I’m trying, unsuccessfully, to transfer my burn rate habit to my kids. Meimei seems to be listening.

My income is much higher than bachelor years, partly due to salary inflation. My family burn rate is also much higher, with inflation playing some unquantified role.

I have largely avoided the white elephants of many middle-class families — cars, private/international schools, golf, high-maintenance landed properties, maid, big loans,

Background: An author mentioned that we all face cashflow challenges as singles [1]. We face even more when we get married and have kids[2]. (Based on no definition) Out of 10 singles on (cashflow) high ground, fewer than half would remain on high ground in [2], rather than falling off.

Paradox: my single burn rate (c++US etc) is less than 25% of my family burn rate. I won’t go in-depth because I think the explanatory factors are fairly obvious.

This blogpost can easily become forgettable and hardly /distinguishable/ from similar blogposts. Sharp questions might be more valuable (than answers)… They represent perspectives, angles of view.

As to the answers, most will be valid, relevant but forgettable. I won’t try to make all of them /memorable/. My preference is to avoid vague items, separate out the important but familiar items, and focus on unusual items.

Q2: what strategies and habits did I carry over from single’s life /transitioning/ to family life?

• saw a clear distinction between liabilities vs productive assets (cashcow). Liabilities include debts [mtg, student loans..] and white elephants like cars
• — forgettable answers
• steadfast focus on expense regulation [control ]…. rather than a target-amount of nest egg for investment. Jolt: My nest egg was a by-product.
• .. ctbz? Probably more effective on the big-tickets like cars, rent cost, vacations
• .. just_say_no to FOMO, exclub, creep, splurge,
• maintained my salary … better than anticipated, despite churn, age discrimination etc

Q2b: what adaptations did I have to make for the transition?

• a focus on published stats of median household income in the city, rather than a hearsay guesstimate of my peers’ burn rate. That guesstimate is 300% of that median.
• — forgettable answers
• exp recon .. a key “regulattory device”, adapted to family finance — no mean achievement. Virtually no one in my circle reached my efficiency, even though many heard similar suggestions about budgeting, tracking/recon. Without hard evidence, I believe that most of their budgets hit ineffective excusion. Many overspent for decades.
• in 2008-2017 childcare costs threatened to /derail/ everything. Somehow, wife and I have managed to /contain/ this fire

Actually 2008-2009 pff situation in NY was a tough adaptation in terms of brbr, expense control, rent,,, On the flip side, the experience built self-confidence.

Q3: besides my skills, what other factors contributed to our current cash flow high ground?

• grandparents didn’t become a financial burden
• frugal wife
• kids didn’t demand too much
• medical expenses moderate

Q: what can my kids learn from me? Some say that financial skills are more valuable “heritage” than physical inheritance.

Q: in my answers, why are investments, NNIA conspicuously missing?
A: I guess they have played a background/supporting role so far. See the blogposts in cashflow projection. They don’t affect my day-to-day cashflow.