The Ferrari 458 Italia is a gorgeous beast of a car, with a beautiful, curvy body wrapped around an engine so violent it could have been built in hell.
Motor Trend calls it one of the best-driving vehicles on the planet. As such, you’d probably guess it’s not cheap, and you'd be right: It costs about $233,000.
When I caught an item in The Sunday recently about how much it costs to raise a child from birth to 18, I wondered if you could buy a Ferrari for less.
You could.
In an annual report, the USDA said parents in western U.S. cities could expect to spend $261,300 to raise a child. That total includes housing, food, transportation, clothing, health care, child care, education and miscellaneous items such as toys and sports equipment.
But here’s the kicker: The estimate doesn’t include college tuition or fees.
The cost is way up since 1960, when the USDA first published the report. Back then, the national average — adjusted for inflation — was $198,560.
But it’s also up significantly in the last generation. In 1995, when many of this year’s high school grads were born, the cost was $245,568 in the West.
The biggest driver of the increase? Child care and education. The inflation-adjusted cost was $20,643 in 1995. Today, it’s $47,039.
For business operators, this is a vicious trend. Providing on-site day care is prohibitively expensive for many business owners, but child care costs have skyrocketed to the point that employers risk losing staff members. In two-parent families, it can be financially pragmatic for one to stay home and eliminate child care costs.
For employers struggling with the issue, there are some options:
• Cut a deal with a day care provider to offer group discounts to employees.
• Make sure employees know they may qualify for federal tax credits for child care.
• Inform employees about help such as the Las Vegas Urban League’s Child Care Subsidy Program, which provides financial aid to parents who meet income qualifications.
That being said, with no end in sight to cost increases, businesses would be wise to strategize how to help their workforces with child care.
Of course, there’s always the option of encouraging people to save their money for 18 years and buy a Ferrari instead of having a kid. But most probably aren’t going to go that route.