S/O: Affluence

[Guest]

We are retired but we have income so I voted that way--with income.

 

Because we own our house (and have for 25 years) we are better off than the income slider indicates. Also, we would live better (more affluently) in all but about 5 other cities and couldn't afford to live here at all on our income if we didn't own our house. Rent for what we live in would use up half our income.

 

So many variables!

[gardenmom5]

it also is very very affected by the col where you live.

[maize]

The big cities on both coasts have high COL. I know many dual income families in my area earning >$250k gross and some are homeschooling through mostly outsourced classes. For example one of my kids former science lab class cost $30/hr and some of the mothers make more than that as a consultant so they drop their children off to class, meet their clients and then pick up their children after the three hour lab class. If I had been more industrious, I could have tutored a child or siblings for two hours at the library near the class while one of my kids was at his class and my other kid at a nearby library table reading and that would offset most or all of the cost.

 

ETA:

I pay my kids Chinese tutor $60/hr (discounted) for both kids, it would be $50/hr for one child.

 

 

Do you think there is something about those higher income levels that makes homeschooling more possible/appealing? I guess what you are saying is that some of these families are essentially choosing outsourced homeschool classes as a sort of pick-and-choose private schooling?

 

(as an aside:

 

The majority of people living in and around those big coastal cities are not making six figures.

 

When our older children were young we were in the Los Angeles area with income averaging around $50,000--some. years less. )

[8circles]

Well, since I commented in the other thread that I lived in an affluent area where the median household income in our school district is $82,000, I would strongly disagree that affluent means $450,000+. 

 

 

[Guest]

Well, since I commented in the other thread that I lived in an affluent area where the median household income in our school district is $82,000, I would strongly disagree that affluent means $450,000+.

Yeah. "Rich" seems more appropriate. :0)

[Guest]

Family size and cost of living make a difference. We are in the top 1/6th of incomes nationally but are in the middle for our location, and have a much larger than average family size. Nobody in America, looking at our home or accounts, would ever rank us above middle class. Maybe even lower middle class. But a similar income and half the kids or a cheaper area would be a different story. The numbers alone don't tell you a whole lot.

[luuknam]

Yeah. "Rich" seems more appropriate. :0)

 

 

Aren't they pretty much synonyms though?

 

adjective: affluent

1. 1. 

   (especially of a group or area) having a great deal of money; wealthy.

   "the affluent societies of the western world"

   synonyms: wealthy, rich, prosperous, well off, moneyed, well-to-do

[amy g.]

We have had threads here before about how different people define being comfotable financially or being upper middle class.

 

There are way too many complicating factors to distill the definition to annual gross income.

 

I said on the other thread that I consider us affluent. We drift between 2% and 1% depending on bonuses and stock prices.

 

I don't think we are affluent during the 1% years but not during the 2% years. At a certain income level, it just becomes obnoxious to argue that you aren't really well off because of living in a high cost of living area or because of multiple kids in college.

Edited April 11, 2017 by amy g.

[Guest]

I found this calculator interesting as it adjusts for family size and location. It calculates what you would need to make to live a modest but comfortable lifestyle based on your family size and the COL where you live. I feel that we live a fairly comfortable life although we do have to be careful and things do get tight sometimes. We make a decent amount below the amount it gives us. We also spend less in every category so we make it work. If we did make that much I still wouldn't consider us wealthy but we would be able to relax a bit.

 

http://www.epi.org/resources/budget/

 

 

The chart in the OP doesn't quite seem right to me. Our income certainly doesn't put us in the "top" of anything in our HCOL, High tax area.

This was better but didn't have enough slots for children. Still, by this calculator we can barely make their annual budget if I'm doing the math for the additional people, which is a lot closer to accurate. Taking into account location costs and family size is huge.

[Guest]

True, but incomes aren't based on family size. A teacher with 10 kids makes the same as a teacher with no kids.

Well, except for the fact that life situation drive economic behavior. A teacher with no kids isn't going to necessarily be the one seeking out a side hustle, moving to ancheaper cost of living area, or needing their spouse to work. They might even have to change careers to keep life feasible.

