Kids cost millions

After much trial and error, I would personally favor a 50/50 or at least 80/20 setup. I haven’t yet met a person who was able to remain fulfilled just raising kids and keeping house. Some amount of work/career/income is important.

That said, in my experience a housewife/husband can remain fulfilled over long periods of time (e.g. the time required to raise a child until they are semi-independent) if control over finances is 100% shared and both parents are treated as equals. This includes splitting savings and creating a retirement/providence plan which balances out the disadvantage for the homemaker.

If one person being the “breadwinner” results in a dynamic where that person has more say over financial (and/or other) matters, that’s a sure recipe for bad blood. I’ve found that to be true even for people in non-western cultures, though perhaps to a lesser extent.

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