Pulaski

Unlike somebody, I bet your sister didn't run the AC upstairs while running the heating downstairs!

We don't live in NJ, but we make a point of having the AC thermostat in summer set significantly above the temperature we have the heating set to in winter - so generally around 74°-76°F in summer, and around 63°-65°F in winter. These temperatures usually give us about 4 weeks +/- 2weeks in spring and summer when we use neither heating nor AC.

We also use a timer thermostat so that we don't run either the heat or the AC when we are all out or asleep, except during extremes of temperature, meaning we don't let the temperature drop below 53° or rise above 85° when we're out.

Perky74

Thanks everyone for your insight and advice. That's really helpful. I certainly think we are going to have to go through a period of adjustment until we get a handle on all the costs. Fortunately my husbands work pays for our medical insurance so that's one thing we don't have to worry about at least. I think we will downsize and go for a cheaper house for the first year until we know exactly what my husbands take home is after tax and how much all those darn kids clubs cost!!

LouisB

In Manhatten where we hope to stay initially you need to be able to show a salary of 40x monthly rents, or provide a guarantor with 80x. 40 can be higher, 48 or so, depending, 40 is the minimum.

Admittedly it is a most expensive area and I'm sure we'll move further out when the novelty has worn thin.

Once you're off the island I believe it becomes much cheaper, the further you get away from city, as it invariably does.

I guess any rent > 1/2 income is getting into interesting territory, then again depends what you earn. If <1/2 is still more than enough to live on, then there's no problem. Always wise to keep some reserves, so you can save, live a little, take holidays and for emergencies...

Pulaski

Most employers "pay for" medical insurance for permanent employees, but that doesn't mean that the employee doesn't also have to chip in, sometimes quite heavily. Unless you are certain that your husband's employer is paying 100% of the insurance premiums, the deductible, and the copays, then you will have to pay those. Typically employees pay a part of the premiums and all of the copays and deductibles.

In the years I have been active on BE I only recall seeing barely a handful of cases where an employer pays all medical expenses, and they were typically for high level executives on relatively short term assignments.

kodokan

Yes, it would be extremely unusual for an employer to be meeting all medical costs. Hubby's employer provides us with health insurance for 'free' in as much as they pay the premiums and don't require a contribution from us for it (apparently less than 3% of US employers provide such a ragingly good deal). But there's still a deductible of around $2k each year that we have to pay before the insurance kicks in, so when my daughter broke her ankle last year, we still paid for her doctor visits, x rays, walking boot, crutches, physio, etc, which altogether totaled about $1,800.

Hubby's previous employer provided health insurance at a monthly cost to us of about $500 (pre-tax), with an annual deductible of $3k individual/ $6k family.

So when companies say they 'offer' or 'provide' health insurance, it's almost never free. I'd probably budget that you'll be paying $500 a month, in one form or another, depending on your family's medical needs.

kodokan

This calculator should give you a good starting point: Tax-Rates.org - The Tax Information Portal, but you'd still need to manually allow for deductions to a 401k/ IRA/ HSA as it doesn't include those. It also doesn't do city taxes, which can add another few thousand.

The Turbotax TaxCaster app does retirement contributions, charitable/ mortgage/ property tax deductions, but only does federal taxes, not state.

SanDiegogirl

I would check on the medical insurance aspect if I was you.

It is very unusual for a company to pay ALL the medical insurance premiums. Usually the company pays a proportion and the employee pays the rest.

Also there are deductibles, co-pays and out of pocket expenses which the employee pays for when treatment is actually used.

These costs can build up to several thousand a year for a family - even the healthiest ones.

Nutmegger

Not necessarily -- a home in a nice town in NJ, CT, or Westchester with an in-demand school system is still going to be expensive.

Pulaski

"er" .... The price of homes in Manhattan is a special sort of insane!

Nutmegger

I would think that he intends to rent, not buy, in the city, and the monthly cost of a small apt. would probably be the same as the cost of a four bedroom house in the suburbs. I'm presuming he is not looking at a $10,000 a month and up townhouse, but of course, one should never presume.

sadiigo

I can share my experience as I was in a similar position when we moved to NJ 1.5 yrs ago.
- High rental costs are driven by property taxes and lack of houses in suburbs. This is not London where you have tons of investors' properties. For a 4-5 bdrm house (in areas you indicated), the property tax could be anything between $1.5k to $2k per month, which the landlord happily adds to the rental price.
- I won't advise on a short rental (1 year) with a view to move on to another one, unless you buy your own place. Every time you rent a house in NJ you are required to pay a commission of 1.5 monthly rent to a realtor. If you move again, you have to pay. The moving costs could be high too.
- Kids activities cost will be a shock to you. Expect to pay anything between $100-$200 per month per one activity per child (to go 2 times a week). Some towns offer subsidised prices, but if you go private (which is 99% of what is on offer), you pay high$. In the summer, everyone send their kids to summer camps. This is a real shocker, private camps costs north of $5k per 6 weeks, but they offer unmatched experience. The towns might run some sort of shorter camps (3-4 hours per day) at lower cost.
- Weekly shopping costs are close to what others said here, I would budget $1.2k per month for a family of 4. Fresh produce is expensive here. On a bright side of things, clothing, booze, eating out and petrol are cheaper than in London. This excludes eating out in Manhattan (you pay extra tax there on everything in addition to inflated prices).
- Other costs to consider are cable/internet (from $120 per month), cell phones ($100 per 2 sets), heating/electricity ($300 avg per month), car insurance (varies, but will be high!).


Despite all of these points, we like it here, the sun shines 3 times more than in England, you can get to the real ocean in 1.5 hours, you can go skiing, there are many things to do with kids and a lot to see.

Perky74

Thanks so much everyone. Really useful advice. We have opted for a cheaper and slightly smaller house in Summit and agreed the lease today. It's in the right catchment area for an excellent school and within walking distance to the station and they accept dogs which is great!

Yes sorry I am aware that we have to contribute to the medical insurance but it is a really good base package so at least we are not starting from scratch!

LouisB we did contemplate staying in Manhattan for a while with the kids rather than moving out but when I visited NY in Jan I realised the kids and I would kill each other being in a small appartment. I hope I don't regret it though as really would have been great to try city living.

Sadiggo these are really useful figures, thanks so much. So glad to hear you are enjoying it over there. I am sure we will too. Headed out next Friday with the kids to see the school. Hope there will be a bit of the ski season left when we arrrive in March!

LouisB

Sounds understandable and quite wise.

I'm sure after a year or two we'll move further out for more space too.

So I'm quite interested in these sorts of threads and will come back and ask question in the future, I'm sure.

Btw Brooklyn, Queens and some of Long Island maybe cheaper than Manhattan (aka more space for the $)

We're quite interested to try Brooklyn after Manhatten.

Jerseygirl

Anyone interested in moving to the Summit area...and/or working in Manhattan...I recommend you use take a look through Englishmum's threads/posts. EM has posted some very useful information for those wishing to move to the area.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/members/englishmum-1486/

Perky74

Thanks so much. Any idea how I can search her posts to find the Summit / Manhattan related ones? Not very good at this kind of stuff.