That'll be $204,060 please....

[Andry]

According to the latest US gov't report, the cost of raising a child born in 2007 for middle-income earners will be a whopping $204,060 .

Sobering.

 

[rocklife]

they're worth it

but I don't believe everything the government says

 

[JBJoe]

According to the latest US gov't report, the cost of raising a child born in 2007 for middle-income earners will be a whopping $204,060 .

Sobering.

In that case, shouldn't they give us $10,000 in tax deductions per year for each child instead? Maybe we could depreciate them on our Schedule C.

 

[JulySheMustFly]

Well that's interesting. We sure don't fit that but then I'm not comfortable factoring my children as a budget expense either. It really isn't about how much children cost but how much we want to spend.

 

[JulySheMustFly]

.

 

[Leanna]

Interesting things worth noting from article

--Children get more expensive as they get older
--Child care and education expenses have increased
--Housing is the largest cost

So I guess... if you wanted to spend less.... don't use day care... and have a house that's nicely sized but not like the identical monstrosities with wasted square footage lol

 

[Linnis]

I agree with Leanna, there are ways to cut back on the costs of having children. Some don't use daycare, kids sharing rooms, cloth diaper, breastfeeding etc. Of course it'll get different as kids get older and they cost more but as they get older kids will also understand how much their things cost and maybe could get a summer job for money for those wants they have.


I doubt it'll cost that much to raise my DS.

 

[Redguard]

By cutting out daycare as a cost minimizer, you're cutting out potential earnings through employment income.

Since most people earn more than what they'll pay for daycare, the two cancel themselves out.

 

[Leanna]

By cutting out daycare as a cost minimizer, you're cutting out potential earnings through employment income.

Since most people earn more than what they'll pay for daycare, the two cancel themselves out.

Indeed, but its not an expense for us.

I'll almost certainly pay more on educational materials though.

 

[Laurie919]

"Families making less than $45,800 before taxes can expect to spend less, $148,320 in real terms over the course of their child's first 17 years. Those on the other end of the income spectrum, making more than $77,100 a year, will spend $298,680 in 2007 dollars on raising their '07 child."

Well since several people on here have said they are able to receive WIC and other government/state services such as insurance I am assuming they are on the under $45K a year. So, they would only be spending $148,320. I can easily see that even without daycare and private school expenses.

 

[JulySheMustFly]

"Families making less than $45,800 before taxes can expect to spend less, $148,320 in real terms over the course of their child's first 17 years. Those on the other end of the income spectrum, making more than $77,100 a year, will spend $298,680 in 2007 dollars on raising their '07 child."

Well since several people on here have said they are able to receive WIC and other government/state services such as insurance I am assuming they are on the under $45K a year. So, they would only be spending $148,320. I can easily see that even without daycare and private school expenses.

Which works out to roughly $8725 per child per year for 17 years in the less than $45k gross income bracket.

The middle income bracket would be roughly $12000 annually per child. Which means for my family according to the article we would spend $36,000 annually on our children alone. WOW!

 

[Laurie919]

I don't understand how housing is included you would need a place to live even if you didn't have a child. Being that Taylor and I live alone. Her share of housing every year would be $7500, that isn't including any of HER other expenses.

Clothing I would say runs at least $2000 a year, $300 for lunch money, $520 for expenses like book fairs, year books, filed trips, ice cream money, other little expenses, their spending money. I figured that at $10 a week. It is most likely more than that, I was just guessing that. Thinking about that, I know it is more than that. Should be more like $30 a week.

Once I had put everything in quicken that we were spending. I had a Taylor catagorey. It was bigger than any of our other expenses including housing. This was when she was younger and in private school.

Her child support is always hers unless I have an urgent need an really need it. If I do use it I always pay it back.

I could see where I spend some where in the middle of the lower income and the middle income.

 

[Redguard]

The housing number confused me as well. My guess is that it's the marginal add-on for buying a house with an extra bedroom... or something?

I think the number they're providing is a "fully-loaded" number. These are usually used with the intention of scaring people into attention.

 

[Caffeinated]

The housing number confused me as well. My guess is that it's the marginal add-on for buying a house with an extra bedroom... or something?

I think the number they're providing is a "fully-loaded" number. These are usually used with the intention of scaring people into attention.

There used to be a billboard in my town designed to discourage teen pregnancies. It said the monthly cost of a baby was some outrageous figure...something like $3500 a month, just for the baby,in their first year. I had a baby at the time and our monthly income was about half that amount. I'd love to know what they included in that amount! It had to include things that you'd have to have even if you were not a parent - the 'fully-loaded' number, as you said.

 

[JulySheMustFly]

The housing had me as well. Come to think of it, my friends without children have larger more expensive homes than we do.

 

[Redguard]

So, they say that housing makes up 27 - 33% of the total. Let's average that to 30%.

$204,060 minus 30% is $142,842.

So, between the ages of 0 to 18, this is estimated as being the cost when you take out a frivolous item such as "housing".

I wonder what's included in the education costs? Since they're stopping at 18, I wonder if this includes the 1st year's worth of tuition at university? Or are they just assuming that middle class people send their children to boarding school?

 

[seamonster]

My son's 1st year of life cost me less than $1,000. I highly doubt the rest of it will total $200,000.

 

[Leanna]

I don't understand how housing is included you would need a place to live even if you didn't have a child.

If it were just my husband and I, we could live very comfortably in our 3 bedroom house until "the end." However, with 3 children, you can bet we fully intend to buy a bigger house as they get bigger. So I can see why children would mean a bigger house.

There used to be a billboard in my town designed to discourage teen pregnancies. It said the monthly cost of a baby was some outrageous figure...something like $3500 a month, just for the baby,in their first year. I had a baby at the time and our monthly income was about half that amount. I'd love to know what they included in that amount! It had to include things that you'd have to have even if you were not a parent - the 'fully-loaded' number, as you said.

I don't get that either unless they figured the hospital bill with no insurance and then split that into a monthly bill.

 

[Andry]

My son's 1st year of life cost me less than $1,000. I highly doubt the rest of it will total $200,000.

Video games.

 

[jgonz]

I hate "reports" like that. They over-generalize and scare people into being afraid to have kids. I've found that it all just works itself out.