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Wednesday, 10 December 2008
Dave Sez to at-home dad.. be a man and go back to work
Topic: Media

Syndicated columnist Dave Ramsey may be a good financial advisor, but when it comes to family advice you may want to stay away.

Here's the Q&A I came across today that should piss off 3 month old babies everywhere.

 

Q, I bring home $2,800 a month, and my husband stays home with our two daughters – one 3, the other 3 months. He’s healthy and able, but he won’t work because he thinks he can’t make enough money to cover the cost of daycare. Our rent is $1,000 a month, and our other bills add up to about $2,000 a month. What do you think about this, and when is it OK to avoid daycare expenses by not working? 

A. I’m an old-school guy, a crusty old dinosaur about some things. I grew up in a generation where a guy who did this kind of thing was called a wuss, or worse; not because he’s staying home with the kids, but because he’s staying at home while you guys can’t pay the bills!

I’m all about family togetherness, and with spending as much time with your children as possible, and I don’t have a problem with guys being stay-at-home dads as long as the family is in agreement and can afford to do that kind of thing. But if you’re just scraping by, or can’t meet your financial obligations, which seems to be true with you guys, that’s a different story.

This guy needs to get off his butt, fulfill his responsibilities as a man and a husband, and find a way to start taking care of his family!    — Dave



   Come on Dave, you havent been checking your math. Daycare alone for two kids one being a 3 month old comes pretty close to a weeks salary.  In fact at-home dad David Chapa of Downers Grove, ILL did all the dirty work on this topic and came up with these figures that I used in my book.

"Put together a simple spreadsheet. Daycare for two kids, nine hours a day at, what, $10 an hour?  That’s $450 a week, times, say 50 weeks in a work year. That amounted to  $22,500. OK, now you need a more dependable car for work. $350 a month, plus additional insurance, plus the extra gas (not even getting into wear and tear depreciation). That ends up to be about $5k a year. Dress business clothes?  Another $1,000 a year. Lunch at work?  Even if you only spend $3 a day extra, that’s $750 a year. According to my calculations, that’s about $29,000. Not to mention additional medical expenses, sick days, and all of the other "throw your kids in daycare" costs. But wait, there’s more!  If you’re spending $29,000, just to go to work, you need to make another $11k, just to pay the federal, state, and local taxes to bring home $29,000. ($40,000 per year, taxed at .28% = $28,800 take home). So, it costs around $40,000 in pre-tax dollars, just to break even, when sending two kids into childcare, just so you can "go to work." As always, your mileage may vary. Then, add in the social expense of having your children raised by strangers.

I feel sorry for this mom, I just hope she or her husband knows how to add before taking this advice.  I'll send this post to him and see if he could pass on some more reasonable advice.

As a disclaimer David Ramsey Says on his websiteOur mission statement isn’t just lip service; it’s our mantra:
The Lampo Group, Inc. is providing Biblically based, common sense education and empowerment which gives HOPE to everyone from the financially secure to the financially distressed.

Enough said..

[ref: Man Up!]


Posted by athomedad at 12:05 PM EST
Updated: Wednesday, 10 December 2008 3:23 PM EST
Post Comment | View Comments (5) | Permalink | Share This Post

Wednesday, 31 December 2008 - 1:15 PM EST

Name: "Tracy"
Home Page: http://daddydomysocksmatch.com

There are so many more options for an at-home parent to add to the family income!  Think creatively!  Ebay, look for work from home opportunities, do odd jobs opposite the working parent's schedule.  My family is living proof that the stay-at-home parent can add to the family income in creative ways when needed.  It can be done - we did it.

 Blessings and Happy New Year

Thursday, 15 January 2009 - 10:42 AM EST

Name: "Denguy"
Home Page: http://denguy.blogspot.com/

Sounds like Ransey still drives an Edsel.

Wednesday, 28 January 2009 - 12:12 PM EST

Name: "Rico"

The cost of daycare is why my wife and I have decided that one of us should stay home. For us, the cost of daycare for both our kids (11 months and 4 years) meant that over 1/2 of her paycheck was going to pay for car, gas, daycare, etc ..... 

 I want to break the stigma and societal taboo that men cannot (or should not) be good fathers, so I am choosing to stay home for my kids. Continued gender stereotyping by bozos like this is what keeps holding back more fathers from doing for their families.

 I know I'll face some ignorance along the way, but my kids are worth more to me than the opinions of a few closed minded neanderthals.

Wednesday, 4 March 2009 - 8:08 PM EST

Name: "why do you care"

The point is that Wifey can't pay the bills and she's asking Hubby for help. If Hubby can't afford daycare with one job, then he should think about two jobs. Dave Ramsey's the man.

Monday, 25 January 2010 - 11:44 PM EST

Name: "Working Parents"

I think that the spreadsheet scenario was off a little. Here's how I see it just for covering daycare.

"Put together a simple spreadsheet. Daycare for two kids, nine hours a day at, what, $10  $5 an hour(most cities in the US)?  That’s $450 $225 a week, times, say 50 weeks in a work year. That amounted to  $22,500 $11,250. OK, now you need a more dependable car for work. $350 $150 (do as Dave says and get a low end dependable car) a month, plus additional insurance, plus the extra gas (not even getting into wear and tear depreciation). That ends up to be about $5k $3000 a year. Dress business clothes?  Another $1,000 a year. Keep it to $300 a year (who needs a new wardrobe every year?)  Lunch at work? Even if you only spend $3 a day extra, that’s $750 a year. (Don't eat lunch at work, take what you would have eaten at home with the regular food budget) According to my calculations, that’s about $29,000 $14,550 . Not to mention additional medical expenses, sick days, and all of the other "throw your kids in daycare" costs. But wait, there’s more!  If you’re spending $29,000, just to go to work, you need to make another $11k, just to pay the federal, state, and local taxes to bring home $29,000. ($40,000 per year, taxed at .28% = $28,800 take home). So, it costs around $40,000 $20,208 in pre-tax dollars, just to break even, when sending two kids into childcare, just so you can "go to work." As always, your mileage may vary. Then, add in the social expense of having your children raised by strangers. Now add another $500 a month to that (plus the tax) to work to get yourself out of debt and that is $28,541. Yes it is tight, but it can be done.

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