FINANCE

Posted at mentalblog.com

Berl, Crown Heights writes:

...In addition to having more advanced secular education, most Modern Orthodox practice severe birth control (at least as compared to average "charedi" couples) and thus not only have less children to support, but are also more likely to have 2-income households. I know quite a few "charedi" heads of household that hold what would be normally considered well paying jobs and still barely "making ends meet". A guy earning a respectable 100K (before taxes) simply can't support 8 kids + wife + house in Brooklyn with ~40K going toward Yeshiva tuitions. And what is there to say for a guy making 75K (also a decent pay)????

Good professional education is simply not enough to support the cost of the current "charedi" lifestyle. And I honestly do not see how this can continue without some very serious communal intervention - and soon! If you want to talk about kids being disillusioned, growing up in poverty is a major contributing factor for sure. I have heard quite a few first-hand accounts of kids saying to their impoverished parents: "I do not want to live like you when I grow up..."

I would even venture to say that the "charedi" community attitudes about spending & lifestyle are more self-destructive than simple "materialism". I have been thinking about this for a long time and will try to write more on this later. A well-paid professional "charedi" head of household, even if his head is "screwed on right" about money & spending (i.e. he does not feel that a new hat for יו"ט is "a must" of יהרג ואל יעבור proportions) simply can’t afford to pay even for a very modest lifestyle. For a guy like that (~100K before taxes with 8 kids) tuitions will not be a cent under 40K, and that is after all the "breaks" (even in Lubavitch!). Now you tell me, what is left (after taxes & tuitions) to pay for housing, clothing, food, etc for a family of 10? If his wife does not work – he is flat out of luck. And how much can a mother of 8 earn?

There only 3 ways to maintain this lifestyle:

1. Be a successful businessman.

2. Have a cash job and be on all the "programs"

3. Best of all - combine "1" & "2" !

Anyone still wonder why yungelite after kolel do not break down the doors of universities in rush to become physical therapists, lawyers or financial analysts?