 

All things are not equal by wage earner and job, regardless of dependents.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Arctic Mama

[luuknam]

Family size and cost of living make a difference. We are in the top 1/6th of incomes nationally but are in the middle for our location, and have a much larger than average family size. Nobody in America, looking at our home or accounts, would ever rank us above middle class. Maybe even lower middle class. But a similar income and half the kids or a cheaper area would be a different story. The numbers alone don't tell you a whole lot.

 

 

"Should we build a home from our savings, or should we get a small ($2k/month) mortgage for 15 years to build our dream home?" is not a lower middle class question. 

 

ETA: not saying you're rich, just that lower middle class is a bit of a stretch. 

Edited April 11, 2017 by luuknam

[luuknam]

This was better but didn't have enough slots for children. Still, by this calculator we can barely make their annual budget if I'm doing the math for the additional people, which is a lot closer to accurate. Taking into account location costs and family size is huge.

 

 

Their annual budget is insane though - we're well under what they think we should make, but they also think we should spend $24k/year on child care. No way no how. 

 

ETA: The daycare down the road charges iirc only $13,500/year for 2 kids full time (5 days a week from 6am-6pm), if you take advantage of the discount to pay the entire month in full before the month starts (we had our youngest in it 1-2 days a week when he was a toddler), not to mention that a family with 2 kids is going to have both of them in daycare for only a very small time period - for the most part, you get free daycare through the public schools (not a clue how much after school care costs, but it's got to be less than full time daycare, and is only necessary until the kid is old enough to be a latch key kid, so, until mid-late elementary).

Edited April 11, 2017 by luuknam

[maize]

 

Aren't they pretty much synonyms though?

 

adjective: affluent

•  

  1.

   

  (especially of a group or area) having a great deal of money; wealthy.

  "the affluent societies of the western world"

  synonyms: wealthy, rich, prosperous, well off, moneyed, well-to-do

That mentions groups....

 

As a group, Americans are affluent. And that includes pretty much everyone on this board.

 

Which to my mind says more about the misery and destitution in much of the world than it does about us, though I have opinions too on the way we corporately benefit from misery in other parts of the world.

 

That's a different discussion though.

[Arcadia]

Do you think there is something about those higher income levels that makes homeschooling more possible/appealing? I guess what you are saying is that some of these families are essentially choosing outsourced homeschool classes as a sort of pick-and-choose private schooling?

When we moved here in 2005, H1B already had a minimum of $65k gross per annum and my husband was offered slightly higher. K-5 schools cost from $12k-36k per annum the year my oldest entered kindergarten in 2009. For $12k per annum, my husband figured we could hire tutors for things we don't want to teach (Chinese) or couldn't teach (German, cello, flute, art, essay) and get better quality teachers/tutors with smaller student to teacher ratio.

 

With private schools you hope for the best teachers but you have no say in teacher hiring. The most we had spent per year so far would be about $15k for both kids including music and art instruction (excluding music instrument and art materials costs) but excluding sports (as my kids didn't do any).

My public schools does have recreational basketball, tennis and track as well as school band and choir. When my kids did recreational gym (6 kids per instructor) and swimming (3 kids per instructor), it adds about $1k per year. So less than $20k per annum for two kids which makes it cheaper than the most affordable private k-5 school. Of course if I get a job that requires me to be desk bound during office hours, then a private school with after school care provided would be the most feasible choice. A dual income family friend of mine in San Jose works 3 days from home while her husband works two days from home so on the rare occasion both have to be in their offices, they hire a babysitter to bring their kids to activities.

[shawthorne44]

I would think that since homeschooling families usually have one parent earning no or limited income, that would push the numbers down.  I could see the families starting out on the higher end because the barrier to homeschooling is high when two incomes are NEEDED.  But, then you drop to mostly only one parent working, then the family income would take a big hit.  

[Carol in Cal.]

