FA for 200k HHI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:um, why have you put nothing aside for your kids' educations? We just recently got to this HHI, and we've been saving since our first was little and we were living on @$100K

Keep living on the $100K and save the rest for college.

That’s nice, but we wanted a second child, so we needed something larger than a 2 br th. Our expenses grew over time along with our income.

We’re putting money into retirement and a 529 along with paying regular bills

DP. Then you should have something saved and should be able to afford much more than 10k/yr.
I would examine your expenses. At 210k, you should be able to contribute more than that, especially with 529 savings. Eating out, cars, subscriptions, travel -- all that can add up.

I’m not OP-I was the poster who said we started saving in 529s when we were living on $100k. Someone suggested living like we were still making $100k, which just didn’t work for our circumstances. We have been upping our contributions to certain accounts over time, but expenses have also gone up. This year with my eldest driving has been a bit painful - the extra insurance, extra gas, extra vehicle (sadly, we now have 2 car payments when we thought we’d only have one in the next few years)

I’m really just wondering why the OP hadn’t put anything away for education

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This I don’t get. Why should schools subsidize at all for rich people with large assets just cause they are in certain pots?

I am not rich income wise. But I have a 1.8 million dollar house and 2.5 million in my 401ks. I am over 59.5 so can tap the 402k with no penalty and mortgage free so can tap home equity. I could cry poverty based on income but is that right?

Let’s say I had same assets and lived in apartment and had no 401k and had 4.4 million in bank how is that different?

I've always thought this. I think FA is largely classist. I know dentists who make 600k for years and then, the year before the year before, lower their salary to 100k for 4 years. They have millions in retirement, millions in home equity, million in their business .. and they get FA. Net worth 8mm.

An über driver who makes 30k, has 100k in credit card debt, has 100k in student loans, rent is too damn high and no stocks. But she wins 2mm in lottery - she's full pay. Net worth, under 2mm

The dentists are lying or send their kids to public universities that don’t use the CSS profile. There is no way to hide home equity and business assets using the profile which is used by the majority of private universities and publics such as UVA.

[Anonymous]

If DC is planning to study either Engineering or Nursing, then apply for an Air Force ROTC scholarship. USAF spends most of its scholarship $$ on engineering students and nursing students. 4 years of college for free then 4 years of active duty service obligation.

[Anonymous]

OP- merit at small privates, nothing at large publics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:um, why have you put nothing aside for your kids' educations? We just recently got to this HHI, and we've been saving since our first was little and we were living on @$100K

Keep living on the $100K and save the rest for college.

That’s nice, but we wanted a second child, so we needed something larger than a 2 br th. Our expenses grew over time along with our income.

We’re putting money into retirement and a 529 along with paying regular bills

DP. Then you should have something saved and should be able to afford much more than 10k/yr.
I would examine your expenses. At 210k, you should be able to contribute more than that, especially with 529 savings. Eating out, cars, subscriptions, travel -- all that can add up.

I’m not OP-I was the poster who said we started saving in 529s when we were living on $100k. Someone suggested living like we were still making $100k, which just didn’t work for our circumstances. We have been upping our contributions to certain accounts over time, but expenses have also gone up. This year with my eldest driving has been a bit painful - the extra insurance, extra gas, extra vehicle (sadly, we now have 2 car payments when we thought we’d only have one in the next few years)

I’m really just wondering why the OP hadn’t put anything away for education

I see. Sorry about the confusion. Yeah, I don't get that either. We went from about 90k to 140k HHI over the last 15 years and managed to save close to 100k per kid. And, we get good financial aid. When eldest got into an Ivy, younger sib was like, "I don't need to go somewhere that selective, " and I was like "but, that's what we can afford " along with state school and lots of merit at oos public and a few mid tier.
If you are 200k like OP, top tier schools would probably give you some need aid. NPCs will be good indicators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This I don’t get. Why should schools subsidize at all for rich people with large assets just cause they are in certain pots?

I am not rich income wise. But I have a 1.8 million dollar house and 2.5 million in my 401ks. I am over 59.5 so can tap the 402k with no penalty and mortgage free so can tap home equity. I could cry poverty based on income but is that right?

