How much is “enough” if my family of 3 wants to retire early in San Francisco? This post will walk you through how I am currently approaching this very question. This isn’t a hypothetical, this is my life. It will give you a peek into how I think about this question and give you ideas on how you might answer “
Also who is your auto insurance carrier? I also didn't have a car in SF for years, got one recently, and I'm definitely paying a new driver rate. I'd kill for your rates!
As a parent with a daughter in kindergarten, i recommend you doublecheck your expected childcare expenses. I live in the East Bay and was surprised to realize that our outlay at public school would be about $15k/year.
That comes from paying for after care, holiday care (e.g. spring break if you don’t go on a trip), and summer camps (again if you’re not traveling). I know we’ll travel for some of the holiday/summer periods, but either I spend it on childcare or vacation so the money is being spent either way.
I am anticipating ~ $3,600 for the summer (this is 39 days at a camp like Steve and Kate). The other expenses will probably be lumped in to the travel budgets. We are currently in the $600-900 range with after-school care, private swim lessons, dance class.
What do you think I am missing? (I do think this can easily increase as they get older and potentially into more expensive organized activities).
Wow your aftercare sounds like a deal! Ours is $850/month + 5 weeks of “holiday care” @ nearly $500/week (Thanksgiving week, 2 weeks at Christmas, ski week, spring break) + 9 weeks of summer camp at nearly $500/week. That doesn’t count swimming or dance as extracurricular activities.
Effective childcare costs will be lower since we’ll go on some vacations, we’ll take some time off for the holidays, and we hope to pay less for some summer camp sessions. Our city has cheap camp options, but we’re upgrading some weeks for variety. Nothing extravagant.
I just checked the math and it’s a little over $14.7k. I’m rounding up on some things, so maybe it’s really closer $13.5k or $14k. But this is our first year out of preschool and for budgeting I prefer to be pleasantly surprised :)
Each school in the city has drastically different afterschool care options and prices. We got lucky with ours. I even added a supplement in the second half of the year for a digital sound art class.
San Francisco has some great affordable camp options too. Unfortunately I only found out about them a day after sign ups and am #110 on multiple waitlists for weeks!
As someone who is a little older than you, I'd advise adding some additional budget for health care costs down the road. Even with great health insurance, the costs for tests and out-of-network doctors really add up. And we've found that dental care coverage for anything outside basic maintenance is slim. (speaking from a $35K dental bill we paid last year - and that was on Delta Dental's highest offer plan- and the weekly therapist visits my 12 yo needed starting at age 10 and still going. Mental healthcare for kids is impossible to find within the networks.)
Health insurance will be a major one. Everyone in both our families needed glasses too. And the dental! Factored in regular cleanings but should create a general non-covered medical bucket.
I am hoping that by creating enough buffer in discretionary we can take care of these things.
Fun read Andre. I've shifted my preference to rent vs home ownership due to flexibility, lower cost (in VHCOL areas), and removing the pain (and added costs) of home ownership.
Yeah, the flexibility have been a big part too. Even if I bought when I first came to San Francisco, the house I needed then is a very different house than one I need now (and in a very different neighborhood!).
Thanks for sharing this, Andre. Despite your breakdown and detailed explanation, I feel that $140k is way too low to be an "enough number" for a median family in the Bay Area. When you FIRE, you'll need to buy your own Healthcare Insurance ($30k/yr); while I agree that rent is the MINIMUM you pay, and that your rent has been fairly stable, there's a high probability that it'll continue to increase given the housing crisis; if you prepaid for car maintenance then you need to annualize it and can't ignore it just because you paid it earlier - in fact your car maintenance would increase as it gets older and servicing costs increase, and also add gas, insurance, and annual taxes; when you FIRE and have more time then you'll do more things and would need more money to spend on those things e.g. If you increase travel, travel expenses go up, if you increase local travel, car/gas expenses go up, etc. And lastly, you'll need a reasonable buffer(5-10%) in your "Enough Number" just in case!
Lol "Avocados and other food" category. Cheeky, I like.
Also who is your auto insurance carrier? I also didn't have a car in SF for years, got one recently, and I'm definitely paying a new driver rate. I'd kill for your rates!
I shopped around when I bought and progressive had the best rates for me.
I have a very high deductible ($2,500) but higher than normal coverage across other coverage categories.
As a parent with a daughter in kindergarten, i recommend you doublecheck your expected childcare expenses. I live in the East Bay and was surprised to realize that our outlay at public school would be about $15k/year.