"Should we build a home from our savings, or should we get a small ($2k/month) mortgage for 15 years to build our dream home?" is not a lower middle class question. 

 

ETA: not saying you're rich, just that lower middle class is a bit of a stretch. 

That is an inconceivably small mortgage for a 'dream home' around here.

When I saw that I was so happy for AM that so little money could buy her so much.

FWIW.

[luuknam]

That is an inconceivably small mortgage for a 'dream home' around here.

When I saw that I was so happy for AM that so little money could buy her so much.

FWIW.

 

 

Yes, it's great for her - I'm not saying she doesn't deserve it or anything. I'm just saying that it's not *lower* middle class. 

 

ETA: one way she's keeping that mortgage 'low' is by having enough money to build a "good enough" house outright, without a mortgage. So, she's talking about much more house than a $2k/month mortgage would get her otherwise.

Edited April 11, 2017 by luuknam

[maize]

Some thoughts sparked by this discussion:

 

The vast majority answering the poll do fall into the top 50% in terms of income. Makes sense--below that level so much energy has to go into just staying afloat. Also, I believe that below that level the percentage of single parent households would be higher. I know we have some devoted and hardy souls making things work in truly difficult circumstances. I greatly admire their devotion and grit.

 

My second thought is just an acknowledgment that a discussion like this between folks at different economic levels is impossible to carry out without risking resentment and jealousy related to the fact that some are so much better off than others. I've been battling that myself this morning and my family is really quite comfortable. Our basic needs and some significant wants are met. Sending hugs to any others feeling a bit emotionally tender while reading the thread.

Edited April 11, 2017 by maize

[Crimson Wife]

"Rich" is different from "affluent" to my mind because the former has to do with assets while the latter has to do with income. A family who spends above their means could be affluent by income but broke rather than rich if they're in debt up the wazoo. And another family could become rich without ever having been affluent through luck (a lot of homeowners who bought decades ago are this way).

[Catwoman]

I'm guessing a part of it is that those of us with a more modest, middle-class income are tired of playing "How rich are you?" when these kinds of posts pop up once a month or so. I wouldn't count on this poll to be an accurate representation of incomes here.

 

:iagree:

 

I'm sure there are many people across all of the categories who didn't bother to respond to the poll. I know I didn't. I didn't respond to the other "affluent" thread, either. I don't want to feel like I'm in competition with anyone about who has more money and who has less. It doesn't matter to me, and let's face it, private poll or not, some people lie, especially when it comes to money.

 

One of the best things about coming to this forum is that you get to talk to people from all different walks of life, not just the people you see every day in your own neighborhood. If there is one thing I was happy to see about the poll results, it's that this forum has members from such a wide variety of income levels, yet for the most part we all try to be nice to each other.

 

(Edited because apparently, Tuesday is Typo Day.)

Edited April 11, 2017 by Catwoman

[regentrude]

Looks like the median WTM family makes about $100k/is roughly at the 25th percentile. 

 

ETA: Not that I think WTM is representative of the average homeschooler.

 

"median of those WTM families who have chosen to answer the poll"

[Guest]

"Should we build a home from our savings, or should we get a small ($2k/month) mortgage for 15 years to build our dream home?" is not a lower middle class question.

 

ETA: not saying you're rich, just that lower middle class is a bit of a stretch.

That's not true at all. We are looking to move from one of the more expensive areas of the country to one that has housing half the price, and we would build with all design and labor fees absorbed into our own work, cutting the cost by over half again. Our income will stay about the same. That is part of the appeal of moving - it takes us from a difficult situation in terms of debt and expenses to one that would allow us to get in front of the ball for the first time in almost a decade.

 

But as it stands we are smack in the middle of incomes for our area with double the people. We live very modestly for our specific town. The in paper numbers versus day to day reality, especially when you contrast DH and his coworkers, is shocking. We are talking can't-buy-convenience-products-and-budget-in-new-shoes territory. We only homeschool comfortably because we are part of a district charter that provides some reimbursement for materials and certain types of instruction.

