7.28.2004

money

According to this MSN article it costs $250K + to raise a kid from birth to age 17 (doesn't include college tuition). From what I hear weddings costs $25-40K (on the low end), house around $500K or more, and kid $250K. That rounds off to, let's say $750K

And for some of us, we're still paying $20-30K for our graduate educations and must also factor in a loss of $70-80K for each year of lost wages and benefits due to unemployment and/or going to grad school (conservative estimate 2 years of lost wages).  I'm not even counting money owed on student loans from undergrad here cause most of my friends went to school in Canada where it was more affordable and scholarships were relatively easy to attain I found. So let's say another $180K down the chute. That totals close to $950K. 

No wonder so many of my peers are near/in their thirties and not able to "settle down". It's just completely inaffordable. How fucking depressing is that?

I should redesign that "Game of Life" with these new hideous figures and include ugly realistic things like long term unemployment, company filing chapter 11, visa issues, divorce, pathetic severance pay outs, tanking stocks, zero return on 401K/RRSP, increasing tuition, increasing gas prices.  

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Based on your housing cost estimate, it appears that you live in a very pricey area. Everyone knows that the West Coast is expensive, but have you considered how much a premium you are paying.

In the southeast, there are many nice places with far more affordable housing. I live in Nashville TN and own a brick 3100 sq. ft. home on about .4 acres. I bought it new 2 years ago for 259K. The builder of the house is considered on of the best in the area, and includes lots of extra features in his houses. That's why I had to "pay so much".

500k around here buys a very big house and an exclusive address.