With a wife and 2 kids, how much money do you need to make before you stop worrying about your budget?

what a bunch neurotic people here. We wife and I both have decent jobs and solid retirement (about 700K). Our only debt is mortgage. We aren't crazy with counting every nickel and dime it is more trouble than it is worth. How much joy are you costing yourself?

Yes it is important to have a plan for the future but there is something to be said for enjoying life now. My wife parents saved all their life for a good retirement but my father-in-law died right before he retired and my mother in law was in ill health her last years. There is a lesson there.

Gonna hijack this thread briefly on the college savings bit. It's smart to plan and save for any big-ticket item but college is the one expense that can pay for itself. The point of college is to gain an education to launch a career. Future earnings can cover much of the expense. I have friends that have saved 100K for their kids' college funds. Honestly, why would you do this? Shop for value, incentivize the kids to earn grants or some kind of award package, incentivize the kids to work hard and earn a valuable degree. Cover immediate living costs and housing, lend a hand with some portion of the first few years of student loans, done. Aside from misaligned incentives it's foolish to an extent to use past earnings to finance something easily paid for with (much less expensive) future dollars.

I make ~$180m a year. 33 kids ages 0 to 48. It always seems like I'm living tight, even though I have a very reasonable salary. Lawsuits, drugs, bribes, prostitutes, etc. All compounded by trying to make sure I save enough for my funeral in Mars and my painite casket. It's just very frustrating at times. Wanted to buy a new pair of airliners today but needed to make sure I had enough money to spare for my 32 kids. How much do you need to make before you stop worrying about your budget before buying a damn pair of airliners?

Moral of this thread:

1) Do not have kids, but if you do only have 1.

2) Live in a much smaller home than you can afford.

+1. My parent's combined income was about a 1/3 of the OP (granted we lived in the sticks of Oregon) and I had two other siblings that made it through college (granted we also got a lot of financial aid/scholarships).I never expected my parents to pay for my college education...I'm still paying off several student loans now and will be for years to come...but IMO college should be on the kid.

MikeScholie53 wrote:

I am 26 and paid for college myself. All my classmates that got free rides from mommy and daddy valued it less and bragged about skipping classes. Give your kids some character and make them pay their own way.

eleventy billion

Spend it while you have it. Yes, you could save and stress your entire life and end up an old man with a load of money or you could spend your money on stuff like running shoes while you are actually physically able to run. Spend it.

I honestly don't know what people spend their money on. We're in our early to mid-thirties. We have three kids and make less than $100k/yr combined. If we made even an extra $10-20k per year I'd feel incredibly well off. Our oldest is in 2nd grade. We've got 2 small car loans and a mortgage. We've managed to save about $70k each thus far for retirement. We've got less than $3k left to pay back in student loans. I don't feel like we're really skimping on too much. We can go on vacations (granted, we're camping mostly). We can spend money on home repairs (just dropped $5k on new patio doors and entry door). We almost never go out to eat. We don't own a TV. We spend $20 a month combined on our 2 phones. We don't send the kids to private schools. We have a budget and we mostly live within that but if we need a pair of running shoes we buy them and don't feel too bad about it. The one thing we don't worry about is saving for college. My wife might make peanuts working at a small private Catholic college but she only works 9.5 months/yr and through tuition reciprocity our kids will have options to attend a variety of colleges for free or for very cheap and for that I'm grateful.

Ask Dave Ramsey

I'm 40 and am raising two children under 3 years old on my own making $45K/year. You and your wife and kids sound like a bunch of spoiled a55holes to me.

[quote]

Revolving Door wrote:

OP, it never stops. MY wife and I are both 32 with a combined income of $315K.

We're always on a tight budget between the mortgage, monthly expenses, three kids in private school, saving for retirement/college/weddings, etc.

It was the same when we were making only $200K and I'm sure it will be the same at $400K.

This ^. Gross over $350K and often wonder where it all goes. Although we live in a pretty nice area, we are not frivolous. Both cars paid for and pretty stingy on vacations. There are just a ton of expenses that add up and kids like to eat. Problems of the privileged in the end tho.

300k!!!! And you can't make ends meet?! Where do you live, a major city?

That's ridiculous.

Revolving Door wrote:

OP, it never stops. MY wife and I are both 32 with a combined income of $315K.

We're always on a tight budget between the mortgage, monthly expenses, three kids in private school, saving for retirement/college/weddings, etc.

It was the same when we were making only $200K and I'm sure it will be the same at $400K.

Hilarious.

There is just no amount of money you can't spend on frivolous crap, I take it.

Go to Walmart and buy a pair of Avia. I was exclusively a Nike guy for 30 years until last month. I never considered buying shoes at Walmart, but did recall Avia being a reputable brand from my hey-days of training back in the mid-1980s. So, on a whim I bought a pair of Soverign trainers for $9 (sale price -- regular $27) and they are the best running shoes I have owned. The cushion and fit are perfect! This challenged my notion that Nike had a superior product and that one needs to spend top-dollar on running shoes to get quality. I doubt I'll ever buy Nike again.

Challenge these kinds of notions and $180K will go a long way. The hard part will be convincing your kids to go along.

$180,000 in NYC works out to be 110-120 grand after taxes using an on-line calc

That is pure tax burden, Of course you take home might alter stock purchase program, insurances, retire program etc.

Not having 100 bucks per month out of TEN GRAND/2 as pocketlitter spending means you are doing a lot wrong (btw the running shoes should already be in your budget along with the other shoes and clothing).

A strategy that worked when I was an employee was live on the salary two raises ago. Simple idea managed then and will manage now. That extra money went to savings and investment programs.

Every one has different beliefs about children but if you so choose they are a budget issue most importantly not when the savings for them starts-now- but budgeting your years concerning when they start coming. Remember any extra expense now comes from savings.

Houses should be big enough to contain what you need and love not what you want and can afford.

For most incomes it always seems like $1000 (net of tax) more per month would make life a lot easier...

Assuming this thread is real...

I have two kids, ages 1 and 4. I went back to grad school and we currently live on 30k/yr. We save 1k/yr for retirement and spend 1k/yr to visit our families for the holidays. We also give about 10% of our money to charitable organizations or causes we feel are good to invest in. Our apartment is 590 sq. ft. and we love it. So easy to clean and upkeep. No lawn mowing or fixing broken things.

Even at 30k/yr, we are among the richest people on planet earth. My quality of life is undoubtedly better than rich kings who lived centuries ago. We have climate control, health care, fast internet, green parks, running trails, amazon.com...what more could you want?

Just imagine explaining your budget to the average citizen of earth (who makes ~14k/yr) and the feeling of ridiculousness that would result. Sell your house, move into a 3 br apartment, sell your cars, buy used cars with cash, get a simple cell phone plan, cut cable, eat less meat and drink less milk, buy running shoes when they are on sale, and stop saving so much for your kids' college. That's what I would do.

Sorry if this post sounds self-righteous. I suppose it kind of is.

Wow this thread is ridiculous. My parents made ~70k combined and never worried about money a day in their life. We went on vacations, hosted parties, enjoyed life. I went to a public school on scholarship that altogether cost about 10k dollars. You guys have lost all perspective.