 

On the house thing my husband thinks I'm dreaming. He is fully expecting to keep our same mortgage size AND have to make budget design choices. To do without any mortgage we would have to move laterally in terms of home size and amenities and go way down in cost, which isn't really tenable since our current dwelling has us under 200 as feet per person of living space and those people are getting bigger every day.

 

This is exactly what I mean where the raw numbers tell almost nothing. For our area and with our situation we are not doing well at all. We either need more money coming in or we *have* to move.

[Guest]

By the first calculator, I am in the bottom 15%.  By the second calculator posted, I make less than 50% of a reasonable annual wage...in a very LCOL, rural area.  If I was back in Los Angeles (using the second calculator), I would be bring home 36% of what I should to live (which is why I moved because 50% vs 36% makes a big difference!)

 

Poor is poor, I guess.  But there are all sorts of ways to distinguish yourself in the other classes: lower-middle vs upper-middle.  Upper vs. affluent.  Sigh, I just need a $40 fence for my chickens that has to wait until July when the budget works out.  :glare: :lol:

[Guest]

That is an inconceivably small mortgage for a 'dream home' around here.

When I saw that I was so happy for AM that so little money could buy her so much.

FWIW.

Thanks Carol :). It's a small mortgage for here as well. Unfortunately DH thinks we will need to maintain the same size mortgage to get what we need, let alone what we want. He doesn't think cutting it down to try and make a smaller monthly payment makes sense because the tradeoffs would be too substantial to make it make sense. I'm just glad we have the option of moving and getting ahead of the debt that's been killing us. Amen to that!

[8circles]

Can you be lower-middle class and afford to build your dream home? Honest question.  I consider our family affluent but never imagined being able to afford anything close to a dream home in this lifetime.

[amy g.]

Agreeing that raw numbers tell you almost nothing.

 

When we have threads about how people define upper middle class, many people agreed that it comes down to having choices.

 

The option to relocate and move to an area with a lower cost of living is indicative of being better off compared to many others in terms of having choices.

[maize]

That's not true at all. We are looking to move from one of the more expensive areas of the country to one that has housing half the price, and we would build with all design and labor fees absorbed into our own work, cutting the cost by over half again. Our income will stay about the same. That is part of the appeal of moving - it takes us from a difficult situation in terms of debt and expenses to one that would allow us to get in front of the ball for the first time in almost a decade.

 

But as it stands we are smack in the middle of incomes for our area with double the people. We live very modestly for our specific town. The in paper numbers versus day to day reality, especially when you contrast DH and his coworkers, is shocking. We are talking can't-buy-convenience-products-and-budget-in-new-shoes territory. We only homeschool comfortably because we are part of a district charter that provides some reimbursement for materials and certain types of instruction.

 

On the house thing my husband thinks I'm dreaming. He is fully expecting to keep our same mortgage size AND have to make budget design choices. To do without any mortgage we would have to move laterally in terms of home size and amenities and go way down in cost, which isn't really tenable since our current dwelling has us under 200 as feet per person of living space and those people are getting bigger every day.

 

This is exactly what I mean where the raw numbers tell almost nothing. For our area and with our situation we are not doing well at all. We either need more money coming in or we *have* to move.

I think you are both right.

 

You have options--more than most people. The idea of getting a quite nice house with a 2k/month, 15 year mortgage and that being not a massive financial stress to the family is a pipe dream for most of the country.

 

Your husband is, I believe, an engineer, and clearly earning a quite decent income. That type of white color, educated, professional earning power puts you well above the median nationally.

 

At the same time, you have a lot of legitimate strains on that income--a high COL area, a large family, lots of medical needs and debt. In other words, there is real financial stress in your life.

 

The options are what make the real difference between truly struggling and being financially comfortable, and I think that by that standard your family and mine both fall into the comfortable (though certainly not wealthy) range.

[Guest]

 

Aren't they pretty much synonyms though?

 

adjective: affluent

•  

  1.

   

   

  (especially of a group or area) having a great deal of money; wealthy.

