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You want to be RICH … Here’s what you should not do

If you have been to a financial seminar, finance class, or know someone that enjoys talking about getting rich, you probably already know the basics of how to gain wealth.  All together now:  Save and Invest, Live within your means, Buy Insurance just in case, Educate yourself for the better job that pays more, Maximize your tax-deferred savings plans (401k, 403b, Keogh, IRA, Roth IRA’s).

These are all well and good.  But there are other useful pieces of advice that I would like to offer: what you should not do.  That’s right, some things that you should avoid at all costs.  They are really quite simple.  They are also something you probably already know deep down.  You just have never said them out loud.

#1 DON ’T HAVE CHILDREN

You read it correctly.  Don’t have Children.  And, Iif you have already had children…stop…now.  They will eat away at your bottom line.

Now with that said, keep reading.

Let me admit this quickly before I go any farther: I do not have kids of my own, I do love other people’s kids in small doses from a far.  Some people’s kids, but this is not about me, this is about facts.

Fact 1

According to US Department of Agriculture data, it cost between $121,230 and $241,770 to raise one child in a two-parent household.  Those figures are expected to increase to $171,460 and $340,130 if you had Junior last year.

Fact 2

The College Board reports that one year of college now ranges between $11,338 and $24,946 depending on whether Junetta is headed off to public or private school.  And if little Junetta’s planning on going to Harvard cha-ching, that has the sound of at least $100,000 quickly departing from your bank statement.

Most people do not have babies to gain financial wealth and prosperity, it does not make sense in these days and times.  Not since we were farmers, when another mouth to feed also meant another set of arms and legs to go to work in the field bringing more money in for the family.  Ah, the good old days.

People have kids to replenish the earth, to leave a legacy, to have someone to love and to teach and help guide so that they can become productive members of society.  Then there are the “accidents”.  This is a concept that I’ve never really understood.  I don’t consider it an accident when I do everything I know I’m supposed to do to make something happen and it…happens.  Oops-see

I know that I’m not going to convince anyone that wants to have children not to have them.  I simply want you to think about what you are doing to your wealth potential.  If after you calculate the costs of having Junior or Junetta and you decide that you want to forgo the capital gains of just saying no to children, for the emotional and spiritual gains that others swear they have received by saying yes, then so be it.

Next Time: #2 DON ’T GET MARRIED…to the wrong person 

(Wilnita is a free-lance writer of Blacksonville.com and self-described wry-humorist.  If you take too much of what she writes seriously, good.  If it brings at least one smile, even better.)