[quote=Scarlett][quote=outtamojo]Not to criticize spending habits, but shouldn’t 170K income/ year be plenty even w/ kids?[/quote]
Plenty for what? To live decently in a pricey area like La Jolla UTC (renting) – yes, but not saving much.
Here is a breakdown:
The take home salary is 12K. Maximizing 401K means 2000/mo. 2000/mo daycare, 1000/mo college funds, 500/mo life insurance; gas,car insurance, car payments 1000/mo. $500 utilities, cable and iphones. So here are 7000$ already accounted for. we have left $5000 at MOST. $2500 rent.
Food is at least $1500.
Then there are clothes, toys/games, books, parks, classes/activities, and other household items…
Only for last couple years we had real income after one of us left finally academia…
Of course all of us going to Europe to see my family and them to see the kids every other year for a few weeks wipes most of the savings those year…[/quote]
Don’t take this the wrong way, I mean it constructively. There are a few expenses you may want to take a look at, the 2k a month daycare, the 1500 food, the 500 life insurance and the 1k college funds. I’m past the daycare days but there hasn’t been that much inflation, I remember having a “live in” maid/nanny for about $200 a week for some of the years, just an option, but it was nice to have the house clean, laundry done and the kids learned spanish. 1500 in food for four people is high, that’s $100 a week per person or $50 a day, a sandwich costs about a buck to make and $5 at subway, plus for the money you spend at daycare, isn’t food covered. I’m feeding a high school football player on far less than that. I’m not being sarcastic, but try costco, I can feed that kid a 1/4 pound of bacon, half dozen eggs and 1/4 loaf of bread for about $5. There’s nothing more expensive than feeding a teenager, little kids are cheap to feed, what’s a happy meal these days? $3, a bowl of cereal and a banana is $1, there’s breakfast for four for a month for $120.
College fund, that’s negotiable, not sure how old you are but if they will be in college while you are still working you don’t really need it paid for entirely by the time they start, just a nice chunk to offset it, half is good. Buy a house when they are young, don’t heloc and by the time they are in college, your fixed rent will be lower than rent so there will be a little surplus. Life insurance? Get term, half a mil, maybe a mil, once they are out of college, you don’t need it, it’s nice but if it’s taking such a big chunk of your income then it’s too much. I think people over insure sometimes, figure it out like alimony, a couple grand a month until the kids are 18 is more than enough for divorced women, widows don’t need lottery money and the odds are you will live.
Just some things to look at, sometimes some of the things we like are our undoing. I’m guilty of similar financial decisions, but have found that making cost saving choices didn’t hurt nearly as much as I thought.
