2 hours ago, Paul852 said:

That is definitely the benefit of being young (ish). I max out my 401k and put at least $1,500 a month in the 529s so this is going to work out great for me.

Damn that's impressive.  I feel like we do a pretty good job with controlling our spending, but we aren't close to maxing out 401ks or putting $1,500 a month away in 529s.  

Things will change in a few years when our daughter isn't in daycare anymore.  But that's still a good 4-5 years away unless our town's pilot public pre-school program turns into a fully established program.  Then we'd only be 3 years away from not needing to pay for daycare anymore. 

1 hour ago, mayanh8 said:

MAGAs have been AWFULLY quiet for some time. 

That's not true.  Greenskeeper is still laughing at the stock market crashing and people dying of Measles.  He's carrying on their spirit well.

3 minutes ago, Phillyterp85 said:

Damn that's impressive.  I feel like we do a pretty good job with controlling our spending, but we aren't close to maxing out 401ks or putting $1,500 a month away in 529s.  

Things will change in a few years when our daughter isn't in daycare anymore.  But that's still a good 4-5 years away unless our town's pilot public pre-school program turns into a fully established program.  Then we'd only be 3 years away from not needing to pay for daycare anymore. 

I am blessed to be able to do that. It's not lost on me. At the same time, we have made a lot of sacrifices (smaller house, old cars, etc). I just hope my children understand when they start their careers with zero debt what was sacrificed for them.

3 minutes ago, Phillyterp85 said:

Damn that's impressive.  I feel like we do a pretty good job with controlling our spending, but we aren't close to maxing out 401ks or putting $1,500 a month away in 529s.  

Things will change in a few years when our daughter isn't in daycare anymore.  But that's still a good 4-5 years away unless our town's pilot public pre-school program turns into a fully established program.  Then we'd only be 3 years away from not needing to pay for daycare anymore. 

You'll be fine.  If she's that young you've got plenty of time on the 529.  By all means, add as much as you can as early as you can.  Especially if (when) dorkus completely crashes the economy. But you're ahead of where a lot of people are at this stage.

1 minute ago, DEagle7 said:

You'll be fine.  If she's that young you've got plenty of time on the 529.  By all means, add as much as you can as early as you can.  Especially if (when) dorkus completely crashes the economy. But you're ahead of where a lot of people are at this stage.

If your child is in daycare and you're putting money in a 529 then you are way ahead of the game. I've tried talking to parents about it in the past and their initial response is "What is a 529?"

https://x.com/atrupar/status/1899506112862265779

the Dow, down more than 600 points again today, has lost 3 percent of its value this week

4 minutes ago, Paul852 said:

I am blessed to be able to do that. It's not lost on me. At the same time, we have made a lot of sacrifices (smaller house, old cars, etc). I just hope my children understand when they start their careers with zero debt what was sacrificed for them.

Yup, absolutely.   We probably stretched ourselves a bit on our house.  Our monthly payment (all in, P&I, taxes, insurance etc...) is about 23% of our take home pay.  But that's on a 30-year mortgage.  I know Dave Ramsey recommends that 25% limit to be for a 15-year mortgage.  So we'd be above that if it was a 15-year mortgage.  But we also got a truly amazing and lucky deal on the house.   The big expense right now is the childcare costs.  Between daycare, after school, and summer camp, we're at $22,000 a year.  I mean that's basically an extra mortgage right there.  So things will certainly be different when we are done paying those costs. 

18 minutes ago, Paul852 said:

If your child is in daycare and you're putting money in a 529 then you are way ahead of the game. I've tried talking to parents about it in the past and their initial response is "What is a 529?"

Yikes....  Yeah with both our kids we started the same way.  Started the 529 with the baptism gift money and then start the monthly contributions. 

5 minutes ago, Phillyterp85 said:

Yup, absolutely.   We probably stretched ourselves a bit on our house.  Our monthly payment (all in, P&I, taxes, insurance etc...) is about 23% of our take home pay.  But that's on a 30-year mortgage.  I know Dave Ramsey recommends that 25% limit to be for a 15-year mortgage.  So we'd be above that if it was a 15-year mortgage.  But we also got a truly amazing and lucky deal on the house.   The big expense right now is the childcare costs.  Between daycare, after school, and summer camp, we're at $22,000 a year.  I mean that's basically an extra mortgage right there.  So things will certainly be different when we are done paying those costs. 

I think I was at over $25k for child care costs at one point. They wonder why fertility in this country is going down.

And yeah, we've just been putting the extra savings to our mortgage (almost done).

2 minutes ago, Paul852 said:

I think I was at over $25k for child care costs at one point. They wonder why fertility in this country is going down.

And the max tax deduction for childcare is for $6k. Laughable. 

Child care costs are the reason I never contributed to a 401K.  Had to wait.

Also never started a 529 until mid year of kid's sophomore year.  About 1/3 of my pay and went aggressive with it and lucked out that it made enough to pay for the 1st year.  Then, kept it going at a lesser amount and helped out with expenses

1 minute ago, toolg said:

And the max tax deduction for childcare is for $6k. Laughable. 

I gave up on the idea that we were going to get benefits for child care long ago.

2 hours ago, Paul852 said:

I am blessed to be able to do that. It's not lost on me. At the same time, we have made a lot of sacrifices (smaller house, old cars, etc). I just hope my children understand when they start their careers with zero debt what was sacrificed for them.

SPOILER ALERT: They won't. Because kids suck.

3 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

SPOILER ALERT: They won't. Because kids suck.

The amount of worry I have over entitlement. Trying to cut that now.

12 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

SPOILER ALERT: They won't. Because kids suck.

Suck it Ishaaneezer Scrooge.  They only suck like 80% of the time. 

 

Links don't post anymore 

27 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

SPOILER ALERT: They won't. Because kids suck.

31 minutes ago, Paul852 said:

The amount of worry I have over entitlement. Trying to cut that now.

Yup.  I forget who gave the graduation speech and and what school it was at, but he said something along the lines of:

’my grandfather walked to work.  My father drove a Camry.  I drive a BMW.  My son will drive a Bentley.  My grandson will be walking again.  Hard times create strong men.  Strong men create good times.  Good times create weak men.  Weak men create hard times’

 

14 minutes ago, DaEagles4Life said:

 

Links don't post anymore 

Going after the 1 true conservative member of Congress who if he had his way, would actually balance the budget.  Hilarious. 

3 hours ago, Paul852 said:

I am blessed to be able to do that. It's not lost on me. At the same time, we have made a lot of sacrifices (smaller house, old cars, etc). I just hope my children understand when they start their careers with zero debt what was sacrificed for them.

Doubtful.

they only know their own reality, not the parents

1 minute ago, ToastJenkins said:

Doubtful.

they only know their own reality, not the parents

You guys are such pessimists 

3 minutes ago, Paul852 said:

You guys are such pessimists 

Or as vikas would call it "not dumb”

4 minutes ago, ToastJenkins said:

Or as vikas would call it "not dumb”

You've convinced me. I'm cashing out the 529s and buying a Porsche.

 

21 minutes ago, Paul852 said:

You've convinced me. I'm cashing out the 529s and buying a Porsche.

Be less poor and have both