Anonymous wrote:Interesting post OP - just saw it. My wife and I are 52 and she quit work last year since we adopted and she won't be going back to work for 5 yrs and then may volunteer or very part-time. At this point, both of us have worked 22 and 16 yrs. Wife has a doctorate.
My salary is $150k and I don't have much left over (mainly health and dental bills) but not concerned. We have no tuition but about $2k PI and more in travel which we will cut back due to child expenses.

We have just about 6 figures each in retirement and investment+house. Does DCUM think I should be worried?

If you mean 2 million+ you should be more than fine if you can work another 8 yrs or so. How many yrs more for house payments? Can re-direct that money to child expenses for next few years. You just won't be able to save $800k for your child as DCUM does. You've done well.
And btw I am not joking about $800k. In 18 yrs, private college will be about $200k a year including all expenses! Maybe you should start another thread.

Interesting post OP - just saw it. My wife and I are 52 and she quit work last year since we adopted and she won't be going back to work for 5 yrs and then may volunteer or very part-time. At this point, both of us have worked 22 and 16 yrs. Wife has a doctorate.
My salary is $150k and I don't have much left over (mainly health and dental bills) but not concerned. We have no tuition but about $2k PI and more in travel which we will cut back due to child expenses.

We have just about 6 figures each in retirement and investment+house. Does DCUM think I should be worried?

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand people who make so much money and can't budget. I'm a nanny and save $50k a year. I work weekends and do overnights to have a side hustle plus save from my regular salary. Mow my own lawn, no cable, and do as much as I can for myself. It's possible. On your salary I could save over $100k

What an idiot. You don't pay taxes. In hand is wayyy less than that.

This is an easy fix. Get rid of private school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If staying out of public school is that high a priority, I would look into parochial schools, which are typically a fraction of the cost of other private schools.

Reducing the private school tuition is an idea to consider if public isn’t an option. We pay $2000/month for parochial school in NoVA for 4 kids, so $2000 for 1 seems pretty high (unless it’s for special needs then please disregard).

Another option I wanted to suggest, look at bigger, international schools. If kids are bright, they might be able to offer generous financial aid package.

A household making $140+ will not get any financial aid. There may be exceptions, rare.

Especially not one with no mortgage or other kids.

I don't understand people who make so much money and can't budget. I'm a nanny and save $50k a year. I work weekends and do overnights to have a side hustle plus save from my regular salary. Mow my own lawn, no cable, and do as much as I can for myself. It's possible. On your salary I could save over $100k

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If staying out of public school is that high a priority, I would look into parochial schools, which are typically a fraction of the cost of other private schools.

Reducing the private school tuition is an idea to consider if public isn’t an option. We pay $2000/month for parochial school in NoVA for 4 kids, so $2000 for 1 seems pretty high (unless it’s for special needs then please disregard).

Another option I wanted to suggest, look at bigger, international schools. If kids are bright, they might be able to offer generous financial aid package.

A household making $140+ will not get any financial aid. There may be exceptions, rare.

Depends on the cost of the school, age of the parents, and the burden of medical expenses on the family for need-based financial aid. Also private schools often adjust for COL in their aid packages.
I'd expect that income level to come in around 35K-40K expected family contribution. So no financial aid if in-state school, but some if private. If they're already cash flowing 24K to private school each year, that means they need to come up with 11K-16K a year from savings. So the total 529 investment should be 44-64K. Rough estimate puts that at 270-380 month if they have 14 years, don't want to take any loans and assume investment appreciation roughly equals college cost inflation. And if they can't do that, 24K cash flow alone would pay a chunk of most in-state public schools.

I'm still totally confused on the kid/school thing. If you say there's 14 years of private schooling left, then your kid is...in preschool? You're paying 2k/month in preschool costs? This makes no sense to me. With a SAHP, you could easily send your kid to a church preschool for $500 bucks a month.

And I don't see where you mention anywhere whether you have any potential for increasing your income at any point. Not your HHI (which you say will change with your spouse going to work net year) but YOUR income. Is there any chance for more money from YOUR job?

I mean, honestly, you sound just like every other average family with kids around here. We make about 40k more than you and until very recently, had the same issue with barely any money leftover every month (except instead of 2k in private school costs, we had 2k in daycare costs plus a 2k mortgage).

If your spouse is going to start working next year and your own income might increase soon, then you stop the 529 and donations until those things happen so that you can build up some savings and then reevaluate when the HHI increases.