Here is why both parents have to work just to stay ahead .

[Swede]

This link has lots of links. I had heard that wages grew 11% in the last 20 years,while inflation kept going at 3-4 per cent per year.


snip

First, consider what many progressives consider “the good old days”—the height of the pre-1970s economic boom. In 1973, the median inflation-adjusted income was higher than it had ever been and higher than it would be again until 1978—$45,533 (in 2008 dollars). Call this the gold standard before, in the conventional progressive telling, things started going south.

How much did things go south? Well, in 2008 the median was $50,303. That’s right—about $5,000 higher (after adjusting for changes in the cost of living).


http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/stagnant-wages-and-the-financial-bubble/

[SoCalNative]

1. Or perhaps they could just plan on becoming parents

only when they can afford it?

Can't afford kids? Don't breed.

[mzteris]

2. if you did that -

you'd NEVER have kids!

You can never really "afford" it!

that said, yeah, you should be stable with a steady income and limited debt and a clear plan for the future. But realistically? How often do you think THAT will happen.

[lildreamer316]

3. Guess when my parents decided they could afford it?

1973.




Oh, and by the way.
I didn't know I was pregnant until I was FIVE MONTHS pregnant. So I had my kid. Excuse me. Birth control failed. Guess I should be punished for that, eh?:eyes:

[XemaSab]

4. Parents making 20K

can raise happy, healthy, well-adjusted kids.

Parents making 150K can raise happy, healthy, well-adjusted kids.

If every would-be parent waited until things were financially perfect before starting a family, there wouldn't be a lot of kids around.

[nomorenomore08]

7. "...there wouldn't be a lot of kids around."

So? What's wrong with that? :evilgrin:

[Swede]

5. Wages didn't grow since the 70's was the point.

Yet everything else did.

[virgogal]

6. Most of us wouldn't exist if our parents waited until they could afford us.

[Feron]

8. Even people who do everything "right", can..

find themselves broke after having a child. Illnesses, layoffs, and other financial hardships happen.

Ideally people would wait until their finances are in order and day to day life is stable before having children, but life isn't always neat like that. You do what you can to make it work.

[girl gone mad]

9. Wow, glad I didn't ask your opinion first.

Had the kid, the money came much later. And we were a very happy family in the lean times.

[HughBeaumont]

10. K & R,

Vaulting Costs vs Stagnant Wages is the problem, and no one gets it but us!

This is why I think the WWII/Front-end Boomers are going to be the last group to retire comfortably. The rest of us are likely to never see a retirement or it will be ridiculously meager. With all that everything costs nowadays and a wage that doesn't even begin to meet it, I just feel there's no probable way we're going to be able to save the six-figure amount needed to retire and live on. That is, if you're not a doctor, lawyer or semi-successful businessperson.

[Toucano]

11. An excellent resource on the subject

Is Elizabeth Warren's "The Two Income Trap"

http://www.amazon.com/Two-Income-Trap-Middle-Class-Mothers/dp/0465090826