How much $ do you make if you send more than 1 kid to private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're at $450K and it's tight. For those of you asking where the money goes, it goes to (1) caring for an aging parent who didn't save enough herself; (2) our nanny; and (3) college savings. We were putting aside $1000/month per child for college. We stopped last year. We are financially drained and every penny counts, and I'd rather spend the money now on private school and then make up for college later. I know that goes against what financial experts say, but I don't care. We take two vacations a year, one we pay for, and one is paid for by family, and I am not willing to give up the one that we take, as it is my true sanity.

On paper, it seems like we should be able to afford this, but then something happens (major car repair, new A/C for house, mom gets sick), and we're back to square one.

I keep saying "next year will be better," but as an only child of a sick parent, I don't think that's the case, and I'm not willing to pull my kids (yet).

I am sorry to hear that. I can't image how stresful it is for you to take care of a sick parent (emotionally and financially). We are not helping our parents (not yet), but I keep thinking it will happen one day and we have to be ready for that. That's why I feel more comfortable if I save some amount of money (not sure how much - maybe $500K) before even start thinking about private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting thread. We are now trying to decide between a private school (for K) which we think would be a great fit for our son and MCPS which is considered very good. Our HHI is 400K pre-tax. We have two kids. on paper we should be able to afford two private school tuition. I did the math and it looks like we need to give up the following: two international trips per year and no or little monthly savings. We have familly overseas, so we cannot give up trips. It is VERY important for us that the kids spend time with family. As for savings, if we do not save, how are we going to pay for the kids college education? Because of these factors, we are leaning towards MCPS, at least until 3-4th grade or middle school.

Interesting! We are exactly on the same boat! We were thinking just the opposite. Send them to a good private in early years and then they can join MCPS during the middle school. Any experiences with switching to public during middle school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

12:14- are saying that you are able to pay $70K after taxes for two kids with $150-180K HHI? If so, you are my hero (no sarcasm).

I do not know the complete breakdown of our income, but $400K HHI is basically a little over $200K after taxes, health insurance premium, max 401, etc.). With that:
• we travel overseas twice a year with two kids (each time about $7-10K for tickets, gifts, other expenses, etc.) for about $15-$20K per year

• one nice family Caribbean vacation -$5K

• child care expenses for two kids -$40K per year – which I realize will go down a little since one DC will in a school already. but we need to keep the nanny for my younger DC or afterschool for the older DC.

• mortgage -$35K per year

• charity -$5K

• Monthly expenses (grocery, cable, internet, phone, car insurances, etc.) – no idea how much

• Miscellaneous (clothes, shoes, kids activities, health expenses, etc.) – no idea how much

• We save the rest – usually about $50 K per year, sometimes more.

So how am I going to send two kids to private and save money for college or retirement (in addition to 401K)?

No, I am saying that if our income doubled we would be able to afford two tuitions and another great vacation + Doubling our income still doesn't reach the post to which I was refering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're at $450K and it's tight. For those of you asking where the money goes, it goes to (1) caring for an aging parent who didn't save enough herself; (2) our nanny; and (3) college savings. We were putting aside $1000/month per child for college. We stopped last year. We are financially drained and every penny counts, and I'd rather spend the money now on private school and then make up for college later. I know that goes against what financial experts say, but I don't care. We take two vacations a year, one we pay for, and one is paid for by family, and I am not willing to give up the one that we take, as it is my true sanity.

On paper, it seems like we should be able to afford this, but then something happens (major car repair, new A/C for house, mom gets sick), and we're back to square one.

I keep saying "next year will be better," but as an only child of a sick parent, I don't think that's the case, and I'm not willing to pull my kids (yet).

Tough spot no doubt. However, do you recognize that you are repeating the pattern set by your "aging parent who didn't save enough herself." The best thing you can do for your children is to create your own financial security. By going "against what financial experts say," you are repeating the pattern. I'm sure you don't want to wake up one day (when your earning years are over) and realize that you have not planned for your financial future. As someone who has experienced the stress of caring for your aging parent financially, why would you want to risk imposing that pressure on your children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

12:14- are saying that you are able to pay $70K after taxes for two kids with $150-180K HHI? If so, you are my hero (no sarcasm).

