{"id":1248,"date":"2019-03-27T04:00:31","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T04:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsnewsforyou.com\/?p=1248"},"modified":"2019-03-27T04:00:31","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T04:00:31","slug":"how-much-bank-do-you-really-need-to-have-a-baby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/?p=1248","title":{"rendered":"How Much Bank Do You Really Need To Have A Baby?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Capri and Dennis Prentice, 25 and 28 years old respectively, found out they were having twins, the first thing that ran through their minds was\u00a0\u201cCan we afford this?\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Babies are expensive \u2014 this we know.\u00a0Yet potential parents tend to underestimate just how much those bundles of joy actually cost.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an infographic from the financial site NerdWallet:\u00a0<\/p>\n

About half<\/span>\u00a0of future moms and dads think a baby\u2019s first year will cost less than $5,000. Womp womp. A\u00a0recent study\u00a0found that the first year in a baby\u2019s life will cost closer to $21,000 for a family that makes $40,000 per year\u00a0and around\u00a0$52,000 for\u00a0a household making $200,000. (Those different figures assume that a family making $40,000 would opt out of\u00a0life insurance, recommended college funds, and in-home nanny care, all things that rack up the higher-earning family\u2019s expenses.)<\/p>\n

The expenses start early, with the delivery.<\/span> The\u00a0median charges for a childbirth hospital stay\u00a0in the United States\u00a0are $13,524 for the delivery and mother\u2019s care and $3,660 for the newborn. A cesarean section is around $18,500, and any complications can raise the price of either natural delivery or C-section by about $3,000. For the Prentices, the complications were way beyond what they had budgeted for.<\/p>\n

Their boys were delivered a month early via C-section. Both babies were born with respiratory distress syndrome and had to be sent to the neonatal intensive care unit\u00a0for intubation, medication,\u00a0and constant monitoring. They were eventually transferred via ambulance to a hospital an hour from their home for more specialized attention. In total, their sons were in the NICU for 11 days each. (Thanks, insurance!)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe total cost of our medical bills was over $250,000 before insurance,\u201d Capri says. \u201cLuckily, we had insurance, but we still had to cover $6,000 out of pocket.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

86% of those who just had a child \u2014 or are planning to have one within five years \u2014 say they have money saved (or plan to save) for their baby\u2019s first year.<\/p>\n

Capri and Dennis\u2019 experience is atypical, but how many of us would be prepared for even a fraction of their medical bills? Almost half of Americans don\u2019t have\u00a0<\/span>$400 on hand for an unexpected emergency. Millennials like to think they are getting ahead of the game:\u00a086% of those who just had a child\u00a0or are planning to have one within five years say they have money saved (or plan to save) for their baby\u2019s first year.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, they\u2019re not saving nearly enough. Only 1\u00a0in 10 parents\u00a0has $10,000 in baby savings \u2014 just\u00a0a chunk of the $21,000 needed for a tight budget.<\/p>\n

Capri and Dennis had set $3,000 aside for the three months Capri would take off from her job as a nurse. \u201cBut we needed almost three times that in reality,\u201d she said. Beyond their crazy-expensive hospital stays, just a snapshot of their other expenses included\u00a0$200 per month in diapers, $150 per month in clothing, $40 upfront for bottles, $500 for a double stroller, etc. Then there were the less obvious expenses: increased heating costs in the winter because babies can\u2019t regulate their temperature;\u00a0special laundry detergent for babies with sensitive skin;\u00a0the time lost to pumping milk (3-4 hours per day for Capri). Plus, once Capri went back to work, day care cost them $300 per week \u2014 and that was with a family friend discount rate. Day care is so expensive in the United States\u00a0that for some parents, it is more\u00a0<\/span>cost-effective to live on one salary and have one parent stay home than to pay for child care.<\/p>\n

Capri and Dennis were lucky to have help from family and friends: a hand-me-down cradle and baby monitor, discounted day care. But\u00a0Capri noted that expenses could be even worse for families \u201cif they do not have support.\u201d The majority of millennials, however, are banking on their families to help out with a <\/span>significant portion of the first year costs, whether they have the money or not.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Money is just money. The most important thing once you become a parent is time. You don\u2019t get time sealed in an envelope every two weeks like a paycheck.<\/p>\n

The not-so-subtle silver lining in all of this is, of course, your baby (or babies for the Prentices). Since having their boys, Capri said that the way they think about money has completely changed. \u201cWe think about money as less essential now,\u201d she said. \u201cMoney is just money,\u00a0<\/span>and we will most likely earn all that we spent back. The most important thing once you become a parent is time. You don\u2019t get time sealed in an envelope every two weeks like a paycheck, and time doesn\u2019t earn interest in a bank account.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Capri and Dennis know they are lucky in that regard: They both have well-paying jobs and have gotten to a manageable place financially. Others might not be able to count on these lifelines. To realistically prepare, Matt Becker, a financial planner and the creator of the finance and parenting website <\/span>MomandDadMoney.com, recommends couples start living on their baby budget ahead of time. Becker suggests using a calculator such as this one from Babycenter to estimate monthly expenses and then start putting that money away in advance. The baby calculator takes into account your location, income, and whether you\u2019re saving for college before spitting out an estimate of what you will spend in a year. \u201cThis builds up a savings buffer to help you ride the inevitable ups and downs,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Becker also recommends checking your health insurance policy to see if you have access to a health savings account, which can help pay for medical expenses tax-free. Some employers\u00a0offer a health care flexible spending account or a dependent care flexible account, which pay medical and childcare expenses tax-free as well. According to Becker, \u201cThose savings can really add up.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the smartest financial planning for babies is the least fun.\u00a0Becker suggests that parents not neglect their wills or life insurance. \u201cThey\u2019re not the most enjoyable topics,\u201d he said, \u201cbut they\u2019ll ensure that your child will always be taken care of.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

So, if you\u2019re even remotely thinking about having a baby in the next few years, it\u2019s time to also start thinking about how you\u2019ll afford it. Calculate a baby budget, like you would for a car or a house, and then double it. The cost of a\u00a0child inevitably is more than you think it is.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Top photo by Donnie Ray Jones. Share image via Pixabay.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Capri and Dennis Prentice, 25 and 28 years old respectively, found out they were having twins, the first thing that ran through their minds was\u00a0\u201cCan we afford this?\u201d Babies are expensive \u2014 this we know.\u00a0Yet potential parents tend to underestimate just how much those bundles of joy actually cost.\u00a0\u00a0 Here\u2019s an infographic from the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}