How many children? Poll

[foxfirev5]

Three kids - along with DW a top priority. 67% college graduates. 3 Grandkids. All self sufficient. Now can I retire?

 

[scrabbler1]

None! Best retirement investment decision I ever made!

+1,000

 

[Sarah in SC]

So happy to answer childfree!


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[Hermit]

One of each flavor. After the second DW said it was time for me to fix this problem...

 

[powerplay]

No children here.

 

[eytonxav]

Son and daughter, regardless of the cost they are priceless.

 

[MichaelB]

Son and daughter, regardless of the cost they are priceless.

Mine are like that. No matter how much I offered, no one would take them.

 

[rodi]

I don't really buy that it takes $245k/kid to raise them. But my kids will attest that I'm a mean mom who makes them justify purchases.

Sometimes I love my kids without bounds. Other times they drive me up the wall. It's definitely a mixed bag.

 

[aaronc879]

I don't really buy that it takes $245k/kid to raise them.

I agree a large majority of parents spend nowhere near that much. However, if you include the upper middle class and 1%ers then the average might be that high with most of them sending their kids to private school from pre-K all the way thru high school graduation.

 

[MRG]

Zero, you'd think 2 kids that married at 18 would have had the decency to be pregnant. 39 years later still none, maybe we didn't do something right.


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[youbet]

The TV in the kitchen is tuned to an old re-run of Two and a Half Men. Alan and Charlie's mother just told them "the reason god gave us children was so that death wouldn't look so bad......" Sheeeesh...... I almost spit my manhatten over the keyboard and monitor.

Our kids and grandkids have added an interesting dimension to our lives. Some real challenges, some real joys. If it turns out I have a moment on my death bed to reflect before the lights go out, I doubt I'll be thinking that I regret having had them in my life. But that's just me. I certainly respect the feelings others have in regard to these choices.

 

[Rick_Head]

When DW and I married we agreed that we wanted a round number of children. When we figured out what that round number was, we already had one.

Then we had another. I don't think we regret it and (33 years later) that first kid is about is about to bestow upon us us the dreaded title of GP. Can anyone save us from that fate?

 

[youbet]

I don't really buy that it takes $245k/kid to raise them. But my kids will attest that I'm a mean mom who makes them justify purchases.

I look at it this way......

If in our early 20's we had started dollar cost averaging into VTSMX (Vanguard TSM fund) the dollars we were spending on children, how much would be in that account today? We might not have spent $245k, but I bet if we had been free to invest the money we did spend those many years ago and let it compound and grow, it would be worth well over $245k today.

Just estimating here of course.........

 

[6miths]

2+2. Officially anyway. I didn't have any big lottery wins or achieve celebrity so I haven't had any others stepping forward to make a claim.

 

[martyp]

none for me but . . . Wow! More than half of us don't have children?

 

[Gumby]

You mean before the state took them away?

 

[photoguy]

Yeah us childless folks seem to be way over-represented here.

 

[tryan]

Have to say ... the MAJORITY having NO kids surprised me.

2 boyz .... teenagers (not cheap).

 

[bjorn2bwild]

+ X - interesting skew if the poll is representative. This branch of the family tree ends here. My DNA took the news surprisingly well.

 

[Alan]

none for me but . . . Wow! More than half of us don't have children?

Might explain why they have plenty of time to spend on the internet.

 

[NW-Bound]

We have two, a daughter and a son. I have never bothered to figure out the cost of raising them and putting them through college. That pales beside the worry I had when they were going through their teenage years.

Now that they are 29 and 25 and financially independent, it's time for me to relax and to enjoy their company. My daughter often organizes family get-togethers, like eating out or dragging us out to the movie theater.

 

[Dreamer]

I had 2 children, a son and a daughter 10 1/2 years apart. I have 2 granddaughters that are my daughter's children. My son never wanted any children. He is 36 years old. His girlfriend has a son who just turned 17 years old and they have been together since he was 8 years old.

 

[Goonie]

........This branch of the family tree ends here. My DNA took the news surprisingly well.

+1
My Dad was an only child, so it was up to my brother and/or myself to have a male offspring to carry on the family name and lineage. So, the party's over....he has a daughter, and I have no offspring. We'll just fade into the forgotten shadows.

LIFE IS GREAT!!!

 

[robnplunder]

Wow, 50% voted as having no kids. No kids ----> faster to RE.

 

[34rlsa]

Looks like there is a good market for LTC insurance on the forum.