Single income house holds

[Bigred323]

Wife went from full time to stay at home with our first born because he was born 2020 in the thick of Covid. She did strict stay at home for a full year and then got into a PhD program that we don’t have to pay a dime for out of pocket. What worked out the best, was because she got into school we had access to the schools daycare. We still gotta pay for it but in the grande scheme of daycare costs, it’s a steal of a deal and a great program they have.

Told her she didn’t have to go back to work or school or anything, but she really enjoyed her work so she decided to get back into school. luckily the program still allows her to be fully involved with our now 2 children.

Long story short, still single income for us 4.5 years later, but luckily I’ve got a good career that allows that to happen.

 

[hoosierhunter11]

LOL what does she do for work?

I’m a full time Firefighter/AEMT/Hazmat Tech with a Bachelors Degree & qualifications for Sargent… I don’t even make that a month working full time (56-60 hours/week) in a “higher end” Metro Atlanta department.

She’s a speech and language pathologist at a peds outpatient clinic. Also, she’s not pulling any benefits so everything she makes is income (no insurance, no retirement, etc). All of our benefits are through my employer but we still invest in a Roth IRA for her.

 

[Long Cut]

She’s a speech and language pathologist at a peds outpatient clinic. Also, she’s not pulling any benefits so everything she makes is income (no insurance, no retirement, etc). All of our benefits are through my employer but we still invest in a Roth IRA for her.

Thanks for your clarification, benefits aside that still strongly outpaces what we make. COL is probably lower as well if I had to guess.

 

[IAm_Not_Lost]

I wasn’t 100% sure how to answer. My wife went from full time before our kiddos down to just one day a week. So, we aren’t a double income family, but not fully single either. Like 1.25 income family.

It’s more for her sanity than anything, my income is fine for our needs, but I totally get wanting to be away from the kids and see your work friends consistently.

 

[IAm_Not_Lost]

Thats crazy... I have plenty of buddies who FF and they all gross 6 figures here in AZ. Weird how FF salaries can vary so greatly.

Nursing, NP, PA, and EMS salaries are crazy different across the country with regard to salary. My wife and I are in nursing/medicine here in AZ and compared to California we make a pittance, but compared to some states in the southeast - for example - we make a ton of money.

 

[maxx075]

Rokslide is not a good site to ask financial advice for the "average" person. This site is full of top 10% earners (or habitual liars). Also the majority of the advice is from the "BACK IN MY DAY" crowd. So not rooted in reality for today's economy.

I have no idea how anybody could reasonably live, and support a family on a single income. This is coming from a kid who grew up in the coal fields of WV and has seen what that type of living is like.

Wife and I did our taxes this year and drew 195k and I don't think that is near enough to support a kid, along with taxes, insurances, medicals, savings, etc. Going down to one income (where we live now in FL) would be impossible.

 

[DangerRanger]

Rokslide is not a good site to ask financial advice for the "average" person. This site is full of top 10% earners (or habitual liars). Also the majority of the advice is from the "BACK IN MY DAY" crowd. So not rooted in reality for today's economy.

I have no idea how anybody could reasonably live, and support a family on a single income. This is coming from a kid who grew up in the coal fields of WV and has seen what that type of living is like.

Wife and I did our taxes this year and drew 195k and I don't think that is near enough to support a kid, along with taxes, insurances, medicals, savings, etc. Going down to one income (where we live now in FL) would be impossible.

I agree in some concepts, but it’s also really hard to understand the economic situations of other family especially in other areas.

My wife and I make that much and imo we support both of ours well with some left over to save for retirement and plenty of vacations so I’m not sure I agree with your number.

I fall into the everyone’s different and you gotta do what yall decide you want, and then continue to reevaluate as you go and be flexible. My extended family runs the gamut as another poster said, with some kids being homeschooled, some mother at home until school, some mother part time and some in daycare with two working parents and all the kids are happy and healthy, I do not see it being well correlated with the child’s success from my small sample size.

 

[Yaremkiv]

Yes we did. Once the boys were 7 and 12, she got a job, it was good for her to get back out there but having her run the house (kids are homeschooled, we have a garden, chickens etc.) was worth much more than what she was getting payed. So I told her I think she should quit and enjoy her life to the max while I support us in the finance department. She did and it's been great.

 

[Jamie930]

My wife stayed home after the first kid.
She wanted to go back to work, but it would have been a retail job and even if she would have got 40 hours after daycare cost she would have been working 40 hours for extra $200. With her staying home I could take all the overtime time I could get and that $200 only took a few hours then, and only a couple hours now

 

[Mojave]

I will say this, and I am not trying to be a jerk.

You have to advocate for your right to hunt. Especially in a house where there you are the only one doing it.

Disney vacations, cruises, whatever the major thing is. You must get yours.

I

 

[maxx075]

I will say this, and I am not trying to be a jerk.

You have to advocate for your right to hunt. Especially in a house where there you are the only one doing it.

Disney vacations, cruises, whatever the major thing is. You must get yours.