Let’s say I had same assets and lived in apartment and had no 401k and had 4.4 million in bank how is that different?

I've always thought this. I think FA is largely classist. I know dentists who make 600k for years and then, the year before the year before, lower their salary to 100k for 4 years. They have millions in retirement, millions in home equity, million in their business .. and they get FA. Net worth 8mm.

An über driver who makes 30k, has 100k in credit card debt, has 100k in student loans, rent is too damn high and no stocks. But she wins 2mm in lottery - she's full pay. Net worth, under 2mm

No. This is a red herring. Merit aid is largely classist. It largely helps kids who have access to resources.

It would be very hard to hide a large income and, even if your dentist story is true, highly unusual. Many schools don't include primary residence home value, but people at that tier have secondary homes and savings.

The Uber driver's kid would get a full ride at these schools.

Need based aid is tiered to help people based on need. Duh.

[Anonymous]

Our income has been about 200k for the last four years and we received zero need based aid for our oldest child who is a senior this year.

Try some net price calculators. We did this and so we were not shocked when he received only merit offers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This I don’t get. Why should schools subsidize at all for rich people with large assets just cause they are in certain pots?

I am not rich income wise. But I have a 1.8 million dollar house and 2.5 million in my 401ks. I am over 59.5 so can tap the 402k with no penalty and mortgage free so can tap home equity. I could cry poverty based on income but is that right?

Let’s say I had same assets and lived in apartment and had no 401k and had 4.4 million in bank how is that different?

I've always thought this. I think FA is largely classist. I know dentists who make 600k for years and then, the year before the year before, lower their salary to 100k for 4 years. They have millions in retirement, millions in home equity, million in their business .. and they get FA. Net worth 8mm.

An über driver who makes 30k, has 100k in credit card debt, has 100k in student loans, rent is too damn high and no stocks. But she wins 2mm in lottery - she's full pay. Net worth, under 2mm

The dentists are lying or send their kids to public universities that don’t use the CSS profile. There is no way to hide home equity and business assets using the profile which is used by the majority of private universities and publics such as UVA.

+1. Kid is at an ivy and they looked at everything. Assets, retirement, you name it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This I don’t get. Why should schools subsidize at all for rich people with large assets just cause they are in certain pots?

I am not rich income wise. But I have a 1.8 million dollar house and 2.5 million in my 401ks. I am over 59.5 so can tap the 402k with no penalty and mortgage free so can tap home equity. I could cry poverty based on income but is that right?

Let’s say I had same assets and lived in apartment and had no 401k and had 4.4 million in bank how is that different?

I've always thought this. I think FA is largely classist. I know dentists who make 600k for years and then, the year before the year before, lower their salary to 100k for 4 years. They have millions in retirement, millions in home equity, million in their business .. and they get FA. Net worth 8mm.

An über driver who makes 30k, has 100k in credit card debt, has 100k in student loans, rent is too damn high and no stocks. But she wins 2mm in lottery - she's full pay. Net worth, under 2mm

The dentists are lying or send their kids to public universities that don’t use the CSS profile. There is no way to hide home equity and business assets using the profile which is used by the majority of private universities and publics such as UVA.

plenty of privates dont' factor in home equity or value of small business if under 100 employees. dentists and other professionals, often buy down leased equipment or buy out partnerships to sink money into business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:um, why have you put nothing aside for your kids' educations? We just recently got to this HHI, and we've been saving since our first was little and we were living on @$100K

Keep living on the $100K and save the rest for college.

That’s nice, but we wanted a second child, so we needed something larger than a 2 br th. Our expenses grew over time along with our income.

We’re putting money into retirement and a 529 along with paying regular bills

DP. Then you should have something saved and should be able to afford much more than 10k/yr.
I would examine your expenses. At 210k, you should be able to contribute more than that, especially with 529 savings. Eating out, cars, subscriptions, travel -- all that can add up.

