If you're getting sick each year (or a long-term illness) and it's costing you your $15k/yr savings, I think many people would be screwed when it comes to cover

If you're getting sick each year (or a long-term illness) and it's costing you your $15k/yr savings, I think many people would be screwed when it comes to covering the costs. Kids are a choice - but even with kids one can still live frugally or prepared. For example, choosing to not have a child until you've accumulated enough savings to cover all of the extra surprise costs that can occur that most people don't plan for when having a child. My father worked two jobs to barely make ends meet for 8 years because his financial planning revolved around a family plan that he didn't actually plan for. My family plans are actually planned and revolve around my financial plans. One problem I see people make is that their financial plans revolve around their family plans (or lack thereof). No surprise child at 18 years of age. No poorly-planned "I think I'm ready but I'm not actually ready" child at 21-23 either. I've seen very, very, very few parents under the age of 25 that a) planned for their child and more importantly b) properly planned for their child. Lack of planning - or having a poorly crafted plan is what is "risky" or "doesn't scale".