Growing share of childless adults in U.S. don’t expect to ever have children

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in a dystopian hellscape and nothing proves it more than this.

Somewhat.

Middle class life in Netherlands is objectively very good but it isn’t like they have a lot of kids their either

Across all societies, the trend is that as countries get wealthier and women get more freedom and education, fertility rates fall. Basically, when given a choice, women will typically choose to have fewer kids.

While true, if you inspect closer it’s due to middle income trap.

Women in House holds making over 500k are having more kids.

https://qz.com/1125805/the-reason-the-richest-women-in-the-us-are-the-ones-having-the-most-kids/

https://s3.amazonaws.com/real.stlouisfed.org/wp/2018/2018-022.pdf

The number of vc and hedge fund types I come across are 4 kids or more families.

I think it is women with educations but income constraints will chose to have less kids (typical college grad woman in the middle class).

Women with no educations OR no resource constraints will have more kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you think about, purely from a financial perspective, I am doing way, way worse than my friends who did not have kids (chosen not to or just couldn't because of biology, relationships, circumstances, etc).

It is an interesting thing to see right now since I'm in the thick of it, but US society doesn't encourage having children. If anything, there are economic disincentives built into the economy. No paid leave after having a child, an expensive childcare framework that is regulated to high hell by the government (for safety reasons, is unquestionably a good thing) with no financial support of the government (which people endless dispute as to whether it is shitty or not). Tax benefits are minimal. College savings programs aren't deductible federally and student loan interest is subject to income limits that drive people out of being able to take the deductions. Factor in the caps on SALT deductions (local property taxes pay for schools and surprise, the federal government DOESN'T want to encourage this I guess) and well...here we are.

+1. Couldn't agree more.

Agree. I still haven’t seen a single person refute the above points. If it was important, there would be meaningful tax benefits and government supports in place for families. Newsflash it isn’t. So smart people limit the number of kids they have or just opt out and accumulate wealth and spread it around their smaller families via inheritance which oddly is a prime thing a huge number of politicians want to encourage by reducing inheritance taxes etc.

[Anonymous]

DINKs here.

F kids. Never having hellspawns. I spent years paying my student loan debt off, insure as hell ain't paying more college bills for a kid. Scew paying $2-3k per mo for daycare. I want to retire before I crap in a diaper, and preferably no in poverty. Thanks.

Having kids is something rich privileged people do, or only what what poor people do who have the govt pay for everything .everyone else is screwed. Why would you want kids? The future is going to be dominated by Artificial Intelligence that could kill people, China running the world and censoring anything, the death of the Earth by pollution, or very high risk for WWII. Seeding a kid for that is cruelty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who is going to buy all this real estate that is the main investment for most families? Declining population is not helpful to a healthy real estate market.

We have a shortage of housing, not a surplus. The housing market will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wanted children. But a larger and larger number of us can't afford either IVF or adoption and to make a good like for the child once they are here.

So when I couldn't get pregnant naturally, I have up entirely. Had I lived in an area where it was easier to adopt from foster care, I might have done that.

I can certainly see where, in a time if limiting reproductive rights, more younger people would chose to get sterilized or have a vasectomy at an earlier and earlier age. That way, no unhappy surprises they can't afford to pay for.

Ivf could be next on the chopping block with abortion. They are flip sides of the same coin.

+1 If you favor IVF, fight like hell for a woman's right to control her own reproductive health at every stage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in a dystopian hellscape and nothing proves it more than this.

+1. There will be major regrets over this when it’s really too late.

This. I am 55 and have 2 children who are grown now. This country's support of families is pretty much nonexistent. I spend a lot of time thinking about how/ whether DH and I will be able to help our kids if they have children, because honestly without extended family support I don't know how young people of average means can do it.

An aging society is a failing one. Medicare and Social Security don't work without young people paying in. Japan is in such crisis right now they are actually opening up immigration, which is shocking to anyone who knows how racist/xenophobic Japan is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in a dystopian hellscape and nothing proves it more than this.

+1. There will be major regrets over this when it’s really too late.

+2 this is creepy “Children of Men” stuff with a dash of Idiocracy in there too.

+3 if humans give up on reproductive we’re in Wall-E territory.

Turn off the web?

Scary how prescient "Idiocracy" was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DINKs here.

F kids. Never having hellspawns. I spent years paying my student loan debt off, insure as hell ain't paying more college bills for a kid. Scew paying $2-3k per mo for daycare. I want to retire before I crap in a diaper, and preferably no in poverty. Thanks.

Having kids is something rich privileged people do, or only what what poor people do who have the govt pay for everything .everyone else is screwed. Why would you want kids? The future is going to be dominated by Artificial Intelligence that could kill people, China running the world and censoring anything, the death of the Earth by pollution, or very high risk for WWII. Seeding a kid for that is cruelty.

You sound happy in life.

[Anonymous]

My dd doesn’t want kids for the reasons cited in the study. She also has severe anxiety and ocd and says she doesn’t want to pass along her mental illness. She said she may foster a child. She is in college but her mind is pretty made up. I respect her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in a dystopian hellscape and nothing proves it more than this.

+1. There will be major regrets over this when it’s really too late.

