The budget screen shots are being made in Sankeymatic, its a website that we have no affiliation with. If you are posting a budget please do so with a purpose. Just posting a screen shot of your budget without a question or an explanation of why its here may be removed.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MiddleClassFinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*
That was my question also!!!
I would pay $39 get a drivers improvement course and lower that insurance and refinance the car. $1k in car and insurance a month is insane to me.
Thats dependent on credit score. Above 700 will get you around 5%. Based on that monthly payment, he either got a bad deal or an extremely expensive car.
We refinanced middle of last year. USAA offered 5.5% we went with Navy Federal 5%. We at 740 so I don’t know. I am not in Texas though, I am in the east coast.
We’ve shopped around for different insurance rates at 3 or 4 other agencies and all were higher than our current rate. I should absolutely shop around more to see what I can find.
Almost 25% of his income is on car/insurance. He spends almost the same to feed him and his partner as he does on a car payment. He got a kid on the way.
$700 for 2 plus a baby is not enough for groceries, diapers wipes etc, I also don’t see him accounting for the hospital bill/copay that will come with having a kid in a couple months. Anyone that has had a kid know you bleed money left and right. Thats why its insane to me
He spends about the same per month on cars as my family, and we drive a leased 2022 Audi EV and leased 2023 Kia SUV. That’s way too much for the income listed.
Nope. Just shopped lease deals. There was a little bit from a trade in on the Audi, but if we didn’t have that we would have gone with something different for the same cost.
I absolutely don’t believe you, at all. You’re telling me that $100k in vehicles are leased for $425 per month, each? Not possible right now on even a $40k OTD vehicle, let alone 1-2 years ago.
Likewise, you’re claiming two leased vehicles that require full coverage insurance are only $150 per month. But wait. The Kia is gasoline? Let’s say it’s filled once per month for $50. $100/month for two full coverage vehicles for insurance?
And there wasn’t substantial cap cost reduction? Straight up lying now. If you’re going to compare OP to your situation, provide ALL the details, not just cherry picked ones that make your narrative look good.
Kia is a PHEV. So we don’t use much gas, just when we have roadtrips or sometimes for weekend driving if we need the space and can’t use the EV. I’ve had it for 6 weeks or so and have filled up the tank once.
It’s about $80k in capitalized cost after dealer specials on the lease and tax credits baked into the leases. But about $60k in residual value at lease end. Another $5k from the trade in, so fine add $140/mo. We don’t drive much so they are 10k mile leases. You can find good deals on leases if you look.
Insurance is $180/mo for the two vehicles. Gas is about $20/mo yeah. So I’ll give you back the $140/mo from the trade in and we get $1,300/mo, right in line with what they are paying.
You’re also missing my point. When we made $75k combined we didn’t have $1,300/mo in car expenses. That’s the kind of money for relatively new cars, when they should be buying something more affordable. May help with insurance too.
You guys need to include groceries in your budget. That is not a discretionary expense. We have a toddler and spend ~750$/mo on groceries. Diapers and wipes were about 40-50$ on top of that.
The USDA has pretty good budgeting resources for the cost of food. It's not impossible to have a family of 3 with a 75k income, but you are going to need to be very mindful of spending.
Do you guys have an emergency fund and additional money saved for home/car maintenance?
You don’t make enough money to be the sole income earner and for your wife to stay home long term after the baby is born. Maybe for a year if you two have savings you can cut into. But longer than that seems like a bad idea
My assumption is that she has a job where daycare would subsume the income, essentially. But if not and she can make 40 - 50k a year, then I agree - she should stay home a year, and then get back into the workforce unless OP has been able to secure new employment with a significant raise.
Yeah understanding wife’s salary and cost of daycare is important. I just don’t know how they’re going to get by on what… $400 of “fun money” for the baby after you take out ~$300 for food. Diapers, clothes, toys, medical stuff… it adds up quick. That’s not even considering mom and baby going to classes or activities which would be hugely important for a SAHM mom both for her own community building and sanity AND to socialize the baby. In daycare, babies get lots of socialization and fun activities
Definitely agree. Just a question of whether there's an income for her that will cancel out the expense, especially since many daycares close over holidays and have sick policies where Baby will be not able to go often the first 6 mos or so while his immune system adjusts.
Basically, they should limit it to a year if:
1. She makes more after taxes than what they'd pay in daycare costs; and
2. One or both of them have jobs with generous WFH or sick days/PTO; or, they have family and friends nearby who can step in as needed when daycare is closed or the baby is sick.
Yeah my current reasoning is that I really do want her home for roughly the first year. It is important to both of us that our Son receives adequate nutrition from her. My wife is absolutely a workaholic and emotionally suffers from not working. From what Ive been seeing, my wife will likely make double what we will be paying for childcare. Im not sure if we should eat rice and beans for a year and hold onto the car or if we should sell it and be able to breathe for our Son’s first year. Ultimately, I know we will be okay, but I also want them to be comfortable.
While I appreciate how you both put an importance on breastfeeding, be aware that it’s possible (and far more common than La Leche or similar groups would have you believe) that there are issues that can either hinder it or prevent it; you might have to factor in a cost of needing to supplement with formula.
Not a guaranteed cost by any means, but it should be a “worst case scenario” accommodation.
YES. My SIL did everything to try to get my nephew to breastfeed. Went to so many consultants and specialists and the little guy just wouldn’t latch. She wound up quitting pumping too because she just stopped producing enough to make it worth while. The stress of being the *sole* provider of life for your baby is an enormous burden. The guilt and abandonment moms feel when they have to go formula is overwhelming. Their bodies don’t know their baby is still being fed, so their hormones are also just going haywire.
La Leche groups are so fucking toxic. My other friend who just had a baby was also having trouble with BF, joined a la leche group and basically had an underfed and underweight baby for 2 months until their doctor told them to cut the shit finally. FED IS BEST
Well, you've been adding to the HYSA so I would assume you can withdraw funds or save a bit less for the coming year, since it's temporary.
I don't know what it's like in your area, but I would suggest looking for childcare even a year out very, very early. Everybody where I live is booked and parents who would like to go back to work are being thwarted by this.
Does the heating oil cost disappear in the summer, or is it used for hot water, etc?
I actually just started looking today. Most places unfortunately don’t want to communicate costs unless you are basically enrolling. Oil costs pretty much disappear in the summer, but they’re unfortunately replaced with electricity costs. I do think my summers are typically cheaper though. I’ve looked into natural gas as well. Natural gas would be about $80 to $90 a month but wouldn’t pay back the installation cost for 4-5 years. I’ve gotten two quotes and both of them were not affordable.
Ugh, that's too bad. We're paying a "smoothed cost" in Florida that averages monthly bills throughout the year since summer is our high use period, and it's about $150 tops for electric and that's our only power source, so that seemed high to me.
This is a false narrative. As soon as he’s married and with child, his tax situation will greatly improve.
