Wednesday , March 27 2024

10 Major Financial Issues All Parents Need to Discuss Before a New Baby

Having a baby might not look like a tough decision to make at first but those who are experienced parents know it takes a lot to take care of babies. The presence of babies affects every aspect of your life as a parent, including your pockets.

Bringing a baby into your life is exhilarating, no doubt. But as you point out, it’s also a huge drain on your pocketbook.According to a USDA study, typical American parents will spend about $12,680 a year in the kid’s first couple years of life (sadly, those costs stay fairly level throughout their childhood).

So, what are all the financial issues you need to handle before becoming a parent? Here’s what you’ll need to keep in mind before bringing a little one into your home.

1. Health insurance

The first year of parenthood is a steady stream of trips to the pediatrician’s offer for checkups. So even though there’s no longer a federal mandate, having insurance is a no-brainer.

 

It certainly won’t hurt for whichever of you is working to bone up on the implications of adding a child to your employer’s plan. Depending on who has better insurance, it might be considerably less expensive under one parent’s plan than the other’s. If you know you’ll be trying to conceive, you’ll want to do a little math to see whether a lower-deductible plan is worth the switch.

2. Childcare

One of the biggest expenditures that parents have to make is paying someone to take care of their baby once mom and dad go back to work. The annual cost of childcare ranges from $4,822 a year in Mississippi to a staggering $$22,631 in the nation’s capital.

3. Life and disability insurance

Nobody likes to think about the possibility that they’ll suddenly take on a life-threatening illness or get into a major accident. But when you have a spouse and child depending on your paycheck, you’d be foolhardy not to make sure they’re protected from the worst.

4. A Will or Trust

Preparing for the worst also involves putting together a will with guardianship instructions. Should the unthinkable happen, it’ll be you — not the courts — deciding who takes custody of your child. You may also want to create a trust that dictates how and when your heirs will receive any financial assets you leave behind. There are some really inexpensive DIY software programs you can use for this, but if that idea makes you nervous, you’ll have to hire an attorney. Prices vary, of course, although lawyers generally charge somewhere around $1,000 for a fairly standard will; creating a trust will generally set you back at least that much.

5. Emergency savings

A rainy day fund is an important failsafe for anyone in good financial health. Even for folks who aren’t about to enter parenthood anytime soon, the standard advice is to have anywhere from three to six months’ worth of expenses in a savings account, just in case. Suffice it to say, those with a baby in toe will want to be on the upper end of that range. The last thing you want is to shell out a boatload of cash for a new roof or a broken air conditioner and wonder how you’re going to pay for your infant’s necessities.

6. Housing

With a new kid on the way, that tiny one-bedroom apartment may not cut it anymore. For a lot of parents, that first pregnancy means finding greener pastures – ideally those that can accommodate future additions to the family as well. It’s probably not surprising, then, that the USDA study found that housing is the number one child-rearing expense.

7. Cars

Already have a trusty SUV parked in the driveway? You may not need a new set of wheels. Pulling a stroller out of a hatchback, on the other hand, isn’t so fun. If you’re in the latter camp, you’ll need to factor in how much a roomier mode of transportation is going to put you back.

8. Food, diapers, etc.

It’s astounding how fast tiny little humans can go through a giant jar of formula. Needless to say, it’ll become a sizable part of your monthly budget. And lest you think you’re getting off cheap because your wife breastfeeds, just think of all the things she’ll need to go au naturale: pumps, nursing bras, Boppy pillows, milk storage pouches and so on.

9. Clothing and Baby Gear

When you add it all up, the list of contraptions you’ll need for your little one can look pretty scary. There’s the crib, the car seat, the stroller, the baby monitor – the list goes on. The good news is that some that you can get some of these things from friends whose kids have outgrown them, and that happens pretty quickly.

10. College Savings

There’s no doubt about it – the sooner you open a 529 plan for your kids, the better. If history is any guide, whatever money you put in now will grow exponentially by the time your kid is ready to head off to college. According to Savingforcollege.com, you’d need to contribute $111 a month to cover even 25 percent of the cost of what a typical public, in-state tuition will be. But the truth is, anything you can kick in is better than nothing.

(First published on Fatherly)

 

About Chinenye Nwabueze

Nwabueze is a writer with passion for cutting-edge news

Check Also

Male humpback whales caught on camera having s3x

Two humpback whales have been caught on camera engaging in homosexual s3x. A just-published study …

6 comments

  1. Chinweuba Tobechi

    this information was useful.. learning never ends.

  2. Egbuwalo Teniola Glory

    This will help curb poverty….

  3. Okeke Cynthia Chinecherem

    This is food for thought…it’s high time parents stopped bringing children they’re not prepared to Carter for….

  4. sincerely parents need to consider these before jumping into having a baby or babies….

  5. Peter Blessing Chinaza 2016054097

    This information is very good and useful as well

  6. Not only parents, young girls should also stop bringing innocent children to this world if they won’t b able to cater for them!!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

%d bloggers like this: