How Expensive...are Kids???

[zamboni]

Gluck75,

I'm sure you want to provide the best of everything to your kid and one major thing is their education fund, you need to stack away lots of money when they go to college. Mine will attends Northeastern this year and there goes my E93....ha ha.
You only 31 yrs old you have a few more years to enjoy being single parent, I would take advantage of that.

[krazykanuck]

I don't know about your average kid, but I was/am hella expensive.

[SteveMD]

The biggest expense in the first years is daycare unless you want to take a hit by one of you staying home.

A newborn will run you at least $250 a week for 5 days of care in a certified facility (Maryland - YMMV)

Toddlers are a little cheaper. Once they are potty trained that number is about $150.

We were lucky and ours came into work with us.

Once they hit school, if you decide to go private you are looking at $4000 - $12000 per year plus summer daycare costs.

Clothes, food etc. negligible really in the big scheme of things.

As mentioned, biggest difference for us was not financial but general lifestyle. We migrated towards other couples with kids and we have a great circle of friends with children that are age compatible. Bar hopping is now less frequent since a sitter is required - we still do it though. Other times we tend to go to 'family' pubs where the kids can sit at a table and eat their chicken fingers and the oldies can have a few beers.

It's a beautiful thing though seeing them grow up into (educated) little adults. It's then you realize how many kids are totally f'd up these days. Some of them even make it to internet message boards.

[Scarabeo]

Originally Posted by GreyGhost

They are expensive! Private education for two from Pre-K through 12 will be over $250,000 in tuition alone. i applaude you trying to plan for the financial impact of your future decisions but kids are the best investment you can make... the return is immesurable.

Best investment you can make eh? What have you been smoking....You can expect to shell out over 250,000 by the time you get them through college...unless you can figure out a way to garnish their earnings over the next 20 twenty years the ROI is zero....however, there is the satisfaction of having gotten the little critters started in life so that they can complete the same cycle all over again...actually, if I had to do it all over again, I think I wold have stayed single

[Neurorad]

Your own child's smile is priceless:

[Neurorad]

Would you consider moving out of the city? Did you grow up in NYC?

If you move to a good suburb, you don't have to pay for private school. And you can spend MUCH more time in your BMW.

I wish I had kids earlier; my wife and I waited 10 years, until we were 'financially secure'.

[Hatorade]

Lol, after seeing the dent i put into my dads wallet theres no way im going to have kids untill im 40 and i date a 27 year old.

[MoreCowbell]

Originally Posted by Neurorad

Would you consider moving out of the city? Did you grow up in NYC?

If you move to a good suburb, you don't have to pay for private school. And you can spend MUCH more time in your BMW.

I wish I had kids earlier; my wife and I waited 10 years, until we were 'financially secure'.

We will move to the burbs once we have kids. Grew up on LI.

[SpecC]

Just hope he doesn't like cars. I always did!

[Nikki]

Don't worry about private school. Notice the only people who mentioned it live in South Florida--that's because the public school system here is a joke. As long as your child goes to school up north he/she will benefit plenty from the public school system. I think that the public schools up there are actually better academically than many of the private schools down here.

[SteveMD]

Originally Posted by Nikki

Don't worry about private school. Notice the only people who mentioned it live in South Florida--that's because the public school system here is a joke. As long as your child goes to school up north he/she will benefit plenty from the public school system. I think that the public schools up there are actually better academically than many of the private schools down here.

Hmm...OK. Come to Baltimore.

There are plenty of great public school systems in the US and plenty of really bad ones.

Anecdotally as a seasoned codger I will say that the level of education that I see in average US youths is way below par.

Personally, I don't need my child going through metal detectors on a daily basis. Hence private school.

[Terry335]

Originally Posted by gluck75

I have been fortunate as my wife and I both make good livings. We don't have any children yet, I am 31, she is 27, but they are surely in our future. I, for one, am "anal" about my personal finances. I am not "cheap" by any sense of the word, but I budget myself very well and I always know where I am financially. I am the type that knows his monthly credit card bill before the envelope is even open(no, I don't carry a balance).

At present, my lifestyle is great...I rent a nice apartment in NYC(let's not make this a Rent vs. Buy thread....i've been down that road too many times recently), E90 with an E92 on the way, pay to park, always eating out(we can't cook and don't have the desire to at the moment), etc etc. We live primarily on the money that I make and my wifes salary(and bonus) is directly deposited into our investment account(all cd's and money markets at the moment) and we never touch a penny of it...its for our future. Kids are a MINIMUM of 3 years off, because my wife wants to advance nicely in her career first.

So I ask, those who have children, what do children do to your FINANCIAL bottom line monthly. How much more difficult does it make things? Sometimes I look at people who make less than we do, and I wonder..."How the hell do they pull this off???"

I want to be great parent, and I know that some of what comes with that, aside from being prepared mentally for an enormous life change, is being prepared financially.

What advice can you can offer?

It's not a big impact if one parent stays at home. If you both work, nannies are very expensive. Around $1,500/mo for a live in, and don't expect much sleep.

[darkcloud]

My cousin and her husband raised 3 kids on a combined salary of about 50-60K a year. If they can do that, you and your wife will do just fine with 1 or 2 kids.