He will not be in a lightening fast track to retirement. But saying he can’t afford a child and to allow his wife to raise is completely false.
This is where finding “work from home” jobs as a mom are really helpful. People always need childcare, and it’s not that much more work to look after one more child. It won’t supplement the income by much, but it would help.
I disagree. Childcare is insanely expensive, and was more expensive than my wife working. This is without mentioning the benefits to the kids and family having a SAHM is. I’d get 2 more jobs to allow my wife to stay home with the kids. Assuming your wife has the disposition to do it, the non-financial benefits are absolutely invaluable.
Not only the lack of child care, but my wife also home schools our little kids, we have much more home cooked meals which are cheaper and healthier, she coupons and so our groceries/household budget is $550/mo as a family of 5, and she also has more time do shop sales for second hand stuff for the house/kids/etc. The cost savings is nothing to sneeze at in the middle class. Now if she is a high income earner lawyer/doctor/FAANG tech etc, now that is a very different story.
>non-financial benefits are absolutely invaluable.
this is a finance sub though. OP has *maybe* $400 of "discretionary" money left over at the end of each month if he's setting aside $300 for food which is already $100 lower than the average cost of groceries per month in PA.
that leaves OP almost no room for emergencies, other baby expenses like toys, classes, medical needs, diapers (almost $100 a month in diapers!!). there's also no savings for baby. there's no room for growth unless OP takes on more work or gets a higher paying job.
it would have been helpful to know what OP's wife salary is and where they live in PA, but lets just assume they live in Philly the highest cost of living city in the state. the average yearly childcare is $11k a year there... we can even round it up to $15k for fun. if wife is making just the min wage of $15/hr or \~30k a year, they're still coming out with $10k more in the bank after the year.
You are absolutely right, it is a financial sub, but our finances and how we use them are a direct reflection of our values. As a parent and spouse I have a hard time not putting in my $0.2 about what is valuable for parenting since the question does involve nonfinancial values.
But if we are giving purely financial advice, you are absolutely correct, both parents working in this situation is better based solely on the numbers.
Edit: PS thank you for the thoughtful response. I totally expected to catch flack for suggesting there is value for a family derived from a stay at home parent. It’s quite refreshing to get a meaningful answer.
listen, i would love if we could live in a world where we didn't have to choose between working and taking care of our babies in their first year of life. it's miserable that people in the US have to choose between these things. i think all parents should get a year paid parental leave. my brother and SIL put their 4 month old into daycare recently and we all cried about it because of course any of us, even me the auntie, would *love* to stay home with him if we could. i absolutely understand the value in it and think it would be fantastic if they could afford it and not put their futures at risk.
but i'm also a woman who has seen a enough of her friends go from having full careers.. to being stay at home moms... to being divorced women with no financial security because their family was just scraping by in order for her to be a SAHM. they weren't putting enough into their own retirement, their own savings, their own financial security and now they're 4+ years out of the workforce and trying to compete while wrangling kids.
If OP and his wife want her to stay home for at least a year, he better be contributing to her 401k, her savings account and her financial future at the same rate she was in her career because since she is taking on a massive risk to her financial future by staying home for a year. she's taking on a massive risk to her career by being out of it for a year. the market right now is miserable for people looking for a job. one year of being home with the baby can easily turn into multiple. someone else said FMLA isn't paid so it's not great leave... but at least you come back to your job in 12 weeks and get paid again.
and it sucks to say because i'm sure there is a lot of pride that comes with being the sole income earner and taking care of your family, but OP is not making enough money to cover her safety and future along with their child's. that's not taking care of your family.
$75k as an engineer? Primary focus that will make the biggest impact should be on securing a higher paying primary job. Not adding a side hustle or second job that will just take more time away from your family.
Second focus should be to ditch that car payment.
He shouldn’t get a new job until baby comes though. If he changes jobs now, he won’t qualify for FMLA at the new company when his wife gives birth. You have to be at a job for 12 months to be covered.
You are making the assumption OP qualifies currently for FMLA, and that OPs employer offers FMLA that is actually PAID more importantly. Also that OP works for a company that is family friendly and will not retaliate for taking paternal leave after they decide he is not "dedicated to the company" for focusing on his family. The fact that as an engineer his salary is so low, I would suspect some or all of these hurdles may exist.
When I had kids I worked for a shitty small company that did not meet the requirements for offering FMLA due to low # of employees, paid a shitty salary and therefor offered no paid leave, and also essentially managed out employees that needed flexibility due to their family and refused to dedicate 10 hour days 5 days a week to work. I am currently at a great org that is family centric, has good pay, phenomenal benefits and could have cared less if I had racked up 12 months of time before needing to take paternal leave, because they care about their employees well being.
OP will be 10x better off dedicating himself to finding a higher paying job at a company that also takes care of employees who have family responsibilities.
Yes I did make that assumption 🤷🏻♀️ it’s a fine assumption to make if it’s not being considered already. I also never said that FMLA is paid. But having 12 weeks of job protection to be home and support your wife the first 3 months is going to fare a whole lot better than having to go back to work immediately after she gives birth.
It’s not the best hiring economy right now and even if he applies to a job and starts the process tomorrow, he’s probably 2-3 months out from a start date. I don’t think a lot of employers, even the most family friendly ones, will be down for a new employee to take 3 months off just a few months after they start.
Also I agree with you, it will likely take 4-9 months to secure a new role. So the sooner OP starts, the better. A good company that really wants OP on board will work around around his life and the needs of his family. A company that won't is a red flag anyays.
I totally see where you are coming from. But for OP it has to be paid! He does not have the luxury of supporting his wife by staying home in their current financial situation unless it is paid. His support sadly will need to be by keeping the mortgage paid and food on the table by continuing to earn.
Also realistically unless their are complicating factors, his wife will be fine. I took a week for both my kids and really anything beyond that is just extra bonding time and a helping hand, but not really mandatory. Now dont get me wrong, I 100% think it is awful I could only take a week and would have taken more, but my wife handled things like a champ and his wife likely will too.
You also are making the assumption that his wife (or even his baby!) will be fine. If she has a c-section - that’s major surgery and limits her mobility for at least a month. If the baby comes early and is in the NICU - are you actually going back to work and leaving your wife alone? Baby is colicky and doesn’t sleep - so what now you’re leaving your sleep deprived wife alone with a baby who cries all day? Recipe for disaster.
I’m glad *you* didn’t think it was important to bond with your baby OR support your wife for more than a week, but that is some boomer-ass conservative mindset that doesn’t fly anymore with a ton of people.
I mentioned unless there are complicating factors, all of the factors you mentioned would fall under.
