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).

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)?

Anonymous wrote:We are in Silver Spring. Great elementary shool, and not so good MS and HS. We realize that we will have to relocate (probably to Bethesda) or apply for private starting from 3rd or 6th grades (as I understand big entry years for private schools). So with limited resources, we are considering MCPS now and private later or relocating (we will hopefully save enough money by then).

understood, sounds like you're on the right path....

Our HHI $180, one kid with small mortgage (1.6K), 10K for annual travel(to visit my wife's family in foreign country). We feel tight. Wish we could have saved more. Wife is not willing to have another child until we hit the 250K mark.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I am flabbergasted about posts like the one above. Our HHI is $150 - $180k and we have had no trouble saving for retirement and college and having nice annual vacations. I can easily see being able to afford an additional vacation and two private school tuitions with a doubling of our income. Where does the money go?

+1

+2. We have an HHI of $350k with 2 in private school and have no problem saving and traveling (yes, I'd love to be able to save and travel more, but I feel like we're doing just fine).

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I am flabbergasted about posts like the one above. Our HHI is $150 - $180k and we have had no trouble saving for retirement and college and having nice annual vacations. I can easily see being able to afford an additional vacation and two private school tuitions with a doubling of our income. Where does the money go?

+1

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.

I am flabbergasted about posts like the one above. Our HHI is $150 - $180k and we have had no trouble saving for retirement and college and having nice annual vacations. I can easily see being able to afford an additional vacation and two private school tuitions with a doubling of our income. Where does the money go?

We are in Silver Spring. Great elementary shool, and not so good MS and HS. We realize that we will have to relocate (probably to Bethesda) or apply for private starting from 3rd or 6th grades (as I understand big entry years for private schools). So with limited resources, we are considering MCPS now and private later or relocating (we will hopefully save enough money by then).

Anonymous wrote:No, we do not have a high mortgage (less than $3K per month including everything). We live relatively modestly, I think (one old car, no designer bags/clothes, etc.)

Part of the reason that we are leaning for public is that we plan to stay at our current demanding jobs for a few more years and save as much as we can (mostly for two kids college tuition). We then plan to switch to less demanding jobs to spend more time with our kids. I think the trade off for us is that if the kids go to private, we have to stay in our current jobs and will not be involved in our education as much as we would. On the other hand, if they go to MCPS, we can earn less and can be very much involved. I strongly believe that when parents are involved, MCPS provides as good education as private shools. Any thoughts/comments?

What school cluster are you in?

No, we do not have a high mortgage (less than $3K per month including everything). We live relatively modestly, I think (one old car, no designer bags/clothes, etc.)

Part of the reason that we are leaning for public is that we plan to stay at our current demanding jobs for a few more years and save as much as we can (mostly for two kids college tuition). We then plan to switch to less demanding jobs to spend more time with our kids. I think the trade off for us is that if the kids go to private, we have to stay in our current jobs and will not be involved in our education as much as we would. On the other hand, if they go to MCPS, we can earn less and can be very much involved. I strongly believe that when parents are involved, MCPS provides as good education as private shools. Any thoughts/comments?

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.

You must have a high mortgage or other high expenses. Otherwise, you should be able to afford all of this on your income.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is interesting. We make $140K and are considering private, but are a little concerned that we will be the "poor" people there. FWIW we don't consider ourselves poor and are pretty happy with our lot in life, but we don't want out boys to feel like they are the poor kids all the time.

You will be the "poor" family. We are the poor family at 250K.

We feel relatively poor with $380K HHI and 1 child in Big-3 private.

What makes you feel "relatively poor"? Our HHI has varied from $1M to $250K. We have 3 kids, youngest is at a Big 3 from which older 2 graduated -- they are now in college. We saved enough for kids' college tuition, plus 3 years of grad school each, and we're in good shape for retirement. We have never felt poor -- some families at our kids' school are better off and some less so. We live in a comfortable and pretty home in a great neighborhoo. We take vacations, including skiing at the holidays and spring break, and other travel in the summer. We don't drive fancy cars and I don't have fancy jewelry. We feel pretty darned fortunate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is interesting. We make $140K and are considering private, but are a little concerned that we will be the "poor" people there. FWIW we don't consider ourselves poor and are pretty happy with our lot in life, but we don't want out boys to feel like they are the poor kids all the time.

You will be the "poor" family. We are the poor family at 250K.

We feel relatively poor with $380K HHI and 1 child in Big-3 private.

Anonymous wrote:This is interesting. We make $140K and are considering private, but are a little concerned that we will be the "poor" people there. FWIW we don't consider ourselves poor and are pretty happy with our lot in life, but we don't want out boys to feel like they are the poor kids all the time.

You will be the "poor" family. We are the poor family at 250K.