FA - real life

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You would be a wealthy family in public school. However you want financial aid to put a total of 3 kids in private school instead. How does any of this make sense?

This, what do you consider a modest home. You made life choices, as in house cost and number of children and want a lifestyle above what you can afford. At 300K you should not get aid.

I agree. And my son went to a DC private school and I wanted our donations to go to a underprivledged student, not a family making 300K with 3 kids. That feels *entitled* to me.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I truly don’t get - or believe - the math behind the claims being made by posters that they can afford $30K-plus tuition per child without financial aid and they make $300K or less.

Show me the math and your budget. I am a single parent living in an old 1,500 sf home in Silver Spring who shops at Aldi and Costco and 75% of our clothes are consignments or hand me downs or very old, have a paid off older car, no restaurants or even fast food, our vacations are usually road trips to visit family, and kids in relatively inexpensive extracurriculars (no travel soccer or fencing or ice skating), and there’s no frigging way I could afford private for one child let alone two. And I make $250K a year.

Between the taxes, 401k, and the cost of my health insurance premiums, nearly half of my paycheck is gone before it hits my bank account. Then I’m contributing to 529s and putting away something for savings - barely. Still need some childcare for the summer time - usually county camps - and I save for that all year. There would not be any room for $3,000 per month after taxes for private school.

Would just love to see the actual breakdown of your budgets for those claiming they can swing private school for one or more kids and they aren’t pulling in at least $350k a year.

While I don't know about other people, I set myself up financially before having kids. Nothing was handed to me and I earned it through early savings and strategic planning. For most people, this would be things like real estate investment or financial investments that may or may not generate much taxable income on an annual basis. Annual income on taxes does not necessarily reflect wealth.

Agree with you. But we have multiple posters saying they make it work making under $300k a year as if they do it on salary / income alone. If that’s the case - and again, hard to make that math work if we are talking post tax tuition of $30k per kid - then would love to see how people are doing it.

If you have other income beyond income or a trust or a parent who who pays part of tuition than that’s not truly making it on salary alone.

Most of us assume responsible adults have built up some wealth by the time they have kids. Therefore if you have a $300k salary we would assume your investments on the side are pretty healthy too. Making it on salary alone is like living paycheck to paycheck.

They would be nowhere near what’s necessary to cover 13 years of $45k+ tuition or anything close to it. Especially with more than one kid.

Speak for yourself. Approximately 10% annual return on $500k would cover it with just interest for one kid.

You cannot sustainably withdraw 10% from a portfolio. The first down year and you are screwed. It also leaves no room for capital appreciation so 13 years on you would be drawing $50k while tuition is way higher.

That was not meant to be taken literally. Within the context of portfolio with annual variation in returns, and a high growth rate, you can see how tuition becomes negligible at some point.

It’s absurd to think that a typical 20-something or even young 30-something could save 500k before private school before they have kids. Most are paying off student loans, saving for retirement, and saving for a down payment.

The typical parent will not send their kids to private schools. That is what public schools are for.

You can keep making excuses, but most parents in private school found a way to make it work. Saving money while in your 20s and 30s, before major expenses kick in, is actually quite easy.

My HHI is 800k/yr and my kid isn’t in school yet. I won’t ever get aid and don’t care to. You were specifically saying that a family making 300k/yr should be able to have set aside 500k for private school before their kid starts school. That’s completely unrealistic.

Many families with those household incomes didn’t start there. They often graduate significantly in the negative, too. And then, as I said, they have other more important savings goals. It’s ridiculous to think they should 500k set aside outside of taking care of all their other financial needs.

I'm telling you that private school isn't for most people. I would only recommend it for people who can pay the tuition easily. I'm describing who these people are. They exist because I know many.

So you retract saying that people with a 300k HHI should be able to set aside 500k before kids outside of retirement and downpayment savings?

Financial aid is available so those without the ability to save 500k in a taxable brokerage by age 35 can also attend. Private schools that offer financial aid are not just for exceptionally high-income and wealthy families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You would be a wealthy family in public school. However you want financial aid to put a total of 3 kids in private school instead. How does any of this make sense?