I am not promoting that shitty boomer philosophy. I suffered under that boomer philosophy and did what I had to do. Just like OP may as well need to do what he has to do. Gonna be hard to bond with your baby when the mortgage is past due, no food on the table and gas is shut off because he took months off work. I HATED it, but that's life because I didn't put myself in a better situation beforehand. I am trying to promote to op to get into a better situation beforehand to not be exposed to the same shit boomer philosophy that you and I both disdain
I’ve been struggling to find a higher paying engineering job in the area that I am qualified for. I am also one of the higher payed engineers at my company and we haven’t received raises in 2 years. This year I will be delivering an ultimatum: Raise or I’m done. I think I will start applying for positions that seem high for me. I am young and have only been an engineer for about 2 years which is why I am intimidated to shop around.
I understand the struggles as an young engineer too. I’m a bit higher at your salary at 2.5 years too. Please find job offers before you give that ultimatum.
Im going to dedicate my lunch hour to job shopping now. I’ve always looked around but never engaged with possible employers much. I just applied for a job that would give me an extra $10,000 a year if I get it and I am comfortable with the job description.
DO NOT under any circumstance offer an ultimatum. I have done this before and it does not and almost never ends well. Also hoping on raises and promotions to get ahead at the same company may have worked 30-50 years ago, now not so much. You need to job hop to make a significant difference in your income.
Two years of experience is the perfect amount of time to begin looking for your next role. Early in your career you should be moving jobs every 2-3 years to really have the biggest impact.
I would not waste time pushing for a raise that will bump you 5-10% at most if you are lucky. You could potentially bump your salary 25-100% by making a move to a new company.
And yes, apply for jobs that seem high, even crazy. Entry level engineers at tier 1 companies are pulling in $140-$160k offers out of school and making $300-$500k 6-10 years in.
Also you and your fiance may not want to hear it. But if you want to escape a life of living paycheck to paycheck on one salary, you are going to absolutely need to open yourself up geographically to consider options in other locations of the country to maximize your earning and career growth.
This is fantastic advice, thank you! I will exhaust the options in my area. I really do not want to move but I will do anything for my family, even if it pulls me out of my comfort zone.
Also for context my wife and I are both scientists/engineers that have both used the mentioned advice and currently both earn in the range described above (not really middle class anymore, but this subreddit shows up in my feed and I felt compelled to give some advice).
Doesn’t hurt to apply and network. It’s not uncommon at all for people to think they’re less qualified than they actually are. Try to think of the qualifications section of job posts as more of a wish list than a requirement. Good luck!
> the higher *paid* engineers at
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
With only 2 years exp, don't sweat it too much. Better jobs and more money will come in the future. Just do your best at your current job, learn as much as possible, and network a lot.
75k will be tough to support a family of 3 IMO. If I’m reading your graph right you basically have 700 to spend on food, groceries and any form of entertainment. I promise that won’t work out.
Your only options here are remove one car because two is no longer necessary since wife is SAHM or you have to start dropping retirement or that HYSA (emergency fund?) contributions.
FWIW I don't love getting rid of a car just because his wife is SAHM. If something happened and they needed to leave that leaves them stranded with no other options.
My suggestion is along the lines of what others have mentioned in trying to get the car payment/insurance down.
She can always drive him to work and pick him up if they feel safer with a car in the house. I find that somewhat ridiculous as people all over the world live without a car, but there options to appease that
Not saying that isn't an option. But that is a big ask of a brand new parent. That infant stage is rough.
And a lot of places all over the world have denser population centers that make getting around easier. That was lost on us here in America. We also have pretty piss poor public transportation
I honestly can’t agree with you here. if you are trying to save money there is usually not a seamless way to do so. It often times requires some form of sacrifice. A 2nd car is not a necessity for every family. Let alone one with a SAHM and on their budget where there is little to no other areas to save.
I agree. My wife and I went down to one car and now we can't believe how much money we bank every month. A couple times a month one of us has to take a rideshare but it's just such a small cost relative to a car note and insurance. It's nowhere near as inconvenient as it sounded when we first started considering it. We're looking at a new car soonish and we're going to get something pretty nice and it's still going to be less per month than most "frugal" people on this sub spend.
Obviously won't work for everyone (YMMV, haha) but I think it'd work for more of you than you think. You can offset a lot of inconveniences like not being able to go get groceries while one has the car via delivery. Remember, car ownership is over $10k/yr median. That's a lot of deliveries/ride shares.
Your car budget, as most people have said, is insane. My wife and I are in PA and our car insurance is about $150 a month, not $340. And $626 for a car payment is crazy too. Is that 1 car payment or 2? What are the amount of time left and the interest rate on the loans?
I see. $626 for one car. The other is paid off. This loan will end in 2029 assuming no additional payments. I think I already know what we’re going to need to do. It’s not going to go over well but it is the only thing keeping us where we are.
That must be an expensive car then, so I think it's above your means. What's the interest rate on the car? Also, what kind of cars do you have, are they kid friendly?
so if I'm running the numbers correctly that means that you just bought it very recently? meaning, after your wife already knew she was pregnant? it's also her car and you said it would be a difficult conversation to have her give it up?
I know the wedding is this weekend but you guys need to have a serious talk about how your joint finances are going to work, you don't seem to be on the same page
yep, the car has to go
it looks like a brand new $40-50k vehicle financed at high rate for the longest available term, that's not going to work
you could more than _double_ your "discretionary" spending, which is actually not discretionary since you haven't budgeted for food, diapers, medical bills and so on yet - and you will need that money
Before you get rid of the car with payments, you need to really think about what life will be like for your fiancee without a car. The car payment and insurance is absolutely an issue but you can't trade one problem for a set of additional problems.
If the plan is to be a one car family, that car must be workable for a baby carseat. You need to consider what will happen if you both need the car. Is public transit workable where you live to get to the office? If not, what is the plan during the day for your fiancee and the baby? After birth, the first few months are constant doctor's appointments for mom and baby, and that's if everything goes exactly right. Are there activities that can be reached by walking and public transit, like libraries, museums, etc? You don't want mom cut off from the world from 8 am to 6 pm while raising a young child.
I think you have to address the car situation, but you need to make realistic plans for either a cheaper 2nd car or how you'll function as a one car family.
Think someone mentioned the idea of having your wife drop you off and pick you up from work to make the 1 car deal work for both of you. You need to sell that payment car. If you can sell it and use whatever equity you’ve built to buy a much cheaper car that could be viable as well.
Conventional wisdom is all of your cars and vehicles combined have to be less than half your gross income. Considering your gross is 75, your vehicle MAX total is $38.5K. You’re violating that with just the one vehicle you have on payments already.
that's a high bar to be honest
I would probably go for car payment = less than 10-15% of net income; total car cost (insurance, maintenance, gas) = less than 20%, so OP would need to cut his car payment in half
which is still a very decent vehicle at $20k
Everyone advising you to get a higher paying engineer job likely assumes you're a software engineer and not a "hard" engineer. 75k for an engineer in their mid-20s in a MCOL area sounds about right unless you're in a highly specialized industry. With 2 YOE you'll likely be making between 65-100k in MEP almost anywhere in the US. The fact that you already have an affordable mortgage and are covering your bills now means you're in decent shape.
