Babies R Us gets it wrong, the true cost of a child

Babies R Us had an interesting advertisement recently, submitted without comment, that got me to wondering what the current true cost of a child is these days.

Babycenter has an excellent cost of raising a child calculator, and while I dispute some of the numbers the basics for my region are about what I came up with, or somewhere over a quarter million dollars assuming no major obstacles and no Harvard.

My cost of a child would be…

In my particular scenario with expectations of college after 18 and feeding them enough to survive, I came out with a cost of roughly $1406.43 a month, which may mean I’m going to tell my baby she’s just going to have to get a job as soon as she’s able to stay conscious more than four hours at a stretch.

It also might mean that she’ll be required to delve deep into the recessesses of the report that the USDA came out that gave those numbers as state schools, housing and transportation costs seem a little out of line.

Then again, maybe adjusted for inflation all that’s going to be about right, so for the time being I’m skimping on the Star Wars Onesies, and attempting to out think this quarter million dollar estimate.

Then again, adjusted for inflation, that’s not as much as it sounds, however I think putting down the rattle and picking up the plough may be what I need to initially focus on.

Alternately I might just find $40,000 somewhere, slap it in a mutual fund with a 12% annual rate of return, and let it ride for 18 years.

Babies R Us vs true cost of a child.

Oh yeah, the Babies R Us savings will get them through 2.34 weeks. So unless you’re being terribly morbid, that’s not going to cover it.

But really, check out the child cost calculator, it’s a pretty nifty tool.