Quite possibly, I didn't go part time in a min wage job until my fifties and finally quit at 57.Their impact unfortunately is timing when you can really start investing significantly and the compound growth opportunities that you miss you on.
In 2023 it cost on average £166,000 to raise 1 child.
How much does it cost to raise a child in the UK? - Moneyfarm
How much does it cost to raise a child in the UK? Find out what the average cost is, and the cost of a child by age on Moneyfarm's website!blog.moneyfarm.com
So for a typical 2 child family , 330k and growth over 20 years is gone.
That easily delays FIRE by 10+ years
Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE)
- Thread starter throwaway4372
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I'm planning to never financially recover from it.
Up to a point though, I'm not even joking. I think that if you have children and the potential to retire early then you are likely sacrificing some element of your childrens future for your own desire to work less. Well, unless of course you are very wealthy. Its already ridiculously hard for the younger generation to buy a house and generally have any financial security unless they happen to get very well paid jobs so the bank of mum and dad tends to bankroll many house purchases.
My parents generation were the true winners in the house lottery but even I (37) consider myself very lucky to be in the position I am with regards to housing. Over the past 8-9 years I will have seen around £130k of "free" wealth added to my net worth through simply owning property. And yes thats a gross oversimplification of the matter but ultimately the house prices that have led to that money are there for everyone whether they owned housing or not so you are either a little worse off or much worse off when it comes to moving up the housing ladder.
I certainly plan to retire early but likely go part time and hopefully by the time that happens the world won't have boiled/exploded or turned into waterworld or mad max and we can help our kids to get started in adult life.
But think about the joy and support they will bring you later on in life.. when they've moved several hundred miles away and very rarely visit.
But think about the joy and support they will bring you later on in life.. when they've moved several hundred miles away and very rarely visit.
Don't be so negative. There's every chance one of them will get divorced and need to move back in, perhaps bringing some young children for you to babysit...
Caporegime
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Their impact unfortunately is timing when you can really start investing significantly and the compound growth opportunities that you miss you on.
In 2023 it cost on average £166,000 to raise 1 child.
How much does it cost to raise a child in the UK? - Moneyfarm
How much does it cost to raise a child in the UK? Find out what the average cost is, and the cost of a child by age on Moneyfarm's website!
So for a typical 2 child family , 330k and growth over 20 years is gone.
That easily delays FIRE by 10+ years
At least from my perspective if I had a choice from retiring early to not having kids. I would pick the kids every time. I couldn't imagine my world without children in it.
I know for a fact my daughter who will be financially independent soon at 18 hasn't cost us no where near 166k and she never went without anything. Although we have paid zero in childcare costs and balanced work around our children.
Did you do any maths for that figure or is it just happens to be the amount you have?
I have a similar amount, half of it is in a fixed term isa and the other half is savings..
I need about 3.5k for zero intreast debts that I would need to pay off if I lose my job.
10-12k for a replacement car for when my 14 year old car finally goes to the scrap yard.
and about 10-12k emergency fund of which I need to use some of it to sort out my kitchen after I get back from holiday.
but my stocks and shares holdings is larger than my cash holdings..
I bought a house in 1997, and I'm not a boomer (Generation X).
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After my initial SIPP transfer from Vanguard to ii back in Jan, some interest appeared in the Vanguard SIPP preventing it from closing. IMO that's dumb, if I select to transfer the whole thing I mean the whole thing. So a second and supposedly final transfer was requested on 10th Feb. It is now 26th April and Vanguard still haven't done the transfer, they message me about once a month to say they haven't forgotten, what a shambles.
Didn't he say:
My bolding to show the pertinent part... "Not many" is not equal to "none"
A few early GenX would have been in a position to buy a house given that, by 2003, they could have been circa 35-38 years old however some GenX were only 23 years old in 2003. In your case (bought in 1997), some Gen X would have only been 17 years of age and, IIRC with contract law, you have to be 18 to enter into one including mortgages.
A few questions, given you have opened the door on this:
- How old were you when you bought the house?
- Where did the deposit funds come from (savings/inheritance/gifted by someone/mix of these)?
- Who was paying the mortgage (you or was it you + partner)?
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Kids would have crippled me and my partners disposable income.
Otherwise my life is similar to yours.
Car is 20 years old
Modest but absolutely nice enough house (don't want or need a bigger mortgage)
Nothing on finance
Don't spend much eating out.
What you spend on kids I spend on travel. Can't really have both unless you're both high earners
That is the thing though. One way or another, kids cost a lot. Either both parents work and you pay childcare. Or one parent doesn't work and you are down in cash (potential) due to that.
Caporegime
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We both work full time jobs and managed to do it without the use of childcare. We even did it the worst way possible as there is a 12 year age gap between our two children too.
It hasn't financially ruined us either. We bought a brand new car in 2023 which was paid off last month and up until recently only had 50k left on our mortgage.
Yes sacrifices have been made with work although not financially as we earned good for our area. I had to work nights and evenings for about 7 years but that is all behind us now and we are all around the dinner table in the evening these days.
Impressive! How did you manage 2 jobs and no childcare?
Caporegime
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Caporegime
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That's reassuring knowing you drive for a living
That was years ago. I haven't worked nights since 2013. I have a more normal life now.
I’ve seen this job position that I’m tempted to apply for.. it’s a more senior role, more travelling - 3 hour drive vs 1 hour for each the two days in the office, and there’s also the “better the devil” issue.
The uplift in salary; if I got it will be between 21% - 39%, plus 15% pension hence the temptation.
The issue is that it’s a direct rival, so I would have to take 6 months unpaid gardening leave.
I have a load of shares at the current company that would be forfeited.
The bonus package is around 10% at my current place, I’m not sure what the other place bonus is like, or even if they get one.
Any additional salary would likely just go to my pension anyway until the tax brackets are changed.. so is it really worth it? Sensible me would apply for the role, see what offer (if any) the new place gives and use it to try and get an uplift in salary at my current place. But I have had a 19% payrise (excluding bonuses) during the 3.5 years I’ve been here.
The uplift in salary; if I got it will be between 21% - 39%, plus 15% pension hence the temptation.
The issue is that it’s a direct rival, so I would have to take 6 months unpaid gardening leave.
I have a load of shares at the current company that would be forfeited.
The bonus package is around 10% at my current place, I’m not sure what the other place bonus is like, or even if they get one.
Any additional salary would likely just go to my pension anyway until the tax brackets are changed.. so is it really worth it? Sensible me would apply for the role, see what offer (if any) the new place gives and use it to try and get an uplift in salary at my current place. But I have had a 19% payrise (excluding bonuses) during the 3.5 years I’ve been here.
Soldato
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That sounds terrible, unless you can afford the 6 months unpaid and believe it's worth the tradeoff.
Unless something in my place goes completely **** up, I could never work for a rival. It would challenge my integrity.