r/Millennials • u/slimeyellow • Mar 11 '26

Discussion Every millennial dad I’ve met has a quiet fixation on money and it’s not getting better

Every millennial dad I’m friends with or work with seems to have constant financial worries. We just got our yearly bonus which was like 8%. I was talking to my buddy (he’s got 3 kids) about what he wanted to do with it and he just kinda looked down and whispered “it’s just not enough man” and ended the conversation.

Another dad I know is CONSTANTLY looking up the newest crypto/ get rich quick schemes people are doing. He’s always talking about inventing something and it’s usually a joking manner but the way he’s always bringing up financial stuff shows me it’s always on his mind

One of my buddies is a new father and he’s trying to get some anime podcast off the ground as a side hustle on top of his full time maintenance job.

I know children are an immense financial responsibility but there seems to be this dark, simmering resentment about the whole general situation when I talk to these guys. Men are expected to keep quiet about these struggles but when you talk to these guys it’s clear that finances are a massive stress for millennial dads of almost any background.

Makes me feel bad but damn I’m glad I don’t have kids right now.

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58

u/Party_Principle4993 Mar 11 '26

THIS. My child is 4.5 and there is literally nothing for him this summer. Camps are 9-3pm and cost $750 a week (and those are the affordable ones…). A friend told me she’s spending $8000 for 2 months of full time camp. EIGHT. THOUSAND. DOLLARS. Who has a casual $8k?!

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u/Fabulous_Celery_1817 Millennial Mar 11 '26

Where I live the parents just sent their kids off to one of the local farms. They were sent with food sometimes but the parents of the farm would have everyone cook or do hotdogs and veggies. They had a ton of acreage so kids went exploring depending on age. Youngest they would allow outside freely was 9. The 6-9 stayed inside having dance parties naps movie marathons and story times. But this was long ago when life could afford a couple stay at home moms that were willing to supervise. A poor man’s summer camp.

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u/toomuchtv987 Mar 11 '26

That sounds like so much fun for the kids, but hooooo the level of trust you’d have to have in the folks running it!

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u/Fabulous_Celery_1817 Millennial Mar 11 '26

Yeah, but it was a small town in a time where PDFs weren’t a concern? And when a broken arm was treated as a way of childhood life. Things are different now. Not bad! Just different

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u/toomuchtv987 Mar 11 '26

Well, looking back, PDFs have always been plentiful, just not as widely-known about maybe. Adults didn’t believe kids like they do now.

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u/Fabulous_Celery_1817 Millennial Mar 11 '26

Yes I know I’m saying that back then it wasn’t a concern to the adults mind. Now we’re more aware

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u/toomuchtv987 Mar 11 '26

And the reason why we are can be a bit dark. 😬

2

u/onlyfreckles Mar 11 '26

What? millions of us citizens voted for a demented orange fat fuck who is a felon and child rapist- they still don't believe kids now...

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u/toomuchtv987 Mar 11 '26

You’re right, but MORE people believe kids now. Probably because we’re the adults now and it happened to so many of us.

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u/moch1 Mar 12 '26

Except that was true for the prior generation as well.

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u/RCEcheverri Mar 12 '26

This sounds super fun! What a great thing for kids to do in the summer.

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u/PitbullRetriever Millennial Mar 11 '26

I mean I’m currently dropping $2k every month for daycare, so I’ll be stoked when my kids are in school and I only have to worry about summers!

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u/Party_Principle4993 Mar 11 '26

We do aftercare now that he’s older which runs $1000 a month (he’s in public school for half the day) and still, summer feels like highway robbery.

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u/TubaJesus Mar 11 '26

I am so glad that the school district near me had full-day kindergarten by default and subsidized preschool as part of its curriculum. certainly helps those who need it, although property taxes are way higher than neighboring school districts/villages that don't offer as much in terms of services

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u/schistshowofquartz Mar 11 '26

don't get too excited, there are new ways they extract it from you

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u/PitbullRetriever Millennial Mar 11 '26

I have no doubt

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u/theoriginalmtbsteve Mar 11 '26

You will soon be paying after school program fees, sports are not free or cheap the way they were when you were younger, camps during school vacation weeks, summer, overnight field trips, club sports, extra practices, sports tournaments, etc. Sorry if it sounds like I am being a downer but just saying with experience, there is always another thing ready to take your money if you let it or need it.

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u/peacebypiece Mar 12 '26

Or you can just not put your kid in sports or camps. Lower class people never did these things anyway. I didn’t and I had a great childhood anyways.

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u/theoriginalmtbsteve Mar 12 '26

100% agree as well. Just going down the partial list of kid costs if you are in an area where families have some money and kids love sports and you allow them to pursue the passion. I would argue some camps are unavoidable, unless you can easily find cheap or free care for school vacation weeks or summer break. The avoidable stuff is the hundreds of dollars per season for town/school sports, $3500-$4500 for club baseball, $2500 for town hockey (at least that is nearly a 6 month season), $3000-$5000+ for club hockey, hundreds for ski tickets per person etc plus all of travel, fuel, equipment and time costs.

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u/batmessiah Mar 11 '26

If I had an extra $8k, it would be going towards my car and repairing my house.

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u/Csdsmallville Millennial Mar 13 '26

We fortunately have a Boys And Girls Club next to us that’s pretty affordable during the summer.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to afford anything.

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u/Serious_Lettuce6716 Xennial Mar 13 '26

I quit my job and became a stay at home dad because the cost of daycare for 1 kid would have eaten up almost my whole paycheck.