[kree10]

I think you're underestimating child-related expenses. Since we're talking about both parents working full-time, just take the cost of child care: http://www.naccrra.org/randd/data/docs/CA.pdf says this California family with 2 kids could be spending over $2000/mo on this alone, depending on how young they are.

I'm not saying they won't necessarily have anything left, but $12k/mo still may not leave them much.

[usaar333]

I agree the family is taking more of a hit when the kids are young. However, this should amortize away as child care costs drop radically once the child is in school.

I checked http://www.babycenter.com/cost-of-raising-child-calculator and they shoe cost of raising a child to be $1,525/month for 18 years for the highest income.