I

YOU GOTTA FIGHT, FOR YOUR RIGHT, TO PARTAYYYYYY

 

[Yaremkiv]

My wife stayed home after the first kid.
She wanted to go back to work, but it would have been a retail job and even if she would have got 40 hours after daycare cost she would have been working 40 hours for extra $200. With her staying home I could take all the overtime time I could get and that $200 only took a few hours then, and only a couple hours now

that was my thought process as well. I figured the extra $1,500 a month she made wasn't worth: 1. The kids being home alone all day and the problems associated with that. 2. Constantly behind on house chores and 3, Her inability to do the things she enjoys due to her work schedule. I ended up saying I'll gladly pay the $1,500 a month to make those issues go away. So she quit and everythings back to normal.

 

[ShallowMinded14]

Rokslide is not a good site to ask financial advice for the "average" person. This site is full of top 10% earners (or habitual liars). Also the majority of the advice is from the "BACK IN MY DAY" crowd. So not rooted in reality for today's economy.

I have no idea how anybody could reasonably live, and support a family on a single income. This is coming from a kid who grew up in the coal fields of WV and has seen what that type of living is like.

Wife and I did our taxes this year and drew 195k and I don't think that is near enough to support a kid, along with taxes, insurances, medicals, savings, etc. Going down to one income (where we live now in FL) would be impossible.

If you dont think 195K is enough to support a family you need to really look at your spending and debt. My wife and I bring in just at or just under that and are able to save/invest over 30% of our incomes.

My wife also stayed home with our 2 little ones for a few years when I was only bringing in around 80K a year at the time. It is very tight but it is defiantly doable. She is a teacher now and almost all of her income goes to savings and investments. Mine has almost doubled in 5 years, so we just didn't change our standard of living as the income went up and save the rest.

 

[maxx075]

If you dont think 195K is enough to support a family you need to really look at your spending and debt. My wife and I bring in just at or just under that and are able to save/invest over 30% of our incomes.

My wife also stayed home with our 2 little ones for a few years when I was only bringing in around 80K a year at the time. It is very tight but it is defiantly doable. She is a teacher now and almost all of her income goes to savings and investments. Mine has almost doubled in 5 years, so we just didn't change our standard of living as the income went up and save the rest.

Depends on where you live. Where I'm at, 195k isn't enough.

 

[Burnsie]

If you don't think 195K is enough to support a family you need to really look at your spending and debt. My wife and I bring in just at or just under that and are able to save/invest over 30% of our incomes.

My wife also stayed home with our 2 little ones for a few years when I was only bringing in around 80K a year at the time. It is very tight but it is defiantly doable. She is a teacher now and almost all of her income goes to savings and investments. Mine has almost doubled in 5 years, so we just didn't change our standard of living as the income went up and save the rest.

I agree - unless you are living in downtown Manhattan, San Francisco....etc. I'm not sure how you don't get by on almost 200K. You either prefer a lifestyle that exceeds 195K (which is fine), or you are using your cash to start the back yard fire pit in the evening. I'd prefer to live a little more lavish, and keep up with the Jones's, I would just need to make more $$$. Pretty content with where I'm at though.

 

[ShallowMinded14]

Depends on where you live. Where I'm at, 195k isn't enough.

Your profile says Florida. Unless you're in Miami and trying to keep up with the Joneses I am sure you can make it just fine with plenty to spare. Do you have a written budget?

 

[maxx075]

Your profile says Florida. Unless you're in Miami and trying to keep up with the Joneses I am sure you can make it just fine with plenty to spare. Do you have a written budget?

I don't have kids. I don't have a house. I would want a house before I had kids. I don't have 120k in cash to drop on a 20% down-payment on the average house here. So my mortgage would be 3500-4000 easily. With the normal bills/groceries/savings, I couldn't afford it to the level that I would want. Sure, I could slum it, but I'm not going to do that.

Which is why I say, for me it's not possible.

 

[ShallowMinded14]

I don't have kids. I don't have a house. I would want a house before I had kids. I don't have 120k in cash to drop on a 20% down-payment on the average house here. So my mortgage would be 3500-4000 easily. With the normal bills/groceries/savings, I couldn't afford it to the level that I would want. Sure, I could slum it, but I'm not going to do that.

Which is why I say, for me it's not possible.

I just read all of your posts on another thread and I am not going to engage with you anymore. You're as goofy as a run over dog.

Good luck in life brother. Hope it all works out for you.

 

[maxx075]

I just read all of your posts on another thread and I am not going to engage with you anymore. You're as goofy as a run over dog.

Good luck in life brother. Hope it all works out for you.

Thanks bruh!

 

[svivian]

I don't have kids. I don't have a house. I would want a house before I had kids. I don't have 120k in cash to drop on a 20% down-payment on the average house here. So my mortgage would be 3500-4000 easily. With the normal bills/groceries/savings, I couldn't afford it to the level that I would want. Sure, I could slum it, but I'm not going to do that.

Which is why I say, for me it's not possible.

Just mathing around with this

$4000/mo payment at 7% over 30 years is a $601,230 home.

Take home of $9,750/mo after taxes/insurance/401k(calculated at 40% of gross)

$5,750/mo or $69,000 annually, left over to live off of.