Parents of three kids: what is your combined household income?

[Anonymous]

300k in silver spring. We love the nhood but small house and mortgage- lucky timing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Around one million. It still isn’t easy. Money doesn’t make good parents. It is hard work to be a good parent, be involved, nurture your children and provide them all with the individual type of support and parenting they need. No amount of out sourcing can take the place of parenting. Three kids is hard work if you want them well-rounded.

We have a $2-3m HHI. I’m a SAHM of 3 kids and have almost unlimited resources and it is still hard raising three kids. They are a lot of work!

[Anonymous]

$250k, soon to be closer to $300k due to an increase (new job). West Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Around one million. It still isn’t easy. Money doesn’t make good parents. It is hard work to be a good parent, be involved, nurture your children and provide them all with the individual type of support and parenting they need. No amount of out sourcing can take the place of parenting. Three kids is hard work if you want them well-rounded.

We have a $2-3m HHI. I’m a SAHM of 3 kids and have almost unlimited resources and it is still hard raising three kids. They are a lot of work!

Sure it is Jan

[Anonymous]

$500k in Fairfax. But the real way it works is a large age gap between #2 and #3. Only one in daycare again and an infant or toddler is much more manageable with older kids in elementary school

[Anonymous]

$125k. Kids are 2,2 and 5. (Surprise twins!).

DH and I both work. He’s a social worker and I work at a school. We live in south Arlington. It’s tough. We live in a 1 bed/ den townhome in an area most people here would never dream of. We’re tired and have very little extra money, but making it. The oldest will be in K next year which will help.

[Anonymous]

$680K + $5 million trust. Managing director track (MD expected next 2 years) for one spouse and in succession plan for head of department at mid cap company where manager (head of dept) wants to retire in a few years for another spouse. Hoping $800K in 2 years and around $1 million in 4-5 years. Kids are 7 months, 2, and almost 5. Expecting a total grind over the next 4-5 years but I know we can do it. I wish our family was close by or retired but they all work. Hoping they’ll retire in a few years and be in good enough health to occasionally help.

[Anonymous]

$115k in Germantown

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With these HHI incomes none of you has any reason to complain about anything. You are in the top one percent. I don't know the exact percentage, but I would guess that the majority of people in this area have HHI, with both parents employed, of under $100,000.

Count your blessings and stop your whining and complaining.

The only person complaining in this thread is you.

I am not complaining but stating a simple fact. Also, even, anonymously, it is gauche to talk about how much money you make.

Who died and made you an arbiter of taste? Crawl back to where your ilk discusses the non gauche stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$500k in Fairfax. But the real way it works is a large age gap between #2 and #3. Only one in daycare again and an infant or toddler is much more manageable with older kids in elementary school

+1 for the age gap between #2 and 3 making things more manageable.

Also, I’ll add our stats: 300k in Arlington. Lucked out on buying pre-pandemic and re-fi’d for a sub 3% mortgage. There is also family money so that college is covered for all 3, which is a huge weight lifted and honestly helped us feel more comfortable going for the third.

Jobs are very secure/flexible and I anticipate will go up somewhat more although I doubt we’ll ever go above 350-400k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks all! OP here. We have two under three and are at about 400k. We do not have family near by, which is a huge bummer. The expenses for two are already outrageous so trying to weigh practical considerations with the desire to have three.

We don’t make that much money (not by half) although we have assets, grandparents helping with college, no debt. We feel quite comfortable in our lifestyle. That said, what strikes me about your comment is the no family nearby piece. I think this is less about money than about support. I had to convince my husband to have a third and one of his sticking points was that we needed to be near family for him to be able to imagine it. So we figured it out and moved before we had our third (moved to the DC area).

Two under three is also very hard. We had our first two in less than three years and have an age gap of 3 years between #2 and #3. The longer age gap also helped a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks all! OP here. We have two under three and are at about 400k. We do not have family near by, which is a huge bummer. The expenses for two are already outrageous so trying to weigh practical considerations with the desire to have three.

We don’t make that much money (not by half) although we have assets, grandparents helping with college, no debt. We feel quite comfortable in our lifestyle. That said, what strikes me about your comment is the no family nearby piece. I think this is less about money than about support. I had to convince my husband to have a third and one of his sticking points was that we needed to be near family for him to be able to imagine it. So we figured it out and moved before we had our third (moved to the DC area).

Two under three is also very hard. We had our first two in less than three years and have an age gap of 3 years between #2 and #3. The longer age gap also helped a lot.

Yes to this comment. I’m a PP and family is 6 hour drive away and everyone works. We have friends who don’t even seem to register they have family help (will be like “no one ever helps!”) and then will end up having grandparents swing by for a few hours on a weeknight or take the baby for a few hours while one parent works out and another parent bring the older kids to a birthday. It’s so nice to have another adult around - even if they’re not solely providing care. Sometimes it’s just the boost you need.

[Anonymous]

$140k in DC. Second pregnancy was twins, surprise!
Zero financial help from parents. I SAHM so we don’t have to pay for daycare. We thankfully have a manageable mortgage payment but all extras (vacations, restaurants, etc) are off the table until I can go back to work again.

[Anonymous]

We make $300k with two tween/teens but decided not to have a third (who I really wanted) 8 years ago when our HHI was closer to $175k. Finances were the biggest consideration.

I still have mixed feelings about it. We wanted to be able to fully fund college, take kids on trips, sign up for activities, etc. It’s really nice that we are able to do so and don’t need to count every penny. On the other hand, in the long run, I derive so much more value from family than ski trips and the like! Most of our income growth has come from me leaning back into work though and I’m not sure I could or would have wanted to do that with a third.

[Anonymous]

OP here - totally agree with the comments on age gap, but unfortunately our age is a factor as well. Realistically we’re talking about three kids four and under. That’s a whole other post, but for now this one’s on finances!