Anonymous wrote:We make 200k before taxes have two kids in private and get about 40 percent FA. When we started our kids on private we made less. Our mortgage is 2k. We live in a 3 bedroom home in a marginal area. We have 2 old cars paid off ( kids now dr drive to school). And newer one for commuting. I also help out our nephew who is in a bad situation thru no fault of his own. He's a teenager. We contribute to retiremt but have saved very little for college so unless our kids get FA they will go to in- state schools for college. We hire a cleaning service once a month and someone to clean up the yard each Spring. We are careful with our food budget and only take modest vacations although our kids have traveled to exotic places with their schools. We are very great full for the FA which has allowed our kids to go to a wonderful school

Anonymous wrote:New poster here. I am confused. If you make around 400k and live in DC isn't almost half of that going to taxes (federal and state)?
So to send 2 kids to a top tier private (6k a month), you would need to make about 144k gross that goes exclusively to tuition. Add another 5k/month for mortgage (120k gross) and you are already close to spending 300k. That is before you save any money, buy groceries, etc. Does anyone pay for 2 in a top tier private that makes less than 500k? I would love to see a budget if you do. We are trying to figure out if we could do it on 350k

Anonymous wrote:New poster here. I am confused. If you make around 400k and live in DC isn't almost half of that going to taxes (federal and state)?
So to send 2 kids to a top tier private (6k a month), you would need to make about 144k gross that goes exclusively to tuition. Add another 5k/month for mortgage (120k gross) and you are already close to spending 300k. That is before you save any money, buy groceries, etc. Does anyone pay for 2 in a top tier private that makes less than 500k? I would love to see a budget if you do. We are trying to figure out if we could do it on 350k

Anonymous wrote:We have a HHI of $335K with 3 kids in NW DC. $3k mortgage, 2 retirement accounts, save for college, etc. Kids do activities, summer camp (because we work), etc.

We scrutinized our budget a few weeks ago (literally down to the dollar we spend each year on things like contact lenses, pool membership, rec soccer fees, etc, etc. etc. ) We live a decent but not extravagant lifestyle. We spend in some ways (one kid does a travel sport, we budget $12k/year for vacation, our kids take piano lessons and foreign language lessons at school). But we are frugal in many others--clothing from Old Navy and the Gap on sale, non-luxury cars, no organic food, rarely eat out.

Anyway, the upshot of this exercise what that we found we have about $30K-35K a year that we could comfortably spend on a private school tuition. Spending this would mean we wouldn't have to cut back any of our current spending but we wouldn't have the cushion (out of what we make weekly) to spontaneously take other trips or buy new furniture, or do home renovations, etc.

If we were trying to pay tuition for 2 kids ($70k) we'd need an income of about $400K.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would put that as the minimum, depending on what other expenses you have. Many private schools are now $27,000 a year, and that's not going to go down.

Ha!!! More like $34-40k

Anonymous wrote:I would put that as the minimum, depending on what other expenses you have. Many private schools are now $27,000 a year, and that's not going to go down.

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:

Anonymous wrote:What do you think is a comfortable--neither extravagant nor penny pinching lifestyles--HHI for a family to send two children to private school in NW DC, assuming that one does not need to rely upon financial aid?

I'm guessing $300K.

mortgage: $5,000
monthly Tuition for two kids: $6,000
monthly living expenses: food, utilities, car payment, health insurance, etc: $2,000

round up to 15K a month take home. Not sure what taxes would be, but maybe you could do it on $225K to 250 K.