This, what do you consider a modest home. You made life choices, as in house cost and number of children and want a lifestyle above what you can afford. At 300K you should not get aid.

I agree. And my son went to a DC private school and I wanted our donations to go to a underprivledged student, not a family making 300K with 3 kids. That feels *entitled* to me.

Then don’t donate. It’s too expensive for the schools to fund lots of high-need kids. They’d rather give five families 10k off than give one kid a full scholarship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You would be a wealthy family in public school. However you want financial aid to put a total of 3 kids in private school instead. How does any of this make sense?

This, what do you consider a modest home. You made life choices, as in house cost and number of children and want a lifestyle above what you can afford. At 300K you should not get aid.

I disagree. We qualify for aid and we get aid. We got aid at every school we applied to and were very forthright with our documents. We selected a modest house to help free up cash for private school. The thing we value the most for our children is their education.

I think there are a lot of sour people on here who are mad that either they didn’t have another child or that they did apply for aid themselves. I don’t know how else to explain all of the bitterness.

This response is absolutely ridiculous. I was never bitter about being a full pay family, my desire was for my son to go to his school.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I truly don’t get - or believe - the math behind the claims being made by posters that they can afford $30K-plus tuition per child without financial aid and they make $300K or less.

Show me the math and your budget. I am a single parent living in an old 1,500 sf home in Silver Spring who shops at Aldi and Costco and 75% of our clothes are consignments or hand me downs or very old, have a paid off older car, no restaurants or even fast food, our vacations are usually road trips to visit family, and kids in relatively inexpensive extracurriculars (no travel soccer or fencing or ice skating), and there’s no frigging way I could afford private for one child let alone two. And I make $250K a year.

Between the taxes, 401k, and the cost of my health insurance premiums, nearly half of my paycheck is gone before it hits my bank account. Then I’m contributing to 529s and putting away something for savings - barely. Still need some childcare for the summer time - usually county camps - and I save for that all year. There would not be any room for $3,000 per month after taxes for private school.

Would just love to see the actual breakdown of your budgets for those claiming they can swing private school for one or more kids and they aren’t pulling in at least $350k a year.

While I don't know about other people, I set myself up financially before having kids. Nothing was handed to me and I earned it through early savings and strategic planning. For most people, this would be things like real estate investment or financial investments that may or may not generate much taxable income on an annual basis. Annual income on taxes does not necessarily reflect wealth.

Agree with you. But we have multiple posters saying they make it work making under $300k a year as if they do it on salary / income alone. If that’s the case - and again, hard to make that math work if we are talking post tax tuition of $30k per kid - then would love to see how people are doing it.

If you have other income beyond income or a trust or a parent who who pays part of tuition than that’s not truly making it on salary alone.

Most of us assume responsible adults have built up some wealth by the time they have kids. Therefore if you have a $300k salary we would assume your investments on the side are pretty healthy too. Making it on salary alone is like living paycheck to paycheck.

They would be nowhere near what’s necessary to cover 13 years of $45k+ tuition or anything close to it. Especially with more than one kid.

Speak for yourself. Approximately 10% annual return on $500k would cover it with just interest for one kid.

You cannot sustainably withdraw 10% from a portfolio. The first down year and you are screwed. It also leaves no room for capital appreciation so 13 years on you would be drawing $50k while tuition is way higher.

That was not meant to be taken literally. Within the context of portfolio with annual variation in returns, and a high growth rate, you can see how tuition becomes negligible at some point.

It’s absurd to think that a typical 20-something or even young 30-something could save 500k before private school before they have kids. Most are paying off student loans, saving for retirement, and saving for a down payment.

The typical parent will not send their kids to private schools. That is what public schools are for.

You can keep making excuses, but most parents in private school found a way to make it work. Saving money while in your 20s and 30s, before major expenses kick in, is actually quite easy.

My HHI is 800k/yr and my kid isn’t in school yet. I won’t ever get aid and don’t care to. You were specifically saying that a family making 300k/yr should be able to have set aside 500k for private school before their kid starts school. That’s completely unrealistic.

