About this tool

This is a single-purpose tool for thinking through whether to have a child. It does two things and refuses a third.

What it does

It does real cost arithmetic on numbers you enter — your surplus before and after a child, how long savings would absorb a shortfall, the long-run total, and a clearly-labelled opportunity-cost illustration. Every figure it shows is a stated operation on something you typed, traceable in the visible "why it landed here" list. There is no hidden model.

It also reflects your own answers about the non-financial parts back to you, unscored, so you can see the shape of your thinking instead of looping on it.

What it deliberately refuses to do

It does not produce a regret percentage, a confidence score, a "regret asymmetry index", or any number that isn't directly computed from your inputs. It does not recommend whether to have a child. It does not predict how your life turns out. These aren't missing features — they're the point. A tool that hands you a confident percentage on a question this size has invented it, and inventing precision about someone's life is the specific dishonesty this site exists to avoid.

Why build it this honest

Partly because the dishonest version is worse than useless on a decision this heavy — a fake "61% regret if you don't" number doesn't inform a life choice, it distorts it. And partly because honest is also the only version that lasts: tools built on manufactured scores and keyword-spam pages get distrusted by readers and removed by search engines. The restraint here is the durable strategy, not a constraint on it.

What it isn't

It is not financial, medical, fertility, or psychological advice. The non-financial sliders are your own judgement reflected back, not a measurement. For a decision this size, a partner, a trusted person, or a counsellor is worth more than any calculator — the tool says so on every page because it's true.