Last month I moved back to London for a contract job. Yes it pays well, but because of the hours I basically have no life. I leave at 7:30, get to the office just before 9, work until 7, then head home and arrive around 8:30.

I really wish part time work was more of a thing in this industry...

I’ve been contracting in London for about 8 years now. In the last 2-3 years one of my primary criteria is that i only work till 5 and at least one day from home. Some of my best contracts, both professionally and financially came after implementing this filter. There’s hope.

I'm wondering what the point of modern society is if village life was more enjoyable.

The point of modern society would seem to be to enable the existence of people so wealthy they are practically gods and never have to work, except on what they want to.

A household with a single income? Laughs in Millennial

I chose not to have kids. Was a great call becauses kids are like 1,000,000 each (when you factor in investment returns).

My kids are worth more than all the money in the world as far as I'm concerned. Besides, there's a lot of cushion in that $1,000,000 figure. Frugality is so underrated.

Agreed. If raising a child were to cost $1M in 20 years, that would average $50k/year. I earn about as much and have two kids, so I imagine I would have noticed if it was that expensive.

Factoring in 5-7% annual return on investment, it's only about 25-30k per year, not 50k. (Given P(0) = 0 and P(n) = P(n-1) * 1.07 + $25,000, P(20) would be $1,024,887.31.) Perhaps still a bit high, but not too far off, especially considering that the second child probably has a lower marginal cost than the first.

Fair point, although most people don't get that kind of ROI for their extra money in practice (instead most of the money is "lost" in all kinds of fun things).

I could argue that $25k/year is still very high compared to my experience, but I have no idea how much daycare, healthcare and education cost in the US. It probably makes no sense to compare costs to a country where I would earn over double my current income...

Maybe it's counting college costs or something.

it's everything over 50 years. It makes a difference having a kid at 25 vs 35.

This comment elegantly displays what's wrong with modern society.

Yes, kids require a lot of things that cost money and a lot of time from the parents. Yes, they make you significantly less productive at work when something is wrong. Yes, life is much easier without kids.

But having and raising children is literally one of the most natural things to want to do with your life. A culture that views children mostly as inconveniences is a sick culture.

The Shakers were a sick culture?

Modern society literally worships children, so you don't have to worry.

Or, as George Carlin puts it, "bunch of diaper sniffers."

> But having and raising children is literally one of the most natural things to want to do with your life.

"Natural" is not good. Life in nature is nasty, brutish, and short.

Some other things that aren't natural include eyeglasses, prosthetic limbs, vaccines, antibiotics, air conditioning, cooked food, and electronics.

I worship artifice, and I find the idea that natural things are laudable to be repugnant in every possible way.

I'm also a proud trans woman, and that's sure as hell not natural either. I utterly detest nature.

We are kind of puny in the grand scheme of the entire natural universe, and we have a lot to learn from it.

All of those artificial things you praise came about through the intense study of nature.

We can learn from nature and appreciate its great beauty without being a slave to it.

One could argue that many of the artificial things are there just to counter the negatives of other artificial things just to keep the whole thing going.

Unfortunately if everyone took this route, we'd encounter a whole new stack of problems.

This will realistically never happen, no need to worry. Yet a bit less new people everywhere would help so much.

Or eliminate a whole stack of problems, depending on your perspective.

The ROI for a child is priceless. :)

Only if you're that way inclined in the first place, which many people (and an increasing number) are not.

I got goats; I think they are a better deal. ;)

Live closer and smaller so no commute. Don't let the wife be a SAHM, this is utter nonsense.

Two restaurant jobs means 3 commutes with a 60 to 70 hour work week.

But true, I didn't add in family.