Comments on: No Kids = Rich?

By: LivingAlmostLarge

LivingAlmostLarge — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:49:00 +0000

I cringe when I read how much a kid costs. I think it depends on the circumstances of the parent. I had growing up no new clothes ever. I wore boy clothes for a good 5+ years of my life because my uncle had 3 boys, one only 7 months older than me. So my mom did not pay a cent for clothes, but unfortunately I looked like a boy.

Oh well. She said it was free and beggars can’t be choosers. So I was well dressed in 3rd generation hand me down clothes since his older brother was 14 months above him.

So children are only as expensive as you can afford.

By: Patience

Patience — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 13:43:02 +0000

I never thought before about how having kids can help you save money, or at least prompt you to try to do so. Those articles that come out claiming that raising a child costs something like $14 million always make DH and me laugh because they are such BS. You don’t *have* to buy a brand-new minivan just because you had a baby. After our fourth child was born, we added a third seat to the back of our Volvo wagon and made do with that for SIX years before finally buying a van (with cash of course.) We live in Virginia where there is a new program in which any student at a Virginia community college who achieves an associates degree with a 3.5 GPA is guaranteed admission to the University of Virginia. We are taking advantage of this with our oldest child–he is skipping the last two years of high school, is enrolled full-time at our community college, and will be enter UVA as a third-year at age 18, and we will be saving thousands of dollars buy paying the very cheap community college tuition for the first two years of his college career. I don’t know if we will go this route with all our kids, but it gives me peace of mind to know we have this option available.

By: katmaxx

katmaxx — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 02:20:07 +0000

Well, I have a crowd at my house and one modest income and we still save money( 5kids). My oldest son remarked the other day that dad always has a secret pile of money put away for when things break and he does by using a budget and making us live simply. I will say that a large crowd of kids and their friends provides plenty of drama so you get free intertainment at home sometimes. Also it gives you intense focus on taking care of needs and dropping the fluff. Kids really can be raised inexpensivly and they are more appreciative when treats are less frequent. One last thought is that when you raise them well kids as adults can really be a support and help to you. My older friends who have good relationships with their adult children know that if they really need help it is available to them. But that doesn’t happen without love and lots of time with them when they are young.

By: devil

devil — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:15:07 +0000

DH and I don’t have kids and have never wanted them. We are much, much better prepared for an early retirement than anyone we know with kids. And most of those people make at least twice as much as we do.

Of course, it’s easier to save more without kids than with them. With each birth/adoption you’re bringing in another person to support (who can’t contribute financially).

People without kids who blow all their money and don’t save for a rainy day have NO excuses. At least the children provide an excuse for being broke all the time.

By: Moneymonk

Moneymonk — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:52:54 +0000

“I think having kids must give focus to financial goals though”

I agree with fitwallett, I became more focus when I had a kids, when I was single I was spending my money freely and had no goals

Now I have a house, college fund, life insurance, will and cash in the bank. I also have a stock portfolio

I never thought of having those things before

By: Kristy

Kristy — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:51:15 +0000

I think that DH and I would be saving about the same without kids. We save plenty and spend enough so I don’t think it would change. Instead of paying for daycare and diapers we would probably just eat out more frequently and take an extra vacation.

I wonder if it has anything to do with age? I know that we waited a few years to have children and now that we are older we want to save more than when we were younger. Plus, we decided that we want the option of retiring early if we want to.

By: Livingalmostlarge

Livingalmostlarge — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:41:41 +0000

How’s this? Most people say you should be saving a lot more without kids, but my point is I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. While each scenario is different, there are too many people who get focused on finances because they have kids that makes me think it’s not necessarily easier to save without them.

By: fitwallet

fitwallet — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:15:49 +0000

At this point in my life, having kids seems financially impossible. We would have to completely change our spending habits and pay down most of our non-mortgage debt to make it work. In our area, you pretty much have to pay for private school unless you want your kids going to the city schools (no thanks!), so we would probably end up selling our home and moving elsewhere, too.

I think having kids must give focus to financial goals though, because I’ve heard several people say, “you’re never financially ready to have kids, you just make it work.” I’ll probably never know, because I don’t plan on having kids…

By: Kristy

Kristy — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:28:47 +0000

I agree with Ashley. It completely depends on the person. We actually save more now that we have kids but there are a couple of reasons for that.

We both make more money since DD turned 2 this year

Because of making more money it allows us to maximize our retirement funds.

We have become more aware as we have gotten older that we need to save a significant amount of money in order to retire.

I do see what you are saying though about how we may travel more frequently if we did not have children. It definitely is easier! I honestly think that if we didn’t have kids we would not be saving anymore than we are right now. However, we save about 33% of our gross income and don’t feel like we need to save anymore for retirement.

By: Ashley @ Wide Open Wallet

Ashley @ Wide Open Wallet — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 02:34:53 +0000

Who saves more is going to depend on the person. But I think not having kids gives you more options. My husband and I don’t have the option to take a weekend getaway and we still can’t save that money. If that makes sense.