Imagine There's No Children: Assessing How Much Your Kids Are Costing You
WHENEVER MY KIDS marvel at a neighbor's humongous house or fancy car, I always trot out my standard response.</br></br>"That doesn't mean they have a lot of money," I scoff. "That means they spent a lot of money."</br></br>But recently, when I was once again tossing off this parental platitude, it got me to thinking: What if I never had children? What if I let myself go and loosened the purse strings? Here's what my financial life might look like in those two scenarios:</br></br>-- No Kidding: Occasionally, in this column, I mention that raising children is a costly undertaking. That usually triggers a truckload of hate mail from folks who berate me as a cynical, soulless, childless, self-indulgent yuppie.</br></br>Childless? I don't think so.