Jun 10, 2026
For decades, having children was something many Americans did before they started thinking seriously about retirement. That’s becoming less common.
Americans are waiting longer than ever to start families. The average age of first-time mothers reached a record 27.5 years in 2023, up from 21.4 in 1970. While delaying parenthood can offer greater financial stability, it also means more parents are finding themselves squeezed between two expensive goals at once: paying for their children’s future while trying to secure their own.
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For Noel Keomanila and Ed Myrick, those competing priorities arrived at the same time. By the time their son was born, Myrick had already left a banking career to care for his aging parents and was rebuilding his professional life as a real estate investor.
“We get to be involved, present and part of our kid’s life in so many ways we wouldn’t and couldn’t have before,” he told the Wall Street Journal.
But what happens when the years traditionally devoted to building retirement savings become the same years you’re paying for a child’s future?
The sandwich generation squeeze
As more Americans have children later, many are finding themselves balancing the costs of raising kids at the same time their own parents are aging and retirement is approaching. According to Pew Research, 54% have a parent age 65 or older and are either raising a child under 18 or financially supporting an adult child.
The transition came with financial tradeoffs. Myrick no longer had access to health insurance, retirement benefits or the predictable paycheck that came with his banking career. Instead, his earnings depend on when properties sell.
Fortunately, his wife has worked at the same telecom-security company for 21 years, providing the family with both a reliable income and health coverage.
That coverage has proven especially valuable. Myrick says the physical demands of raising a young child have generated medical expenses that have eaten into money he had hoped to set aside for retirement, including treatment for a torn bicep he suffered while moving a toy car he was building for his son.
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The cost of waiting
The couple says those medical expenses have eaten into money they had hoped to set aside for retirement. Myrick and Keomanila aren’t alone in their concerns. A Gallup poll found that 69% of nonretirees are very or moderately worried about not having enough money in retirement, compared with 39% of retirees.
Myrick’s health challenges have also complicated other aspects of the family’s financial planning. He said he was once quoted roughly $3,000 a month for a $1 million whole-life insurance policy.
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The family has contingency plans if costs continue to rise. Myrick said they could eventually downsize their home and purchase something smaller outright, and he has even considered returning to the workforce in a different capacity.
How to prepare before children arrive
Myrick and Keomanila’s experience highlights why experts encourage families to think about the financial realities of parenthood long before a child arrives. A 2022 analysis from the Brookings Institution found that parents could expect to spend approximately $310,605 raising a child from birth through age 17.
While families can’t eliminate the cost of raising a child, Patricia Roberts, chief operating officer at Gift of College, says they can get a head start on saving.
One option is opening a 529 college savings plan before a child is born, with parents naming themselves as both the account owner and beneficiary. Once the child arrives, the beneficiary can be changed without triggering tax penalties, allowing families to begin saving for education expenses years in advance.
“Plus, having a 529 account opened early allows friends, family, employers and co-workers to contribute to it for baby showers and upon the child’s arrival in lieu of more traditional gifts that are quickly outgrown,” she said.
For families planning to have children later in life, the challenge isn’t just paying for today’s expenses, it’s balancing those costs against financial goals that may be decades away.
Looking back on the financial realities of raising a child later in life, Keomanila’s advice is simple: “start saving a lot more, a lot sooner.”
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Victoria Vesovski is a Toronto-based staff reporter at Moneywise covering personal finance, lifestyle and trending news. She holds degrees from the University of Toronto and New York University, and her work has appeared on platforms including Yahoo Finance, MSN Money and Apple News.