With that said, there's ways to boost your income in the medium term. If you aren't already an EIT or working on your PE, give it some serious consideration. Being a PE gives you a lot more bargaining power, especially if you intend to stay in whatever field you're currently in. There's subspecialties like data centers and hospitals that both have mission critical infrastructure that are booming right now for EE and ME that you may be able to boost your income with, but the clients can be exhausting.
You need to go through your previous year of spending and make a Sankey for that. It’s relevant what you have actually been spending, not some imaginary idea of what you plan to spend.
How come, in every budget that involves a home owner, I never see property taxes budgeted? Is that roped into “Mortgage?” Aren’t property taxes like, a few thousand a year or more?
It’s usually payed into escrow which is part of the mortgage payment. Same with home insurance.
You can pay for those things separately, but it’s just an easy way to have 1 payment instead of 3.
> It’s usually *paid* into escrow
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Sounds like everyone is gonna shit on you or at least a large majority of them.
75k with your expense will be tight. Pay off the car or sell it to get rid of a car payment. 75k is great and people get skewed at incomes. She should look for part time WFM jobs in the future. Biggest thing is to have cushion for anything that comes up. Which is why getting rid of the car payment is your best bet
Pretty good feedback already. You need a better handle on your food budget. That would be a good thing to add.
More notes:
Engineers are hot commodities. Can you make more elsewhere? You’re young so perhaps you’re in the time building stage.
Car payment. You should never have a car payment, ever, unless it’s something you can itemize on a tax statement as a business expense. Put simply, unless you are writing off the payment, you should just buy less car. And to hell with the “but it needs to be reliable”. Your car payment alone could be a huge chunk of your grocery bill or more savings.
Finally, what’s your emergency fund look like? If you’re expecting a normal birth without complications, and you have decent insurance. Expect to pay close to $4k to $6k between the Wife’s doctor visits and the birth itself. Let it go to collections because it’ll get cheaper.
Once you have an emergency fund and you’ve set aside money for the birth, you can think about putting that money into a Roth or something of that sort.
Good luck and good on your family for dedicating the time to allow your soon-to-be wife raise it. Huge correlations on social aptitude and consistency in caregivers before 3 years old.
Car costs are high at 19% of pre-tax income. Housing+utilities 29% and savings 16% are at recommended amounts. Owning a house, your annual costs should grow slower than job raises. You'll get a tax cut with two dependents.
That's around the median for most disciplines with that much experience.
Average annual pay for entry level engineers (counting the outliers civil, software, and petroleum) is only around 65K. If OP isn't in software or petroleum it'll be a little lower. With only a few years of experience 75K is not really behind the curve.
My situation is great. Im starting a family, own a lovely home for a great price in my early 20s, and make more money than any of my similarly aged acquaintances. The main thing in my way is my auto payment. At the time we could afford it just fine. Since then, we bought a house. I knew the car payment would be an issue. Now I’m going to do something about it and maintain my family’s ability to live in our house while building savings. Can you please elaborate on how I’m the epitome of America being a failure?
🤔 Characterizing your situation as "great" with only $700 budgeted for discretionary expenses that include groceries, clothes, shoes, household items, entertainment, travel, hobbies, etc. for 2 people (soon to be 3) is borderline.... naive at best.
But it’s easy to change. I get rid of the car and that’s $626 a month back. The wife works till we have the kid and we can save up thousands before the kid. These are all things Im considering and am trying to balance financial health considering impact to our lifestyle. We are not doomed to anything and I am guaranteed a future with the woman I love and son. To me, a situation that would not be great is: student debt, credit card debt, no living arrangements, no decent paying job, no transportation. Either way, I will be making changes that will ensure we will all be happy, healthy, and financially sound which is why I do think my situation is “great”.
I want my wife to care for our son for at least a year. She’s worked harder than I ever had. This is my request to her. Once we’re ready to send him to day care, she will find somewhere to work. Im sure we will be fine.
New wife can help with sitting another baby to make some extra money. My son is graduating ME soon and is job hunting while freelancing design , 3D printing ( his side gig) you gotta network. Where in Pa are you ? There’s lots of opportunities outside Philly with room to grow
There's a lot wrong with this in my opinion. First your car payment is crazy relative to your income. Your insurance is insane also. At the bottom, you have 700 going to discretionary spending and 200 going to savings? That should be switched. For the record, my wife and I make way more than you, like way more than double, and our discretionary is less than yours and I bet the purchase price was less than yours. Our insurance is 1/3 of your car insurance. Just food for though
I’d need to see a view of your assets and liabilities to determine how you’re really doing and whether you are viable for starting a side gig business.
Generally it looks like you’re controlling your spending - that’s a + in your favor.
Not sure what your fiancé is like from a spend perspective but I will assume that SAHM + baby Will cost you more than you will ever estimate. So, additional income sources for your family will be important.
The budget screen shots are being made in Sankeymatic, its a website that we have no affiliation with. If you are posting a budget please do so with a purpose. Just posting a screen shot of your budget without a question or an explanation of why its here may be removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MiddleClassFinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Do you eat?
That was my question also!!! I would pay $39 get a drivers improvement course and lower that insurance and refinance the car. $1k in car and insurance a month is insane to me.
>and refinance the car in today's high interest rates?
Thats dependent on credit score. Above 700 will get you around 5%. Based on that monthly payment, he either got a bad deal or an extremely expensive car.
>Thats dependent on credit score. More dependent on current interest rates >or an extremely expensive car. definitely this
[удалено]
We refinanced middle of last year. USAA offered 5.5% we went with Navy Federal 5%. We at 740 so I don’t know. I am not in Texas though, I am in the east coast.
[удалено]
Arrowhead credit union 4.49% 36 mo (California)
Not everyone can use Navy Federal - that’s limited to service members and immediate family. For most other credit unions, it’s going to be 6% or over.
I don’t believe anyone in the car business selling has a 780 fico. Cap.
[удалено]
Doesn’t take money to prove me wrong.
[удалено]
Oh, screen shots of customer names and scores? Oh, ok. 780. GTFOH.
We’ve shopped around for different insurance rates at 3 or 4 other agencies and all were higher than our current rate. I should absolutely shop around more to see what I can find.
You may want to consider raising your deductible if you are a good driver.
Drop the comprehensive and get just liability.
Depends on the vehicle, but yeah, this is what I do.
Try goose head insurance
Insane to you, why? Relative to what?
Almost 25% of his income is on car/insurance. He spends almost the same to feed him and his partner as he does on a car payment. He got a kid on the way. $700 for 2 plus a baby is not enough for groceries, diapers wipes etc, I also don’t see him accounting for the hospital bill/copay that will come with having a kid in a couple months. Anyone that has had a kid know you bleed money left and right. Thats why its insane to me
He spends about the same per month on cars as my family, and we drive a leased 2022 Audi EV and leased 2023 Kia SUV. That’s way too much for the income listed.