Many families with those household incomes didn’t start there. They often graduate significantly in the negative, too. And then, as I said, they have other more important savings goals. It’s ridiculous to think they should 500k set aside outside of taking care of all their other financial needs.

I'm telling you that private school isn't for most people. I would only recommend it for people who can pay the tuition easily. I'm describing who these people are. They exist because I know many.

So you retract saying that people with a 300k HHI should be able to set aside 500k before kids outside of retirement and downpayment savings?

Financial aid is available so those without the ability to save 500k in a taxable brokerage by age 35 can also attend. Private schools that offer financial aid are not just for exceptionally high-income and wealthy families.

I think it is reasonable for parents to plan and be able to pay for it themselves. However most people are bad with money. Their poor financial planning is why someone with a $300k HHI is applying for financial aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We chose not to have a third kid because we couldn’t do that and send our current two to private school. We are full pay. I don’t donate because of families like you- why should you get the third kid that we chose responsibly not to have?

this.

[Anonymous]

Being able to pay tuition is like an IQ test for the parents. It really shouldn't be that hard to understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Being able to pay tuition is like an IQ test for the parents. It really shouldn't be that hard to understand.

Yeah, the ones who don’t apply when they could have gotten aid are fools.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I truly don’t get - or believe - the math behind the claims being made by posters that they can afford $30K-plus tuition per child without financial aid and they make $300K or less.

Show me the math and your budget. I am a single parent living in an old 1,500 sf home in Silver Spring who shops at Aldi and Costco and 75% of our clothes are consignments or hand me downs or very old, have a paid off older car, no restaurants or even fast food, our vacations are usually road trips to visit family, and kids in relatively inexpensive extracurriculars (no travel soccer or fencing or ice skating), and there’s no frigging way I could afford private for one child let alone two. And I make $250K a year.

Between the taxes, 401k, and the cost of my health insurance premiums, nearly half of my paycheck is gone before it hits my bank account. Then I’m contributing to 529s and putting away something for savings - barely. Still need some childcare for the summer time - usually county camps - and I save for that all year. There would not be any room for $3,000 per month after taxes for private school.

Would just love to see the actual breakdown of your budgets for those claiming they can swing private school for one or more kids and they aren’t pulling in at least $350k a year.

While I don't know about other people, I set myself up financially before having kids. Nothing was handed to me and I earned it through early savings and strategic planning. For most people, this would be things like real estate investment or financial investments that may or may not generate much taxable income on an annual basis. Annual income on taxes does not necessarily reflect wealth.

Agree with you. But we have multiple posters saying they make it work making under $300k a year as if they do it on salary / income alone. If that’s the case - and again, hard to make that math work if we are talking post tax tuition of $30k per kid - then would love to see how people are doing it.

If you have other income beyond income or a trust or a parent who who pays part of tuition than that’s not truly making it on salary alone.

Most of us assume responsible adults have built up some wealth by the time they have kids. Therefore if you have a $300k salary we would assume your investments on the side are pretty healthy too. Making it on salary alone is like living paycheck to paycheck.

They would be nowhere near what’s necessary to cover 13 years of $45k+ tuition or anything close to it. Especially with more than one kid.

Speak for yourself. Approximately 10% annual return on $500k would cover it with just interest for one kid.

You cannot sustainably withdraw 10% from a portfolio. The first down year and you are screwed. It also leaves no room for capital appreciation so 13 years on you would be drawing $50k while tuition is way higher.

That was not meant to be taken literally. Within the context of portfolio with annual variation in returns, and a high growth rate, you can see how tuition becomes negligible at some point.

No, it doesn’t. And you would still have a cash flow problem. You can’t just say, “our portfolio’s unrealized return was more than tuition this year, we’re good.”

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I truly don’t get - or believe - the math behind the claims being made by posters that they can afford $30K-plus tuition per child without financial aid and they make $300K or less.

Show me the math and your budget. I am a single parent living in an old 1,500 sf home in Silver Spring who shops at Aldi and Costco and 75% of our clothes are consignments or hand me downs or very old, have a paid off older car, no restaurants or even fast food, our vacations are usually road trips to visit family, and kids in relatively inexpensive extracurriculars (no travel soccer or fencing or ice skating), and there’s no frigging way I could afford private for one child let alone two. And I make $250K a year.

