Today, Nicole gives six ways you can financially prepare for a baby... plus, a personal update. For the federal financial resources for new parents, click HERE.
Chapter 1: What should you know about budgeting for a baby?
I'm Nicole Lappin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab. There's a I think I'll talk about it at some point. But for now, I'm thinking a lot about a DM that I got about budgeting for a baby. And because that is so top of mind for me right now, I wanted to go ahead and answer it.
As I mentioned yesterday, this will be my last episode of Money Rehab before going on maternity leave. But if you missed that episode yesterday, don't worry. Money Rehab is still going to be here for you every single day.
While I'm out, the show is going to be guest hosted by some of the smartest people I know in business and personal finance, like Tracy DiNunzio, who built and sold the luxury resale company Tradesy, Peter Tuchman, who you know and love as the stockbroker on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, and
and a fellow MNN podcast host, Minda Hartz, who's the bestselling author of The Memo and is an expert on workplace culture. Moe Schwanunu, who's been a journalist for 500 years. He hosts my favorite daily news podcast, Moe News, which is actually joining the MNN family. Yay.
Claire Wasserman, who is an expert on pay negotiation, real estate extraordinaire, John Grauman, attorney, but a very cool one, Pamela Maas, who you probably know from Instagram as Law Mother, and our very own EP Morgan Lavoie. And Thank you so much for joining us. and some special holiday episodes that you'll hear closer as we get to the end of the year.
I wanted to try and give myself and my husband some time with our daughter, but I also wanted to make sure that your days would still be full of stories and tips and tricks to make your money work harder for you. And I think you're really gonna like this, but don't like it too much because I will be back here very soon. You cannot get rid of me, fam. So with that... Let's talk about babies.
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Chapter 2: What are the unexpected costs of pregnancy?
I knew that babies were expensive, but I didn't know how expensive until I got pregnant and I haven't even given birth yet. So I love that money rehabbers are reaching out with questions about financing a family because you should budget for a baby. Alyssa DM'd us with this question.
Hi, Nicole. My name is Alyssa. I'm 28 and I'm currently pregnant with my first child. My question is simply, how do you budget for a baby? And how do you plan for all those unexpected costs during the pregnancy and postpartum? I currently have to get ultrasounds way more often than I'm expected to because I'm considered high risk. And that's a cost I didn't plan for.
So now I'm not sure exactly where that money is going to come from. So how do you do it? How do you budget for all of that?
Now, this DM is from an older episode, and since then, prices have only gotten higher. There are a lot of costs to consider when growing your family. Before there is even a baby to budget for, there are medical costs, which can get really expensive depending on how you're growing your family. But for the purposes today, I'm only going to talk about what to financially expect when you're expecting.
My advice is different if you're a few years away from having kids, if you're considering freezing your eggs or trying IVF. For example, Alyssa, if you came to me in your pre-pregnancy days, I would have recommended that you bolster your emergency fund so that you would have a bit more of a cushion to help with these unforeseen costs like these ultrasounds.
But today I'm going to be talking to people in Alyssa's and my own shoes. You are expecting, as in you have a due date or an adoption date someday marked on your calendar where you're going to have a new roomie in your home that no longer has any hard corners. Babies are tiny, babies are cute, and yet there is nothing tiny and cute about the way baby will affect your spending plan.
According to LendingTree, the average cost of raising a kid from birth to 18 years old costs parents $237,482. That is the exact average from all 50 states.
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Chapter 3: How much does it really cost to raise a child?
Of course, there are a bunch of different factors that affect how much people spend on their kids, where they live, whether they're raising a kid with a partner, whether their baby has a medical condition, how many kids they already have, to name a few. The least expensive state to raise a kid is South Carolina. That's where it still costs a significant $169,000.
The most expensive state, surprisingly, is Hawaii, which costs parents around $314,000. But on average, that means that parents are spending $19,800 a year on their kid. And that doesn't include the cost of actually giving birth or the potential cost of college. I am not saying this to scare you or to freak you out.
Chapter 4: What factors affect the cost of raising a child?
Chapter 5: How can you prepare financially for a baby?
Chapter 6: What financial advice should new parents consider?
But today I'm going to be talking to people in Alyssa's and my own shoes. You are expecting, as in you have a due date or an adoption date someday marked on your calendar where you're going to have a new roomie in your home that no longer has any hard corners. Babies are tiny, babies are cute, and yet there is nothing tiny and cute about the way baby will affect your spending plan.
According to LendingTree, the average cost of raising a kid from birth to 18 years old costs parents $237,482. That is the exact average from all 50 states.
Of course, there are a bunch of different factors that affect how much people spend on their kids, where they live, whether they're raising a kid with a partner, whether their baby has a medical condition, how many kids they already have, to name a few. The least expensive state to raise a kid is South Carolina. That's where it still costs a significant $169,000.
The most expensive state, surprisingly, is Hawaii, which costs parents around $314,000. But on average, that means that parents are spending $19,800 a year on their kid. And that doesn't include the cost of actually giving birth or the potential cost of college. I am not saying this to scare you or to freak you out.
I tell you this because I think we have a responsibility to speak up more about these costs and few financial experts do. We've definitely covered why you should budget for baby, but let's talk about the how. Here are six things you should do when you're expecting. Number one, if your health insurance isn't great, move on to bigger and better plans.
This definitely should help with Alyssa's question around unexpected medical costs and if you have a higher risk pregnancy and need extra medical support. Some health insurance providers are much more baby-friendly than others. Some plans cover immunizations, co-pays, and co-insurance fees, while others don't. Some plans even cover more granular costs.
For example, the Affordable Care Act requires some insurance plans to cover breastfeeding support like a lactation consultant and breast pumps. So ask yourself, does your health insurance plan have you covered? If not, it could be time to switch. Typically, you can only change insurance plans during the open enrollment period unless there's a qualified life event that warrants the change.
And having a baby definitely meets that criteria. So you don't have to wait until open enrollment to glow up your health insurance plan. Number two, claim a child tax benefit. You will have increased costs when you're a parent. That is just a fact. But you also have a new opportunity to get some tax love.
This year, if you're married and make less than a combined $400,000 a year, or if you file your taxes solo and make less than $200,000, you can get a $2,000 tax credit per child. If you make more than that, you still might be able to take some of that amount as a tax credit. It just becomes less and less depending on your income.
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