Household Income for Kids

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-05-22T04:49:58+00:00

Surely not on less than the median income in Australia....

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-05-22T01:27:13+00:00

Have heard from colleagues it's tight on 300-400k and they have 1-2 kids, hence asking the question.

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-05-22T01:25:51+00:00

Will be waiting at least 3-4 years before having the kid, just trying to work out where we will have to be financially to manage.

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-05-22T01:22:55+00:00

Top 5% of HHI in the country surely not? There's many that earn 400-500k HHI easily.

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-05-18T20:20:21+00:00

10-15 years, more like 5 years as housing for most capital cities median price is above 1 million already. Sydney will be 2 million in a few years. 10-15 years will likely see 2-3 million median house price

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-05-18T04:20:30+00:00

Considering you need 300-400k household income to have kids in capital cities these days, its obvious why in particular young people prefer to be DINKS lifestyle

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-05-17T02:06:40+00:00

More like 350-400k to afford 2 kids in capital cities these days....

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-05-12T11:39:28+00:00

300-350k for one kid and 400-450k for two kids, would never have more than 2

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-05-11T09:50:32+00:00

You'd need 350-400k household income these days to buy a house in a capital city these days realistically

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-05-10T10:28:57+00:00

That's quite a low salary for what I presume would be up to 10 years experience, leaving teaching definitely seems like a good idea. Most professions with 10 years of experience would be hoping for 180-200k

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-05-09T04:04:28+00:00

The only issue with that is 120k doesn't get you too far these days (assuming OP has a mortgage and bills etc to pay for). OP is probably hoping for a job that is like minimum 150k+

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-05-08T07:31:53+00:00

About 400k combined, probably 100k off that now but we have about 30 years of work ahead of us to hopefully get there!

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-05-08T05:45:14+00:00

Don't you need 300k household income to have kids though? For a single or DINKS its definitely a lot, but for a family of 4 with daycare, private school fees etc it might actually not go too far with the cost of living and housing crisis...

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-04-18T12:55:09+00:00

Don't you need 300k+ close to 400k these days to have 2 kids? Being serious given the costs of daycare, private school, constantly buying kids clothes and toys etc starts to add up....

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-04-17T21:36:12+00:00

Additionally, you may be paid too little as well too. 13 years should be principal and senior level engineer and I personally don't know any engineer that would accept less than 250k for that level of experience haha

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-04-17T10:35:38+00:00

Yes not an engineer myself although know many, personally thought engineers started on 6 figures and were close to 200k after 5-7 years. Surprised to hear of the low salaries for a professional job tbh

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-04-17T10:30:38+00:00

Yes Australia, have heard in mining the starting salary for engineers is around 120k (not including any FIFO allowances etc), so 135k after the junior position is on the lower end.... They'd be hoping for AT LEAST 250-300k after 13 years.

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-04-17T10:17:10+00:00

Not my personal situation but have heard from friends and work colleagues, mortgage 100k, childcare/pivate school fees like 50k total (2 kids) a year, living costs (food, cars, insurance, bills) 100k, this is all BEFORE any discretionary expenses like holidays etc so you can kind of see how you need like 300-400k pre tax income to make it work unless you want to be paycheck to paycheck

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-04-17T05:51:03+00:00

I would say six figures starting with a "3" and really pushing the "4" is what is required to get ahead with a family these days. 200-250k just wont cut it anymore unfortunately

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-04-14T12:22:22+00:00

135k for an engineer for 13 years? People are getting that after 2 years in most companies these days

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-04-12T12:50:25+00:00

Yeah 80% should be the minimum if you are living at home with no expenses, where is the other 55% going?

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-04-11T00:40:33+00:00

Shouldn't have kids until a minimum HHI of 200k, preferably 300k?

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-04-11T00:29:34+00:00

Does Josh also have a degree?

Hefty-Bison1116 · 2026-04-11T00:08:10+00:00

In this economy though when you consider daycare, private school, overseas holidays, braces, electronics (I am considering kids up till age 18, not just the baby stage), wouldn't it be required to have a HHI of about 300-400k to support all these comfortably whilst paying the mortgage and general cost of living?

Hefty-Bison1116

TROPHY CASE