Questions on family life in Dallas (moving from Norway) (Houston: extended stay, sales)

[hbdwihdh378y9]

Some of these estimates of daycare costs are awfully high compared to what we've spent on our kids (6 and 4), which is about $900 per month at two different places in Lake Highlands and Preston Hollow.

[oldoak2000]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

Employers here don't care how much vacation you had in Norway. You'll get 2 weeks if you're lucky. If you stay with a company long enough, that might increase to 3 or even 4 weeks with maybe 10-15 years' worth of service.

If you worked where I worked, your insurance would cost $700-$1500 a month. Your guess is as good as mine as to what it would actually cover. The deductible is several thousand dollars and the formulary is pathetic. I find more often than not, my carrier or a doctor's office will screw up a bill which requires me to spend hours on the phone yelling, pleading, etc. for them to get it right. It's infuriating. Oh, and don't even get me started on balance billing. (Google it.) Add a couple hundred for dental & vision for the family. At some companies, it'd be even higher. At some companies, it's lower but it's because the plan is high-deductible...so you will spend thousands out of pocket before insurance pays one thin dime for anything. More and more companies are going in this direction. You and your wife may not end up being on the same plan, either. Some companies charge extra to cover a spouse who has insurance available to them at their job. My last company did...my current company does not. Also, if either of you smokes expect to pay more on top of that.

If you buy on the open market, you'll pay a lot of money for not a whole lot of coverage. There's absolutely no reason to do this if you can get insurance through your employers.

I pay more than 30% of my yearly income in income taxes alone and I don't get free healthcare. (We're not even talking about the thousands we pay in property tax every year.) I wouldn't get subsidized daycare either. And yes, school here is free...but you'll always be shelling out for something or another. The PTA, teachers, etc. will always have their hands out. Always.

The government here also does not pay you to have kids. Sometimes it works out well for you when you file your income taxes, and sometimes it doesn't. Best to let people with kids answer those questions.

BigD is right; expect to spend about $20k a year +/- for a FAMILY for medical/dental/eyecare (insurance/deductibles/copays/not-covered, etc etc etc)

600k house= expect to pay about $12k+ a year on Prop.Taxes, and another $3k a year on insurance, and about $6K on utilities.

childcare; for two, $2400/mo up to $4000/mo depending on what features you want their cages to have.

With BOTH of you working, you should be able to be pretty comfortable here, as long as you can go without eating anything (nothing left after all the above).

[Aceraceae]

You get 3 weeks vacation at 5 years where I work.

[BLDSoon]

Originally Posted by oldoak2000

childcare; for two, $2400/mo up to $4000/mo depending on what features you want their cages to have.

Surely.... cages?

Good one though.

[jennifw]

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

I think everyone is being a bit pessimistic. If you have the funds/education to pay for a $600k house, then the jobs you qualify for will give more than 2 weeks of vacation. I personally have 29 days.

I agree with the Overdog - I work for a large international IT company that is based in Texas. I negotiated 3 weeks of vacation from the get-go and now have 4 weeks. I also have 120 hours of sick/personal business time. It never hurts to ask. All they can say is no.

Good luck with your decisions.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

I think everyone is being a bit pessimistic. If you have the funds/education to pay for a $600k house, then the jobs you qualify for will give more than 2 weeks of vacation. I personally have 29 days.

Day care will be around $1300 a month per child and higher. Unless you will be starting your own business, again with being able to afford a $600k house, you'll have professional jobs that will likely provide subsidized insurance in the $200 a month and higher range with a $2000-$3000 deductible.

I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. I work for a Fortune 500 company headquartered here and with OP's work experience, they would start with 4 weeks of vacation//sick time and get their 5th week within a few years. Not including 8-10 paid holidays each year.

Health insurance is expensive, IMO. To put a whole family on my insurance, it's about $1000/month with a $10k max family out of pocket each year. It's often cheaper to have one spouse be insured through their company and the other spouse + kids through the other company's plan than to have whole family on one plan.

Net income tax rate for a mid-six figure dual income usually comes in around 19-21% depending on the year's deductions and other taxable events. I'm not sure OP would come out ahead here tax-wise unless they are extremely high income, like $500k++.

Childcare or full day preschool- figure $1000/mo per kid. Could run higher depending on the program and ages.

Work hours are depending upon the company's culture. I would say I have good benefits and a lot of time off (and flexibility taking said time off), HOWEVER it is not uncommon for me to work 8:30-7:30 or 8 on a regular basis. I also bring my laptop home every weekend and usually work another 2-8 hours depending on time of year.

[ea0337]

Originally Posted by TexanByMarriage

My wife wants us to move from Norway to Dallas

What is your primary driver for the move?

If it is for a better quality of life, I'd personally recommend staying put where you are even though I've never visited Norway. The amount of time you'll spend doing everything yourself here (to economize for a day care for children, paying for health insurance etc. etc.) will ensure the quality time spent with family takes a hit, IMO.

If it is for proximity to her family, do consider how often will you be able to visit them or vice versa since a 4-6 hour drive is by no means easy.

Just my $0.02.

[TexanByMarriage]

Woah, thanks for all the feedback! Understand work benefits, healthcare and child care cost vary greatly, so that is something to dig deeper into. We're used to those things being very straight forward. I like budgeting our personal finances, and not a big fan of finding ourselves in a financial pickle with 3 kids and all.

Are the better benefits (longer vacay, lower health insurance) easier found with larger companies? And is that where the job growth is? My experience is primarily with smaller companies, where the hiring process is often quicker as well.

We have spent a few months in Houston earlier (hate the humidity), as well as in West Texas. Just visited Dallas for a few days, and we like the areas in North of Dallas. Understand there are some good school districts there as well.

Looking at houses in the 600k-range because we saw some at good sizes in good locations when visiting. Would have to pay more than that for less here in Norway, so the upgraded house is a perk. The property taxes and utility cost depicted above are high though!!

[Johnhw2]

Its clear to me you know more about Texas than the posters here advising you to stay without visiting or knowing much about Norway.

Not all of us are unhappy or striving to keep up with anyone, Norwegian or otherwise.

There is a shortage of highly skilled technical talent in this country, don't ask me why lol. Those skills will get your good jobs and good pay and benefits here as they do elsewhere. We have to use special visas to get the amount of talent needed here.... lawyers and soft majors are plentiful.

[TexanByMarriage]

Originally Posted by ea0337

What is your primary driver for the move?

If it is for a better quality of life, I'd personally recommend staying put where you are even though I've never visited Norway. The amount of time you'll spend doing everything yourself here (to economize for a day care for children, paying for health insurance etc. etc.) will ensure the quality time spent with family takes a hit, IMO.

If it is for proximity to her family, do consider how often will you be able to visit them or vice versa since a 4-6 hour drive is by no means easy.

Just my $0.02.

Primary driver is seeing wife's family more often. It is quite the drive, but we would see them more than we see my family today in Norway. Important that kids get to spend time with family, and that we get some time away from them. Now we spend 3 weeks vacation over here every year, and a visit from her mom to Norway once or twice a year. The 4-6 hour drive does not allow for simple visits on the weekends, which would really make things more interesting for Dallas. Wife also misses life in US (grocery stores, shopping, being able to cook certain meals, etc.), which is hard to put a number on.

Very valuable to get this feedback from people in DFW, as most of our Texas connection is in West.