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Worse: the costs are front-loaded and (all but) must come early-ish in your life. The opportunity cost—the shadow, if you will, that the cost of children casts

Worse: the costs are front-loaded and (all but) must come early-ish in your life. The opportunity cost—the shadow, if you will, that the cost of children casts on your future retirement savings—is enormous. It’s way larger than the nominal cost. Big ouch.

steveBK123 1y ago
I feel like the costs are U-shaped.. 0-5 childcare, then 18-22 college right?
- alabastervlog 1y ago
  Kinda. I dunno, I had a job and went to a cheap college.
- kaibee 1y ago
  6-17, the time to actually raise them. It ain't like just because the kid 7 you can leave them at home while both parents go to work.
  - steveBK123 1y ago
    Right right, but purely mechanically in terms of number of hours in school / after school activities / clubs / sports.. you could most easily have two working parents during that age range.
    - trust_bt_verify 1y ago
      > ‘most easily’ Seems like you may be underestimating how much work kids, even at elementary age, can be.
- tsimionescu 1y ago
  College is quite cheap in many, many parts of the world where birth rates are still quite low - specifically in most of Europe, but also in Japan, Korea, at least compared to the USA.
  - steveBK123 1y ago
    Yes but those places (esp Europe) have youth unemployment / underemployment problems so similar issue with the next generation taking longer to establish themselves financially stable
    - tsimionescu 1y ago
      Sure, I was just pointing out that the costs of raising children are not U-shaped in those places, they are just front loaded. Even if young adults are financially dependent on their parents because of youth unemployment issues, they don't start costing their parents more when they're 18-20 than when they were, say, 12-14.
- kristianp 1y ago
  Many people tend to want to own their own place before having kids, then the mortgage costs mean they might only be able to afford to have one child. Each child means a parent stops working for at least few months, losing income. Housing costs are getting worse over time too in HCOL areas.
gmoot 1y ago
Children used to be your retirement plan.

steveBK123 1y ago

I feel like the costs are U-shaped.. 0-5 childcare, then 18-22 college right?

alabastervlog 1y ago
Kinda. I dunno, I had a job and went to a cheap college.
kaibee 1y ago
6-17, the time to actually raise them. It ain't like just because the kid 7 you can leave them at home while both parents go to work.
- steveBK123 1y ago
  Right right, but purely mechanically in terms of number of hours in school / after school activities / clubs / sports.. you could most easily have two working parents during that age range.
  - trust_bt_verify 1y ago
    > ‘most easily’ Seems like you may be underestimating how much work kids, even at elementary age, can be.
tsimionescu 1y ago
College is quite cheap in many, many parts of the world where birth rates are still quite low - specifically in most of Europe, but also in Japan, Korea, at least compared to the USA.
- steveBK123 1y ago
  Yes but those places (esp Europe) have youth unemployment / underemployment problems so similar issue with the next generation taking longer to establish themselves financially stable
  - tsimionescu 1y ago
    Sure, I was just pointing out that the costs of raising children are not U-shaped in those places, they are just front loaded. Even if young adults are financially dependent on their parents because of youth unemployment issues, they don't start costing their parents more when they're 18-20 than when they were, say, 12-14.
kristianp 1y ago
Many people tend to want to own their own place before having kids, then the mortgage costs mean they might only be able to afford to have one child. Each child means a parent stops working for at least few months, losing income. Housing costs are getting worse over time too in HCOL areas.

gmoot 1y ago

Children used to be your retirement plan.