Posted on 09/22/2013 5:29:16 AM PDT by cunning_fish
1. “I will cost you your dream house.”
Couples thinking about starting a family might want to boost their saving goals. The cost of raising a child from birth to age 17 is higher than the price of the average American home: Middle-income parents spend over $241,000 to raise a child, according to a study released last month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. The median price of a home, in contrast, currently stands at $203,500. And statistics show that, unsurprisingly, the more a family earns, the more they spend on their kids.
There are some economies of scale. The cost per child decreases as the number of children increases—even though the overall cost continues to climb. Families with three or more children spend 22% less per child than those with only two children, as the kids get hand-me-down clothing and toys, help baby-sit, and share bedrooms. Plus, food can be bought in bulk and some child care services offer discounts for more than one child, says Mark Lino, a research economist with the Department of Agriculture. “But you’re better off economically if you have an only child, as most parents only have a set amount of income,” Lino says.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
Thank you!
This article would never get written in Mali or Mexico.
It is aimed at credulous honkies and
was written by a Marxist.
Coming soon... race ‘betterment’ department.
Reshaping the demographics of the US one article at a time.
Exactly when did men start having “dream houses”?
Born in ‘44 and marrying in ‘68 with five children by 1980, I certainly don’t remember any conversations with men regarding their dream houses...their wife’s dream house perhaps, but never their own.
“Dream house”??? Give me a break.
I think bboop was physically capable of reading past 2, just not emotionally so without getting sickened by the nature of the article.
“I will cost you your dream house.”
Better that than the other way around!
I read no further. No need at all.
Heck, my dream house is a grass shack on “Topless Island”.
You forgot the other 'M' word: Mormons.
When I was eight years old in 1948, one of my uncles (the only successful one and the only unmarried one) told me, “Look around you and what do you see? Your parents and all your aunts and uncles are poor. Notice also that all of them have children. There is a connection,” or words to that effect. I never forgot that lesson, and it, along with other factors, convinced me. I never gave fatherhood a second thought thereafter.
Today, while my siblings struggle financially, I’m doing just fine, thank you.
Oddly enough, the world struggled by without any of my children.
I am not saying that people don’t get pleasure out of their children, some more certainly do and it gives them enormous pleasure and a reason for living. Good for them. It’s a highly personal decision.
My first marriage was without kids. My second marriage is with kids. I’ll take the marriage with kids every time.
Government in part, but mostly culture rot, is what is responsible for producers having fewer children. The blame for the culture rot falls on the Caucasian protestants who embraced contraception. The fault is with them. They are reaping what they have sown. There are many wonderful Protestants who don’t understand that Christ founded the Catholic Church. They are ignorant. We need these people in the Catholic Church so that they can make life decisions informed by Jesus’ church.
Speaking as a middle class person that raised three kids I might disagree.
They weren’t poor, your uncle was.
YOU are ignorant!
“Today, while my siblings struggle financially, I’m doing just fine, thank you.”
Did you get to live in your “dream house”?
I guess you are older than 30.:-)
How so?
People in poor countries have more kids because they can afford them.
But they already put a stigma on the alternative. “Since the days when one parent stayed home (doing unpaid labor)”
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