| The Dinklebergs | Bud Dink |
|---|---|
 |  |
There are two well known Nickelodeon cartoons which had characters with a similar name.
Bud Dink, who was the neighbor on the 90s Nick show, Doug.
The Dinkleberg’s, who were the neighbors on the 2000s Nick show, Fairly Oddparents.
A joke 100% of kids didn’t catch onto and probably 90% of parents didn’t either was them both having the name “dink”.
This might sound like another goofy kids cartoon name, but it actually stands for something.
DINK
- Dual
- Income
- No
- Kids
Which both characters were part of married couples living next door without children.
This brings in the big question of how much a person can save living their life like this.
To keep this simple, going to use the cost of having one child.
According to the department of agriculture, the total cost of having a kid, when factoring in food, clothing, healthcare, education gas, gifts and other expenses is $12,980 a year on average.
This range holds from ages 0-18, with costs changing gradually.
That means $233,640 will be spent from ages 0-18.
Just to create an idea of how much money this is from the standpoint of savings, lets look at this from averages.
The average first time mother is 26.
The average first time father 31.
Lets also just assume no fancy items, nice vacations or other costs, just rogue savings for age 65.
Saving $12,980 a year
S&P 500, with an average return of 11% the last 50 years.
18 years
At the end of that 18 year duration, $726,000.
Lets also just assume this DINK couple stopped saving at that point and just kept that money until age 65 for it to grow.
The man would be 49 and woman would be 44 at this point.
Lets assume they get access to this when the woman turns 65.
That return on $726,000 kept in the S&P 500 for 21 years untouched would be just under 6.5 million.
Now, there is a truth to this and that’s DINK has another meaning.
- Disposal
- Income
- No
- Kids
Which was an important part to the characters of the Dinkleberg’s and Mr Dink. They spent a lot more and had nicer things over the couples they lived next door to and that was a running joke.
There’s a truth no normal couple is going to in their late 20s/early 30s and go “Hey, lets save $12,000 a year for 18 years, not have kids, stop saving after 18 years and hold onto it for the 20 following years.”.
This is though a good example of the power of being a DINK and how people in their 30s/40s can fairly easily save $10,000+ a year.
Kind of a weird commentary from cartoon shows, but this is why I pull out.