Reply to Life is Easy in NW DC on $300k, AMA

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Reply to "Life is Easy in NW DC on $300k, AMA"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I see so much confusion on here, and I thought I'd try to clear some stuff up.  My central point is that life is easy, downright cushy even, on $300k per year gross income in the DC area.  My wife (38) and I (40) raise our two kids (6 and 3) in upper NW DC and our gross income in 2016 was $300k.  People who suggest they are scraping by at this income are either deluding you or deluding themselves.

I am happy to answer any questions and dispel any other related myths you may see on DCUM.

Some of our details:
- ~$300k gross income
- $about 70k in total income and payroll taxes
- PITI is about $3500 (we bought a 4 BR house near AU park in 2012 for low $800s. Before that we owned a small condo in Logan Circle)
- Public school (but we did daycare for both kids from 4 months - 3 years)
- I graduated from law school in 2004 with about $150k in student loans.  Those are all paid off now.
- We don't do fancy luxury cars, but it's not bargain basement either.  The last car we bought was in 2012 and it cost about $30k.  
- We eat at nice restaurants weekly, travel several times a year, and buy more consumer goods (clothes for her, gadgets for him) than we probably should
- We save amply $36k per year in the 401k/TSP, $10k per year in the 529s, and $30-40k in the taxable brokerage account.  Our savings balances include $750k in retirement accounts, $60k in 529s (kids are still young), and $250k in taxable brokerage accounts.
- We give to charity an amount that I think is generous, about $5k per year usually. 
[/quote]

Imagine one of your kids were constantly bullied at school, so after a while had to send her (and her sibling, so they stay together) to private school.

How would the financial picture change if you had to pay $70k in tuition year after year?[/quote]
This is a one-off scenario, extremely rare. Not only being bullied, but move both kids. What is one spouse gets sick, what if the neighborhood burns down. [/quote]

No one would force you to move both kids so that you now had to pay 70K in additional tuition.  If you're wealthy enough to afford private for 1, you move kid1 who is being bullied, and keep kid2 where they are presumably doing fine.  If you choose to move both, because it's too much trouble/morally troubling to have them in two schools, presumably you can afford 70K in additional tuition.  [/quote]

NP here but if the choice is between putting both kids in a new private school [b]wouldn't it make more sense to just move to a different house and pay one-time transaction costs[/b] rather than ongoing private school expenses?[/quote]

NP -- but that is our plan if needed.  We can't afford private -- so moving would be our best option.  [/quote]

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