2 ms·

Yeah, buts tens of thousands of dollars over the course of nearly 2 decades isn't all that much money. If your kid takes the bus, goes to public education, and

Yeah, buts tens of thousands of dollars over the course of nearly 2 decades isn't all that much money. If your kid takes the bus, goes to public education, and you don't need childcare then the cost of a kid just boils down to room and board. Contrast that with a parent that sends their kid to private school, and wants to pay for a private undergrad. That's going to be on the order of at least the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Probably close to half a million. Raising a kid to the expectations of an upper or even upper-middle class family costs orders of magnitude more than raising a kid to the expectations of a poor family. But said upper middle class family probably doesn't make a proportionally larger amount. I'd consider someone "poor" if they make 20-25k a year and "wealthy" if they make 200-250k+. But the costs of raising a child to the expectations of the latter is probably more than 10 times greater. Probably 20-30 times greater. Thus why kids are more proportionally expensive for higher income class people.

toasterlovin 8y ago
The ridiculousness of what you’re saying becomes readily apparent if you substitute cars for children. For instance: cars are more expensive for rich people, because a top of the line Mercedes costs $100k, rather than $15k for a used Toyota. No, cars (and children) cost the same for everybody. Some people choose to spend more because they have convinced themselves that anything less simply would not do.
- lotsofpulp 8y ago
  Except cars aren’t comparable to children. There is a significantly different expected return on investment of a child that goes to high performing schools and has a network of other high performing high net worth individuals than for a child that isn’t given those opportunities. The best predictor for someone’s economic security in life is the zip code they grow up in.
- manfredo 8y ago
  Kids don't work like cars. For cars, you can trade them in and buy a new one when you feel like it if you have the cash. You can buy a clunker, treat it poorly, and then when it dies nothing is stopping you from buying a Lexus to replace it (if you have the money). Kids don't work like that. You can't give a kid a mediocre childhood for until 10th grade, and then throw enough money at it to make it as though your kid had a great education, upbringing, and enrichment opportunities throughout all of childhood. Of course there are people who don't have much money and still do their best to raise their kids as best they can. But the reality is that things like education and upbringing do have a significant impact, and often getting the best out of those things takes a significant mount of money.
  - toasterlovin 8y ago
    The material living standard for a middle class family in the West is better than the material living standard of anybody who ever lived, at any socio economic class, before 100 years ago. And here you are arguing that somehow the reason middle class people aren’t having more children is because they can’t provide adequately for their children?
    - manfredo 8y ago
      No, it's because parents in the West don't want their child to end up with the global average standard of living. They want a good standard of living as per their expectations of growing up in the West. The globsl median household income is under $10k per year. This is destitute for an American. The prospect of one's child endind up in such a situation is not appealing. Hence, why Westerners are waiting to have kids and dedicating more resources towards them. Furthermore things integral to raising children like education have actually increased in cost over the past several decades.

toasterlovin 8y ago

The ridiculousness of what you’re saying becomes readily apparent if you substitute cars for children. For instance: cars are more expensive for rich people, because a top of the line Mercedes costs $100k, rather than $15k for a used Toyota. No, cars (and children) cost the same for everybody. Some people choose to spend more because they have convinced themselves that anything less simply would not do.

lotsofpulp 8y ago
Except cars aren’t comparable to children. There is a significantly different expected return on investment of a child that goes to high performing schools and has a network of other high performing high net worth individuals than for a child that isn’t given those opportunities. The best predictor for someone’s economic security in life is the zip code they grow up in.
manfredo 8y ago
Kids don't work like cars. For cars, you can trade them in and buy a new one when you feel like it if you have the cash. You can buy a clunker, treat it poorly, and then when it dies nothing is stopping you from buying a Lexus to replace it (if you have the money). Kids don't work like that. You can't give a kid a mediocre childhood for until 10th grade, and then throw enough money at it to make it as though your kid had a great education, upbringing, and enrichment opportunities throughout all of childhood. Of course there are people who don't have much money and still do their best to raise their kids as best they can. But the reality is that things like education and upbringing do have a significant impact, and often getting the best out of those things takes a significant mount of money.
- toasterlovin 8y ago
  The material living standard for a middle class family in the West is better than the material living standard of anybody who ever lived, at any socio economic class, before 100 years ago. And here you are arguing that somehow the reason middle class people aren’t having more children is because they can’t provide adequately for their children?
  - manfredo 8y ago
    No, it's because parents in the West don't want their child to end up with the global average standard of living. They want a good standard of living as per their expectations of growing up in the West. The globsl median household income is under $10k per year. This is destitute for an American. The prospect of one's child endind up in such a situation is not appealing. Hence, why Westerners are waiting to have kids and dedicating more resources towards them. Furthermore things integral to raising children like education have actually increased in cost over the past several decades.