@Anonymous wrote:
When kids come along it screws everything up for parents financially because there are so many gotchas. None of the financial planning apps do a good job there. I've been harping on one of my Facebook groups to folks planning kids to start the day the stick turns blue, not 9 months later, lol. Still, people always send me horror stories about the financial situations going upside down right away. I don't have kids (yet) so I'm not one to suggest parenting advice, but when it comes to financially planning for it, there's millions to be made if someone would make a solid family financial planning app that one can start using the minute the pregnancy is confirmed!
The scope of your project grows with every post.
@Anonymous wrote:
The scope of your project grows with every post.
You'd think, but as I just said, parents don't trust non-parents with financial advice, even if that non-parents has a 10 year track record of doling out exceptional financial advice for parents.
One big thing to keep in mind if you aren't a parent is that marketing absolutely hammers parents constantly using fear methods to get them to spend or buy or malinvest because if they don't, their neighbors will frown on them. Non-parents don't even look at these insidious methods of marketing (or you may not even know they exist) but I am very active in monitoring consumer culture and reporting to folks about it.
The current ploys used to extract future wealth from parents today cost the average family over $140,000 per kid by the time that kid is 18 (accumulating at $0.50 per hour for every hour until they're 18). That's more than enough money to pay for a kid's entire college or give them a rental apartment to make a future on. And that average is probably low because the past 3-4 years has been a tripling in "you're a bad parent unless you do this" marketing hype.
I absolutely lostly my s__t a few years ago when the Bumbo Seat was the big thing. I usually don't rant and throw things and threaten hellfire, but when I met up with a parenting group and they were all crowing about them, oh man did I lose it.
Sounds like you even managed a decent life following a decent education despite not going to that elite pre-K. How ever did you manage?
I am a mod on a sub-reddit that helps kids get into college. Well I should say ex-mod because I kept telling kids they didn't *have to go to Harvard* that they didn't even *have to go to a four year school right away*... and that was not taken well by helicopter parents who insisted Johnny or Janie deserved the best and how dare I with my public school education criticize them for wanting to do better than my parents could ever do for me. 
Edit: although I did just have problems coming up with the formula for compound interest done more than semi-annually... so.. who knows?
@Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I've never been good at convincing new parents to make huge financial changes when they're having anxiety. Maybe 5% of new parent folks who ask for help end up going the route I'll suggest.
I was working with some new parents back in 2015 who had crazy high income but after the kid came around they were totally blown away by anxiety about the kid's future, their future, etc. After almost a year of yelling at me, they finally sold their mega house, got rid of thousands of pounds of useless stuff and moved into a two bedroom rental and changed things significantly. Now in 2018 they're on full track for an amazing future, but it literally took almost a full 2 years to get there. Now they're praising my name and plan to other parents who come up with every consumer-minded excuses why they can't do the same thing. "Oh but my 6 month old has to go to this one certain school district" or "Little Janie needs 700 new toys every month because Disney tells me so." Ugh.
I grew up pretty much dirt poor with immigrant parents who had no clue what was going on in the world, but I am thankful I got to experience "middle class poverty" as a kid. It really helped me later. If and when I become a dad, I'm hopeful that I can make the right changes to create opportunities rather than just entitlements. Gah.
The fact that you recognize the difference means you'll succeed when the time comes.
Don't even get me started about Disney crap.... Grrr....
@Anonymous wrote:Sounds like you even managed a decent life following a decent education despite not going to that elite pre-K. How ever did you manage?
I am a mod on a sub-reddit that helps kids get into college. Well I should say ex-mod because I kept telling kids they didn't *have to go to Harvard* that they didn't even *have to go to a four year school right away*... and that was not taken well by helicopter parents who insisted Johnny or Janie deserved the best and how dare I with my public school education criticize them for wanting to do better than my parents could ever do for me.
Edit: although I did just have problems coming up with the formula for compound interest done more than semi-annually... so.. who knows?
Yeah, this just kills me. I went to a two year community college for cheap, then transferred to a nice local 4 year university to finish. And saved a ton of money. My chosen field doesn't care where you went, just as long as you graduate, have the required hands on time, and have your passing certification from the monster test.