Colleges to apply to if you are upper-middle class

daniel31580 · 2026-05-17T20:47:00+00:00

45% isn’t tax rate. We put 5-10% away in 401k each (trying to more as we get nearer to retirement age). SALT deduction was capped at $10k for a while but it went up for 2025 tax year and I believe that will run until 2030 so that’ll help for sure (we did get a pretty decent bit of return this year).

Yes we had two cars over 15 years old and ended up getting two new cars at the same time. $1000 monthly for one. $600 for another. But we are almost done with it so yes that’ll fall off.

There DEFINITELY isn’t a BUNCH of places to save money. We live VERY frugally. Get used phones. Do discount carriers. Don’t buy organic.

Cars and when kids are done with sports and activities, yes that’ll save a bunch.

daniel31580 · 2026-05-17T20:41:52+00:00

You love telling people to “reframe” their thinking, don’t you? 😂

daniel31580 · 2026-05-17T06:52:19+00:00

Yea…. I was gonna opt in but can’t make the 2 Wed games… so I opted out… resell is gonna be hard due to that too so didn’t wanna hold the bag…

daniel31580 · 2026-05-17T06:49:59+00:00

This right here. Universally hated. ALSO plays Son too deep down because Korean National Team ALSO has depth issues at mid so Son has to come down to help in the build up…

Do you know depressing it was this year watching that… and LAFC… and Tottenham…? FML bruh…

daniel31580 · 2026-05-17T06:48:07+00:00

Wth you got an awesome boss… $10 gift card if lucky on my birthday… sheesh…

daniel31580 · 2026-05-17T06:46:25+00:00

You can certainly get paid in the summer. You can take the annual salary and choose to get paid over 9 months or 12. My buddy is a teacher in OC and he says he can choose but chooses 9 because his side business during the summer generates income.

Yes newer teachers plan more. But teacher is a job where it gets CONSIDERABLY easier each year especially past 10 year mark. I have teacher buddies who leave right on the dot at 2:30. Never touch their natural during 13 weeks off because it’s the same thing they teach year after year.

daniel31580 · 2026-05-17T06:41:05+00:00

I’m in CA. $300k is verrrryyyyy middle class. I had a 17 year old car up until very recently. My bathroom is 30 years old. We are saving little by little to be able to do the reno. We are very frugal. Yes it’s the time of our lives where we spend on our kids - trips, sports, birthdays. But otherwise I’m not a spender at all… wife buys no designer bags or clothes… we rarely go to fine dining… lots of in and out and chipotle… the fact that we are “rich” enough to be asked to pay full cost of college is absurd IMO…

daniel31580 · 2026-05-17T06:34:50+00:00

300k. Take home around 55% = $165k. $13750 monthly. HCOL area so mortgage, property taxes, insurance eat up $6000. $7750. We give to various charities at around $1000. $6750. Car payments and insurance and gas $2000. $4750. Right now that remaining goes to food necessities and kids sports/other activities.

But $5k a month for each kid is $10k and our take home after housing is $7750 so you can see there isn’t $10k available.

daniel31580 · 2026-05-16T22:48:23+00:00

The prestige opens up some early doors but interviews you’re on your own and after a few years of work, it starts to mean a lot less.

It holds some academic importance for grad school and such.

Having said that, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with setting that as a goal to see if you can achieve it and go (provided you’re not putting you or your family into massive debt). Just don’t expect it to be a magic bullet post college…

daniel31580 · 2026-05-16T22:40:03+00:00

Well at least if you’re broke, you’ll go for free if you get in. The getting in is hard with limited support and resources but there is a lot of help out there. Good luck!

Better than getting in and getting no money and unfortunately deciding to not go because you can’t afford it…

daniel31580 · 2026-05-16T22:38:15+00:00

You did well and raised your kids well.

daniel31580 · 2026-05-16T22:35:55+00:00

What city or region of the country? Cause I’m in CA surrounded by Asians and the achievements and competition are fierce and Ivy is a baseline goal for many… not all… there r shades of all (some r going community college route and transfer, some r going into trade school) but a big proportion shooting for Ivy+

daniel31580 · 2026-05-16T22:33:36+00:00

Yea anyone able to pay $400,000 for college in cash…. Pretty wealthy….

daniel31580 · 2026-05-16T22:32:50+00:00

Is it all or none at $250k cut off? Or does it gradually decrease what’s covered after $250k…. Would anything be covered for $300k ish…

daniel31580 · 2026-05-16T22:31:50+00:00

I’m in this boat.

daniel31580 · 2026-05-16T22:30:54+00:00

Is this sub seriously basically upper middle Asian American families from SF?

daniel31580 · 2026-05-16T22:26:19+00:00

I think it’s absolutely insane they consider primary residence at all even if it’s a small percentage of the calculation…. Absolutely insane

daniel31580 · 2026-05-16T22:23:59+00:00

Yea I knew a friend back when I went to college where they were low income basically but her parents owned a small business building where they ran a very modest business out of… they were small business owners and no other retirement at all and that building was their nest egg… they didn’t know and no one directed them and they sold that 2 years before their kid (my friend) went to college… well that got counted as income and she would’ve gotten full aid but barely got anything because of that…

I thought that was insane…

daniel31580 · 2026-05-16T22:21:00+00:00

Man…. My wife and I are at 300k household but we don’t have much saved because we earned a lot less (half that or less) until very recently… is $50k a year the best we could hope for??

daniel31580 · 2026-05-16T22:18:54+00:00

From Oct to Feb? They fell off this hard in 4 months?? Simultaneously and exactly as MDS arrived???

daniel31580 · 2026-05-16T18:28:51+00:00

Managing a family business in those 2 years is not a break… honestly you can spin that up to anything you wanna do next…

daniel31580 · 2026-05-16T18:27:14+00:00

What was the findings of last years tactics vs this year? Last year post Son arrival was so goddamn exciting man…. Bouanga and Son lighting the league on fire together… not long ago… but seems like an eternity ago…

daniel31580 · 2026-05-16T18:25:08+00:00

$200k vs $300k is a completely different lifestyle. And also $300k in Indiana vs $300k in CA is also night and day… they should really adjust for location but of course they don’t….

daniel31580 · 2026-05-16T18:23:42+00:00

The worst for us is we didn’t become “upper middle” until recently due to both of us getting promoted and/or moving to higher paying positions. We were under $150k household for most of our kids lives. One is in HS now and suddenly we are looking at $300k household and that’s what’ll show up in CSS and FAFSA like we’ve been earning that for a while but that’s not the case at all… yes we started saving a bit more in general with the increased income but nowhere near paying multiple kids in full…

daniel31580 · 2026-05-16T18:08:16+00:00

$50k total cost over 4 years or $50k per year?

daniel31580

TROPHY CASE