What The Research Says
- The research says surprisingly little, the biggest takeaway seems to be that children are expensive (about $300,000 over the course of 18 years) so you shouldn’t have more than you can reasonably afford.
- One child is correlated to the largest improvement in life satisfaction, a second child also improves life satisfaction for parents but less so. This improvement seems to taper off with more than two children but as always your mileage might vary.
References
The Choices
None – The soul crushing loneliness you feel at not having offspring has been perfectly counter-balanced by the joy you feel at being able to go out at night.
Score: No Change
Few (<3) – Children, yes, but not by the bushel.
Score: No Change
Many (3+) – You’ve decided that it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if you produced the entire starting lineup to a co-ed baseball team.
Score: -1 Wealth