Put in both salaries, any time one of you plans to spend out of work, childcare, your tax rates and what you save for retirement. Five short steps, then a year-by-year view of where the household balance lands, next to what it would be with no career break and with no kids. The fields start with example numbers. Make them yours.
This simulator is a collaboration between FinMango and Modern Husbands. It helps two-income couples and families see where their money is likely to be in 15 years.
It takes in household income, time one of you might spend out of the workforce, childcare, healthcare and other living costs, taxes, and retirement savings.
Every field starts with an example number. Change them to match your own situation; the more of them you fill in, the closer the answer gets.
Enter the annual salary for each spouse or partner, before tax.
Unpaid time either of you plans to spend out of the workforce, for a new child or anything else. The salary drops to zero for those years and restarts at its old level afterwards.
Any extra childcare you will pay for, such as daycare, on top of the baseline cost of a child that is already built in. It is added for up to five years, starting the year after any career break ends.
Your total monthly basic living costs today, including healthcare: housing, transportation, food, utilities and health costs.
Your current monthly spending on:
Leave out anything child-related. Those costs are counted separately.
Rough rates are fine. These are applied as flat percentages to income after retirement contributions, so they will not match an exact tax return.
How you expect salaries and costs to move each year, and how much of each salary goes into retirement accounts. Retirement balances are grown at 8% a year.
The projection runs 15 years and covers income, taxes, child costs, living expenses and retirement saving, with each of them growing at the rates you set.
The child cost in each year combines your extra childcare with the baseline cost of one child. The USDA's 2015 estimate for that baseline, adjusted for inflation to 2024 dollars, is around $18,000 a year.
| Year | Gross income | Taxes | Child costs | Living expenses | Retirement | Balance |
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FinMango is a nonprofit advancing financial health worldwide. Modern Husbands helps couples manage their money and their home.