Anonymous
Post 02/03/2023 14:53     Subject: Singel parent on $228K income
OP- you are super fortunate. 228K is a ton of money. And for the most part, it seems like you are doing really well. Car thats paid off, 30K to retirement. I would get rid of the disability insurance and put it in to savings bonds if you are risk averse or a brokerage account if you are not. I assume at your age, you have a fair amount in your retirement account. I also think you could/should cut down on gas. Seems like you are driving a lot.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2023 14:52     Subject: Re:Singel parent on $228K income
Anonymous wrote:I think the point is someone making $228K should not be living paycheck to paycheck and OP basically is, just bc of the housing timing, student loans, and inflation.

Not sure what housing has to do with it. Her rent is 3K. That's what her mortgage would be if she owned a house. Owning a home wouldn't increase her cash flow. She would build equity, yes. But that's not her problem right now.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2023 14:50     Subject: Re:Singel parent on $228K income
Anonymous wrote:I think the point is someone making $228K should not be living paycheck to paycheck and OP basically is, just bc of the housing timing, student loans, and inflation.


I don't think its appropriate to blame "housing timing" to OP, who is 50 years old. He or she has had years to buy a place of her own when hosing prices and interest rates were much lower.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2023 14:46     Subject: Re:Singel parent on $228K income
If she remarried to someone like her she would be in a much better spot.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2023 14:44     Subject: Re:Singel parent on $228K income
I think the point is someone making $228K should not be living paycheck to paycheck and OP basically is, just bc of the housing timing, student loans, and inflation.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2023 14:43     Subject: Re:Singel parent on $228K income
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Car is paid off with only 52M miles I will have it for a while even though it’s 5y old already. Loans are at a fixed 2.75% so it doesn’t make sense to skip retirement to pay them down faster and also I’m eligible for PSLF so the slower I pay them off the better, maybe 3-4 years left.


Given where you are at, this should be a "maybe" -- sit down and figure out what is happening with your loans and exactly how long you have left.

If you are PSLF I'm assuming you are a fed. You are honestly in great shape for a single parent household on a fed salary. Yes, these are the years that pinch, trying to save for retirement and college and also support growing kids at home. It's tough. In a few years though, you will be done with your loans, kids will be off to college, you can downsize your home, and you've got plenty saved for retirement. View this as a phase of life, and look forward to what happens in a few years when a lot of these expenses disappear or come down quite a bit.


Oh I know how long *I* think I have left. But until the government updates my payment count I’m not counting my chickens. I can apply to get $6K/year after tax forgiven and also if the Biden loan forgiveness comes through I would get $10K. Both big ifs.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2023 14:29     Subject: Re:Singel parent on $228K income
I feel your pain OP. People are so out of touch with reality. 228K for a single parent is not that much.
I can relate because I'm a single parent as well. I'm making 350k and it's very tight. Everything is so expensive.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2023 14:27     Subject: Re:Singel parent on $228K income
Anonymous wrote:
To be fair, as a working parent of two:
Where are you finding sports for kids for $16/month?
Haircuts for kids start at $20-$25-ish in DC
School needs: We have two kids in public and cannot work from home, aftercare for us is $800 a month for two kids at the same school (we can at least get by without beforecare with would be additional $ but some people require both).


I'm guesstimating $200/year per kid per sport. So if your kid plays 4 sports a year it'd be $800/year on average so I'd budget $66/month.

Obviously if it is an expensive sport it would have to be higher, but that's about what I spend on my kids sports run by the town, county or school. If you pay more, you'd need to budget more per month.

Haircuts for kids are $20-25 in DC, you say, and you get them every ...two months so? that's $10-$13/month right? I suggested $10/month. That's just my guesstimate again. My kids get haircuts every three months.

School needs - aftercare is definitely a big expense! That would go under Child Care for me. If OP's $2000 needs to cover child care, that's a lot less to play with.

I was thinking of school needs as: school photos, class publishing a book, field trip $$, science fair poster board, another field trip, end of year school roller skating party -- all the expenses seem to happen in MAY for some reason BTW.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2023 14:25     Subject: Re:Singel parent on $228K income
Anonymous wrote:Car is paid off with only 52M miles I will have it for a while even though it’s 5y old already. Loans are at a fixed 2.75% so it doesn’t make sense to skip retirement to pay them down faster and also I’m eligible for PSLF so the slower I pay them off the better, maybe 3-4 years left.


Given where you are at, this should be a "maybe" -- sit down and figure out what is happening with your loans and exactly how long you have left.

If you are PSLF I'm assuming you are a fed. You are honestly in great shape for a single parent household on a fed salary. Yes, these are the years that pinch, trying to save for retirement and college and also support growing kids at home. It's tough. In a few years though, you will be done with your loans, kids will be off to college, you can downsize your home, and you've got plenty saved for retirement. View this as a phase of life, and look forward to what happens in a few years when a lot of these expenses disappear or come down quite a bit.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2023 14:24     Subject: Singel parent on $228K income
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:And every day some other expense doubles or increases by 10-20%. WWYD? I am 50 and don't own a home.


I’ll bite. I’m a single parent and I make $230. I understand what you’re saying about the constant increases. Everyone is feeling that. But I’m choosing to stuff money into my retirement accounts. I know where my money is going. I wish I had enough to have the amount of disposable income I think I should have in my brain. But as long as I make the choice to save it, I don’t get to spend it today. So Op—where are you spending your money?