I do not know the complete breakdown of our income, but $400K HHI is basically a little over $200K after taxes, health insurance premium, max 401, etc.). With that:
• we travel overseas twice a year with two kids (each time about $7-10K for tickets, gifts, other expenses, etc.) for about $15-$20K per year

• one nice family Caribbean vacation -$5K

• child care expenses for two kids -$40K per year – which I realize will go down a little since one DC will in a school already. but we need to keep the nanny for my younger DC or afterschool for the older DC.

• mortgage -$35K per year

• charity -$5K

• Monthly expenses (grocery, cable, internet, phone, car insurances, etc.) – no idea how much

• Miscellaneous (clothes, shoes, kids activities, health expenses, etc.) – no idea how much

• We save the rest – usually about $50 K per year, sometimes more.

So how am I going to send two kids to private and save money for college or retirement (in addition to 401K)?

We use Quicken to track our expenses. It is hard to know where to cut if you don't know what your expenses are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're at $450K and it's tight. For those of you asking where the money goes, it goes to (1) caring for an aging parent who didn't save enough herself; (2) our nanny; and (3) college savings. We were putting aside $1000/month per child for college. We stopped last year. We are financially drained and every penny counts, and I'd rather spend the money now on private school and then make up for college later. I know that goes against what financial experts say, but I don't care. We take two vacations a year, one we pay for, and one is paid for by family, and I am not willing to give up the one that we take, as it is my true sanity.

On paper, it seems like we should be able to afford this, but then something happens (major car repair, new A/C for house, mom gets sick), and we're back to square one.

I keep saying "next year will be better," but as an only child of a sick parent, I don't think that's the case, and I'm not willing to pull my kids (yet).

Tough spot no doubt. However, do you recognize that you are repeating the pattern set by your "aging parent who didn't save enough herself." The best thing you can do for your children is to create your own financial security. By going "against what financial experts say," you are repeating the pattern. I'm sure you don't want to wake up one day (when your earning years are over) and realize that you have not planned for your financial future. As someone who has experienced the stress of caring for your aging parent financially, why would you want to risk imposing that pressure on your children?

Oh, trust me, we have put aside for ourselves. What we stopped doing was putting aside $1000/month per child for their college savings. With what we have saved to date, plus figuring out that we won't have a nanny when our kids are in college, we'll be able to pay for college -- we just won't have it all saved, it will have to come out of our pockets. And they always can take out loans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

12:14- are saying that you are able to pay $70K after taxes for two kids with $150-180K HHI? If so, you are my hero (no sarcasm).

I do not know the complete breakdown of our income, but $400K HHI is basically a little over $200K after taxes, health insurance premium, max 401, etc.). With that:
• we travel overseas twice a year with two kids (each time about $7-10K for tickets, gifts, other expenses, etc.) for about $15-$20K per year

• one nice family Caribbean vacation -$5K

• child care expenses for two kids -$40K per year – which I realize will go down a little since one DC will in a school already. but we need to keep the nanny for my younger DC or afterschool for the older DC.

• mortgage -$35K per year

• charity -$5K

• Monthly expenses (grocery, cable, internet, phone, car insurances, etc.) – no idea how much

• Miscellaneous (clothes, shoes, kids activities, health expenses, etc.) – no idea how much

• We save the rest – usually about $50 K per year, sometimes more.

So how am I going to send two kids to private and save money for college or retirement (in addition to 401K)?

We use Quicken to track our expenses. It is hard to know where to cut if you don't know what your expenses are.