Between the taxes, 401k, and the cost of my health insurance premiums, nearly half of my paycheck is gone before it hits my bank account. Then I’m contributing to 529s and putting away something for savings - barely. Still need some childcare for the summer time - usually county camps - and I save for that all year. There would not be any room for $3,000 per month after taxes for private school.

Would just love to see the actual breakdown of your budgets for those claiming they can swing private school for one or more kids and they aren’t pulling in at least $350k a year.

While I don't know about other people, I set myself up financially before having kids. Nothing was handed to me and I earned it through early savings and strategic planning. For most people, this would be things like real estate investment or financial investments that may or may not generate much taxable income on an annual basis. Annual income on taxes does not necessarily reflect wealth.

Agree with you. But we have multiple posters saying they make it work making under $300k a year as if they do it on salary / income alone. If that’s the case - and again, hard to make that math work if we are talking post tax tuition of $30k per kid - then would love to see how people are doing it.

If you have other income beyond income or a trust or a parent who who pays part of tuition than that’s not truly making it on salary alone.

Most of us assume responsible adults have built up some wealth by the time they have kids. Therefore if you have a $300k salary we would assume your investments on the side are pretty healthy too. Making it on salary alone is like living paycheck to paycheck.

They would be nowhere near what’s necessary to cover 13 years of $45k+ tuition or anything close to it. Especially with more than one kid.

Speak for yourself. Approximately 10% annual return on $500k would cover it with just interest for one kid.

You cannot sustainably withdraw 10% from a portfolio. The first down year and you are screwed. It also leaves no room for capital appreciation so 13 years on you would be drawing $50k while tuition is way higher.

That was not meant to be taken literally. Within the context of portfolio with annual variation in returns, and a high growth rate, you can see how tuition becomes negligible at some point.

No, it doesn’t. And you would still have a cash flow problem. You can’t just say, “our portfolio’s unrealized return was more than tuition this year, we’re good.”

You don’t seem to understand finance. Regardless, it would be easy to set up investments that fund tuition. Too many options to discuss.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I truly don’t get - or believe - the math behind the claims being made by posters that they can afford $30K-plus tuition per child without financial aid and they make $300K or less.

Show me the math and your budget. I am a single parent living in an old 1,500 sf home in Silver Spring who shops at Aldi and Costco and 75% of our clothes are consignments or hand me downs or very old, have a paid off older car, no restaurants or even fast food, our vacations are usually road trips to visit family, and kids in relatively inexpensive extracurriculars (no travel soccer or fencing or ice skating), and there’s no frigging way I could afford private for one child let alone two. And I make $250K a year.

Between the taxes, 401k, and the cost of my health insurance premiums, nearly half of my paycheck is gone before it hits my bank account. Then I’m contributing to 529s and putting away something for savings - barely. Still need some childcare for the summer time - usually county camps - and I save for that all year. There would not be any room for $3,000 per month after taxes for private school.

Would just love to see the actual breakdown of your budgets for those claiming they can swing private school for one or more kids and they aren’t pulling in at least $350k a year.

While I don't know about other people, I set myself up financially before having kids. Nothing was handed to me and I earned it through early savings and strategic planning. For most people, this would be things like real estate investment or financial investments that may or may not generate much taxable income on an annual basis. Annual income on taxes does not necessarily reflect wealth.

Agree with you. But we have multiple posters saying they make it work making under $300k a year as if they do it on salary / income alone. If that’s the case - and again, hard to make that math work if we are talking post tax tuition of $30k per kid - then would love to see how people are doing it.

If you have other income beyond income or a trust or a parent who who pays part of tuition than that’s not truly making it on salary alone.

Most of us assume responsible adults have built up some wealth by the time they have kids. Therefore if you have a $300k salary we would assume your investments on the side are pretty healthy too. Making it on salary alone is like living paycheck to paycheck.

They would be nowhere near what’s necessary to cover 13 years of $45k+ tuition or anything close to it. Especially with more than one kid.

