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Business Journals
3 days ago
- Business Journals
2025 DBJ Awards Nominations Open
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Business Insider
19-07-2025
- Business Insider
I gave up my retirement for my child's future
All I have ever wanted to do is work hard for a good future. I was born into and raised by people who struggled to set goals and provide for their kids, so I knew I wanted something better for my own when I decided to settle down. Unfortunately, to give my son the best future possible, I had to give up any concept of retiring. I was 27 when my partner and I, freshly married, decided to start our family. We'd done the entire checklist that we had been told would promise success. We both went to college, we got jobs in stable career fields, and built up savings and stability before getting married. By 2019, we felt ready to tie the knot, and by the end of the year, I was so baby hungry I already had a tote of little clothes tucked away in a bin in my office. But 2019 was a very different time. I was working in technology as a hardware specialist for a local school district, my partner was a teacher. Our rent was $1150 for a three-bedroom house in a nice part of town. We were more than stable, very ready to buy a home, and content in our careers. I became a parent in 2020 We found out we were pregnant the week of the shutdown in 2020. I remember thinking that people had raised kids during the 2008 recession. This was just some strange blip, a moment in time. It would end, and we'd move on. Weeks stretched into months. I was forced to step away from my job as the demands of getting technology out to school districts became too taxing while pregnant. I had to start taking gig work as a writer, something I had never done before, to keep our finances stable. Wipes and diapers were impossible to find; there was no baby furniture, and I felt guilty buying anything before I had a person who could use it. My son was born in November of 2020, and what followed were the hardest years of our lives. The price of everything skyrocketed. People began flocking to Boise, Idaho, where we have lived our whole lives. Our rent went from $1150 to $2200 in just three years. Formula shortages made every box cost as much as a tank of gas. Groceries ballooned in price. Any hope we had of buying a house began to bleed away alongside our savings. I picked my son's education over retirement Despite picking up an extra job, working grueling hours as an editor for entertainment publications, and cutting almost every enjoyable element of our lives away, by 2024, we were barely making it paycheck to paycheck. Please help BI improve our Business, Tech, and Innovation coverage by sharing a bit about your role — it will help us tailor content that matters most to people like you. What is your job title? (1 of 2) Entry level position Project manager Management Senior management Executive management Student Self-employed Retired Other Continue By providing this information, you agree that Business Insider may use this data to improve your site experience and for targeted advertising. By continuing you agree that you accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . We lowered costs by keeping my son home, avoiding day care bills, but that meant working around him and effectively isolating him from other children his age. By the summer, we knew he would need to attend preschool, but there aren't free options for that in Boise. We were going to have to pay tuition, and we just weren't sure where it was going to come from. Unfortunately, all the scholarship and hardship assistance for pre-school programs in Idaho still function on income data from five years ago. It doesn't take into account the effects of inflation, unmanageable housing costs, or stagnated wages. In July 2024, I filled out the paperwork to withdraw my retirement savings from my 401(k). My family and friends asked me why I would do something like that. Didn't I want to retire? I explained that there was nothing in my future if there was nothing in his. My son will always come first, even if I have to work until I'm dead. We can't have any more kids Shockingly, I don't regret dismantling my retirement at 31 for my child's preschool tuition. What I truly regret is knowing that we can't have any other children. I only had one savings fund. I can't empty another for a second baby. I'd always seen myself as the mother of a little clutter of children. I've dreamed of having a family since I was very young. But it's not possible. I won't ever have more children, because doing so while the cost of living is what it is, would force my son and any future siblings to miss out, just so I could hug more babies. It's not fair to him, and it wouldn't be fair to any others. I will never regret sacrificing for my child, but the grief of a life abruptly thrown off course has been difficult to navigate. I often wake up and ask myself, "What could I have done better?" My goal now is to do everything I can for my son, to give him everything I have, even if it isn't fair. I hope that when he comes of age and enters the world, it will be a kinder place. I dream that he won't have to sacrifice so much to be safe and secure, and that he will have all the comfort and security we have lost. He deserves to dream and, for me, that matters more than retiring. It's just such a shame that these are the choices so many parents are currently having to face.
Business Journals
18-07-2025
- Business Journals
These 13 Austin-based banks grew real estate loans the fastest in Q1
The banks headquartered in Austin market held more than $5 billion in total combined real estate loans as of March 31, 2025, marking an 11.7% increase over $4.5 billion reported in the year-earlier period. Information on The List was obtained from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and could not be independently verified by the Austin Business Journal. Rankings were determined by year-over-year percent change in real estate loan volume in the period analyzed. In case of ties, banks are listed alphabetically. To qualify for this List, banks are required to have a real estate lending balance at the end of the first quarter. Only institutions headquartered in the Austin-area are included. For information about this and other email progers@ This week's List is part of a shift in our research methodology and philosophy in 2025, one that will emphasize more data and context for readers while better coordinating the resources available to us and our 46 sister publications under the American City Business Journals flag. We anticipate this effort will identify thousands of new local records — and cumulatively, tens of thousands of new businesses across ACBJ's footprint — this year alone.
