Shit. The kids are going to need corrective eyewear too. (I’m estimating roughly $200 in lenses and $100 in solution each year, but $200 for glasses while they are too young to wear contacts)
Although I have read good things about ortho-k corrective lenses, I might drop $1k on those for the kiddos if it can be proven to dramatically reduce the progression of myopia
But yes, price of insurance is fixed as I pay the max to cover employee, spouse, and children.
The median family income is somewhere between 50k to 60k so 10k per year is a lot, for most people anyway.
Childcare?
That’s probably the main point… Kids are expensive for most families, but for an actuary and surgeon, they are more of a decision of how expensive you want them to be.
My ex made the kids very expensive early on trying to keep up with other parents (yes, a likely contributing factor to the D). $100+ outfits that are worn once or twice, only the most highly rated car seats and strollers, $600 for a pair of glasses (did you know little kids break glasses?). Summer camp fees when they get a little older at the best camps. The basics like food and diapers were never the issue. It was all this extra stuff added up.
We have cameras at home.
A thousand dollars for a birthday party? I think we spent $3k on our wedding.
It’s that inflation thing. And social media. Mostly social media.
I work remotely so I just have my baby playing in a large enclosed playpen that I set my work desk up in. She naps twice a day so I just put her in a dock-a-tot and prop a bottle of milk up against the side and she falls asleep eating.
She is starting to walk around and cause more trouble now so I may have to put her on one of those kiddie leashes during the day while I work.
I’m very fortunate to be allowed to work remotely and even more fortunate that I only really have an hour or two of real work to do each day. The rest of the time I just sit around waiting for ad hoc work to come in the door, I just have my work computer speakers on full blast and I run over whenever I get an email notification
Daycare. 24k / year.
Yes daycare can be expensive but it is temporary until they are eligible for school.
Half day pre-K starts at age 4 and kindergarten full day at age 5
Where I live daycare at a large facility is in the $2k range but church ladies run daycares out of their homes for $500-$1,200 a month. ($500 for just drop off and in the $1k range if the provider also prepares meals and snacks for the kiddos)
Again this is one of those expenses that vary wildly. There was one daycare center that promoted helping kids learn a second language, the cost was eye popping.
Preschool can be ~5-20k per kid depending on age and half/full and days per week
Other than that? Camp comes to mind because we’re spending on it now…
The HSAs, I think you sort of make fun of the extremes. My goal is for my kids to not need any debt for their undergrad assuming ~state level tuition costs. That costs ~800-2k/mo/kid
And any extracurriculars, gymnastics, etc. aren’t cheap. Babies are pretty cheap once you’ve paid all the delivery expenses. I don’t have any teenagers but imagine they get more expensive as they want a cell phone, car, etc.
Yes! We spend a lot on medical now… between 4 kids someone is always sick it seems
Although silver lining is I spent enough out of pocket on medical to get some off my state taxes
I spent less than $1k on my wedding, and the birthday party wasn’t all that nice. The venue cost around $500 to rent out for the afternoon, it was a gym. The food cost a couple hundred, the cupcakes were close to a hundred, the decorations were close to a hundred…
Also we don’t do social media, and certainly aren’t influenced by anything other people are doing.
We usually have parties at the house and recently hired a magician for my daughter’s birthday. Worked out really well.
And it was really 2 birthday parties rolled into one. Did the kids have a good time? I’m glad you could do that for them.
Have you checked that number? It looks more like an age 67 benefit.
it checks out IMO.
Klaywoman can access the greater of their own benefit or 50% of Klayman’s (if Klayman is already receiving the SS benefit). Capped at 50% of the full lifetime age (67 or whatever - doesn’t grow if Klayman defers to older than 67). Even if Klaywoman has no income history. So if they are the same age, Klay’s could be rolling in ~$5250/Mo in SS benefits at 62.
If I woke up tomorrow 11 years older, I could get $2,362/mo from SS and Klaywomen could get half of that, $1,181/mo for a total of $3,543/mo
I exaggerated slightly by double-counting the deferral money. I have it listed among my assets, but then on a separate Excel tab it is separated out into a monthly payout over a period of time rather than an amount I decide what to do with. And things have slid a bit lately so it’s closer to $1.22M + deferral money ($82K)+ SS
Sorry, I didn’t realize that was a benefit for two.
I try to find a home for my investible assets. Right now my assets are 1/3 cash, 1/3 treasuries/CDs, and 1/3 stocks. I type in SPY and that’s still a P/E of 20. QQQ is 26. DIA is 19.
I am very pessmistic. Tell me I’m not crazy.
