still pay for a nanny for my youngest for one more year (we will stop once he is in K). We pay for what is important to us. Some of that income is reimbursement for private school (about 60k after taxes) so we have an incentive. Our income should grow a bit 20% or so in the next couple of years, but thatMs about it. We watch what we spend a lot and don’t save much (other than retirement). Not sure we could manage it with anything less. Our mortgage is 3.5k/month |
Your money isn't tight, you just live a very comfortable lifestyle. |
This board should be renamed "Moanings of the insufferables" |
Yep. We have $530K left on our mortgage and our HHI is $1.1M. We have one kid. Even with two, we’d be fine in large part because we chose to not become house poor and pushed for lucrative careers. |
I have similar income to you OP with a smaller mortgage and we can swing it for our only child, but definitely feel the pinch. We don’t feel we can afford the 50k independents, and we definitely wouldn’t be able to pay for two. |
We make around $450k and manage to pay 2 tuitions with some family help, but when I look around my kids classes what’s obvious is that many families are just very wealthy. Large homes in Potomac or McLean plus summer homes, fancy vacations, very expensive cars, pricey country clubs. If you want to feel kind of poor with an income of $450k in dc just enroll your kids in a top private school. |
Yes. The reality, OP, is some of us have a lot of money. Not all of us, but some do. We are wealthy, but not as wealthy as others at DD’s school. |
I mean, it is crazy that we can make so much and yet still have to consider the trade offs of private vs public education. My parents cannot fathom the environment here: my parents sent 3 to private (catholic) schools /at the same time/ on a HHI around 110 (no FA) in a major Midwest city not that long ago. The real play these days seems to be working remote and moving to an area where costs aren’t as… elevated. |
Yeah, we’d love that. Where could you tolerate that also has good, free schools? |
OP, we have the same professions but with only one kid. Even with FA it's tight. We often talk about how we can manage with one, but if we had two kids, private wouldn't be an option. It's been worth it, but I won't say it's been easy. Good luck. |
How do people afford private jets? It’s called wealth … |
Part of this is timing. I’m also not house poor, but I recognize a lot of it is luck in terms of timing. If I had to move to an urban area now with 2 kids, I’d likely be house poor. |
We have low debt and a decent amount of retirement savings. Tuition is going to prevent us from ensuring the kids are 100% taken care of financially but we balance that against their future capacity to take care of themselves.
In other words, it's a sacrifice that we make which might not be the best financial decision but does, in our opinion, invest in the decision making capacity of our kids. The hope is that while there will be less they will be better prepared to make good decisions with what they'll have. That being said, prices are close to the maximum of what we can handle. |