The influence of childbearing on a family's ability to accumulate assets is examined in this paper. The first section presents a theoretical framework for analyzing the evolving life-time process of asset accumulation. This model highlights the principal factors that determine life cycle paths of consumption, income, savings, and the time allocation of spouses. Within this framework, some potential avenues are examined through which childbearing patterns of families may impinge on these decisions and hence alter a family's desired asset accumulation. The second section discusses the data source employed in this research and provides operational definitions of the empirical variables. The third section summarizes the major empirical findings. In addition to estimating the impact of children on asset growth, estimates are provided of the influence of family size on the composition of the asset portifolio. The major channels through which family size alters savings behavior are also explored. The channels investigated include family consumption, wife's income, and hours worked of each spouse. (Author/JMB)