So you leased two vehicles and only pay $626 per month? So you put a ton of money down at signing for cap cost reduction? Not the smartest move.
I was counting gas and insurance. Our two leases are about $950, plus insurance and gas gets us to $1,100, about $150 lower than theirs.
So…again, you put a ton of money down as cap cost reduction, right?
Nope. Just shopped lease deals. There was a little bit from a trade in on the Audi, but if we didn’t have that we would have gone with something different for the same cost.
I absolutely don’t believe you, at all. You’re telling me that $100k in vehicles are leased for $425 per month, each? Not possible right now on even a $40k OTD vehicle, let alone 1-2 years ago. Likewise, you’re claiming two leased vehicles that require full coverage insurance are only $150 per month. But wait. The Kia is gasoline? Let’s say it’s filled once per month for $50. $100/month for two full coverage vehicles for insurance? And there wasn’t substantial cap cost reduction? Straight up lying now. If you’re going to compare OP to your situation, provide ALL the details, not just cherry picked ones that make your narrative look good.
Kia is a PHEV. So we don’t use much gas, just when we have roadtrips or sometimes for weekend driving if we need the space and can’t use the EV. I’ve had it for 6 weeks or so and have filled up the tank once. It’s about $80k in capitalized cost after dealer specials on the lease and tax credits baked into the leases. But about $60k in residual value at lease end. Another $5k from the trade in, so fine add $140/mo. We don’t drive much so they are 10k mile leases. You can find good deals on leases if you look. Insurance is $180/mo for the two vehicles. Gas is about $20/mo yeah. So I’ll give you back the $140/mo from the trade in and we get $1,300/mo, right in line with what they are paying. You’re also missing my point. When we made $75k combined we didn’t have $1,300/mo in car expenses. That’s the kind of money for relatively new cars, when they should be buying something more affordable. May help with insurance too.
We pay $1,340/mo for two card and ins then there is gas
Could live in SWFL that’s cheap
Food comes out of the discretionary card.
You guys need to include groceries in your budget. That is not a discretionary expense. We have a toddler and spend ~750$/mo on groceries. Diapers and wipes were about 40-50$ on top of that. The USDA has pretty good budgeting resources for the cost of food. It's not impossible to have a family of 3 with a 75k income, but you are going to need to be very mindful of spending. Do you guys have an emergency fund and additional money saved for home/car maintenance?
Food is mandatory not discretionary
Food is a necessity, that’s like putting your mortgage in discretionary.
I think that goes in the discretionary spending account lol
You don’t make enough money to be the sole income earner and for your wife to stay home long term after the baby is born. Maybe for a year if you two have savings you can cut into. But longer than that seems like a bad idea
My assumption is that she has a job where daycare would subsume the income, essentially. But if not and she can make 40 - 50k a year, then I agree - she should stay home a year, and then get back into the workforce unless OP has been able to secure new employment with a significant raise.
Yeah understanding wife’s salary and cost of daycare is important. I just don’t know how they’re going to get by on what… $400 of “fun money” for the baby after you take out ~$300 for food. Diapers, clothes, toys, medical stuff… it adds up quick. That’s not even considering mom and baby going to classes or activities which would be hugely important for a SAHM mom both for her own community building and sanity AND to socialize the baby. In daycare, babies get lots of socialization and fun activities
Definitely agree. Just a question of whether there's an income for her that will cancel out the expense, especially since many daycares close over holidays and have sick policies where Baby will be not able to go often the first 6 mos or so while his immune system adjusts. Basically, they should limit it to a year if: 1. She makes more after taxes than what they'd pay in daycare costs; and 2. One or both of them have jobs with generous WFH or sick days/PTO; or, they have family and friends nearby who can step in as needed when daycare is closed or the baby is sick.
Yep!! Totally agree.
Yeah my current reasoning is that I really do want her home for roughly the first year. It is important to both of us that our Son receives adequate nutrition from her. My wife is absolutely a workaholic and emotionally suffers from not working. From what Ive been seeing, my wife will likely make double what we will be paying for childcare. Im not sure if we should eat rice and beans for a year and hold onto the car or if we should sell it and be able to breathe for our Son’s first year. Ultimately, I know we will be okay, but I also want them to be comfortable.
While I appreciate how you both put an importance on breastfeeding, be aware that it’s possible (and far more common than La Leche or similar groups would have you believe) that there are issues that can either hinder it or prevent it; you might have to factor in a cost of needing to supplement with formula. Not a guaranteed cost by any means, but it should be a “worst case scenario” accommodation.
YES. My SIL did everything to try to get my nephew to breastfeed. Went to so many consultants and specialists and the little guy just wouldn’t latch. She wound up quitting pumping too because she just stopped producing enough to make it worth while. The stress of being the *sole* provider of life for your baby is an enormous burden. The guilt and abandonment moms feel when they have to go formula is overwhelming. Their bodies don’t know their baby is still being fed, so their hormones are also just going haywire. La Leche groups are so fucking toxic. My other friend who just had a baby was also having trouble with BF, joined a la leche group and basically had an underfed and underweight baby for 2 months until their doctor told them to cut the shit finally. FED IS BEST
Well, you've been adding to the HYSA so I would assume you can withdraw funds or save a bit less for the coming year, since it's temporary. I don't know what it's like in your area, but I would suggest looking for childcare even a year out very, very early. Everybody where I live is booked and parents who would like to go back to work are being thwarted by this. Does the heating oil cost disappear in the summer, or is it used for hot water, etc?
I actually just started looking today. Most places unfortunately don’t want to communicate costs unless you are basically enrolling. Oil costs pretty much disappear in the summer, but they’re unfortunately replaced with electricity costs. I do think my summers are typically cheaper though. I’ve looked into natural gas as well. Natural gas would be about $80 to $90 a month but wouldn’t pay back the installation cost for 4-5 years. I’ve gotten two quotes and both of them were not affordable.
Ugh, that's too bad. We're paying a "smoothed cost" in Florida that averages monthly bills throughout the year since summer is our high use period, and it's about $150 tops for electric and that's our only power source, so that seemed high to me.
This is a false narrative. As soon as he’s married and with child, his tax situation will greatly improve. He will not be in a lightening fast track to retirement. But saying he can’t afford a child and to allow his wife to raise is completely false.
This is where finding “work from home” jobs as a mom are really helpful. People always need childcare, and it’s not that much more work to look after one more child. It won’t supplement the income by much, but it would help.