I’m not OP-I was the poster who said we started saving in 529s when we were living on $100k. Someone suggested living like we were still making $100k, which just didn’t work for our circumstances. We have been upping our contributions to certain accounts over time, but expenses have also gone up. This year with my eldest driving has been a bit painful - the extra insurance, extra gas, extra vehicle (sadly, we now have 2 car payments when we thought we’d only have one in the next few years)

I’m really just wondering why the OP hadn’t put anything away for education

You did not need to buy your child a car, you choose to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:um, why have you put nothing aside for your kids' educations? We just recently got to this HHI, and we've been saving since our first was little and we were living on @$100K

Keep living on the $100K and save the rest for college.

That’s nice, but we wanted a second child, so we needed something larger than a 2 br th. Our expenses grew over time along with our income.

We’re putting money into retirement and a 529 along with paying regular bills

That was your mistake. We stayed in our 900 square foot house and the only increase was more kids activities. We kept our expenses the same. Life is about choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:um, why have you put nothing aside for your kids' educations? We just recently got to this HHI, and we've been saving since our first was little and we were living on @$100K

Keep living on the $100K and save the rest for college.

That’s nice, but we wanted a second child, so we needed something larger than a 2 br th. Our expenses grew over time along with our income.

We’re putting money into retirement and a 529 along with paying regular bills

DP. Then you should have something saved and should be able to afford much more than 10k/yr.
I would examine your expenses. At 210k, you should be able to contribute more than that, especially with 529 savings. Eating out, cars, subscriptions, travel -- all that can add up.

I’m not OP-I was the poster who said we started saving in 529s when we were living on $100k. Someone suggested living like we were still making $100k, which just didn’t work for our circumstances. We have been upping our contributions to certain accounts over time, but expenses have also gone up. This year with my eldest driving has been a bit painful - the extra insurance, extra gas, extra vehicle (sadly, we now have 2 car payments when we thought we’d only have one in the next few years)

I’m really just wondering why the OP hadn’t put anything away for education

You did not need to buy your child a car, you choose to.

We didn’t buy her a car, but due to a school transportation issue, she needed a vehicle. My husband bought a vehicle for himself, then one of the original 2 vehicles died unexpectedly. Crap happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:um, why have you put nothing aside for your kids' educations? We just recently got to this HHI, and we've been saving since our first was little and we were living on @$100K

Keep living on the $100K and save the rest for college.

That’s nice, but we wanted a second child, so we needed something larger than a 2 br th. Our expenses grew over time along with our income.

We’re putting money into retirement and a 529 along with paying regular bills

That was your mistake. We stayed in our 900 square foot house and the only increase was more kids activities. We kept our expenses the same. Life is about choices.

Did you kids share a room or does that 900 not include a basement space or something?

There wasn’t wiggle room in our townhouse. The space we had was all the possible space. It just wasn’t a good setup for 2 adults and 2 children.

Sure, it was a choice, and I’m not really complaining about having a house vs a small th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:um, why have you put nothing aside for your kids' educations? We just recently got to this HHI, and we've been saving since our first was little and we were living on @$100K

Keep living on the $100K and save the rest for college.

That’s nice, but we wanted a second child, so we needed something larger than a 2 br th. Our expenses grew over time along with our income.

We’re putting money into retirement and a 529 along with paying regular bills

DP. Then you should have something saved and should be able to afford much more than 10k/yr.
I would examine your expenses. At 210k, you should be able to contribute more than that, especially with 529 savings. Eating out, cars, subscriptions, travel -- all that can add up.

I’m not OP-I was the poster who said we started saving in 529s when we were living on $100k. Someone suggested living like we were still making $100k, which just didn’t work for our circumstances. We have been upping our contributions to certain accounts over time, but expenses have also gone up. This year with my eldest driving has been a bit painful - the extra insurance, extra gas, extra vehicle (sadly, we now have 2 car payments when we thought we’d only have one in the next few years)

I’m really just wondering why the OP hadn’t put anything away for education

You did not need to buy your child a car, you choose to.

We didn’t buy her a car, but due to a school transportation issue, she needed a vehicle. My husband bought a vehicle for himself, then one of the original 2 vehicles died unexpectedly. Crap happens.

You could share or drive her.

[Anonymous]

no.