  "the affluent societies of the western world"

  synonyms: wealthy, rich, prosperous, well off, moneyed, well-to-do

Oh, yeah. Well maybe "Stinking Rich" then. 😉

[Guest]

But that's just it - in our particular town, poor families (with four people) still make 50-70k a year. And we are talking no assets working poor, on multiple type of assistance. It's a different ballgame in some of these areas than others.

 

I'd say we were comfortable a few kids ago. Some days when I'm not looking at the mail pile of bills I still feel pretty comfortable. But honestly? We really have to move.

 

Anyhow, my whole point was that on the scale of incomes it is really meaningless unless you index for location, number of people, etc. On paper we look okay. And in the scope of human history we are positively flush.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Arctic Mama

[luuknam]

On the house thing my husband thinks I'm dreaming. 

 

Okay, fair enough, BTDT. 

 

Can you be lower-middle class and afford to build your dream home? Honest question.  I consider our family affluent but never imagined being able to afford anything close to a dream home in this lifetime.

 

 

I think that really depends on your definition of dream home, and how much of it you and your spouse can do yourselves. If you're near the upper edge of lower middle class (bordering on outright middle class), and somehow got there without student loans and all that kind of stuff, and you're frugal, and you and your spouse can do almost all the construction yourselves, and your definition of 'dream home' is more like a 'nice home' than like a place movie stars live in, then yes, I think it's not impossible at all. 

Edited April 11, 2017 by luuknam

[maize]

But that's just it - in our particular town, poor families (with four people) still make 50-70k a year. And we are talking no assets working poor, on multiple type of assistance. It's a different ballgame in some of these areas than others.

 

I'd say we were comfortable a few kids ago. Some days when I'm not looking at the mail pile of bills I still feel pretty comfortable. But honestly? We really have to move.

And you have the option of moving, and equity from your home that will go towards a new home, and retirement assets tucked away.

 

Those are some of the options I am talking about.

 

We had to move too, from a high COL area where we were stuck in a 2 bedroom apartment (and risking getting kicked out once that 4th baby put us over the occupancy limits!) to one where we could afford a modest home (even on a somewhat reduced income). I do understand.

 

Many of the people in our old area though didn't have the opportunities and options we did, even to move.

Edited April 11, 2017 by maize

[8circles]

 

I think that really depends on your definition of dream home, and how much of it you and your spouse can do yourselves. If you're near the upper edge of lower middle class (bordering on outright middle class), and somehow got there without student loans and all that kind of stuff, and you're frugal, and you and your spouse can do almost all the construction yourselves, and your definition of 'dream home' is more like a 'nice home', then yes, I think it's not impossible at all. 

 

So here are more pieces to the puzzle. People have different expectations for their lives & what feels luxurious to one will be roughing-it to another. I also think that your talents are part of the picture - if you're able to spin wheat into gold then you will be more affluent than someone else, all other factors being equal.

 

I know there are people who would feel impoverished living my lifestyle. And I know other people whose lifestyle would feel very poor to me but they are living the dream.

 

I just think these conversations are impossible. We all wear different perspectacles so will never see the same things.

[ashfern]

This doesn't account for family size. Not a true measure. 

[mom2scouts]

This is interesting. The majority of the homeschoolers I know live in old/very small houses and probably have incomes that don't even come close to $100,000 or more. Most of us have larger than average families and would think we were well off with the incomes being thrown around in these posts. Some of you are talking about mortgage payments higher than our monthly income!

[Twolittleboys]

I didn't vote because perception is so important here. Realistically speaking, we are probably much closer to the bottom than the top earnings wise (though it fluctuates wildly so is hard to tell) but I do feel affluent, bordering on wealthy.

[heartlikealion]

This is interesting. The majority of the homeschoolers I know live in old/very small houses and probably have incomes that don't even come close to $100,000 or more. Most of us have larger than average families and would think we were well off with the incomes being thrown around in these posts. Some of you are talking about mortgage payments higher than our monthly income!

