Starting or growing a family is an amazing adventure, but it can also be incredibly stressful, especially when considering the financial toll. A Harris Poll survey conducted in 2015 found that 77 percent of parents in the United States with children under the age of 18 found money to be a “significant source of stress”, according to the American Psychological Association (APA).
The best option is to start financial planning ASAP so that you’ll (hopefully) have as much money as you need once your baby boy or baby girl gets here. Check out these five steps for getting financially ready for a baby:
Step 1: Be Prepared for the Costs of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a very common step in family planning, and you should prepare for the costs of it. To avoid paying hidden fees for various services, including IVF gender selection costs, specialists at the Pacific Fertility Center can explain the ivf gender selection cost and help you understand what services you require as a growing family
In fact, many prospective parents are interested in gender selection for family balancing to decrease the chances of genetic disorders such as muscular dystrophy (which predominantly affects males since it is an X chromosome-linked disease), or for various other personal reasons.
Gender selection is possible through IVF because fertility clinics can now test for the sex of an embryo at its earliest stages. Pacific Fertility Center also offers sperm spinning (another method for selection), but gender selection through IVF has way higher success rates.
The first step of IVF is collecting the egg donation from the mother (or an egg donation from an anonymous donor) and a sperm sample from the father to test. The healthiest sperm and eggs are combined in the lab to create embryos. After being “cultured” for 5-6 days, the embryos will go through genetic screening (PGS) to rule out genetic diseases and genetic disorders, prevent miscarriages, and look for chromosomal abnormalities.
At this stage of the IVF cycle, sex selection is performed with close to 100 percent accuracy (when a healthy embryo of the desired sex can be made). Whether it’s for medical reasons or a desire for family balancing, the Pacific Fertility Center has the resources needed for families to pick the gender of their next child.
Step 2: Get a New Car That’s Baby-Safe
Let’s get real — you want your baby to be safe coming home from the hospital, but with a new baby on the way, you don’t exactly have a lot of spare cash lying around for a new car. So, you’re likely in the market for a cheap car loan. Luckily, by looking into cheap car finance, you can get the best deal by doing a little research and checking out your car loan options at loans.com.au.
According to moneysmart.gov.au, people should not only be shopping around for their new cars, but they should also be shopping around for their car loans. They also recommend doing your research on the better deals for the best interest rate, best lender, and lower monthly payments (available to you based on your credit score and bank account) before going to a dealership.
We all hope to pay a little extra on our monthly payments to avoid taking the whole life of the loan to pay it off, but you must be realistic and get a cheap car loan with a low monthly payment before the baby arrives. Keep in mind that the longer the loan’s life and the higher the interest rate, the more you will pay by the time the length of the loan is done. An excellent way to start is by visiting loans.com.au to see what car loans are available to you now.
Step 3: Budget for Delivery
According to a study conducted by Health Affairs, in 2015, women paid as much as $4,314 out of pocket for a vaginal delivery and $5,161 for a cesarian birth. So, simply having the baby can cost you a small fortune. Not to mention needing to budget for maternity leave (and paternity leave) from work to have the baby and recover. Contact your health insurance company ahead of time to see what will be covered when it comes to your hospital bills (hospital stay, C-section costs, prenatal care, etc.) and make sure you understand the costs of maternity leave. This way, you can look into a more affordable option should one be available to you.
Step 4: Start an Emergency Fund
Having a savings account with a child is always a good idea. It’s a harsh reality, but with a new baby, you’re one missed health insurance payment away from your baby not being able to receive medical care if he/she gets sick.
Step 5: Start a Baby Fund
Sure, you can have a baby shower to cover many of the things you need (clothes, crib, diapers, etc.). But these things will run out fast, and what about childcare or a college fund? According to Investopedia, childcare is the “biggest budget item” when it comes to having a new baby. If both parents desire to go back to work, childcare is close to $10,000 a year (depending on your state). And, roughly 29 percent of parents in the United States are putting NO money away for their children’s education. Even the ones who ARE putting money away have saved an average of $5,441, which is roughly a fourth of average college costs for one year, according to MarketWatch.
Prospective parents should be financially planning ahead to avoid stress after having a new baby!