That comes from paying for after care, holiday care (e.g. spring break if you don’t go on a trip), and summer camps (again if you’re not traveling). I know we’ll travel for some of the holiday/summer periods, but either I spend it on childcare or vacation so the money is being spent either way.
I am anticipating ~ $3,600 for the summer (this is 39 days at a camp like Steve and Kate). The other expenses will probably be lumped in to the travel budgets. We are currently in the $600-900 range with after-school care, private swim lessons, dance class.
What do you think I am missing? (I do think this can easily increase as they get older and potentially into more expensive organized activities).
Wow your aftercare sounds like a deal! Ours is $850/month + 5 weeks of “holiday care” @ nearly $500/week (Thanksgiving week, 2 weeks at Christmas, ski week, spring break) + 9 weeks of summer camp at nearly $500/week. That doesn’t count swimming or dance as extracurricular activities.
Effective childcare costs will be lower since we’ll go on some vacations, we’ll take some time off for the holidays, and we hope to pay less for some summer camp sessions. Our city has cheap camp options, but we’re upgrading some weeks for variety. Nothing extravagant.
I just checked the math and it’s a little over $14.7k. I’m rounding up on some things, so maybe it’s really closer $13.5k or $14k. But this is our first year out of preschool and for budgeting I prefer to be pleasantly surprised :)
Each school in the city has drastically different afterschool care options and prices. We got lucky with ours. I even added a supplement in the second half of the year for a digital sound art class.
San Francisco has some great affordable camp options too. Unfortunately I only found out about them a day after sign ups and am #110 on multiple waitlists for weeks!
Didn't see anything on taxes. Do you ever end up under paying and have taxes due?
Lots of taxes! I excluded taxes for this exercise.
In the next part I’ll approach this from an income needed standpoint which will look at how much before tax is needed to support this.
As someone who is a little older than you, I'd advise adding some additional budget for health care costs down the road. Even with great health insurance, the costs for tests and out-of-network doctors really add up. And we've found that dental care coverage for anything outside basic maintenance is slim. (speaking from a $35K dental bill we paid last year - and that was on Delta Dental's highest offer plan- and the weekly therapist visits my 12 yo needed starting at age 10 and still going. Mental healthcare for kids is impossible to find within the networks.)
Health insurance will be a major one. Everyone in both our families needed glasses too. And the dental! Factored in regular cleanings but should create a general non-covered medical bucket.
I am hoping that by creating enough buffer in discretionary we can take care of these things.
Thanks a lot for the transparency - super interesting to see the breakdown!
That first reply labeling a tahoe skiier with a 2M house as a striver, ouch 😅
Fun read Andre. I've shifted my preference to rent vs home ownership due to flexibility, lower cost (in VHCOL areas), and removing the pain (and added costs) of home ownership.
Yeah, the flexibility have been a big part too. Even if I bought when I first came to San Francisco, the house I needed then is a very different house than one I need now (and in a very different neighborhood!).
Optionality is one of my favorite words, ties well with flexibility.
I have as well!
Thanks for sharing this, Andre. Despite your breakdown and detailed explanation, I feel that $140k is way too low to be an "enough number" for a median family in the Bay Area. When you FIRE, you'll need to buy your own Healthcare Insurance ($30k/yr); while I agree that rent is the MINIMUM you pay, and that your rent has been fairly stable, there's a high probability that it'll continue to increase given the housing crisis; if you prepaid for car maintenance then you need to annualize it and can't ignore it just because you paid it earlier - in fact your car maintenance would increase as it gets older and servicing costs increase, and also add gas, insurance, and annual taxes; when you FIRE and have more time then you'll do more things and would need more money to spend on those things e.g. If you increase travel, travel expenses go up, if you increase local travel, car/gas expenses go up, etc. And lastly, you'll need a reasonable buffer(5-10%) in your "Enough Number" just in case!
Stay Tuned for Part 2!
There are a few missing pieces:
What if I buy a house?
What if I want to rent a more expensive place?
What about Health Insurance premiums (that we current receive via my partner’s employer).
College Savings
Unexpected Car Issues?
What if I don’t want to fully retire, but just dial things back?
How soon for part 3?! 😬
@Andre, did you ever get to writing Part 2? :)
I just moved to a new rental, literally today. So I might need to refresh my own "enough" in SF again first. I have a draft of part 2 though!
Eagerly waiting!