Juliana Kaplan, Business Insider: The costs of rearing a child have skyrocketed. Raising a kid could cost parents upward of $26,000 this year. Being a DINK has always been a way to save money, but as the stigma around the choice to be child-free has faded, more Americans see being a DINK as the key to a new American dream of financial stability, freedom of choice, and a comfortable retirement.