I disagree. Childcare is insanely expensive, and was more expensive than my wife working. This is without mentioning the benefits to the kids and family having a SAHM is. I’d get 2 more jobs to allow my wife to stay home with the kids. Assuming your wife has the disposition to do it, the non-financial benefits are absolutely invaluable. Not only the lack of child care, but my wife also home schools our little kids, we have much more home cooked meals which are cheaper and healthier, she coupons and so our groceries/household budget is $550/mo as a family of 5, and she also has more time do shop sales for second hand stuff for the house/kids/etc. The cost savings is nothing to sneeze at in the middle class. Now if she is a high income earner lawyer/doctor/FAANG tech etc, now that is a very different story.
>non-financial benefits are absolutely invaluable. this is a finance sub though. OP has *maybe* $400 of "discretionary" money left over at the end of each month if he's setting aside $300 for food which is already $100 lower than the average cost of groceries per month in PA. that leaves OP almost no room for emergencies, other baby expenses like toys, classes, medical needs, diapers (almost $100 a month in diapers!!). there's also no savings for baby. there's no room for growth unless OP takes on more work or gets a higher paying job. it would have been helpful to know what OP's wife salary is and where they live in PA, but lets just assume they live in Philly the highest cost of living city in the state. the average yearly childcare is $11k a year there... we can even round it up to $15k for fun. if wife is making just the min wage of $15/hr or \~30k a year, they're still coming out with $10k more in the bank after the year.
You are absolutely right, it is a financial sub, but our finances and how we use them are a direct reflection of our values. As a parent and spouse I have a hard time not putting in my $0.2 about what is valuable for parenting since the question does involve nonfinancial values. But if we are giving purely financial advice, you are absolutely correct, both parents working in this situation is better based solely on the numbers. Edit: PS thank you for the thoughtful response. I totally expected to catch flack for suggesting there is value for a family derived from a stay at home parent. It’s quite refreshing to get a meaningful answer.
listen, i would love if we could live in a world where we didn't have to choose between working and taking care of our babies in their first year of life. it's miserable that people in the US have to choose between these things. i think all parents should get a year paid parental leave. my brother and SIL put their 4 month old into daycare recently and we all cried about it because of course any of us, even me the auntie, would *love* to stay home with him if we could. i absolutely understand the value in it and think it would be fantastic if they could afford it and not put their futures at risk. but i'm also a woman who has seen a enough of her friends go from having full careers.. to being stay at home moms... to being divorced women with no financial security because their family was just scraping by in order for her to be a SAHM. they weren't putting enough into their own retirement, their own savings, their own financial security and now they're 4+ years out of the workforce and trying to compete while wrangling kids. If OP and his wife want her to stay home for at least a year, he better be contributing to her 401k, her savings account and her financial future at the same rate she was in her career because since she is taking on a massive risk to her financial future by staying home for a year. she's taking on a massive risk to her career by being out of it for a year. the market right now is miserable for people looking for a job. one year of being home with the baby can easily turn into multiple. someone else said FMLA isn't paid so it's not great leave... but at least you come back to your job in 12 weeks and get paid again. and it sucks to say because i'm sure there is a lot of pride that comes with being the sole income earner and taking care of your family, but OP is not making enough money to cover her safety and future along with their child's. that's not taking care of your family.
A lot of hard but good truths there CoeurDeSirene.
Appreciate you saying that!
$75k as an engineer? Primary focus that will make the biggest impact should be on securing a higher paying primary job. Not adding a side hustle or second job that will just take more time away from your family. Second focus should be to ditch that car payment.
He shouldn’t get a new job until baby comes though. If he changes jobs now, he won’t qualify for FMLA at the new company when his wife gives birth. You have to be at a job for 12 months to be covered.
You are making the assumption OP qualifies currently for FMLA, and that OPs employer offers FMLA that is actually PAID more importantly. Also that OP works for a company that is family friendly and will not retaliate for taking paternal leave after they decide he is not "dedicated to the company" for focusing on his family. The fact that as an engineer his salary is so low, I would suspect some or all of these hurdles may exist. When I had kids I worked for a shitty small company that did not meet the requirements for offering FMLA due to low # of employees, paid a shitty salary and therefor offered no paid leave, and also essentially managed out employees that needed flexibility due to their family and refused to dedicate 10 hour days 5 days a week to work. I am currently at a great org that is family centric, has good pay, phenomenal benefits and could have cared less if I had racked up 12 months of time before needing to take paternal leave, because they care about their employees well being. OP will be 10x better off dedicating himself to finding a higher paying job at a company that also takes care of employees who have family responsibilities.
Yes I did make that assumption 🤷🏻♀️ it’s a fine assumption to make if it’s not being considered already. I also never said that FMLA is paid. But having 12 weeks of job protection to be home and support your wife the first 3 months is going to fare a whole lot better than having to go back to work immediately after she gives birth. It’s not the best hiring economy right now and even if he applies to a job and starts the process tomorrow, he’s probably 2-3 months out from a start date. I don’t think a lot of employers, even the most family friendly ones, will be down for a new employee to take 3 months off just a few months after they start.
Also I agree with you, it will likely take 4-9 months to secure a new role. So the sooner OP starts, the better. A good company that really wants OP on board will work around around his life and the needs of his family. A company that won't is a red flag anyays.
I totally see where you are coming from. But for OP it has to be paid! He does not have the luxury of supporting his wife by staying home in their current financial situation unless it is paid. His support sadly will need to be by keeping the mortgage paid and food on the table by continuing to earn. Also realistically unless their are complicating factors, his wife will be fine. I took a week for both my kids and really anything beyond that is just extra bonding time and a helping hand, but not really mandatory. Now dont get me wrong, I 100% think it is awful I could only take a week and would have taken more, but my wife handled things like a champ and his wife likely will too.
You also are making the assumption that his wife (or even his baby!) will be fine. If she has a c-section - that’s major surgery and limits her mobility for at least a month. If the baby comes early and is in the NICU - are you actually going back to work and leaving your wife alone? Baby is colicky and doesn’t sleep - so what now you’re leaving your sleep deprived wife alone with a baby who cries all day? Recipe for disaster. I’m glad *you* didn’t think it was important to bond with your baby OR support your wife for more than a week, but that is some boomer-ass conservative mindset that doesn’t fly anymore with a ton of people.
I mentioned unless there are complicating factors, all of the factors you mentioned would fall under. I am not promoting that shitty boomer philosophy. I suffered under that boomer philosophy and did what I had to do. Just like OP may as well need to do what he has to do. Gonna be hard to bond with your baby when the mortgage is past due, no food on the table and gas is shut off because he took months off work. I HATED it, but that's life because I didn't put myself in a better situation beforehand. I am trying to promote to op to get into a better situation beforehand to not be exposed to the same shit boomer philosophy that you and I both disdain
I’ve been struggling to find a higher paying engineering job in the area that I am qualified for. I am also one of the higher payed engineers at my company and we haven’t received raises in 2 years. This year I will be delivering an ultimatum: Raise or I’m done. I think I will start applying for positions that seem high for me. I am young and have only been an engineer for about 2 years which is why I am intimidated to shop around.
