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We're struggling with that right now. Private school is just ridiculously expensive and will make it difficult for us to achieve our goals. We want to set our kids up for success, but we also want to retire in such a way that we aren't a financial burden on them either. Plus saving for college and all of that as well. It's a tough decision, and we are leaning towards public school.
Why do you want your kids in private school? Achieving FIRE sooner and getting to be more involved in their life (volunteer at their school, coach their recreational sports team, have evenings free to just hang out with them) is much more enriching than putting them in private school but not being able to spend as much time with them.
Timing matters. If you can FIRE before early elementary, and/or the public schools are solid, this sounds great. But even without private school costs, FIRE in late 30s early 40s may not be possible. And if it’s not, your choice isn’t trading private school for time with your kids, it’s trading private school for retiring at 50 instead of 52, and for me I’d rather give my kids the better education and lifelong connections the private school offers.
One thing I know is there is a lot of family money floating around in some of these situations - grandparents pay the tuition.
It’s attractive for grandparents. Way to support the family in a clear cut way that doesn’t leave any room for squandering money. For example, even helping your kids buy a house- the kids could turn around and get a HELOC or reverse mortgage and lose the house. Hard to do anything like that if you’re paying a school.
Plus it goes to the grandkids and education. Triple win.
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I have one kid in private school. Fortunately, not all will go that path. There is often a tradeoff between housing cost / neighborhood and paying p school tuition. None of my kids started private at kindergarten so trying to manage it. I don’t have any helpful advice beyond make a budget. It is just like any other expense - need to factor it in. Good thing is it goes away so it shouldn’t drive your fire number, just your savings amount during the applicable years. Personally, I think if there is one thing worth spending on after necessities, it is getting your kids on the right path.
Yes 3 I’m private school since pre school. $20k/year for each kid but thankfully we barter the tuition from 7th to 12th with my husband’s company who does work for the school. My husband won’t RE as it’s a family business but I plan to FAT FIRE at 54. I went to public school and it can be great too for many reasons (and our town has strong public schools) but the in person continuity they had during COVID and small classrooms and hands on learning since then have been excellent. I figure if I was going to die with millions it’s worth the investment in their education now and instead ‘die with zero’.
Oh, I bet that makes saving tight. How many kids do you have in private school? If you don’t mind me asking how much are you paying for this private tuition? I guess pursuing fire and doing what’s best for your kids is tricky.
I’m in South Florida and Kindergarten costing $28K and the state actually gives about $8K to offset so about $20K net. $46K def sounds crazy
We’re starting our kids in kindergarten so they stay with a lot of the same classmates throughout. For us it works because it fits into our budget and it’s that simple in our case. I would say if it doesn’t fall into those parameters then things like eating at home, reducing vacation budget, etc. could help.. depending on tuition though it may not help much.
Every dollar counts, right? I think you trim where you can but from the nature of your post it sounds like you are wanting to go the private school route with your kids for their well being over your own. That said, maybe see what it would look like adjusting your timeline a bit. Maybe they start in middle school, maybe you retire 5 years later than planned… I’d use your imagination and model scenarios.
If you ever fall into good fortune with a new job, etc. it’s easy to avoid the lifestyle creep and stay to plan to shrink that FIRE timeline.
I moved schools a lot, left some friends along the way, so that is probably my bias coming out. I wish we lived in a high quality school district (or near one). Unfortunately, we don’t which is why we’ll be going the private route with all of our kiddos.
We are in a LCOL area and everyone that I work sends their kids to private schools too.
I think this is a choice of values that you're making. We put our kids through private school because we felt it was more important than retiring a little earlier. But others may feel differently. It impacts your FIRE goals, certainly.
We have been paying for private school last 4 years. It’s doable depending on HHI and priorities. I went to public schools but I think I would have flourished more at a private school, and I have the financial means now to give my kids the resources and community the private school offers. Everything is a tradeoff, but for us the extra $4K/mo is better spent on peace of mind and solid educational foundation for our kids now, while aiming to coast and maintain our careers at a reduced pace.
5 kids. 4 in grade school ($3k per year) and 1 in high school ($14k). I’m 40 now and have a bit over $1m excluding home equity.
Yes, all in Catholic schools. Grade school is relatively cheap here.
I live in SoCal and pay for an expensive private school. The public schools in my area are rated 9 on great schools. The definition of parents being invested in their kids is on a different level at private schools compared to top tier public schools.
I don’t plan on retiring early. I accepted that I’ll work for a while longer. It is a clear priority for me to do this. This bowl skews towards “why do you need to do private school”. Don’t let people’s bias based on their own experience (never experienced private schools themselves and don’t know the difference) deter you from doing the best for your kids.
We are also in a great school district, Greater Boston area. We are wondering the difference between great public schools and private schools. I grew up in private schools overseas and my takeaway is the private schools gives the kids a starter network. Also many of my classmates married each other. because once they went to university and workforce, they find hard to find same class and trustworthy men… So marry a schoolmate from old private school is a great idea. But I feel it do kill the romance…..
I'm not sure how old your kids are, but if you really want to put them into private school, consider only putting them in for high school. That way they get the educational benefits of a private school and the "esteem" of attending private school on their college applications, but you're not spending an exorbitant amount of money over several years. Only possible issue is that it's harder to get accepted by a private school at 14 than it is at 4.