Trying to find out if anyone has experienced this. My husband (32) makes a base $160k per year and I (30) currently make $80k. I don’t enjoy my job and would like to quit to become a stay at home mom or do an in-home daycare with 1-2 other kids. We have a 1.5 y.o. (2600/month daycare currently) and will probably want another in the next 2-3 years. I know the smart choice is to keep working until we have another but I’m really starting to hate the idea of someone else raising my kid until he goes off to school full time. Some details on our situation:
Our home value is approximately 750k with 487k @ 6.625% left on the mortgage. We have 1 car that is paid off and relatively new (2022).
Our savings is:
401k+403b = 350k
Savings = 75k
Our rough monthly budget before any HEALTH INSURANCE, personal care, clothing, home improvements, or maintenance is:
PITI
4000
Utilities
400
Car insur. + Gas + main.
385
Travel/hobbies/gifts
750
Groceries + dining out
1000
Life insurance
60
Total monthly expenses:
6535
Husband’s current take home after taxes is 6400/month and he saves 22k/year in 401k+HSA. He does typically get a sizable bonus but I would like to exclude this because of the unpredictability of the market.
A couple questions: 1) How much might his take home change if we change to married filing jointly withholding?
2) How much would we expect health insurance to be for a family of 3 in Philadelphia, PA? (Because of his income/bonuses, we won’t qualify for any subsidies.)
3)Does it seem feasible for me to stay home for a few years? (Assuming I could make maybe $500-1500 per month doing the home daycare thing.)
Any insight/advice is welcome.
Going from 2 to 1 “income”
byu/PumpkinEatrr inpersonalfinance
Posted by PumpkinEatrr
1 Comment
> How much might his take home change if we change to married filing jointly withholding?
…Why are you not filing MFJ currently? It is almost always better to do that over MFS.
> How much would we expect health insurance to be for a family of 3 in Philadelphia, PA?
Is health insurance provided by his employer? If so, that is something that you would have to check on your own.
> Does it seem feasible for me to stay home for a few years?
Well, you said that his take home before bonus is $6,400/month, and that your expenses are $6,535, and that wasn’t even inclusive of other items, so the math doesn’t math. You would have to make some lifestyle changes and/or reduce retirement contributions.