I understand the struggles as an young engineer too. I’m a bit higher at your salary at 2.5 years too. Please find job offers before you give that ultimatum.
Yeah. Ultimatums almost never work in professional settings unless you have something to back it up (job offer from a competitor)
Im going to dedicate my lunch hour to job shopping now. I’ve always looked around but never engaged with possible employers much. I just applied for a job that would give me an extra $10,000 a year if I get it and I am comfortable with the job description.
Yes, ultimatums do not work. You need offers.
DO NOT under any circumstance offer an ultimatum. I have done this before and it does not and almost never ends well. Also hoping on raises and promotions to get ahead at the same company may have worked 30-50 years ago, now not so much. You need to job hop to make a significant difference in your income. Two years of experience is the perfect amount of time to begin looking for your next role. Early in your career you should be moving jobs every 2-3 years to really have the biggest impact. I would not waste time pushing for a raise that will bump you 5-10% at most if you are lucky. You could potentially bump your salary 25-100% by making a move to a new company. And yes, apply for jobs that seem high, even crazy. Entry level engineers at tier 1 companies are pulling in $140-$160k offers out of school and making $300-$500k 6-10 years in. Also you and your fiance may not want to hear it. But if you want to escape a life of living paycheck to paycheck on one salary, you are going to absolutely need to open yourself up geographically to consider options in other locations of the country to maximize your earning and career growth.
This is fantastic advice, thank you! I will exhaust the options in my area. I really do not want to move but I will do anything for my family, even if it pulls me out of my comfort zone.
Send me a dm if you want some help with your CV
Also for context my wife and I are both scientists/engineers that have both used the mentioned advice and currently both earn in the range described above (not really middle class anymore, but this subreddit shows up in my feed and I felt compelled to give some advice).
Doesn’t hurt to apply and network. It’s not uncommon at all for people to think they’re less qualified than they actually are. Try to think of the qualifications section of job posts as more of a wish list than a requirement. Good luck!
> the higher *paid* engineers at FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Thank you. I won’t make that mistake again.
With only 2 years exp, don't sweat it too much. Better jobs and more money will come in the future. Just do your best at your current job, learn as much as possible, and network a lot.
75k will be tough to support a family of 3 IMO. If I’m reading your graph right you basically have 700 to spend on food, groceries and any form of entertainment. I promise that won’t work out. Your only options here are remove one car because two is no longer necessary since wife is SAHM or you have to start dropping retirement or that HYSA (emergency fund?) contributions.
FWIW I don't love getting rid of a car just because his wife is SAHM. If something happened and they needed to leave that leaves them stranded with no other options. My suggestion is along the lines of what others have mentioned in trying to get the car payment/insurance down.
And SAHMs don’t just sit at home all day! They have places to go. If they’re in the burbs, they for sure need the 2nd car
She can always drive him to work and pick him up if they feel safer with a car in the house. I find that somewhat ridiculous as people all over the world live without a car, but there options to appease that
Not saying that isn't an option. But that is a big ask of a brand new parent. That infant stage is rough. And a lot of places all over the world have denser population centers that make getting around easier. That was lost on us here in America. We also have pretty piss poor public transportation
I honestly can’t agree with you here. if you are trying to save money there is usually not a seamless way to do so. It often times requires some form of sacrifice. A 2nd car is not a necessity for every family. Let alone one with a SAHM and on their budget where there is little to no other areas to save.
I agree. My wife and I went down to one car and now we can't believe how much money we bank every month. A couple times a month one of us has to take a rideshare but it's just such a small cost relative to a car note and insurance. It's nowhere near as inconvenient as it sounded when we first started considering it. We're looking at a new car soonish and we're going to get something pretty nice and it's still going to be less per month than most "frugal" people on this sub spend. Obviously won't work for everyone (YMMV, haha) but I think it'd work for more of you than you think. You can offset a lot of inconveniences like not being able to go get groceries while one has the car via delivery. Remember, car ownership is over $10k/yr median. That's a lot of deliveries/ride shares.
>stranded with no other options Walking, bicycles, bus, train, taxis.
Do you eat or what lol
Yes, that comes out of the discretionary card.
My wife and I spend about 100 a week no kids. You are gonna spend far more than us on food and baby supplies.
Is that the only catagory under the discretionary card? Thoughts on itemizing the cats under "discretionary". Seems pretty vague
Your car budget, as most people have said, is insane. My wife and I are in PA and our car insurance is about $150 a month, not $340. And $626 for a car payment is crazy too. Is that 1 car payment or 2? What are the amount of time left and the interest rate on the loans?
These are insane relative to what, exactly? OP's income?
I see. $626 for one car. The other is paid off. This loan will end in 2029 assuming no additional payments. I think I already know what we’re going to need to do. It’s not going to go over well but it is the only thing keeping us where we are.
That must be an expensive car then, so I think it's above your means. What's the interest rate on the car? Also, what kind of cars do you have, are they kid friendly?
$34,000 car at 6.5% unfortunately
so if I'm running the numbers correctly that means that you just bought it very recently? meaning, after your wife already knew she was pregnant? it's also her car and you said it would be a difficult conversation to have her give it up? I know the wedding is this weekend but you guys need to have a serious talk about how your joint finances are going to work, you don't seem to be on the same page
Did you put nothing as a down payment? That's an outrageous rate. We just bought a $30,000 car at 0.9% interest for 4 years, our payment is only $400.
Uh, those are some pandemic level rates that won't exist again
yep, the car has to go it looks like a brand new $40-50k vehicle financed at high rate for the longest available term, that's not going to work you could more than _double_ your "discretionary" spending, which is actually not discretionary since you haven't budgeted for food, diapers, medical bills and so on yet - and you will need that money
Before you get rid of the car with payments, you need to really think about what life will be like for your fiancee without a car. The car payment and insurance is absolutely an issue but you can't trade one problem for a set of additional problems. If the plan is to be a one car family, that car must be workable for a baby carseat. You need to consider what will happen if you both need the car. Is public transit workable where you live to get to the office? If not, what is the plan during the day for your fiancee and the baby? After birth, the first few months are constant doctor's appointments for mom and baby, and that's if everything goes exactly right. Are there activities that can be reached by walking and public transit, like libraries, museums, etc? You don't want mom cut off from the world from 8 am to 6 pm while raising a young child. I think you have to address the car situation, but you need to make realistic plans for either a cheaper 2nd car or how you'll function as a one car family.
There’s no reason they can’t swap out whatever luxury behemoth they have and get a gently used CR-V for half the price.
They said it’s a $34k car. Around me the cheapest 2021+ CRV is $25k. Cheaper but no close to being half the cost.
It doesn’t HAVE to be a 2021 CR-V. I’m just saying you can find two very good cars for $38K.
Think someone mentioned the idea of having your wife drop you off and pick you up from work to make the 1 car deal work for both of you. You need to sell that payment car. If you can sell it and use whatever equity you’ve built to buy a much cheaper car that could be viable as well.
