Anonymous wrote:HHI of $160k, one kid in private, and very comfortable and happy. And to do the math for yourself, all you need to do is figure out what you think is "comfortable," then add tuition x number of kids.

If you live comfortably on $70k, and you have one kid, you can live well with one kid in private with a HHI of $100k.

If it takes you $400k to live well and you have one kid, well, you need a HHI of $430 to retain your comfort.

Richer people will feel they couldn't possibly be comfortable on my HHI, and that I must be "sacrificing." And I look at richer people and think they don't know the difference between "comfort" and "luxury."

Anonymous wrote:We send two kids to private school on income of about $240K, after taxes. Mortgage is about $3500. We pinch pennies in some areas (one car, bought used, not much travel, not much eating out, inexpensive clothes, do-it-yourself household repairs, look for big-ticket items like furniture on Craigslist). Don't pinch pennies in other areas, like weekly groceries (organic, farm market), charity, kids activities, cleaning help. Feel lucky to have the choice and don't regret it one bit.

Anonymous wrote:I would like to see the budget too!

We are at base salary of 280k for one person. It is easier for one earner because once you hit the ss max, take home is significantly higher. If we needed two incomes to hit the ss max, we wouldn't hit the ss max for a lot longer. Having a bonus that hits early in the calendar year also makes you hit the ss max sooner rather than later.

Without bonus, it would be hard to pay for 40k for tuition.

With only one person working, you can also go without a nanny which is a big expense.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Comfortable? Not penny pinching? $500K. At this level you can still save some, carry a decent sized mortgage, buy the kids whatever clothes you deem reasonable, comfortably pay for any and all extracurriculars they want, keep an appropriate level of "outsourcing" if you both work, and buy yourselves decent clothes and decent cars (and take decent vacations). That's not to say you won't notice the missing $60K a year that goes for tuition. You will.

It completely depends on the family and circumstances, of course.

We do all of these things, plus belong to a country club and carry a hefty mortgage (plus new cars, a boat, and vacations in Europe) on $350,000. I have one in private, but could do two. I'd just cut back on savings a bit (but still fully fund my 401k). I don't wear Chanel, but I have to maintain a professional wardrobe, which isn't cheap. I always wonder this when I see people complaining about how you can't live in DC on less than $300,000.

What do you people do with your money?

Anonymous wrote:Comfortable? Not penny pinching? $500K. At this level you can still save some, carry a decent sized mortgage, buy the kids whatever clothes you deem reasonable, comfortably pay for any and all extracurriculars they want, keep an appropriate level of "outsourcing" if you both work, and buy yourselves decent clothes and decent cars (and take decent vacations). That's not to say you won't notice the missing $60K a year that goes for tuition. You will.

It completely depends on the family and circumstances, of course.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am hoping to revive this thread.

Our HHI is $335,000 per year (both DH and I working full-time). We each earn approximately 50% of that amount. We have 3 kids (ages 13, 10, and 5). We live pretty frugally -- small house with 1980s kitchen and bathrooms, cars are from 2003 and 2007.

Our 7th grader (age 13) recently switched from MCPS to private school, where we pay $38,000/year. So far we are pretty pleased with the experience.

We would like to give our 10-year old that opportunity to attend private school starting in the fall of 2017, but figure it will be difficult to have 2 kids in private at the same time (and our 10-year-old is happy where he is in MCPS and doesn't care about switching to private anytime soon.)

Does anyone else manage to pay full tuition for 2 kids ($38,000/year per kid x 2) on an HHI of approximately $335,000 per year? What's your budget like?

We figure we cannot qualify for financial aid and wouldn't feel comfortable applying for FA because technically we could afford the tuition. (Having said that, my dream is to be a SAHM and would do so if I thought we could get FA on my DH's salary of $165,000/year. I just figure that the schools insist that the parents both work?)

(We think our finances are in OK shape. In our case, thanks to the grandparents, each kid has approximately $200,000 in his college fund, which was unusual because the grandparents are very frugal and we had no clue that they had this kind of cash to give because they have always lived so modestly. Our retirement funds are in decent shape, but could be a bit better. We try to max out our 401(k)s because we each get a match of about 9%, which is about $15,000/year. If we did not do private school, our priority would be to save and invest the money and watch it grow, rather than get a nicer house even though I would really like a nicer house.)

Thank you for any advice that similarly-situated people may have.

The school does not insist both parents working but I would imagine it is harder to get in on substantial aid.
Does your child or children fit that different profile?

Anonymous wrote:I am hoping to revive this thread.

Our HHI is $335,000 per year (both DH and I working full-time). We each earn approximately 50% of that amount. We have 3 kids (ages 13, 10, and 5). We live pretty frugally -- small house with 1980s kitchen and bathrooms, cars are from 2003 and 2007.

Our 7th grader (age 13) recently switched from MCPS to private school, where we pay $38,000/year. So far we are pretty pleased with the experience.

We would like to give our 10-year old that opportunity to attend private school starting in the fall of 2017, but figure it will be difficult to have 2 kids in private at the same time (and our 10-year-old is happy where he is in MCPS and doesn't care about switching to private anytime soon.)

Does anyone else manage to pay full tuition for 2 kids ($38,000/year per kid x 2) on an HHI of approximately $335,000 per year? What's your budget like?

We figure we cannot qualify for financial aid and wouldn't feel comfortable applying for FA because technically we could afford the tuition. (Having said that, my dream is to be a SAHM and would do so if I thought we could get FA on my DH's salary of $165,000/year. I just figure that the schools insist that the parents both work?)

(We think our finances are in OK shape. In our case, thanks to the grandparents, each kid has approximately $200,000 in his college fund, which was unusual because the grandparents are very frugal and we had no clue that they had this kind of cash to give because they have always lived so modestly. Our retirement funds are in decent shape, but could be a bit better. We try to max out our 401(k)s because we each get a match of about 9%, which is about $15,000/year. If we did not do private school, our priority would be to save and invest the money and watch it grow, rather than get a nicer house even though I would really like a nicer house.)

Thank you for any advice that similarly-situated people may have.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think your job needs to be "exotic" to be demanding. In our family with a lobbyist and a lawyer, neither of which I'd classify as exotic in this area, we definitely couldn't manage without two cars and a nanny due to the inconsistent hours we work.

I also don't think a family of 4 living in an 1800 square foot house is "comfortable." But that's just me- a typical American. I certainly don't need or want a McMansion, but we need about 2400 square feet to not feel cramped. And because we sometimes work long hours, it's important to us to live close in rather than add a commute to our long day. No way could you swing this on less than a $4000 mortgage unless you bought 10+ years ago.

The bottom line is that "comfortable" is subjective. OP never defined what comfortable means to her. The HHI one needs to send 2 kids to private and still live comfortably is about $100,000 ($60,000 after taxes) + the amount you consider "comfortable."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you were paying over $2,000 a week for household help and other outsourcing, you would pretty quickly figure out why you need $500K. And don't forget extracurricular activities and summer camps for two kids. The budgets being posted leave a lot of these things out.

In short, OP, there is no single answer. The answer is different for every family.

Pray tell, what would one outsource that costs $2K/week that isn't considered luxurious by rational standards?

Full time nanny for younger kid(s), housecleaning and lawn service could come to close to $2,000/week. I wouldn't consider any of this luxurious for a family with two working parents. However, I also don't think you need $500,000 to comfortably send two to private school. I do think you'd need $400,000 though if you didn't want to sacrifice anything major.