3 ms·
> "enough to retire on" Solutions: > - having kids Whoa, no. I've had 3 over the last five years. Total expense of well over a quarter million so far, and we l
by ashark 9y ago
> "enough to retire on" Solutions:
> - having kids
Whoa, no. I've had 3 over the last five years. Total expense of well over a quarter million so far, and we live in a fairly cheap city in flyover country.
[EDIT] small expenses that nevertheless add up to several thousands over the first 5 years: clothes, diapers, food, formula (YMMV), toys, furniture (cribs, beds, dressers); large expenses: housing (need more space and in decent school district, both = $$$), cars (3 kids basically = at least one van required, no getting by with only tiny, cheap cars), medical, lost wages of wife staying home for ~1.5yrs, daycare/school after that.
- xaedes 9y agoin the long term it can work out. can. and not a suitable solution if it doesn't work out short or mid term, yes.
- ashark 9y agoGod, considering how much that'd be worth if invested it'd have to be a hell of a payoff from my kids to make up for it. Plus we're nowhere near done spending yet, and could easily spend a lot more. [EDIT] by which I mean we could spend more to improve their prospects and educational outcomes, especially on housing or directly on school itself. The sky's the limit on that stuff, at least until you reach absurd levels of wealth at which point it does taper off (i.e. it becomes easy to afford the very best, and there's nothing more expensive than that)
- xaedes 9y agoyea.. having kids while wanting their best probably doesn't go very well with "not wanting to think about money" in our society/economy having kids can be a good reason to change that attitude.