Speak for yourself. Approximately 10% annual return on $500k would cover it with just interest for one kid.

You cannot sustainably withdraw 10% from a portfolio. The first down year and you are screwed. It also leaves no room for capital appreciation so 13 years on you would be drawing $50k while tuition is way higher.

That was not meant to be taken literally. Within the context of portfolio with annual variation in returns, and a high growth rate, you can see how tuition becomes negligible at some point.

It’s absurd to think that a typical 20-something or even young 30-something could save 500k before private school before they have kids. Most are paying off student loans, saving for retirement, and saving for a down payment.

The typical parent will not send their kids to private schools. That is what public schools are for.

You can keep making excuses, but most parents in private school found a way to make it work. Saving money while in your 20s and 30s, before major expenses kick in, is actually quite easy.

My HHI is 800k/yr and my kid isn’t in school yet. I won’t ever get aid and don’t care to. You were specifically saying that a family making 300k/yr should be able to have set aside 500k for private school before their kid starts school. That’s completely unrealistic.

Many families with those household incomes didn’t start there. They often graduate significantly in the negative, too. And then, as I said, they have other more important savings goals. It’s ridiculous to think they should 500k set aside outside of taking care of all their other financial needs.

I'm telling you that private school isn't for most people. I would only recommend it for people who can pay the tuition easily. I'm describing who these people are. They exist because I know many.

So you retract saying that people with a 300k HHI should be able to set aside 500k before kids outside of retirement and downpayment savings?

Financial aid is available so those without the ability to save 500k in a taxable brokerage by age 35 can also attend. Private schools that offer financial aid are not just for exceptionally high-income and wealthy families.

I think it is reasonable for parents to plan and be able to pay for it themselves. However most people are bad with money. Their poor financial planning is why someone with a $300k HHI is applying for financial aid.

No. That’s not correct. There are many reasons why a prudent family making 300k a year needs financial aid. These reasons include graduate school debt, recent income increase (such that prior income was much lower), high medical expenses due to serious illnesses and disabilities, etc.

What would make you really bad with money would be enrolling at a school at full pay that you can’t afford when financial aid is available to make it affordable.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I truly don’t get - or believe - the math behind the claims being made by posters that they can afford $30K-plus tuition per child without financial aid and they make $300K or less.

Show me the math and your budget. I am a single parent living in an old 1,500 sf home in Silver Spring who shops at Aldi and Costco and 75% of our clothes are consignments or hand me downs or very old, have a paid off older car, no restaurants or even fast food, our vacations are usually road trips to visit family, and kids in relatively inexpensive extracurriculars (no travel soccer or fencing or ice skating), and there’s no frigging way I could afford private for one child let alone two. And I make $250K a year.

Between the taxes, 401k, and the cost of my health insurance premiums, nearly half of my paycheck is gone before it hits my bank account. Then I’m contributing to 529s and putting away something for savings - barely. Still need some childcare for the summer time - usually county camps - and I save for that all year. There would not be any room for $3,000 per month after taxes for private school.

Would just love to see the actual breakdown of your budgets for those claiming they can swing private school for one or more kids and they aren’t pulling in at least $350k a year.

While I don't know about other people, I set myself up financially before having kids. Nothing was handed to me and I earned it through early savings and strategic planning. For most people, this would be things like real estate investment or financial investments that may or may not generate much taxable income on an annual basis. Annual income on taxes does not necessarily reflect wealth.

Agree with you. But we have multiple posters saying they make it work making under $300k a year as if they do it on salary / income alone. If that’s the case - and again, hard to make that math work if we are talking post tax tuition of $30k per kid - then would love to see how people are doing it.

If you have other income beyond income or a trust or a parent who who pays part of tuition than that’s not truly making it on salary alone.

Most of us assume responsible adults have built up some wealth by the time they have kids. Therefore if you have a $300k salary we would assume your investments on the side are pretty healthy too. Making it on salary alone is like living paycheck to paycheck.

They would be nowhere near what’s necessary to cover 13 years of $45k+ tuition or anything close to it. Especially with more than one kid.

Speak for yourself. Approximately 10% annual return on $500k would cover it with just interest for one kid.

