We’ve all heard of trophy husbands and trophy wives. But what on earth is a trophy kid? Here’s how one expecting parent explained the term to me at the playground one day.

A trophy kid is what’s known as the 4th kid or greater in a family. Because raising kids is so expensive, especially in the coastal cities, having a 4th kid is one way the rich signal to society how rich they really are.

Not only do these parents have the fertility to have multiple children, but they also have the financial means to provide for additional kids. A family of six requires a bigger house, bigger travel budgets, bigger tuition budgets, hired help, and more.

As a couple who took almost three years to have one kid, I view having four or more kids as a miracle. Think about all the things that have to go right for any couple today to have four kids.

• A couple has to meet early enough in their lives to build a loving and trusting relationship. To have four children will likely take at least 10 years from the time a couple first meets.

• A couple needs to be healthy enough to conceive and birth. Things such as endometriosis, ovarian cysts, low sperm motility, irregular cycles, ectopic pregnancy, spontaneous miscarriages and more can and will affect the process of birthing a child.

• A couple needs to have a high enough level of happiness and energy after each kid to go through the process three or more times.

• A couple needs to have enough financial means to support a growing family. A recession or a layoff could easily derail the child birthing process.

• A couple will need to come to terms that an early retirement for both parents is highly unlikely.

Sure, a man can have four or more kids quicker by having multiple partners. But that doesn’t negate his responsibility of caring for each child. I’m unfamiliar with deadbeat dads.

A woman would still have to spend at minimum five years to have four children with multiple partners, unless of course she has twins or more.

IUI and IVF are not guarantees, but may help after the discovery of issues as well.

I still remember the day my son was born like it was yesterday. After only about an hour of labor he joined us in this world at 11:58 pm. It was the greatest moment of both our lives.

From that time forward, we pledged to care for him as best we could. In a big way, all the years of saving and investing and figuring out how to make some income at home were to prepare for this moment that we could both be stay at home parents.

As first-time parents, we didn’t know what to expect. So we figured having both of us care for our boy would be the optimal way to go.

Here’s my personal reflection as a stay at home dad for the past two years. I’ve sent this post to his e-mail account for him to read when he’s a little bit older.

As responsible parents we set up a revocable living trust so that in case of our untimely demise, our son would be protected and taken care of. Going through public probate court is not only a hassle, but a violation of our financial privacy.

When I asked my centimillionaire buddy what type of estate planning he does, since his net worth is well over the estate tax exemption amount per person of $11.4M, he said a main strategy he uses is the Grantor Retained Annuity Trust or GRAT.

If the GRAT is set up and executed properly, a significant amount of wealth can move down to the next generation with virtually no estate or gift tax ramifications.

Let’s learn how a GRAT works with a couple of examples that show how millions of dollars can be saved in estate taxes.

In my Quora e-mail digest, I stumbled upon the most amazing and heartfelt estate plan I’ve ever read.

A user asked: If you were left millions in your parent’s will, but your brother or sister were left nothing, would you give them some money?

I think the large majority of us would say, “absolutely yes.” Even if we had lost touch with our siblings or felt they never treated us or our parents right, our grief and guilt alone would spur us to share something.

All these public family squabbles in probate court due to the failure of the deceased to create a private revocable living trust are so sad. It really pains me when money comes between family, especially after a death.

Here’s where one answerer, Jeff E. revives some of my faith in humanity. Let’s read what he has to say.