Family Costs
The cost of a child is front-loaded, then it moves
The expensive years are not the ones people brace for, and the shape of the spending changes several times before the child is…
Family Costs
Childcare, schooling and the arithmetic of one income going part-time.
21 articles · updated August 11, 2026 · page 1 of 2
Family Costs
The childcare arithmetic that decides whether work pays
For a period of a few years, the second income and the childcare bill can nearly cancel out. The long-run answer is different.
More in Family Costs
Family Costs
Two money histories, one household
People arrive in a partnership with habits formed decades earlier by circumstances the other person never saw. Most money arguments…
Family Costs
Joint, separate, or both: account structures that survive real life
There is no correct arrangement. There is one that matches how a particular household actually earns, spends and decides.
Family Costs
Splitting costs when one of you earns much more
Equal splitting is neutral only when incomes are equal. After that, it quietly transfers the household's flexibility to one person.
Family Costs
Parental leave: the part of the decision that outlasts the leave
The months of reduced income are the visible cost. Who takes the leave shapes the next decade of both careers.
Family Costs
A second child does not cost twice as much
Some costs double, some are shared and some fall away entirely. Childcare is the exception that dominates the arithmetic.
Family Costs
Supporting adult children while funding your own retirement
Both demands land in the same decade, and the money given cannot be recovered later. Naming a limit in advance is the only…
Family Costs
When family lends you money, write it down
Informal family lending is common, generous and the most reliable way to damage a relationship. The fix is a page of paper.
Family Costs
Money with a new partner when one of you has children
A second household is built from two histories, two sets of obligations and frequently two sets of children. The defaults do not…
Family Costs
Choosing a home for the schools, and paying for it twice
Where good state schools are concentrated, housing costs absorb the saving. The comparison people make is rarely the right one.
Family Costs
Teenagers, further study and the costs that arrive at the wrong time
The bills of the late teenage years land in the decade parents most need to be building retirement provision and often supporting…