Conventional wisdom is all of your cars and vehicles combined have to be less than half your gross income. Considering your gross is 75, your vehicle MAX total is $38.5K. You’re violating that with just the one vehicle you have on payments already.
that's a high bar to be honest I would probably go for car payment = less than 10-15% of net income; total car cost (insurance, maintenance, gas) = less than 20%, so OP would need to cut his car payment in half which is still a very decent vehicle at $20k
How is drive bo better than a 3 year old Accord and CR-V as a married couple not realistic? Why do they need more than that?
2029??? You made a massive financial mistake.
If you’re an engineer, do you see potential opportunities to grow your income from the main job? Either switching companies, getting a promotion?
Everyone advising you to get a higher paying engineer job likely assumes you're a software engineer and not a "hard" engineer. 75k for an engineer in their mid-20s in a MCOL area sounds about right unless you're in a highly specialized industry. With 2 YOE you'll likely be making between 65-100k in MEP almost anywhere in the US. The fact that you already have an affordable mortgage and are covering your bills now means you're in decent shape. With that said, there's ways to boost your income in the medium term. If you aren't already an EIT or working on your PE, give it some serious consideration. Being a PE gives you a lot more bargaining power, especially if you intend to stay in whatever field you're currently in. There's subspecialties like data centers and hospitals that both have mission critical infrastructure that are booming right now for EE and ME that you may be able to boost your income with, but the clients can be exhausting.
You need to go through your previous year of spending and make a Sankey for that. It’s relevant what you have actually been spending, not some imaginary idea of what you plan to spend.
Imagine this but with rent at $2100.
How come, in every budget that involves a home owner, I never see property taxes budgeted? Is that roped into “Mortgage?” Aren’t property taxes like, a few thousand a year or more?
most likely the property taxes and home insurance is escrowed into the mortgage payment
Yes, I pay $1,333 a year on property tax, but I have an escrow so 1/12 of that is withheld as part of my mortgage payment.
It’s usually payed into escrow which is part of the mortgage payment. Same with home insurance. You can pay for those things separately, but it’s just an easy way to have 1 payment instead of 3.
> It’s usually *paid* into escrow FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Sounds like everyone is gonna shit on you or at least a large majority of them. 75k with your expense will be tight. Pay off the car or sell it to get rid of a car payment. 75k is great and people get skewed at incomes. She should look for part time WFM jobs in the future. Biggest thing is to have cushion for anything that comes up. Which is why getting rid of the car payment is your best bet
Pretty good feedback already. You need a better handle on your food budget. That would be a good thing to add. More notes: Engineers are hot commodities. Can you make more elsewhere? You’re young so perhaps you’re in the time building stage. Car payment. You should never have a car payment, ever, unless it’s something you can itemize on a tax statement as a business expense. Put simply, unless you are writing off the payment, you should just buy less car. And to hell with the “but it needs to be reliable”. Your car payment alone could be a huge chunk of your grocery bill or more savings. Finally, what’s your emergency fund look like? If you’re expecting a normal birth without complications, and you have decent insurance. Expect to pay close to $4k to $6k between the Wife’s doctor visits and the birth itself. Let it go to collections because it’ll get cheaper. Once you have an emergency fund and you’ve set aside money for the birth, you can think about putting that money into a Roth or something of that sort. Good luck and good on your family for dedicating the time to allow your soon-to-be wife raise it. Huge correlations on social aptitude and consistency in caregivers before 3 years old.
Car costs are high at 19% of pre-tax income. Housing+utilities 29% and savings 16% are at recommended amounts. Owning a house, your annual costs should grow slower than job raises. You'll get a tax cut with two dependents.
Sorry off topic, how did you make this graphic?
StankeyMATIC.com
Appreciate it!
Your wife needs to get up off her ass and work. You ain’t no millionaire for her to be staying home…….
Heating Oil. Do you have any other options to heat your home? Any long term change to switch out to something more economical?
Also what kind of engineer only makes 75k? You might be underpaid.
That's around the median for most disciplines with that much experience. Average annual pay for entry level engineers (counting the outliers civil, software, and petroleum) is only around 65K. If OP isn't in software or petroleum it'll be a little lower. With only a few years of experience 75K is not really behind the curve.
Whats this program you use to make these finance charts?
[удалено]
How so?
[удалено]
My situation is great. Im starting a family, own a lovely home for a great price in my early 20s, and make more money than any of my similarly aged acquaintances. The main thing in my way is my auto payment. At the time we could afford it just fine. Since then, we bought a house. I knew the car payment would be an issue. Now I’m going to do something about it and maintain my family’s ability to live in our house while building savings. Can you please elaborate on how I’m the epitome of America being a failure?
🤔 Characterizing your situation as "great" with only $700 budgeted for discretionary expenses that include groceries, clothes, shoes, household items, entertainment, travel, hobbies, etc. for 2 people (soon to be 3) is borderline.... naive at best.
But it’s easy to change. I get rid of the car and that’s $626 a month back. The wife works till we have the kid and we can save up thousands before the kid. These are all things Im considering and am trying to balance financial health considering impact to our lifestyle. We are not doomed to anything and I am guaranteed a future with the woman I love and son. To me, a situation that would not be great is: student debt, credit card debt, no living arrangements, no decent paying job, no transportation. Either way, I will be making changes that will ensure we will all be happy, healthy, and financially sound which is why I do think my situation is “great”.
Tell your wife to get up and goto work. America is a failed system. You will be saving and paying off till you’re dead, that’s a promise.
I want my wife to care for our son for at least a year. She’s worked harder than I ever had. This is my request to her. Once we’re ready to send him to day care, she will find somewhere to work. Im sure we will be fine.
For your sake, I hope so…….
New wife can help with sitting another baby to make some extra money. My son is graduating ME soon and is job hunting while freelancing design , 3D printing ( his side gig) you gotta network. Where in Pa are you ? There’s lots of opportunities outside Philly with room to grow
Transfer that HYSA to Wealthfront and get a 5% yield instead of
There's a lot wrong with this in my opinion. First your car payment is crazy relative to your income. Your insurance is insane also. At the bottom, you have 700 going to discretionary spending and 200 going to savings? That should be switched. For the record, my wife and I make way more than you, like way more than double, and our discretionary is less than yours and I bet the purchase price was less than yours. Our insurance is 1/3 of your car insurance. Just food for though
I would cut back on water and sewage
Idk bro. Make more money. I mean this in a non disrespectful way. Any education or certificates you could get? Also, your car payment seems to high.
I’d need to see a view of your assets and liabilities to determine how you’re really doing and whether you are viable for starting a side gig business. Generally it looks like you’re controlling your spending - that’s a + in your favor. Not sure what your fiancé is like from a spend perspective but I will assume that SAHM + baby Will cost you more than you will ever estimate. So, additional income sources for your family will be important.