Ding ding ding. We started to hit “we could save enough to retire at 55, or 60 at worst” money just as we started having kids. The added health insurance cost

Ding ding ding. We started to hit “we could save enough to retire at 55, or 60 at worst” money just as we started having kids. The added health insurance costs, healthcare costs (and our kids don’t even have any huge problems!), housing costs (unless we’re OK sending them to bad schools), lost wages due to time staying home caring for them, child care costs before they started school, et c… that stuff topped a quarter million before I stopped counting, and it went way higher after that. The kids have gotten somewhat cheaper as they’ve gotten older! But having that ultra-high cost front-loaded cast like a million-plus dollar shadow on our likely at-60 savings (due to opportunity cost), not even counting the ongoing costs and the effects those are having. Retiring at 65 is now iffy…