MuirWannabe
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2009
- Messages
- 2,121
I am 30, and still on the fence about having kids. I am leaning toward yes, but it would be a few years.
I know a lot of people on here are child free by choice and it obviously increases your chanced of early retirement, but I also see many of you with children still in high school or college and you still managed to get out of the rat race.
Here are my random questions....
1. How did having kids change your retirement plans?
2. How much do kids really cost? I already bought a house, so that is fixed....seems like it wouldn't be as bad as some of these calculators suggest.
3. Is it really as rewarding as they say!? (Be honest!)
4. What if you only have one kid? My experience (friends) is that an only child is a little weird!
5. Does having a kid make work worth it? Make it suck a little less?? (wishful thinking!!)
Thanks for your advice.
1. I could have retired sooner without kids.
2. They cost a bunch.
3. Yes. And yes. Finally, yes.
4. Don't know. I have 3 kids. But I doubt your concern is valid.
5. Work still sucks. But family provides motivation and incentive to deal with it. But it does not make work inherently better.
I agree with other posters. Don't base your decision for children upon your retirement date. If the latter is your primary concern then you should not have children. Once you have children they must be your primary concern with all else secondary and therefore subject to slippage.