[quote=bearishgurl][quote=CA renter]Please read that post again. I included the costs for both preschool AND after-school care for when they were all in “free” (not free…somebody else is paying actual money for that!) school.
And the prices were not just for in-home daycare. They included both in-home and care at the school site or other institution (like the YMCA’s own preschool).
The numbers are all there, but the taxes were understated (by quite a bit, if the other spouse earns a decent income) because I didn’t count the first income. You keep insisting that you don’t see them, but all you have to do is look. I’ve done all the work for you![/quote]
[quote=CA renter]Edited to add some quick, back-of-the-envelope numbers. Please double check my numbers, as I did this quickly.
If a woman has a gross income of $45,000…[/quote]
Okay, I found the above edit to your post near the top of the page before this one. It was not there when I first read it and I have a couple of appts tomorrow morning so can’t address it now.
Just a couple of observations: Your “subject” makes $45K (a grunt worker/worker-bee salary) yet you stated:
Childcare (3 kids)
, with one infant, one toddler, and preschool…and this is one of the less expensive options, as most professionals would want a “better”/more prestigious preschool option (using North County Coastal numbers…weekly expense X 50 weeks/12 to get a monthly number, allowing for 2-week vacation)
Childcare: $3,118.05/month
A “better”/more prestigious preschool (Montessori?) is clearly out of this worker’s league. A $45K worker is not in the group of “most professionals” and is not even a professional at all! Regardless of what you say here that they “wanted,” they wouldn’t be able to afford what you consider a “better” preschool option. Your subject worker makes $10K LESS than my subject worker who has 3 kids of similar ages and takes home at 30-50% of their gross income. Your subject likely needs to get at least one kid in school most of the day (1st grade) before attempting to work FT if the salary level they can command is $45K. It is even possible (depending on partner income) that this worker can qualify for a childcare subsidy and most certainly to use $6,000 of their childcare expense to claim the childcare tax credit on their Federal return.
I haven’t checked your payroll taxes or any of your figures yet but will attempt to do so tomorrow afternoon. What is the filing status of your subject?[/quote]
I wasn’t saying that this person would be classified as a professional. Just saying that this preschool/daycare option would be one of the less expensive options, and that’s why I used those lower numbers. Again, I was trying to give your side the benefit of the doubt on all of these costs. Knowing what many families really spend on these things, the real costs would likely be much higher.
You had brought up the “professional” woman with a college degree. This woman would probably not choose a less expensive daycare. Also, a woman earning $45K/year might not be wealthy or professional, but if her husband earns good money, she would likely also choose to send their children to a better/more prestigious school.
The more the primary earner makes, the more likely it is that they will spend more on these other expenses (taxes, school/childcare, cars, food, domestic help, etc.) because they will probably be in a higher socioeconomic class. And the more the primary earner makes, the less the second income earner will bring home as a result (taxes alone could create a huge hit to her income). Their expectations would be different from a single mother/sole supporter who makes $45K/year. I think you’re thinking from the perspective of the latter.
And tax status is married filing jointly, but you can work with the different numbers to see if you get a better result using a different filing status.
