Powerball for When You’re Expecting

Each week, my spouse and I faithfully play New York’s Powerball lottery game.

We play three games for a total of $6 and more often than not, opt for the quick pick with regard to the (hopefully) winning six-number combination.

Then, we fantasize for roughly five minutes or so about what we would do with the proceeds should we one day guess right. I’m not sure exactly what I would do with our new found largesse, but I can guarantee you there would be two things I would NEVER buy.

No. 1 would be a boat.

They say the second happiest day of a boater’s life is when he or she sells it. Here in the Northeast, owning a boat requires an absurd amount of upkeep on something you can use at most 3-4 months of the year. Never mind that in the event we hit the jackpot we could pay someone to perform maintenance, it’s the principle.

The second is a horse.

Personally I see no benefit to boarding a temperamental animal whose vet visits average in excess of $500 and must be re-shoed every eight weeks, not to mention the special diet and exercise riding costs. I wouldn’t care if the breeder assured me it was the second coming of Secretariat.

But to each his own.

A federal report finds that an American child born last year will cost a middle-income family an average of more than $245,000 until he or she becomes an adult.

The Agriculture Department's report found that families in the urban Northeast tend to pay more on average than the rest of the nation. The costs of food, housing, childcare and education have risen 1.8 percent since 2012.

The USDA's report was first issued in 1960, when a middle-income family spent about $25,230 per child. That's about $198,000 in 2013 dollars.

Housing expenses made up 30 percent of the cost, followed by childcare, education and food. The report didn't factor in expenses after a child turned 18, such as college tuition

Now back to reality.

I just read where the U.S, Department of Agriculture estimates that a child born last year will cost the average American family $245,000 by the time they reach 18. For those keeping score at home, housing expenses comprise about 30 percent of that figure followed by childcare, food and clothing, respectively.

So in theory, if my daughters were born in 2011 and 2014 instead of 1991 and 1994, I would have shelled out close to a half-million dollars, and that figure by the way excludes any type of college tuition, of which I am currently being hammered as I write this.

The USDA incidentally has issued this report since 1960, when the cost of raising a child for a middle income family was a more modest $25,230. Even indexed for inflation, that tops out at roughly $198,000.

If I were thinking about starting a family today, I might have to increase the frequency of my Powerball involvement.

Or as someone pointed out, neither a boat nor a horse requires a college education.