If you cut out all of the travel for a couple years, or curtail it to a few more local spots, you can cover at least the cost of one private school tuition. In fact, I don't know ANYONE with kids that has gone on a Caribbean vacation even once, and we live in a nice part of the city with lots of friends and family. I know it happens, and I am not knocking it, but surely you can curtail that for a few years. I assume you are from another country which is why you spend so much on international travel. But if you're not, you should curtail that for a little, your kids will not suffer from lack of international exposure at a young age. Trust me.

[Anonymous]

Our HHI varies between $250k - $480K with two kids in private. We seem to be OK even in the "bad" $250k years but we are cheap. It will be a cold day in hell before I waste a penny on a $2k bag etc. I swear the more money we have the less I want to spend it. Ha.

[Anonymous]

It is possible to blow through any amount of money.

[Anonymous]

Like many, our income has fluctuated. At 300,000 yearly, we did send two to private school. Other than our home, we live pretty frugally so we could handle the tuition while still providing music lessons, sports activities, etc. for the kids. Certainly, writing the check for multiple tuitions can feel overwhelming, but it is hard to think about giving up the small class sizes and individual attention once the kids have spent many years at the school.

[Anonymous]

270 with two kids in private school. It's not easy.
If I had to do it again, I will not do it for ES. I will use these years to save for college.
However, I think it's a great option for MS and HS.

[Anonymous]

is everyone in this region rich? seriously, you all are wealthy. I couldn't imagine having a HHI of over $150,000. No wonder it's so hard to find affordable housing around here.

I'm convinced D.C. is a bubble. Where's the middle class?

seriously, I don't care what expenses you have (I've lived in this area all of my life), if you have an HHI over $200,000, you're wealthy -- not middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're at $450K and it's tight. For those of you asking where the money goes, it goes to (1) caring for an aging parent who didn't save enough herself; (2) our nanny; and (3) college savings. We were putting aside $1000/month per child for college. We stopped last year. We are financially drained and every penny counts, and I'd rather spend the money now on private school and then make up for college later. I know that goes against what financial experts say, but I don't care. We take two vacations a year, one we pay for, and one is paid for by family, and I am not willing to give up the one that we take, as it is my true sanity.

On paper, it seems like we should be able to afford this, but then something happens (major car repair, new A/C for house, mom gets sick), and we're back to square one.

I keep saying "next year will be better," but as an only child of a sick parent, I don't think that's the case, and I'm not willing to pull my kids (yet).

Tough spot no doubt. However, do you recognize that you are repeating the pattern set by your "aging parent who didn't save enough herself." The best thing you can do for your children is to create your own financial security. By going "against what financial experts say," you are repeating the pattern. I'm sure you don't want to wake up one day (when your earning years are over) and realize that you have not planned for your financial future. As someone who has experienced the stress of caring for your aging parent financially, why would you want to risk imposing that pressure on your children?

Oh, trust me, we have put aside for ourselves. What we stopped doing was putting aside $1000/month per child for their college savings. With what we have saved to date, plus figuring out that we won't have a nanny when our kids are in college, we'll be able to pay for college -- we just won't have it all saved, it will have to come out of our pockets. And they always can take out loans.

Time-value of money says you're better saving now. Just sayin'

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
About $650K, 3 kids in private.

may i ask what you do? i need to change professions apparently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're at $450K and it's tight. For those of you asking where the money goes, it goes to (1) caring for an aging parent who didn't save enough herself; (2) our nanny; and (3) college savings. We were putting aside $1000/month per child for college. We stopped last year. We are financially drained and every penny counts, and I'd rather spend the money now on private school and then make up for college later. I know that goes against what financial experts say, but I don't care. We take two vacations a year, one we pay for, and one is paid for by family, and I am not willing to give up the one that we take, as it is my true sanity.

On paper, it seems like we should be able to afford this, but then something happens (major car repair, new A/C for house, mom gets sick), and we're back to square one.

I keep saying "next year will be better," but as an only child of a sick parent, I don't think that's the case, and I'm not willing to pull my kids (yet).

That's more than our financial advisors told us to save. Wonder if we're saving enough? Hmm.