BigNick
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I've hinted at this in a couple of other posts, but I hope it's worth its own topic.
DW and I can probably afford our FIRE plans (currently: me to ESR mid-2013 at 52½ and do part-time/voluntary stuff, she to continue to 60 in 2017 with me cooking dinner for when she gets home!) and maintain our current spending levels, which will enable us to have a pretty good standard of living (expenses 95K/year, including 20K for house rental).
However, I would feel uneasy about being nicely off if our kids were having to struggle.
DS is 21 and starting his final undergraduate year; he may do two or three more years of higher education, most of which should be finance by grants. DD is 19 and has 3 more years of undergraduate studies to do, but we don't think she will continue in academia.
So by my ESR time, they will both be looking to really start out in real life. We're fairly confident that they will be living away from home, although we have no firm idea even of which country that will be in: we live in France, both are studying in the UK, DS likes the idea of Canada or Germany, DD (who is studying Italian and Russian) will have had a year in Italy and is a globetrotter generally. And of course, between now and 2013, either or both could have acquired a serious S/O and be planning kids faster than we thought.
So, in addition to helping them with the occasional meal out from our regular expenses , it would seem to be "the right thing" to help them with a decent-sized financial contribution. DS is more of a homebody and perhaps we will want to help him with a down payment on an apartment (keeping ownership of that part of the property on our side of the line, especially if it's a joint purchase with a girlfriend). DD talks about starting a business.
It would be great - or at least, it feels from here that it would be great - to have 100-120K each, say, to put into a project for each of them. If I stayed on an extra 2½-3 years, that would be achievable. (I already have to come to terms with the fact that the day I leave, I will be walking away from 80-100K a year in terms of the difference to my end-year net wealth that each extra year at my well-paid, tenured work will make.)
My question, especially for those of you who have stopped working, is: how far do/did you plan to support your kids after they finished college/left home? At what point is "enough" enough? (If I stayed at work until 65, and put the excess above expenditure into a trust fund, I could probably have both children's future retirements provided for!)
DW and I can probably afford our FIRE plans (currently: me to ESR mid-2013 at 52½ and do part-time/voluntary stuff, she to continue to 60 in 2017 with me cooking dinner for when she gets home!) and maintain our current spending levels, which will enable us to have a pretty good standard of living (expenses 95K/year, including 20K for house rental).
However, I would feel uneasy about being nicely off if our kids were having to struggle.
DS is 21 and starting his final undergraduate year; he may do two or three more years of higher education, most of which should be finance by grants. DD is 19 and has 3 more years of undergraduate studies to do, but we don't think she will continue in academia.
So by my ESR time, they will both be looking to really start out in real life. We're fairly confident that they will be living away from home, although we have no firm idea even of which country that will be in: we live in France, both are studying in the UK, DS likes the idea of Canada or Germany, DD (who is studying Italian and Russian) will have had a year in Italy and is a globetrotter generally. And of course, between now and 2013, either or both could have acquired a serious S/O and be planning kids faster than we thought.
So, in addition to helping them with the occasional meal out from our regular expenses , it would seem to be "the right thing" to help them with a decent-sized financial contribution. DS is more of a homebody and perhaps we will want to help him with a down payment on an apartment (keeping ownership of that part of the property on our side of the line, especially if it's a joint purchase with a girlfriend). DD talks about starting a business.
It would be great - or at least, it feels from here that it would be great - to have 100-120K each, say, to put into a project for each of them. If I stayed on an extra 2½-3 years, that would be achievable. (I already have to come to terms with the fact that the day I leave, I will be walking away from 80-100K a year in terms of the difference to my end-year net wealth that each extra year at my well-paid, tenured work will make.)
My question, especially for those of you who have stopped working, is: how far do/did you plan to support your kids after they finished college/left home? At what point is "enough" enough? (If I stayed at work until 65, and put the excess above expenditure into a trust fund, I could probably have both children's future retirements provided for!)