My foibles: 1. Giving my wife an expensive engagement ring, wedding and honeymoon. 2. Buying a house at the height of the real-estate boom. And yet, I still think these are the best and the most enjoyable mistakes I made. My wife appreciates #1 and we both wanted a house to live in (not as an investment), no matter what its current price. OTOH, 3. I sunk a lot of money in the stock market during the 2000 bubble and have nothing to show for it.

I spend so much money on jewelery I should open a store.  Did I mention that I use my credit cards to buy it?  The ones with minimum payments high enough to equal an average car payment?  (I'm obviously too selfish to reproduce, so let's not go there)

I do not think the author's intent was to imply that people regretted having children because of what it cost them.  Perhaps it is more that they regret not being more financially stable (or financially stable at all) when they had their kids.  

I am at that point in my life.  I am nearing 30 and would love to have children, but what kind of life would my precious child have if it's mommy was working 75 hours a week just to put food on the table?  

The point was not to say that having children should be a financial decision but rather to say that choosing WHEN to have them should rely on your financial ability to give them the best life possible.  

Not all parents feel their children are the greatest thing in the world.  I love my kid, but my regrets lie mostly in the arena of "I wish we had waited longer to do it".  Some of the time, it's a pain, and I hate that I can't do what I want or need to do when I need to do it, and the fact that I can't ever get any time to myself.  But a lot of that has to do with other matters related to my SO.

I know a few childless by choice couples, including an aunt and uncle, and while I respect their decision, I don't know that if I went back in time I wouldn't do it again.

As far as financial foibles, I would have to say asking too much for our house when we sold it a few years ago, and then leasing it, and then ending up having to pay double mortgage when we really couldn't afford it.  And also learning to manage my money the hard way-through debt collection and later consolidation after college.  

Kids are great. Hey someone has to have them, right? But, I think most of those that have kids get the timing all wrong. The time to raise kids is after you retire, when you have the time, money and wisdom to do it right. Not in your 20's or 30's when you're still trying to get your own life under control.