Anonymous wrote:I have a nanny for two toddlers and it is all of my take home minus what I have deducted for health care and 401k savings. In fact, with an annual bonus and employer taxes, we are actually in the red with the nanny. But with two children we found the cost of a nanny VERY comparable to daycare for two in Chevy Chase/Bethesda-the only difference being you get more hours in a daycare for the same price but lose a lot of convenience and individualized attention for the kids. It sucks. Childcare is a mess and ridiculously expensive in the country.

Oh any my salary is approximately 130k, so not the half million you mention…

I have a nanny for two toddlers and it is all of my take home minus what I have deducted for health care and 401k savings. In fact, with an annual bonus and employer taxes, we are actually in the red with the nanny. But with two children we found the cost of a nanny VERY comparable to daycare for two in Chevy Chase/Bethesda-the only difference being you get more hours in a daycare for the same price but lose a lot of convenience and individualized attention for the kids. It sucks. Childcare is a mess and ridiculously expensive in the country.

Anonymous wrote:This depends a lot on how much you’re paying your nanny and whether you’re paying them on the books.

Ours in DC is paid on the books and works 45 hours/week. She makes $32/hour, plus time and a half for 5 hours. When you add in employer taxes, insurance, and payroll service fees, it’s over $80k/year.

DP. But to keep the same during-the-week (not weekends) nanny we also paid for health benefits and 10 days vacation time in addition to all federal and school holidays off (so the something like 30 days off during school year and all summer federal holidays like July 4 and Juneteenth- so all in she worked about 220 days/year). It was expensive (we did all taxes too), but we wanted to keep same nanny when little and then stopped at K. I looked at it as cost to keep my same job so I could keep moving up v stopping work and then having to climb up again. So even if Nanny cost more than salary at time, set me up better for long run. YMMV.

If it's only half your take home pay, you are still at a net profit by working. What's the alternative?

Daycare? That might be cheaper, but there will be times where daycare won't be available (like if your kid is mildly sick--and at daycare your kid will get sick more often.) So you'll have to figure out alternative care (usually you or your spouse stay home from work.)

You or your spouse quit your job and stay home to care for your kid full time? Then you won't have any money coming in. Some people enjoy staying home with their kid and find it's worth it to have the zero income, but that's not the right choice for everyone.

This depends a lot on how much you’re paying your nanny and whether you’re paying them on the books.

Ours in DC is paid on the books and works 45 hours/week. She makes $32/hour, plus time and a half for 5 hours. When you add in employer taxes, insurance, and payroll service fees, it’s over $80k/year.

And what is your income?

Nanny will cost half of my take home pay. I really don’t know if it is worth it, if I’m paying too much or if everyone who has a Nanny just makes 500k+