From Bogleheads forum:
https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=191337
A variety of thoughts:
- He seems to think being middle class is
bad. Not just beneath him, but
bad.
- The three kids are triplets. That is more expensive than three singletons, but while it might be a difficulty for a middle class family, it shouldn't matter to these guys.
- I hear Dad's concern about providing his three girls with all the right opportunities, but I hear absolutely nothing about family time. He mentions his desire to provide them with all the right stuff, to place them in the right schools, but his only nod to spending time with them is a mention of domestic vacations. If I could speak to him, I'd say, "Priorities, dude, priorities." I don't think having the nanny for three pre-schoolers is a bad thing, but I also suspect they're not sitting down to dinner together on a regular basis and really talking to these kids.
- More about the nanny: Did they actually say they'd continue her full-time status after the kids start school? As someone else said, I suspect she's actually part-time nanny, part-time housekeeper. I can see that with three kids they might continue to welcome help; imagine triplets who all need to do their 30 minutes of reading with a parent every evening -- I loved that with my kids, but it was sometimes tough to work in, and I only had one at a time.
- And they say they spend another 15K on help with the yard, etc. So they're spending 75K/year on help. I can see needing some help with three kids, and mom is more than making enough money to justify paying for that help, but if they're paying that much for other stuff, they have "too much house".
- I see a disconnect in one spot. They say they're both from long-time money families, big inheritances, both encouraged and given "all the right opportunities" as a child ... yet they are giving their parents money. If the families are really all that wealthy, why can't their retired parents take care of themselves? I suspect smoke-and-mirrors, families who project the look of money but don't actually have it, big hat - no cattle. How could the writer not know this?
- Um, this guy thinks that with three in college he will qualify for some financial aid? Deluded.
- He received some excellent advice, but his own response made no sense. He doesn't even acknowledge that he has options.
- One last thought: This guy's problem is that he has an external thermometer. That is, he's not paying attention to himself, his own achievements, his own happiness -- rather, he's looking around at the neighbors and co-workers, and he's measuring himself against what he perceives they have/have accomplished. Two major problems with this. First, he's not able to see what they actually do/don't have -- he can only judge by what they allow him to see. He can see their massive houses, but he can't see their debt. Second, no matter who you are, someone always has more and someone always has less.