appiah4 wrote:

Well.. the biggest jumps in my pay grade and the fastest progression in my career happened after my lovely daughter was born.

For me as well, but I don't think it's related.

appiah4 wrote:

So yeah a kid is a great motivation to make more money and to signal your employers that your retention is dearer.

Not all employers look at it this way.

appiah4 wrote:

In that sense a kid pressures you into balancing her expenses through harder work.

That's true to an extent. Maybe on average a child is the best motivation. Some people have a sense of responsibility to take life "seriously" even before/without kids, and yet others may always stay slackers, but for many, it can definitely work out the way you said.

The point is, that once you view children as something other than a burden and a financial drain, then there is no particular reason to stop at 1. As I said, the magic number is different for each person/couple.

appiah4 wrote:

When the time comes, you will understand.

This perhaps will apply to others in this thread. For me that "time" has already come. A few years ago. 😀

PCBONEZ wrote:

There aren't any more certainties with that plan than there there are to the kids being there when you need them.
Economies and even whole governments can crash. Investments and health care plans can go poof.

Yes, you do have a point, that this is also far from certain. However, assuming a stable economy, for an individual, the choice to not have children, on average leads to greater financial gain. Assuming, of course, that the individual is responsible with money, and doesn't choose to live care-free and lavishly due to the feeling of no responsibility as appiah4 had pointed out can happen.

Maybe stable economy is too much to assume? That may be, but then a whole lot of unpredictable things can happen; in some scenarios a large family will be an advantage, in others - a disadvantage.

I think it is fairly obvious (and I said so much earlier in the thread) that for a society as a whole, having children is not only advantageous - it is mandatory, and in most cases - the more, the better. But for an individual in such a society - that is not always the case, when looking from a pure economic point of view. However, it is not and should not all be about the money.

PCBONEZ wrote:

Full time paid assistance is not cheap (you are paying someones entire income) and is an invasion of your privacy.
For me, living in an old folks home isn't an attractive option either.

Raising children is also not cheap, and will likely be more expensive in the long run. The matter of an invasion of privacy and living in a home are of course all valid points, but are deeply in the realm of subjective. For some, the feeling of being dependent on their children and burdening their children may be worse than being cared for by an outside assistant.

Interesting discussions/arguments here.

I am young and have yet to get married, let alone have children.

As far as money goes, any money I am making is towards the purpose of raising a family, as far as I am concerned. I like having money for my own personal ventures but there will be far more important things than just myself in my future.

I don't understand people who eschew family for money. Family makes you far richer than any money could in my opinion. Being a millionaire doesn't make you rich.

I understand life is unpredictable - either way.
That's kind of my point.
.

appiah4 wrote:

I suppose it pays to stop at number one..

It's pure luck. I have 3 and they are wonderful. My sister has 4, no problems. Genes are unpredictable but that doesn't mean people should be afraid to have (more) children.

People with no relationship history are the first to say that having kids is bad. They aren't at risk of having a family anyway.

Observation: The neverending dilemma of meatbags and their genetical half-clones.

Miphee wrote:

It's pure luck. I have 3 and they are wonderful. My sister has 4, no problems. Genes are unpredictable but that doesn't mean people should be afraid to have (more) children.

There's definitely some luck involved - our second kid (of 2) is a dream and has always been happy to go with the flow. Our first kid is far more likely to come up with a plan of action and is a lot less tolerant of things not going proceeding to that plan, but these personality types just happen to make a great team. The eldest comes up with the plan, the younger one goes along with it and makes it fun. I honestly can't recall one fight b/w them and they're 11 and 9 - that might change of course once the hormones kick in.