Build Back Better Calculator
The passing of the marks a critical point in American history. At a stupendous 555 billion US dollars, it is the biggest federal investment to ever undertaken. On top of its unquestionable importance in preserving the environment, due to the social spending parts, it is also bound to bring changes into the lives of many individuals. We created this calculator to help Americans asses and understand one of the more important points of the bill – helping families provide childcare and early education for their children.
The BBB is the first bill in US history to alleviate the costs of childcare. With the Senate’s plan to pass it before Christmas, it is truly a unique opportunity for millions of families. We want to celebrate and stress that fact by proposing a way to capitalize on the changes that are bound to pay off in time. This tool aims to calculate the total savings you will make thanks to the changes brought about by the Build Back Better policy and, more importantly, how much that money will amount to if you decide to invest it. With these new savings, countless parents will be able to plan for their children's future with greater ease of mind.
What does the BBB bill offer to families?
The new bill introduces quite a lot of changes to the life of the average American family. The framework includes such things as:
- Extending the help with childcare costs to the middle class, with the costs being capped at 7% for families earning up to 2.5 times their state’s median income.
You can use our average calculator and median calculator to calculate median and average income.
đź’ˇ It is important to note here that each state has different rules, regulations, and financial status, leading to differences in the way the BBB framework is executed between them. Consequently, you might notice differences in the effect the bill has on your family and what you see in other states.
- Universal preschool available for free to all children below the age of 4.
- Four weeks of paid leave to take care of children with 90% of wages during that period (up to certain limits).
- Access to free school meals for an additional 9 million students across the country.
- Extending the child tax credit through 2022, with a monthly rate of $300 for children under 6 and $250 for older minor children.
- Rental assistance for low-income families.
- Investment in affordable housing.
On top of the points mentioned above, the framework will provide several changes in medical care expenses, such as covering hearing aids every five years for those on Medicare, reducing the costs of prescription medications such as insulin, and others.
How do I use the Build Back Better calculator?
We designed the Build Back Better calculator to be intuitive and accessible to any user. To get your savings estimated, all you need to do is:
- Pick the state you're located in. Due to the changes between each state's individual laws and regulations, your result might differ depending on which region you are calculating it for.
- Provide your yearly family income, childcare costs, and preschool costs.
- Input the age of your children. Please keep in mind that the framework is only applicable to children below the age of 5!
- Don’t worry if you have more than two children. Upon entering the age of one child in the calculator, another field will appear below. You don’t need to fill in all the fields in this section. Simply stop and scroll down to see your results once you’ve input the ages of all your children.
- Below the children’s age section, you will see your savings. Scroll a little further down to see the next section of the calculator, dedicated to investing. Here, you will need to:
- Choose the type of investment.
- Adjust the values of annual return and annual inflation to match your case.
- Input the number of years you want to see the results for.
At the bottom of the calculator, you will see the estimation of the money you will have saved based on the data you provided.
How can I use my BBB savings?
The introduction of the Build Back Better framework brings about a unique opportunity to save quite a lot of money on your childcare costs. You might think it only concerns preschool. Formally, that is true. In reality, however, the extent of the influence depends on you and your individual choice.
A great way to capitalize on the bill and make it count for longer than just your child’s preschool period is to allocate the savings to their future education. Consider using the investment made for your child’s school fund.