I agree with the original poster. Some academic sprouting rubbish numbers for the sake of it (or possibly grant funding). There was something similar a while ago about raising a child to end of high school. The numbers spruiked were in the order of $500k per child. Absolute garbage I say. In a discussion with someone without children, they used it to validate their choice to not have children. But when challenged, on the real financials, they failed to produce any evidence that their net wealth was $1mil better than mine. I raised 2 kids and these poeple have a similar work history / income streams etc.
It costs what it costs and a wild generalisation will not change the facts, despite what the media wants us to beleive.
