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Er, having kids could send you broke

Treasurer Costello has sought to encourage women to have children. The Federal Government is even making a lump-sum payment to mothers on the birth of a child.

If this piece, here, in the SMH is right, parents will need all the financial help they can get if they aren't to go broke:

"Finances have always played a role in child rearing, but now more than ever the number of children we have is being dictated by money.

For average one-income earning households across Australia's capital cities, the absolute cost of raising a child to the age of 18 years is about $250,000 - and that's just for the bare necessities".

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