5 Biggest Family Expenses

Thinking ahead can take the sting out of the biggest family expenses. The best time to consider alternatives to potentially damaging family expense is now, while you are rested, relaxed, receptive, and while choices are still possible. There is an axiom taught to new C.P.A. candidates that says the success of a project is 90% planning and 10% doing. This can be applied to any project, and most especially to the anticipation of the biggest family expenses.

Home Purchases

Getting into your own home is often a crucial decision affecting commute times, schools, neighborhoods, easily accessible health care and shopping, and the list goes on. Seeing the price tag of an average home is enough to topple your equilibrium, much less considering all the other necessary items that affect your decision. So let's simplify this biggest family expense by listing what to do and what not to do, saving your family tens of thousands of future dollars.

DO: Ask yourself whether owning a home in an up-and-coming neighborhood is as appealing as renting a home in a more established neighborhood that may be closer to good schools and services. The much-touted tax benefits of home ownership can be reduced to a simple formula: for every $1 you pay in interest, you will never see 75 cents of it. About 25 cents of each dollar goes to reducing taxes - maybe more if you are in a higher tax bracket. You can reduce the biggest family expenses of home ownership by simply renting and avoiding having to earn enough to pay a huge mortgage.