Can you raise a family on one income?

https://www.econlib.org/can-you-raise-a-family-on-one-income-ready/

by clircle • 4 years ago

16 25 4 years ago

h2odragon• 4 years ago

If you're willing to accept a lower standard of living, you can raise a family on a quite modest income. Do we really need TVs and smartphones and hot water? Not to live, but they're widely valued for good reasons.

VBprogrammer• 4 years ago

Why do smartphones make this list. I never understand it. The utility value of a smartphone is enormous compared to the cost. I'm sure you can buy a reasonably decent android phone for £100.

purpleflame1257• 4 years ago

Indeed. In many ways smartphones are the great global equalizer. In many places without steady electricity or running water smartphones are still there.

grecy• 4 years ago

The better question is why do TVs make the list.

I feel quite strongly they actually make life worse, not better, so they're a net negative.

dontlaugh• 4 years ago

None of those things are expensive. Rents and mortgages are.

linguae• 4 years ago

That’s true, but I see where the original poster is coming from. Having grown up in a low-income household where every dime mattered, we couldn’t afford cable TV, and we didn’t have cell phones until 2004. The costs of cable/satellite TV subscriptions and data plans can add up.

I’m a single man who works in Silicon Valley as a researcher and make an upper-middle class salary by national standards. I spend $80 per month for my cable Internet connection, $95 per month on my cell phone plan, and roughly $20 total on subscriptions such as YouTube Premium and Crunchyroll. Yes, cutting these subscriptions won’t help me much with saving for the six-figure down payments needed to buy a home in Silicon Valley, which I’ve resigned myself to never being able to afford unless I win the “startup lottery” or become an executive. However, the ~$200/mo I spend on subscriptions could go a long way toward feeding and clothing kids, especially if money is tight after rent and utilities.

janef0421• 4 years ago

Abstractly? No, we don't. But we do need entertainment and leisure, and we do need to communicate with each other. In the modern age, those essential needs are most practically met by using advanced digital technologies, and not having them would result in a deficiency that would negatively affect one's sense of happiness.

1123581321• 4 years ago

Phone service (MVNOs, family plans) and hot water (heat pumps, Pex installs) are getting cheaper, too. TVs will as well, once they reach the size of typical living room walls. :)

alsoicode• 4 years ago

It's not easy, and there are trade offs, but we did. We have two kids out of the house. One on their own, the other will be a senior in college next year. We have a younger child in 5th grade that we home school.

We felt it was better for the kids to have one parent at home versus sending them to day care and spending a ton of money on that. It just wasn't worth what the take-home was after paying for that.

MuffinFlavored2• 4 years ago

What would you say the lifetime cost of raising your two children conception -> college is roughly?

https://business.time.com/2009/09/18/1-1-million-cost-to-rai...

Article from 2009 says $1.1m

When you add it all up, it’s not uncommon for a single child to cost a normal, middle-class family something like $1.1 million, from birth through the undergrad years.

toomuchtodo• 4 years ago

Brookings says it’s about $310k per child for a family with 2 children, without including daycare or higher ed costs [1]. US median lifetime income is roughly $1.65 million [2]. Daycare averages somewhere between $10k-$15k/year per child [3]. In state public school tuition is ~$100k for 4 years [4]. Median sales price of a house is ~$425k [5]. Total cost of that house with mortgage interest and taxes over 30 years is roughly double that.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33879844 (courtesy u/lotsofpulp)

[2] https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/1...

[3] https://www.americanprogress.org/article/understanding-true-...

[4] https://educationdata.org/average-in-state-vs-out-of-state-t...

[5] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS

culopatin• 4 years ago

That’s 50k a year from birth to 22, I don’t need to explain how this doesn’t make sense

alexfromapex• 4 years ago

This is a very strange article or post or what have you. It poses a question, answers it with a single word, and then adds "A few comments". The argument is not very cohesive and leaves me with lots of questions.