This. I am 55 and have 2 children who are grown now. This country's support of families is pretty much nonexistent. I spend a lot of time thinking about how/ whether DH and I will be able to help our kids if they have children, because honestly without extended family support I don't know how young people of average means can do it.

An aging society is a failing one. Medicare and Social Security don't work without young people paying in. Japan is in such crisis right now they are actually opening up immigration, which is shocking to anyone who knows how racist/xenophobic Japan is.

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you think about, purely from a financial perspective, I am doing way, way worse than my friends who did not have kids (chosen not to or just couldn't because of biology, relationships, circumstances, etc).

It is an interesting thing to see right now since I'm in the thick of it, but US society doesn't encourage having children. If anything, there are economic disincentives built into the economy. No paid leave after having a child, an expensive childcare framework that is regulated to high hell by the government (for safety reasons, is unquestionably a good thing) with no financial support of the government (which people endless dispute as to whether it is shitty or not). Tax benefits are minimal. College savings programs aren't deductible federally and student loan interest is subject to income limits that drive people out of being able to take the deductions. Factor in the caps on SALT deductions (local property taxes pay for schools and surprise, the federal government DOESN'T want to encourage this I guess) and well...here we are.

This. My standard of living (housing, savings, etc) is objectively substantially worse than if i hadn't had kids, as a middle income earner (5 figures), and I even spaced out my two due to day care costs. I think it's lack of paid leave, limited PTO for average workers even after returning to work, and the insane costs of childcare that make it prohibitive for people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in a dystopian hellscape and nothing proves it more than this.

+1. There will be major regrets over this when it’s really too late.

This. I am 55 and have 2 children who are grown now. This country's support of families is pretty much nonexistent. I spend a lot of time thinking about how/ whether DH and I will be able to help our kids if they have children, because honestly without extended family support I don't know how young people of average means can do it.

An aging society is a failing one. Medicare and Social Security don't work without young people paying in. Japan is in such crisis right now they are actually opening up immigration, which is shocking to anyone who knows how racist/xenophobic Japan is.

I thought 🇺🇸 was the most racist place on earth. That’s what tnc, kendi, and 1619 project told me

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in a dystopian hellscape and nothing proves it more than this.

+1. There will be major regrets over this when it’s really too late.

This. I am 55 and have 2 children who are grown now. This country's support of families is pretty much nonexistent. I spend a lot of time thinking about how/ whether DH and I will be able to help our kids if they have children, because honestly without extended family support I don't know how young people of average means can do it.

An aging society is a failing one. Medicare and Social Security don't work without young people paying in. Japan is in such crisis right now they are actually opening up immigration, which is shocking to anyone who knows how racist/xenophobic Japan is.

I thought 🇺🇸 was the most racist place on earth. That’s what tnc, kendi, and 1619 project told me

It's what you heard, not what they said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wanted children. But a larger and larger number of us can't afford either IVF or adoption and to make a good like for the child once they are here.

So when I couldn't get pregnant naturally, I have up entirely. Had I lived in an area where it was easier to adopt from foster care, I might have done that.

I can certainly see where, in a time if limiting reproductive rights, more younger people would chose to get sterilized or have a vasectomy at an earlier and earlier age. That way, no unhappy surprises they can't afford to pay for.

Ivf could be next on the chopping block with abortion. They are flip sides of the same coin.

And then there will be fewer children.

My parents (white, hundreds of years in the US, because someone always says I am a recent immigrant) discouraged me from dating and only encouraged academics. By the time I moved several states away from them and married, apparently it was already too late.

Conservatives will end up with almost no population growth of non-immigrants if they keep this up. Between limiting control of reproduction, sky high public college tuitions and loans, high housing costs, no support for parents or new moms and dads, "pro life" essentially ending IVF, all the chemicals they want to continue releasing into the air and water, and pro business policies that hurt workers...means that more and more Americans won't be having kids, unless they are recent immigrants who are used to a lower standard of living.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wanted children. But a larger and larger number of us can't afford either IVF or adoption and to make a good like for the child once they are here.

So when I couldn't get pregnant naturally, I have up entirely. Had I lived in an area where it was easier to adopt from foster care, I might have done that.

I can certainly see where, in a time if limiting reproductive rights, more younger people would chose to get sterilized or have a vasectomy at an earlier and earlier age. That way, no unhappy surprises they can't afford to pay for.

Ivf could be next on the chopping block with abortion. They are flip sides of the same coin.

And then there will be fewer children.

My parents (white, hundreds of years in the US, because someone always says I am a recent immigrant) discouraged me from dating and only encouraged academics. By the time I moved several states away from them and married, apparently it was already too late.

Conservatives will end up with almost no population growth of non-immigrants if they keep this up. Between limiting control of reproduction, sky high public college tuitions and loans, high housing costs, no support for parents or new moms and dads, "pro life" essentially ending IVF, all the chemicals they want to continue releasing into the air and water, and pro business policies that hurt workers...means that more and more Americans won't be having kids, unless they are recent immigrants who are used to a lower standard of living.

Go to an Irish bar. The Irish men could get you pregnant by just walking through a crowded bar. My Irish cousins naturally had three kids and he was 50 and she 40 when they got married. At 42,44 and 46 her. Him 52, 54,56. I think they could of had three more.