What is your income to allow one parent to stay at home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We started out living on one income and banking the rest plus 401k for the salary we were not saving. Our spending did not have to be cut. We did this from the start with no intention of having one of us stay at home. When I started staying home our income was just over $100k and we had a large emergency fund. It is now twice that most years (baseline is around $170k without bonus).

If you are thinking about one of you staying at home, live off the other salary for at least 6 months to see if you can do it. Then you will know and you will have a nice nest egg for emergencies.

and we live in McLean but our mortgage is small and we live in a DCUM "shitshack", although we have made improvements over the years.

[Anonymous]

Wow. Just to cover a basic mortgage and preschool and after care and daily expenses of life I've found you need 200k in Bethesda. I'd want at least 250-300k to have a spouce stay home to make sure we had a safety net.

[Anonymous]

Our HHI has been $200-600k with a SAHM. Arlington. House <$1M. Public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. Just to cover a basic mortgage and preschool and after care and daily expenses of life I've found you need 200k in Bethesda. I'd want at least 250-300k to have a spouce stay home to make sure we had a safety net.

Why would you need after care with a SAHM?

[Anonymous]

I've been a SAHM for 10 years. After getting married and before having kids, we saved most of my (small) salary for appx. 5 years. DH made around 100k and now makes 175k. We live in Springfield in a not-great school district, but love our house, DH's commute, and proximity to shopping ??Costco and Wegmans!
It can be done on 1 salary. Vacations are renting a beach house with extended family rather than trips to Europe, no more shopping as entertainment, but we save for college and retirement without feeling squeezed.
I wish the school pyramid was better, but we supplement with classes and activities so it's tolerable for now at elementary age. Not sure how we'll deal with middle or high school but we'all cross that bridge when we get there. Hopefully, the Lee pyramid will improve by then.

[Anonymous]

I make 280k, but my DH recently lost his 175k job. We've been living comfortably on my income while he looks for the prefect fit.

Haven't cut out much of anything. We already live below our means, we just samenmuch less cash and obviously once 2017 rolls in we wont have his 401k contributions until he lands a new job. If we were on 1 income by choice, rhe biggest loss to me would be the loss of half our 401k. As it is, we contribute 50k/yr to 401k between the 2 of us, the size of our accounts has really piled up quickly and we definitely see retirement happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone living in Mclean comfortable sharing their number?

550k. Financed 450k for our mortgage. I didn't quit working until we had the full amounts in our Virginia 529 prepay for each kid. So college, for the most part is out ofbthe way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I stayed home at $85k. It is now $120k.

Did I write this while otherwise engaged?
My numbers exactly.

Same here, with the benefit that we'd bought our Arlington house a while ago and our mortgage was only $1K. I'm now back at work making $116K while DH is now up to $140K.

[Anonymous]

I stayed home when DH was earning about 500k. Now he makes $1m.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. Just to cover a basic mortgage and preschool and after care and daily expenses of life I've found you need 200k in Bethesda. I'd want at least 250-300k to have a spouce stay home to make sure we had a safety net.

It's all based on your expectations. The size of a "basic" mortgage can vary, as can daily expenses. And as others have pointed out, you don't need aftercare with a SAHP. We did a co-op preschool, which was half day and less expensive than other options.

Someone else pointed out that having a parent at home alters the dynamic between the spouses, and that is certainly true. But on the other hand, I think for us it leads to having a less harried life than some of our friends and family members have. That can be worth a lot in and of itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I stayed home at $85k. It is now $120k.

Did I write this while otherwise engaged?
My numbers exactly.

Same here, with the benefit that we'd bought our Arlington house a while ago and our mortgage was only $1K. I'm now back at work making $116K while DH is now up to $140K.

I would give anything to have a $1k mortgage. Is this even remotely feasible these days?

[Anonymous]

Live in Mclean. HHI $120 k. Mortgage $2600. House under $1 million. Bought awhile ago with a large down payment from starter townhouse. 2 reliable cars over 8 years old that we plan to keep for several more years. Rarely if ever eat out, but we put that money into kids sports (and we're fine with that). We take small vacations, usually driving distance. Hair salon once or twice a year. No manicures, but a couple of pedicures a year during summer. Don't spend a lot on clothes - no name brands except the kid - UA. Very happy and don't feel deprived at all. Love not having to worry about last minute child care when they get sick or school closes for weather.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I stayed home at $85k. It is now $120k.

Did I write this while otherwise engaged?
My numbers exactly.

Same here, with the benefit that we'd bought our Arlington house a while ago and our mortgage was only $1K. I'm now back at work making $116K while DH is now up to $140K.

I would give anything to have a $1k mortgage. Is this even remotely feasible these days?

Does that include real estate taxes and insurance? I feel like just RET and INS would cost about $1k per month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been a SAHM for 10 years. After getting married and before having kids, we saved most of my (small) salary for appx. 5 years. DH made around 100k and now makes 175k. We live in Springfield in a not-great school district, but love our house, DH's commute, and proximity to shopping ??Costco and Wegmans!
It can be done on 1 salary. Vacations are renting a beach house with extended family rather than trips to Europe, no more shopping as entertainment, but we save for college and retirement without feeling squeezed.
I wish the school pyramid was better, but we supplement with classes and activities so it's tolerable for now at elementary age. Not sure how we'll deal with middle or high school but we'all cross that bridge when we get there. Hopefully, the Lee pyramid will improve by then.

I could have written this...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I stayed home when DH was earning about 500k. Now he makes $1m.

I believe OP was looking for folks more on the bubble of staying home.

Is your DH an attorney who made partner? would you have stayed home if he was GS15 attorney at DOL?