 

I think my jaw visibly dropped when I read how much it costs for private school in Crimson Wife's area (in a similar topic thread). I thought, "I can't even afford the great private school here that is less than 1/3 of that." Obviously the cost of living in our states is different, but I just didn't know some schools cost that much I guess.

 

Definitely a lot of differences in living costs and pay for jobs.

[eternalsummer]

When we were lower middle class (when I considered us lower middle class) there no budgeting for new shoes, there was just buying used ones.  Always.  Certainly there was no building of any house.  We had no assets.

 

Maybe we were actually lower class (poor) instead of lower middle?

[SeaConquest]

I think my jaw visibly dropped when I read how much it costs for private school in Crimson Wife's area (in a similar topic thread). I thought, "I can't even afford the great private school here that is less than 1/3 of that." Obviously the cost of living in our states is different, but I just didn't know some schools cost that much I guess.

 

Definitely a lot of differences in living costs and pay for jobs.

We homeschool because private school for two kids would cost us about 70k/year. We had a budget of 600k to buy a single family home in our area of coastal San Diego. We had 100K to put down, plus a VA home loan. We could get nothing. So, we gave up, and are waiting for the market to cool.

 

Our AGI is very low because my income is not taxable and we own a small business, so many of our expenses can be written off. As a result, the kids qualify for Medi-Cal/Medicaid. I didn't answer the poll because I don't know how to classify us. How is it possible to be able to afford a 600k home (that we couldn't find), yet still qualify for Medi-Cal, and yet, we do. A very average home in our area can easily run a million dollars --one that might still need improvements, have deferred maintenance, etc.

 

My friends recently sold their business for 80 million dollars. They couldn't afford 2k/month in rent a few years ago, but are definitely affluent now. It's always been fun to hang with them, but their lives have dramatically changed because of the money.

 

Eta, when I practiced law, I was making close to 300k/year, but still riddled with debt, and hardly affluent. It was all a house of cards.

Edited April 11, 2017 by SeaConquest

[Arcadia]

I guess what you are saying is that some of these families are essentially choosing outsourced homeschool classes as a sort of pick-and-choose private schooling?

The families I know doing a la carte classes also have less children (1 to 3 kids) and outsourced classes includes after school classes like AoPS online classes, weekday late afternoon (3pm-7pm time slots) music and art classes and also weekend academics (math, science, language) classes. So the outsourced classes are not necessarily homeschool classes.

 

Also if you include those families participating in an independent study program which gets educational funds/stipends to use on approved curriculum and classes as homeschooling, then it really becomes a sort of hybrid private schooling. We can't use ISP stipends to offset private schools' tuition unlike some states which have school vouchers.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Arcadia

[Bluegoat]

But that 1% is such a massive range- I'm having trouble thinking CNN is accurate on that. There are percents of this 1% who do have that level of control. But it's not the guy or gal making 450k a year. I don't think the way they lumped these incomes is helpful. Warren Buffet has zero in common with the person bringing home 450 a year. Not in taxes, not in influence. Not in anything.

 

I giess that is true, but are the people in the 450 range really in the 1%? 

 

I think maybe I would say that people who are affluent probably need to work or did need to, and their kids will likely need to.  As opposed to the really wealthy who could simply stop working and their kids could also choose not to if they were left the money/assets of the parents.

[Crimson Wife]

I think my jaw visibly dropped when I read how much it costs for private school in Crimson Wife's area (in a similar topic thread). I thought, "I can't even afford the great private school here that is less than 1/3 of that." Obviously the cost of living in our states is different, but I just didn't know some schools cost that much I guess.

 

Definitely a lot of differences in living costs and pay for jobs.

 

The private schools here are insanely expensive but have much more demand for places than supply. I could buy a normal car every single year for the same price as 1 year elementary and a luxury vehicle every 2 years for the same price as 2 years of high school.