[Revlis]

The Wife and I are at a critical junction. We are pretty much at the decision point. We go back and forth somewhat, but lately we've been leaning towards NO children. It's a difficult decision, fearing that later in life we will regret NOT having kids of our own, but at the same time we enjoy our lives a great deal. We have lots of fun, take lots of trips and just basically screw around...

We don't want to give that up... We're pretty sure.

I just dunno, I see more unhappy folks with kids than I care to mention though. Kids crying, wrestling the heard in to a mini-van... I just dunno, don't know if I have the patience for that particular job.

Just Dunno...

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by Nikki

Don't worry about private school. Notice the only people who mentioned it live in South Florida--that's because the public school system here is a joke. As long as your child goes to school up north he/she will benefit plenty from the public school system. I think that the public schools up there are actually better academically than many of the private schools down here.

The public school system is a joke anywhere in the USA, not only in S FL. (I am not sure about the NE and CA)...unfortunately. I lived in FL for 12 years and now am in TX (about to leave the damn place). People praised Plano schools -- after all, they also suck...
That is if you compare it to most parts of the world...

[Nikki]

The public schools in NY/CT/NJ are generally very good. I don't know about other parts of the country but I saw he is sending them to school in NY and I think that as long as he is in a nicer area, which it sounds like he is, then schools will be pretty good.

[darkcloud]

School are fairly decent in the Cleveland area as well. Now Cleveland's schools are the suck, but the suburbs are exceptional. We also have several nationally recognized private school. I plan on just buying a house in one of the suburbs with good public schools. In the end if the child wants to learn they will learn just as much as the kid with the 5k/year private education.

[obLu]

Put it this way ... my son's nickname is Porsche. If we have a second, they're going to be referred to, collectively, as Tifosi.

My wife kept telling me we couldn't afford for me to buy a Porsche along comes the son and all of a sudden we've got an extra 1k a month for daycare. That and my current payment could've easily covered a 911, let alone the boxster I would've been happy with.

Other than that, diapers, formula, clothes, strollers, car seats etc just kind of blend into the budget. After awhile you find that you're falling into the parent trap and you're not buying clothes for yourself very often. Not because you can't afford it, just because you're not thinking about it. You end up cooking in more just out of default. Eating out with a toddler is usually more work than cooking at home. So the daily expenses even themselves out.

Daycare and education are the big killers. In my area it's right around 1k a month for daycare. I imagine it's probably double or triple that in NYC, so it all depends on if you're income scales accordingly.

I imagine the teenage years will be killers with the electronic toys, the sports equipment, the clothes, helping with car and insurance etc. Not looking forward to it. Luckily his college fund is already well under way and I'm looking into the pre-paid college funds.

[khafner]

probably the best investment I made. You never have enough money to have kids. It is just something you do. realistically they probable cost 100,000 apiece to get to college (not including college) and no private schools. I live in a rural upstate area and my kids did all right with public schools. My daughter was salutatorian in her high school class, magna cum laude in college and now in medical school. I stopped paying for school after college. My son is now working on his PhD in physics. I don't think it is as much where kids go to school as their home environment that makes the difference in outcomes.
Go for it and have a couple of them. Definitely your life will be different. They also make you more tolerant.

[Bimmerista]

Originally Posted by obLu

Put it this way ... my son's nickname is Porsche. If we have a second, they're going to be referred to, collectively, as Tifosi.

My wife kept telling me we couldn't afford for me to buy a Porsche along comes the son and all of a sudden we've got an extra 1k a month for daycare. That and my current payment could've easily covered a 911, let alone the boxster I would've been happy with.

Other than that, diapers, formula, clothes, strollers, car seats etc just kind of blend into the budget. After awhile you find that you're falling into the parent trap and you're not buying clothes for yourself very often. Not because you can't afford it, just because you're not thinking about it. You end up cooking in more just out of default. Eating out with a toddler is usually more work than cooking at home. So the daily expenses even themselves out.

Daycare and education are the big killers. In my area it's right around 1k a month for daycare. I imagine it's probably double or triple that in NYC, so it all depends on if you're income scales accordingly.

I imagine the teenage years will be killers with the electronic toys, the sports equipment, the clothes, helping with car and insurance etc. Not looking forward to it. Luckily his college fund is already well under way and I'm looking into the pre-paid college funds.

+1.

We have 2 young ones, we both work and earn each substantially above the average income posted for Canada. Now the daily expenses of primary care (diapers, food, clothing) do kind of blend in to the budged. However, one of you will, for a while at least after birth, interrupt their careers to stay at home. Even with income insurance if available, it will likely not cover all of the lost income from the spouse staying home so there will be a gap in revenu for a while. Thereafter, a nanny or other permanent help at home will be required (before daycare is even a possibility-age wise). This is a big cost and often becomes a bigger cost as a result of the fact that it may dovetail with acquiring a larger home/appartment/condo etc.

After that the other biggies are daycare itself and schooling (but you can plan ahead by putting money aside even before changing production status from 110). As a side note, once the children get onver 2 years old if you have more than one travaling by plane becomes a larger portion of the vacation budget than one would like.

Having said all of that, we did wait until a later age than the ages you two have to have children, so financially for us the transition was not a shock to our lifestyle.

[Brunotheboxer]

buy a dog.

[Collanrf]

Originally Posted by BMWE90

Have you gotten a production number yet??

Production? I already have an M3 (Married///3 dependents)