Now this a shocker......

[beachdown]

Seniors now outnumber kids in Canada

There is a problem...I mean with lots more seniors than kids, who sis going to continue paying into the pot the seniors are drawing from? I mean not every senior in their lifetime worked and paid a decent amount into the federal pot.

Then you have this silly comment....

‘I think our population should be having more babies,’ says senior Shirley Angelo, ‘It’s sad I think.’

Yes, have more babies and why things go South, deny the parent who will be paying access to their kids. Young people are so self-centered and they want to pay themselves first before someone else, hence the reason some aren't having kids these days. Fix the law and you might see changes. Why would anyone want to have kids if they are going to be taken for a ride?

http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/seniors-now...nada-1.2587035

[Chantel]

I don't agree with you at all, unfortunately. I don't think custody and child support issues are the reason people aren't having kids, but I do agree that the custody laws need to be changed. And I don't think it's self centered not to want children, or to want to build yourself up before even thinking about having kids.

My parents and I were talking about this tonight as it was on the news. It seems all the seniors they interviewed are so hilariously out of touch. They all kept asking why people aren't having more children and the answer is simple:

-People aren't having 4+ kids anymore unless they have a real yearning for a large family or are religious because there is no reason to. Way back in their generation, you had to have a large family because you probably had either a family business or a farm and kids were free labor. That, and that there was actually a decent chance some of your children may not make it. Kids died a lot more frequently way back when. Medicine wasn't as advanced as it is today and a lot of children died from things that are preventable today.

-My generation of 20somethings are not equipped to have families yet. In the 70s you could work for a summer and pay your way through college. The cost of college tuition has risen almost 1200% (yes you read that correctly) since 78. One average-job income was enough to support a family back then, mothers could stay home with the kids for years with little or no financial strain. It was not only possible, but common to have a living wage with no formal education.

Today, people my age are struggling in a broken economy. An economy that was massively screwed up by the generation before us and the generation before them, the seniors who are complaining right now.

Full-time at minimum wage only equals $22,000 a year before taxes. If a person were to pay $1000 in rent or mortgage a month, they only have $10,000 left for literally EVERYTHING else for the whole year. Car, gas, food, utilities, etc. You'll be in the red before you can say "what paycheck?". Even with two people at minimum wage, it's likely that you'll end up spending the majority of your income on necessities. You have no leeway to buy a home, which is equity. So you continue spending more than you'd like on rent every month and have nothing to show for it because you have no other options. You can't get a mortgage without a cosigner who is already financially stable.

Now how do kids work into this? You have more mouths to feed and barely enough money to support two people, let alone three or more. What do you do? Have children anyway and rely on government assistance? No. The same people who are alarmed and worrying about who will care for the seniors are the same people against giving handouts, from the vocalization I've heard from the generation.

Young adults these days SHOULD be more self-centered instead of popping out kids we can't pay for. How is it responsible to have kids if you can't even take care of yourself yet? We live in a world where you can't be 23, married, pregnant and closing on a house in the suburbs anymore. We CAN'T do it, as a generation, the economy will not let us. We will be nowhere near financially secure enough to pay for children until we have found ourselves a good job, either working hard, horrible labor that nobody wants to do (like the rigs) or have finished college. But then comes paying back student loans, which can take years. Most of us won't be financially ready for a child until our 30s, and even then it will be a struggle because on top of everything else, this generation needs to put money away for our children's education, because they'll need an education for literally any job above "Do you want fries with that?". I'm sweating thinking of trying to save for 2 children's education (how many I would like to have) on top of all my regular living expenses when the time comes. At 20k-ish a child, 4 or 5 kids is getting me into the 6-digits of the amount I'll need to save to try and help them.

And that's all before EVER thinking about RRSPs or my own future, or considering caring for MY elderly parents.

We just simply can't afford kids, so we're having fewer of them and having them later in life.

[beckie.c]

And that's all before EVER thinking about RRSPs or my own future, or considering caring for MY elderly parents.
We just simply can't afford kids, so we're having fewer of them and having them later in life.

Chantel, I agree with what you have said.

Thinking about our own retirement is a whole new challenge... I'm anticipating that the government programs that are in place now, will be drastically different by the time our generation is ready for retirement. Medical advances also mean that people are living longer and using those programs longer. So I'm relying on myself to fund my retirement in its entirety. Not to mention that the interest rates on savings haven't been all that awesome over the last few years, so what we are saving isn't really growing.

I also worry not only about caring for my mom as she ages, but for my grandparents who are already at that point. From what I have seen, the infrastructure (and maintenance) is not in place when it comes to Level III and IV care homes. Our small town care home had a fundraiser a year or two ago to help take care of a mold issue that was causing the residents health problems. They've also been fundraising for the last several years for a new level IV care home ($1.5 million raised by a town of 1000 people), as the population of the town is aging significantly. Definitely near and dear to my heart, as I spent a lot of time in high school with my grandparents and want to see them together and well cared for in the later years of their lives.

For me, I spent 5 years of my life on a really expensive piece of paper and landed a job that I love. I'm going to enjoy my career and marriage for the next few years and finish paying for that piece of paper before we even think about having kids. I want our financial foundation strong.

30 is the new 20.