What is something that you want to do before you have kids?

In participating with a group of friends, I've been asked to answer this question... The problem is that I don't want to have kids. I'm too bothered by the idea of financially supporting someone entirely for 18 to 25 years. They say they're out of your hands at 18 but it just isn't true. The government requires college students requesting financial aide to include a parent loan application each school year until they're 23, have a child, or are married. In other words, if your parents have good credit, the government requires them to apply for a loan to help pay for the student's college career. When I went to college I didn't want my parents to pay for anything. I wanted it all in my name and all in my debt. The government's requirement of my parents taking out a loan to help me pay for school really ticked me off. I was out of their hands and I wanted to be completely out of their hands, but that just wasn't 'allowed'. Children are a financial investment but not the kind of investment that gets stock brokers excited really, those investments generally have some kind of 'tangible' payback. Sure you get a child, your flesh and blood, something/one that you will love unconditionally, but there's not guaranteed payback from this investment. Maybe its the unpredictable nature that comes with raising a child. You simply don't know how they'll turn out. Take me and my parents, for example, they wanted a girl that wore dresses all the time, was prim and proper, soft and delicate, gentile and sweet. Instead they got me, hardheaded, strong willed, stubborn to a fault, basically completely opposite of what they wanted. They couldn't have anticipated that, they obviously didn't, anyway. What I'm saying is, no one goes out and purchases a car, any car, without looking at it, testing it out, or asking any questions. They're making a sizable financial commitment, to think they'd just tell the car salesman to have his computer randomly call up any car on their lot for them to purchase for a large amount of money with no information before hand. Well, sure, your kid is not a car. That's for sure. Kids cost way more than a car. Depending on how many you have it could be way more than one to two cars per kid... try 5 cars per kid and that's the kind of estimate one faces in having a child or children.

I'm sorry if I'm "bumming anyone out" but this is how I look at this scenario and I wish I didn't but I do. I see money signs all over the place. They spew from my air conditioner in my window. They fill the room with green money signs and start to suffocate me! There's money signs that I pump into my gas tank on my car. Money signs roll over as my car miles hit 100,000. Money is what I eat and drink, wear and use everyday. Perhaps I sound obsessed, but I've never in my life been in a situation where I just don't have to worry about money. Even growing up I was constantly confronted by my parents financial problems.

What do I want to do before I have kids? Have just one moment in my life where I don't have to worry about money. One moment where a child's love doesn't come in the form of money signs. I want to have a good career under my belt, and plenty of time to spend just focusing on a child's happiness, and financial support to make sure my children (I would want two) can both have winter coats AND the toy they saw at the store. I don't want to spoil a child, but I want to be able to afford one. I want to be able to afford myself first even!