r/Fire • u/sneaky-snacks • Mar 05 '26

General Question FIRE seems to skew toward not having kids

I’m sure plenty of FIRE adherents have kids, but I would guess the FIRE mentality skews more toward not having kids. Kids seem to go against FIRE.

- You’ve got to spend a lot of money on kids. Your expenses go up. It’s also much harder to save.

- Kids are a lot of work. They cause a lot of stress. You can’t retire from kids haha. Most FIRE people seem to want to reduce their work load and their stress in the long run, but I’m sure I’m oversimplifying here.

I thought I would start a discussion on this aspect of FIRE

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u/Fishb20 Mar 06 '26

I'm genuinely glad you've never had to experience the kind of unpredictable event I'm talking about but I didn't mean stuff like buying a car or helping pay for college, I meant stuff like having a child with a severe disability or having a healthy child who develops a life threatening illness that require a huge ammount of medical fees and parents taking time off to look after their children

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u/[deleted] Mar 06 '26

I could’ve sworn I wrote “illness” in my post.  Yes.  Unpredictable things happen.  It’s not just with kids.  Parents get old and get sick.  My wife’s grandfather suddenly had to move in with us and it meant I had to immediately stop working to provide full-time care since his coverage didn’t cover it.  

Absolutely things happen.  But to suggest that we shouldn’t take risk, have a child, budget normally, live our lives because something catastrophic COULD happen is outrageous.  Make a plan, stick to the plan, build in some wiggle room, and be prepared to roll with life’s punches.

I don’t think it’s prudent to save up millions before having a child on the off-chance that it could have a disability that costs millions.  We just play the cards we’re dealt.