You cannot sustainably withdraw 10% from a portfolio. The first down year and you are screwed. It also leaves no room for capital appreciation so 13 years on you would be drawing $50k while tuition is way higher.

That was not meant to be taken literally. Within the context of portfolio with annual variation in returns, and a high growth rate, you can see how tuition becomes negligible at some point.

No, it doesn’t. And you would still have a cash flow problem. You can’t just say, “our portfolio’s unrealized return was more than tuition this year, we’re good.”

You don’t seem to understand finance. Regardless, it would be easy to set up investments that fund tuition. Too many options to discuss.

No, sorry, you can’t do this off $500k. You are deeply ignorant of this topic, that’s clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I truly don’t get - or believe - the math behind the claims being made by posters that they can afford $30K-plus tuition per child without financial aid and they make $300K or less.

Show me the math and your budget. I am a single parent living in an old 1,500 sf home in Silver Spring who shops at Aldi and Costco and 75% of our clothes are consignments or hand me downs or very old, have a paid off older car, no restaurants or even fast food, our vacations are usually road trips to visit family, and kids in relatively inexpensive extracurriculars (no travel soccer or fencing or ice skating), and there’s no frigging way I could afford private for one child let alone two. And I make $250K a year.

Between the taxes, 401k, and the cost of my health insurance premiums, nearly half of my paycheck is gone before it hits my bank account. Then I’m contributing to 529s and putting away something for savings - barely. Still need some childcare for the summer time - usually county camps - and I save for that all year. There would not be any room for $3,000 per month after taxes for private school.

Would just love to see the actual breakdown of your budgets for those claiming they can swing private school for one or more kids and they aren’t pulling in at least $350k a year.

While I don't know about other people, I set myself up financially before having kids. Nothing was handed to me and I earned it through early savings and strategic planning. For most people, this would be things like real estate investment or financial investments that may or may not generate much taxable income on an annual basis. Annual income on taxes does not necessarily reflect wealth.

Agree with you. But we have multiple posters saying they make it work making under $300k a year as if they do it on salary / income alone. If that’s the case - and again, hard to make that math work if we are talking post tax tuition of $30k per kid - then would love to see how people are doing it.

If you have other income beyond income or a trust or a parent who who pays part of tuition than that’s not truly making it on salary alone.

Most of us assume responsible adults have built up some wealth by the time they have kids. Therefore if you have a $300k salary we would assume your investments on the side are pretty healthy too. Making it on salary alone is like living paycheck to paycheck.

They would be nowhere near what’s necessary to cover 13 years of $45k+ tuition or anything close to it. Especially with more than one kid.

Speak for yourself. Approximately 10% annual return on $500k would cover it with just interest for one kid.

You cannot sustainably withdraw 10% from a portfolio. The first down year and you are screwed. It also leaves no room for capital appreciation so 13 years on you would be drawing $50k while tuition is way higher.

That was not meant to be taken literally. Within the context of portfolio with annual variation in returns, and a high growth rate, you can see how tuition becomes negligible at some point.

No, it doesn’t. And you would still have a cash flow problem. You can’t just say, “our portfolio’s unrealized return was more than tuition this year, we’re good.”

You don’t seem to understand finance. Regardless, it would be easy to set up investments that fund tuition. Too many options to discuss.

No, sorry, you can’t do this off $500k. You are deeply ignorant of this topic, that’s clear.

I'm too intelligent to continue this conversation. Keep bickering over pocket change if you wish.

[Anonymous]

Also, 3 kids worth of tuition is a lot of money at most schools. We early about $280k gross, which is about $185k net of taxes and health insurance. 3 kids at a school that costs in the range of Sidwell would leave us with $25k per year for literally everything else in life. It's not a question of budgeting better, that's just not possible.

FWIW we actually only have one kid in private (our other kid is in a non-public school for disabled children, but we don't pay tuition). We are full pay because one tuition is affordable on our combined salaries, but I do not at all begrudge financial aid going to families with similar incomes who have more kids. Before our second kid was diagnosed with a significant disability, we had assumed we'd need financial aid to send them both to private schools.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I truly don’t get - or believe - the math behind the claims being made by posters that they can afford $30K-plus tuition per child without financial aid and they make $300K or less.

