Can You Afford to Start a Family? Real Talk on Fertility and Finances

HerMoney with Jean Chatzky

Jean Chatzky Her Money

Investing, Entrepreneurship, Business

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Motherhood is personal and more than a little bit complicated. And today, we’re diving deep into the emotional and financial complexities of modern motherhood with journalist and author of The Mother Code: My Story of Love, Loss, and the Myths That Shape Us, Ruthie Ackerman. Ruthie’s journey includes freezing her eggs in her 30s, navigating a divorce, and ultimately becoming a mother at 43 through donor eggs. But her story is about much more than biology—it’s about breaking timelines, challenging societal expectations, and rewriting what it means to live a full, intentional life…with or without children. Looking for more financial confidence? 🚀 FinanceFixx – Our 4 or 8-week coaching program to get your finances on track! 📈 InvestingFixx – A club for women ready to grow their wealth. Your first month is completely free. Have a question for us? Write to us (or send us a voice note!) at [email protected]. While you’re at it, join the HerMoney community! For the latest episode drops and financial news-you-can-use, subscribe to our newsletter at Hermoney.com/subscribe! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Amazon offers term time working to their employees, like Anton,
0:05.0	who's home to look after his daughters during their holidays.
0:10.0	Hello!
0:11.0	To him, this is the best sound in the world.
0:13.0	Daddy!
0:14.0	Actually, maybe that's the best sound of all.
0:23.1	Now that's term time working.
0:24.5	Offered at Amazon.
0:26.8	Ten weeks off guaranteed per year.
0:29.0	Mix of paid holiday and unpaid time off.
0:29.8	Conditions apply.
0:40.7	I think what would move the needle is if women believed we lived in a society that cared about our self-actualization.
0:55.3	If we believe that we could be mothers and follow our dreams, be mothers and have the careers we wanted, be mothers and have the support systems and policies that would help us care for our children.
1:03.9	Hey, everyone. Thanks so much for joining us today on Her Money. I'm Gene Chatsky. And today's topic is personal. It's also more than a little bit complicated. We're talking about
1:09.5	motherhood and specifically one woman's
1:13.2	journey from deciding to be child free and marrying someone who had made the same choice to
1:18.6	changing her mind in her mid-30s to eventually choosing to go with a donor egg at age 41 in her
1:27.4	second marriage.
1:29.0	Today, for the first time in U.S. history, women over 40 are having more babies than teenagers
1:34.1	are, which is certainly something to celebrate.
1:36.6	But we also know that there can be a cost to waiting.
1:41.3	If you want to freeze your eggs, it's around $5,000 just for retrieval.
	...

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