[AndyJoy]

I know someone who lives in a $850,000 house a few blocks from the beach, just bought (outright) a condo on an island, and leases a $200,000 car and yet doesn't consider himself affluent. He has friends who own mansions on the beach and employ staff, so by comparison he sees himself as not that well-off. At one point he was paying his ex $5,000 a month in alimony while still living in style in a fancy high-rise. That $5,000 doesn't even include the child support he was paying. He owns his own business and works long hours to make it thrive, but I still think he's out of touch with what affluence means to most people.

Edited April 11, 2017 by AndyJoy

[dirty ethel rackham]

Among most homeschoolers I know, we are definitely more well off.  (We live in an affluent town and we are considered paupers here.  It was much more middle class when we moved here 25 years ago.)  Most homeschoolers I know have to budget carefully, but put much more into education than into material things or extras. I know many who live very close to the poverty line.  We are fortunate that I never gave a second thought to how much a book or field trip cost and have been able to take advantage of many educational things for my kids.  But, we don't travel much or nor buy lots of consumer goods.  We can't afford our state universities at full-freight. 

[Crimson Wife]

Just for the craziness, I Googled the tuition for the private high schools in the area:

 

$37,780

$39,375

$39,645

$40,310

 

:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

 

The Roman Catholic girls' school charges $17k. The (Evangelical Protestant) Christian high school charges $11k.

 

[MistyMountain]

It is obvious homeschoolers are more well off then the average. I would include affluence by its definition to include much more the the 1%. I am in one of the areas discussed with a higher cost of with a much lower income being discussed as being needed in the area and we are getting by. Yea it costs more in high income areas but there are people making moderate incomes there or even less there too. Not every one has really high incomes in those area. There is for sure a tendency for those above the median to think of themselves as lower and compare to the people that are higher incomes.

Edited April 11, 2017 by MistyMountain

[Arcadia]

Just for the craziness, I Googled the tuition for the private high schools in the area:

....

The Roman Catholic girls' school charges $17k. The (Evangelical Protestant) Christian high school charges $11k.

That is why my secular neighbors send their kids to catholic high schools. Lots more affordable than the >$30k private secular high schools.

 

ETA:

We found it interesting that Livermore/Pleasanton/Dublin only have Quarry Lane for private high school.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Arcadia

[mom2scouts]

It is obvious homeschoolers are more well off then the average. I would include affluence by its definition to include much more the the 1%. I am in one of the areas discussed with a higher cost of with a much lower income being discussed as being needed in the area and we are getting by. Yea it costs more in high income areas but there are people making moderate incomes there or even less there too. Not every one has really high incomes in those area. There is for sure a tendency for those above the median to think of themselves as lower and compare to the people that are higher incomes.

 

I disagree. Maybe it's true in some areas, but definitely not in my area. We don't have many options for outsourced classes because homeschoolers won't or can't pay much. The affluent families I know have two full time, well paid working professionals. Having one parent at home some or most of the time puts most homeschooling parents around here at a definite financial disadvantage.

[Jean in Newcastle]

??? It is not obvious that homeschoolers are more well off than the average .

 

There are many bare bones homeschoolers who scrimp and save. My guess though is that homeschoolers, like the rest of the population, fall across a spectrum.

 

 

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[DawnM]

I'm guessing a part of it is that those of us with a more modest, middle-class income are tired of playing "How rich are you?" when these kinds of posts pop up once a month or so. I wouldn't count on this poll to be an accurate representation of incomes here.

 

 

 

I based my post on the previous post.  If you don't wish to participate then don't, but don't accuse me of playing a "How rich are you" game because you are reading intent into it and that wasn't my intent.

 

And we are certainly not rich or affluent.

Edited April 11, 2017 by DawnM

[DawnM]

Just for the craziness, I Googled the tuition for the private high schools in the area:

 

$37,780

$39,375

$39,645

$40,310

 

:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

 

The Roman Catholic girls' school charges $17k. The (Evangelical Protestant) Christian high school charges $11k.

 

It is crazy.  The school I would have liked my son with LDs to attend is over 25K.   Our church school is around 12K.  The local prep school is around $25K.

 

We can't afford them.  Not by a long shot.