DutchGirl wrote:Yeah....... You see, the fact that you are intelligent and that your fellow parent is intelligent does not guarantee that your offspring will be an asset to this world. At all.
Doesn't guarantee it, but it certainly improves the odds.
DutchGirl wrote:There's also a little feeling of 'superiority' mixed into that argument that I don't like, at all. If you use that argument, you have disqualified yourself from MY ideal future world of humble, modest people...
I think ERE is something an individual can be very happy about and that's not a bad thing...
DutchGirl wrote:So a big fat "no" to the argument that "we, of all people, should have lots of kids because we're so fantastic".
People here are pretty fantastic. Isn't that why you're here? ... Seems like people who value time and skills over money that are great long term planners would make ideal parents.
I think we focus too much on the negative of the world. As Aussie kind of noted; the world is a much safer and more humane place now than it has been throughout recorded history. Yes, there are still unbelievable amounts of abject misery in the world, but that unbelievable amount is significantly smaller than it was even 100 years ago.
Through out much of the last 200 years the U.S. was a beacon of democratic ideals (muddled with republic ideals), and it had, on average, more freedoms than other countries. However, now there are major swaths of every continent with democracies and rather free citizens.
Yes, this could change, but it could also get better (more money usually equals more freedom - China). I don't think "the world is evil" is legit reason not to have kids.
Sorry but I had to chime in, its probably incorrect that the world is the safest its ever been. Check out the book "The Chalice and The Blade" - it details that Minoan civilization which is believed to have been much safer than our current society.
You need to give me more than that for me to take the time to look into another book. Especially, when it appears you are cherry picking a society and I'm talking about the entire world.
I don't have kids, nor do I want them. (Ditto on pets).
Although kids (or pets) don't need to be expensive monetarily, they definitely are in time and opportunity cost. I'm further not convinced either makes us happy, which arguably is a bad reason to have kids (to make ourselves happy rather to raise them well).
And so, no dependents, thank you very much~
-23 year old Millenial
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As far as loneliness in old age, perhaps the goal is to be as healthful as possible throughout life so that it's possible to still walk, hike, love, and all the other nice things in life. And if quality of life is irreparably poor by then--whether with kids or not--death is not a bad option frankly.
Anyway, I have seen some examples over at RPF about families sailing or RVing for years with their growing and self-educated kids. I thought that was cool. If I had to have kids, I'd opt for something adventurous and more educational, like that.
I haven't read through this thread but I have a toddler. He is almost 2 years old. Best thing that ever happened to me but spouse and I do not plan on having another for a long-time.
I'm thirty, married, with one kid who's about two. I wouldn't want to pursue FIRE alone. My wife is totally on board and we're set to fire in 3-5 years making $100,000 pretax in a high COL area.
In the last two years of having a kid, we've spent less than $1,000 a month on EVERYTHING except our mortgage and health insurance (costs that will decrease/eliminate in FIRE). That includes hospital stay to have the kid, buying a new car, and all general life expenses. Note that I'm not saying we spent 1k on the kid--I mean $1,000 a month for our whole family.
Anyone with even a basic ERE understanding can do kids on the cheap.
I currently find myself in an "undecided" fog about the issue. Maybe I am about to change my mind. I don't know what caused this. Maybe I am entering a window in which having kids would be sort of "ok" and if I do have them I won't regret it. I don't know. I'm a 32 yo male and still have plenty of time so no worries.
I have a 9 months old baby and I'm planning to have another one. Here in Sweden is really cheap to raise a kid, everything is free, it's only the kindergarten that costs, but not much, about 150 USD per month, tops.
The only thing I'm having troubles with (from an ERE perspective) is housing costs. When i was single I used to rent a room in an apartment with other 3 people. Meanwhile I was renting out the apartment that I own and getting more than enough to live and save some. Now we have to live in my apartment and that means losing something like 1000 dollars per month.