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Not to buy ;)

 

But to bring up.

 

Actually not considering myself just interested to know the kind of outlay up until say graduating college.

Any Japan statistics on that kind of thing?

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My friend has been trying for a child, from what she said they were told to think 'up to 3000 man'.

Obviously depending on tons of things.

 

Scary!

 

 

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In Australia the average age kids are leaving home now is supposedly 24 and the average cost of raising a child over this period is supposedly over $500,000. An average of close to $21,000 a year.

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I wonder how many people do the maths before deciding on having kids?

 

It makes young people being silly and having them without any thought at all and no way to bring them up properly seem even more stupid and irresponsible.

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Our daughter is now 11 years old, but up to now I have no idea how much it has cost us to raise her. I don't think many people actually sit there and work out how much it is likely to cost, I know we didn't. We just made sure we were both and still are earning more than enough to not have to worry how much it is costing us. Of course that is not necessarily the case for everyone I guess.

I think if people actually sat down and did the maths before having a child it would probably put a lot off actually trying for one.

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All depends on how young one puts them to work, doesn't it?

 

Seriously, though, they cost as little or much as one likes. Especially in Japan, where basically everything kid-related is paid for, they really don't have to cost much.

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Well, maybe not quite that little.

 

I'd guess 100 man-yen per year or less is doable, though.

 

Early on, depends on whether one will need day-care, which is about 6 man-yen/month for babies, going down as the kid ages.

Health/medical costs are basically zero.

 

It gets more expensive if one sends kids to juku or private schools, of course.

 

And of course, if you decide to introduce them to skiing or boarding, you're screwed. :doh:

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Not to buy ;)

 

But to bring up.

 

Actually not considering myself just interested to know the kind of outlay up until say graduating college.

Any Japan statistics on that kind of thing?

 

I've seen numbers calculated for all private and all public system education up to graduation, so they are out there somewhere. I only ever go to inaka banks but they have signs up advertising "kyoiku loans", so there are some parents out there who are not paying for Taro or Hanako's college. The kids are going into debt instead. My kids might have to too when the time comes.

 

I don't know how much money we spend on our three, but I suspect its less than the Japanese government spends on them. The subsidy on the daycare our one-year-old gets will be over 100,000 a month. The same care in the UK would be 800-900 quid a month.

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The subsidy on the daycare our one-year-old gets will be over 100,000 a month. The same care in the UK would be 800-900 quid a month.

 

Your subsidy is that much?

Our subsidy-less daycare costs were less than that, from what I remember...

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All public hoikuen in Japan are going to be subsidized. Even if you pay the highest fee determined by your income, it won't cover the entire cost, especially for the under threes. The rest is a subsidy.

 

I don't know the actual cost of my daughter's care, but the basic tanka for her age in government documents is around 100,000 a month and that assumes 6:1 kids to carers. Her class has two carers but I don't think it has twelve kids. I think there's maybe eight or nine of them. Her hoikuen is an almost new building that went over budget, so give it a bit of wiggle room for local adjustments and you have 120,000 a month. In the UK, the average cost nationwide is four quid an hour. 32 quid a day plus lunch and snacks, so you have 6000 yen or so a day. Twenty days a month and its 120,000 a month, the same number. If that's what it costs, then the subsidy must be about 100,000 a month because we only get charged 20,000. Even if we paid the top rank of 50,000, the subsidy would still be higher than what we would be paying.

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Put your calculators away. Membership is pricey......but the benefits are priceless.

 

This isn't directed at you personally Chriselle as I don't know how many you have but...

 

Is the choice to have just 1 child because of cost?

I think if I have children, I would want 2 or 3 and let them have brothers and sisters.

 

I grew up an only child and always wished I had a brother or sister. Was always jealous of the kids who did.

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Put your calculators away. Membership is pricey......but the benefits are priceless.

 

This isn't directed at you personally Chriselle as I don't know how many you have but...

 

Is the choice to have just 1 child because of cost?

I think if I have children, I would want 2 or 3 and let them have brothers and sisters.

 

I grew up an only child and always wished I had a brother or sister. Was always jealous of the kids who did.

 

In our case we were lucky to have the one. My wife was 43 and we had pretty much all but given up hope after years of trying. But, just before throwing in the towel she got pregnant. My greatest concern was that the baby was healthy and the hugely elevated risk of issues associated with late childbirth freaked me out. Well, everything turned out perfectly and my wife conceded to my "let's not risk it" pressure not to have another.

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We've only had one because we started pretty late. I was 38 when my daughter was born and it took 3 years of banging away to finally get my wife pregnant! I have no desire to go through that again and certainly no desire to have more children now I'm in my 40's. I'd be well into my 60's before they even leave home. Bugger that. I want to be well and truly retired and living the good life by then. No more kids for us.

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