Show me the math and your budget. I am a single parent living in an old 1,500 sf home in Silver Spring who shops at Aldi and Costco and 75% of our clothes are consignments or hand me downs or very old, have a paid off older car, no restaurants or even fast food, our vacations are usually road trips to visit family, and kids in relatively inexpensive extracurriculars (no travel soccer or fencing or ice skating), and there’s no frigging way I could afford private for one child let alone two. And I make $250K a year.

Between the taxes, 401k, and the cost of my health insurance premiums, nearly half of my paycheck is gone before it hits my bank account. Then I’m contributing to 529s and putting away something for savings - barely. Still need some childcare for the summer time - usually county camps - and I save for that all year. There would not be any room for $3,000 per month after taxes for private school.

Would just love to see the actual breakdown of your budgets for those claiming they can swing private school for one or more kids and they aren’t pulling in at least $350k a year.

While I don't know about other people, I set myself up financially before having kids. Nothing was handed to me and I earned it through early savings and strategic planning. For most people, this would be things like real estate investment or financial investments that may or may not generate much taxable income on an annual basis. Annual income on taxes does not necessarily reflect wealth.

Agree with you. But we have multiple posters saying they make it work making under $300k a year as if they do it on salary / income alone. If that’s the case - and again, hard to make that math work if we are talking post tax tuition of $30k per kid - then would love to see how people are doing it.

If you have other income beyond income or a trust or a parent who who pays part of tuition than that’s not truly making it on salary alone.

Most of us assume responsible adults have built up some wealth by the time they have kids. Therefore if you have a $300k salary we would assume your investments on the side are pretty healthy too. Making it on salary alone is like living paycheck to paycheck.

They would be nowhere near what’s necessary to cover 13 years of $45k+ tuition or anything close to it. Especially with more than one kid.

Speak for yourself. Approximately 10% annual return on $500k would cover it with just interest for one kid.

You cannot sustainably withdraw 10% from a portfolio. The first down year and you are screwed. It also leaves no room for capital appreciation so 13 years on you would be drawing $50k while tuition is way higher.

That was not meant to be taken literally. Within the context of portfolio with annual variation in returns, and a high growth rate, you can see how tuition becomes negligible at some point.

It’s absurd to think that a typical 20-something or even young 30-something could save 500k before private school before they have kids. Most are paying off student loans, saving for retirement, and saving for a down payment.

The typical parent will not send their kids to private schools. That is what public schools are for.

You can keep making excuses, but most parents in private school found a way to make it work. Saving money while in your 20s and 30s, before major expenses kick in, is actually quite easy.

My HHI is 800k/yr and my kid isn’t in school yet. I won’t ever get aid and don’t care to. You were specifically saying that a family making 300k/yr should be able to have set aside 500k for private school before their kid starts school. That’s completely unrealistic.

Many families with those household incomes didn’t start there. They often graduate significantly in the negative, too. And then, as I said, they have other more important savings goals. It’s ridiculous to think they should 500k set aside outside of taking care of all their other financial needs.

I'm telling you that private school isn't for most people. I would only recommend it for people who can pay the tuition easily. I'm describing who these people are. They exist because I know many.

So you retract saying that people with a 300k HHI should be able to set aside 500k before kids outside of retirement and downpayment savings?

Financial aid is available so those without the ability to save 500k in a taxable brokerage by age 35 can also attend. Private schools that offer financial aid are not just for exceptionally high-income and wealthy families.

I think it is reasonable for parents to plan and be able to pay for it themselves. However most people are bad with money. Their poor financial planning is why someone with a $300k HHI is applying for financial aid.

No. That’s not correct. There are many reasons why a prudent family making 300k a year needs financial aid. These reasons include graduate school debt, recent income increase (such that prior income was much lower), high medical expenses due to serious illnesses and disabilities, etc.

What would make you really bad with money would be enrolling at a school at full pay that you can’t afford when financial aid is available to make it affordable.

School debt should not count as that was a choice. Recent income increase should go all for tuition.