WOMEN RETIRE Photo From Shutterstock

Photo From Shutterstock.com

Retirement Planning For Parents (Because Children Are No Longer Cheaper By The Dozen)

· · 58 Comments

By Craig Erwin, Ph.D. 1-8-20


Retirement planning for parents can be very challenging. The book “Cheaper By The Dozen” was written by Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey about growing up early in the 20th century, when it was not terribly uncommon for parents to have a dozen children. When their father, Frank Gilbreth Sr., was asked why he had so many children, he would quip, “Because they are cheaper by the dozen.” The book has twice been made into a movie, most recently in 2003 with Steve Martin starring.


It made far more sense to have large families a century ago than it does today. The mortality rate was high, many families lived on farms (where children were invaluable laborers) and the older children were expected to practically raise the younger ones themselves. Children were also a key part of retirement planning for parents; children were expected to help support and care for their elderly parents.


Times have changed, though. A lot. Today raising a dozen children costs a fortune. Sharply rising child-rearing costs have likely contributed to the sharp decline in both birthrates and family size for much of the world in the past century. A 2017 U.S. Department of Agriculture study concluded that a middle-income couple with two children spends $233,610 to raise just one of their children from birth to the age of 17. Obviously, that doesn’t even include the cost of college. For more details on the USDA study, visit USDA: https://www.usda.gov/. Clearly children don’t come cheap, even if you only have one or two.


One of the biggest ways in which children affect their families is the impact they have on retirement planning for parents. If you have children later in life, it is very unlikely that you will retire early and much more likely that you will retire later than your friends. And planning to cover the cost of college for one or more children may really throw a wrench into your retirement plans. If your friends are beginning to retire, but you are still borrowing money to pay for your childrens’ tuition, room and board, it’s not likely that you are going to retire anytime soon.


Even though it may sound crazy and premature, retirement planning for parents must begin before they start a family. Why? Because having children may change everything about how, when, and where they will be able to (or must) retire.


Although it is more obvious how children will affect your retirement if you have them later in life, even if you have children when you are in your twenties, they may still have a profound impact on your retirement. Why? Because the most important factor affecting the amount of money you accumulate for retirement is how much you save. In your twenties, instead of aggressively saving money for retirement (when it can do the most good because it has decades to grow), you will likely need to spend much of the money you earn raising your children. And if you pay their college expenses, you will have even less money left to save for retirement. So, retirement planning for parents must begin early; waiting until your children are grown to start planning for retirement may mean that you will end up working forever.


If you are considering starting a family, think long and hard about your priorities. If you love to spoil yourself, perhaps travelling or buying the latest cars, gadgets, or clothes, consider whether you will need to give up most of those things up if you have children. You need to work out your retirement priorities and goals before you have children; retirement planning for parents cannot be left to chance. Once you have children, you will have far less flexibility. And definitely far less money.

For more on the impact of children on their parents’ retirement, please visit The Risky Business Of Having Children: Children Change Everything: https://womenretire.com/the-risky-business-of-having-children-children-change-everything/

NEVER MISS A POST

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comments

  1. 4 stars
    Magnificent goods from you, man. I have take note your stuff previous to and you’re simply extremely magnificent.
    I actually like what you have obtained right here, certainly like what you’re stating and the
    best way wherein you assert it. You make it entertaining and you continue to
    take care of to stay it wise. I cant wait to read much
    more from you. This is really a wonderful web site.

    Reply

  3. 2 stars
    Oh my goodness! Amazing article dude! Thank you so much, However
    I am having difficulties with your RSS. I don’t know why I cannot join it.
    Is there anyone else having identical RSS problems? Anyone that knows the answer can you kindly respond?
    Thanx!!

    Reply

  4. 1 star
    I really like your blog.. very nice colors &
    theme. Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you?
    Plz answer back as I’m looking to construct my own blog and
    would like to find out where u got this from.
    thank you

    Reply

  5. 1 star
    I have to thank you for the efforts you’ve put in writing
    this site. I’m hoping to check out the same high-grade content
    from you later on as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my very own website now ;
    )

    Reply

  27. 5 stars
    Oh my goodness! Incredible article dude! Many thanks,
    However I am going through issues with your RSS.

    I don’t understand why I am unable to join it. Is there anybody else getting identical
    RSS issues? Anyone who knows the answer can you kindly
    respond? Thanx!!

    Reply

  35. 5 stars
    Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew of any widgets
    I could add to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates.

    I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and
    was hoping maybe you would have some experience with something like this.
    Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward
    to your new updates.

    Reply

  39. 1 star
    It’s not my first time to pay a quick visit this web site, i am visiting this web site dailly
    and obtain pleasant information from here every day.

    Reply

  46. 2 stars
    I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you
    design this website yourself or did you hire someone to
    do it for you? Plz respond as I’m looking to construct my own blog and would like to know where u
    got this from. appreciate it

    Reply

  47. 4 stars
    Interesting blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere?
    A design like yours with a few simple tweeks would really
    make my blog jump out. Please let me know where you got your design.
    Cheers

    Reply

  52. 5 stars
    What you posted made a ton of sense. But, think on this, suppose you added a
    little content? I ain’t suggesting your content is not good,
    however what if you added something that makes people want more?
    I mean Retirement Planning For Parents (Because Children Are No Longer Cheaper By The Dozen) – WOMEN RETIRE
    Photo From Shutterstock is a little plain. You could peek at Yahoo’s home
    page and note how they create article headlines to grab viewers interested.
    You might try adding a video or a picture or two to grab readers excited about what you’ve written. In my opinion, it would bring your website a little bit more interesting.

    Reply

  53. 4 stars
    Hey are using WordPress for your site platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and create my
    own. Do you require any html coding knowledge to make your
    own blog? Any help would be really appreciated!

    Reply

  57. 2 stars
    We stumbled over here by a different web address and thought I
    might check things out. I like what I see so now i’m following you.
    Look forward to looking at your web page yet again.

    Reply

  58. 5 stars
    Hi there all, here every person is sharing these kinds of knowledge, therefore it’s nice to read this weblog,
    and I used to pay a quick visit this webpage everyday.

    Reply