The brief’s key findings are:
- The cost of raising children could make it harder for parents to save for retirement.
- On the other hand, if parents offset child-rearing expenses by spending less on themselves, they could still end up well prepared in retirement.
- The analysis uses the National Retirement Risk Index to look at what impact children actually have on retirement preparedness.
- The results show that children reduce household wealth and moderately increase the likelihood of retirement risk for older working households.
