I used to avidly scour threads like these before I had kids. I didn't want to make the wrong decision, because from the outside being a parent looks like actual Hades. I now realise that to be largely true. I have two dc, age 2 & 5, I am knackered, our once-amazing sex life is fucked, I will never again feel fully carefree, I nag and worry and occasionally long for them to disappear so I can have me some sweet, sweet peace.
But. It turns out, I really, really wanted them. Once I'd switched off all the noise inside my head, and stopped thinking about things from the perspective of other people... once I'd tuned out those niggling fears, and society's narrative (whatever it is these days: not sure I think motherhood is lauded - more seen as a slog) ...then the answer was there all along.
Some of us are unfortunate enough to be slaves to our biology. For me, that means my squirming, squalling, puce-faced little life-wreckers filled some basic need in the inner reaches of my core.
But if that need isn't there, why put yourself through it? The cons are obvious and well documented. I concur with them all.
On the pro side: for me, the love is so transformative, so enormous, it magnifies tiny, innocuous moments, so they become shot through with a sort of magic. That's why so many parents lose their heads and post endless pictures of their darlings on social media (I swore I wouldn't do it! I do it all the time). Someone mentioned small hands in theirs - yes! - making them laugh, watching them interact, the first notes they write (my DD, apparently, loves me and daddy so much she 'cud bursd').
Speaking only for myself, this technicolour shower of halo-rimmed sparks that explode when your kid chuckles at you, when they first say 'I love you', when you happen across the big one 'reading' to the little one... collectively, it's one whopper of an experience I'd have hated to miss.
I suppose my conclusion is this: push practicalities aside, because none of them really matter (all this is discussed ad infinitum upthread). Switch off the noise, listen to your gut, then step forward with confidence. This is a deep old decision, and if you are one of the lucky ones who is able to sidestep that primal urge to procreate, spare yourself years of snotty nose wiping and midnight wailing and do it!
Oh, and living the best years of your life as insurance for your twilight years sounds no fun. It's super simple: if you really, really, deep-down want them, have kids. They will meet that deep need and you will love it.
Conversely, I'd guess that if you only have them for practical / societal / cerebral reasons, you're likely looking at wall-to-wall Hades.