$30K/year to retirement
That leaves $198 pretax
After retirement, taxes, FSA, health insurance premium I see $4660 biweekly.
So $9K/month.
$3K to rent
$60 water + $70 electric + $60 WiFi + $60/m subscriptions + $100 cellphone
$800 groceries + $100 pharmacy
$200 gas + $100 car insurance + $100 parking. Car is paid off.
$700 student loans
$400 supplemental disability insurance
$1000 combined summer camp, vacation & annual travel
That leaves ~$2K for school needs (public school), babysitters, entertainment, clothing & shoes, books, health care co-pays and deductible, gifts, sports for kids, accountant, special services like lawyer or financial advisor when needed, car repairs, computer equipment/office supplies, haircuts, pet food/care & vet bills, home goods, gym/exercise (no gym membership), and everything else.
I barely leave home or shop, have no cable/TV/landline am somehow living paycheck to paycheck apart from the retirement savings.


OP, we have a similar income, and also find it difficult to save with two kids (aftercare, out of school activities, summer camp for two kids is ridiculous, and every month something comes up. In the last few months, that included a roof leak that was a few grand to repair, a fridge leak that was a few hundred to repair including the floor it warped, two major healthcare bills that were $1k each after insurance, and on and on). Even at a decent income, it's really tough in the DC area, and extra so if you have loans.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2023 14:21     Subject: Re:Singel parent on $228K income
Thanks I already pay for everything with a credit card I pay off, for the points.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2023 14:21     Subject: Re:Singel parent on $228K income
Anonymous wrote:? $100/m pharmacy is not a lot. 1-2 meds, vitamins + tampons + saline solution + occasional shampoo & toothpaste is easily that much!


+1, I was going to say the same thing. All my pharmacy costs are necessary and I probably spend more than that. One prescription alone is about $20 copay per month. A bottle of generic ibuprofen is $10. Etc. It doesn't take much to get to $100.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2023 14:20     Subject: Re:Singel parent on $228K income
Car is paid off with only 52M miles I will have it for a while even though it’s 5y old already. Loans are at a fixed 2.75% so it doesn’t make sense to skip retirement to pay them down faster and also I’m eligible for PSLF so the slower I pay them off the better, maybe 3-4 years left.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2023 14:20     Subject: Singel parent on $228K income
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:And every day some other expense doubles or increases by 10-20%. WWYD? I am 50 and don't own a home.


I’ll bite. I’m a single parent and I make $230. I understand what you’re saying about the constant increases. Everyone is feeling that. But I’m choosing to stuff money into my retirement accounts. I know where my money is going. I wish I had enough to have the amount of disposable income I think I should have in my brain. But as long as I make the choice to save it, I don’t get to spend it today. So Op—where are you spending your money?


$30K/year to retirement
That leaves $198 pretax
After retirement, taxes, FSA, health insurance premium I see $4660 biweekly.
So $9K/month.
$3K to rent
$60 water + $70 electric + $60 WiFi + $60/m subscriptions + $100 cellphone
$800 groceries + $100 pharmacy
$200 gas + $100 car insurance + $100 parking. Car is paid off.
$700 student loans
$400 supplemental disability insurance
$1000 combined summer camp, vacation & annual travel
That leaves ~$2K for school needs (public school), babysitters, entertainment, clothing & shoes, books, health care co-pays and deductible, gifts, sports for kids, accountant, special services like lawyer or financial advisor when needed, car repairs, computer equipment/office supplies, haircuts, pet food/care & vet bills, home goods, gym/exercise (no gym membership), and everything else.
I barely leave home or shop, have no cable/TV/landline am somehow living paycheck to paycheck apart from the retirement savings.


$1k a month budget for summer camp + travel amounts to $12k a year. I know camps are expensive (just sorting out earmarking $4k for two kids for this summer), but travel doesn't need to be that excessive. Stack all expenses on a travel credit card that you pay off so that you can use points toward flights and hotel stays.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2023 14:17     Subject: Re:Singel parent on $228K income
Anonymous wrote:(Sorry I messed up the earlier formatting.)

OP -- here's my suggested budget breakdown for this $2000 left that you have:

school needs (public school)...............$20/month per kid
babysitters .......................................$0/month (join a babysitting coop)
entertainment.................................$25/month (do free stuff, you are broke!)
clothing & shoes..............................$25/month per kid (buy stuff at the thrift store)
clothing & shoes..............................$25/month for you (you surely have clothes already?)
books.............................................$0/library card
health care co-pays and deductible.....$0-$50/month (isn't that what your FSA is for?)
gifts................................................$20/month per kid for holiday/birthday; small gifts for family
birthday gifts for kid friends................$10/month per kids (social reasons - dependes how many friends they have)
sports for kids...................................$200/year per sport per kid = $16/month
accountant........................................$360/year = $30/month
lawyer or financial advisor when needed $. wild card -- depends
car repairs..........................................$200/month
computer equipment/office supplies.......$100/month
haircuts- kids......................................$10/month per kid
haircuts - me.......................................$40/month
pet food/care & vet bills.........................$75/month
home goods.........................................$25/month - stop buying stuff for your home, get it at thrift store etc.
gym/exercise (no gym membership)....... $20/month towards new sneakers; exercise for free
everything else/miscellaneous..................$200/month


That totals about $900/month in expenses, if it is just you and one kid, or about $1100/month for you and two kids. There's still a good $800 left over to pay down that student loan debt.


To be fair, as a working parent of two:
Where are you finding sports for kids for $16/month?
Haircuts for kids start at $20-$25-ish in DC
School needs: We have two kids in public and cannot work from home, aftercare for us is $800 a month for two kids at the same school (we can at least get by without beforecare with would be additional $ but some people require both).