Millennials And Gen Z Would Consider Having Kids If This Was Cheaper
Life’s expensive, so expensive that it’s keeping millennials and Gen Z from having kids. That’s right – both generations agree that it’s too expensive to have kids right now.
According to Newsweek, Redfeld & Wilton Strategies for Newsweek polled 1,500 American adults and found that more than half of millennials and Gen Zers would consider having kids if the cost of living wasn’t as high.
One of the questions of the poll was “If the cost of living was lower, would you consider having a child?”. To this question, the answers varied:
- 30% of all answered yes
- 53% of Gen Z said they’d consider having kids
- 55% of younger millennials (25-34-year-olds) said they’d think seriously about it
- 39% of elder millennials (35-44) said they’d consider it
I remember seeing a study in 2021, reported on by MoneyWise that found 61% of millennials said they can’t afford to have kids – and that was before the sky-high inflation we’re currently seeing.
So what are millennials doing with their money instead?
- Securing housing. Don’t be fooled though, a lot of millennial homebuyers are using gifts and loans from relatives for their down payment, meaning there’s not any money leftover for starting a family.
- Diversifying their wealth. They’re investing in real estate, but also ETFs, mutual funds, and cryptocurrency.
- Paying off debt. Between student loans, maxing out credit cards, personal loans, and medical bills, millennials have a lot of debt they’re prioritizing paying off.
- Adopting pets. With the cost of having a pet lower than the cost of a child, many millennials are opting for that instead.
- Building their savings. A 2022 Goldman Sachs Retirement Survey found that 34% of millennials feel behind on retirement savings.. making it hard to imagine paying for kids when you’re already struggling to save.
- Focusing on their careers. Another study from Modern Fertility and SoFi found that 51% of millennials are delaying having kids because they want to achieve a higher salary, first. They’re worried their career isn’t safe once they have kids, too.
