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Thursday 14 July 2022

Millennial Money: 4 money moves to

make before baby arrives

through your employer, ask
questions early. Find out
how many weeks are cov-
ered and at what percent-
age of your salary. Do you
need to use vacation and
sick time first?
You also want to know
when and how your ben-
efits will be paid out, espe-
cially if they’ll come from
multiple sources. Trust me,
you don’t want to be one
In this Aug. 7, 2018 photo, a doctor performs an ultrasound scan week postpartum emailing
on a pregnant woman at a hospital in Chicago. your benefits provider to
Associated Press unravel the logistics of your
leave payments.
By KELSEY SHEEHY of Nerd- pending on where you live. If you don’t have access to
Wallet Even with insurance, new paid leave, or you’re plan-
The arrival of a new baby parents can expect to pay ning to take additional un-
is all-consuming. In the several thousand dollars paid time, practice living
early weeks, your waking out of pocket for maternity on the reduced income
hours are a cycle of feed- care. to the extent possible. This
ings, diaper changes and Contact your insurer or the will help you identify op-
Googling “Is it normal for a hospital where you plan to tional expenses to reduce
baby to (fill in the blank).” deliver to get more specific or eliminate and help you
Mustering the energy and numbers. Then take a deep build a savings cushion be-
attention span for other- dive into your health care fore your baby’s arrival.
wise routine tasks like show- coverage to understand START ‘PAYING’ FOR CHILD
ering and paying bills can your coinsurance, deduct- CARE
feel like a tall order. You’ll ible, maximums and cover- Child care is the single larg-
be lucky to remember age limits. est monthly expense for
what day it is, much less Anthem, United Healthcare most new parents. Get a
when your next credit card and other major insurers jump start by “paying” for
payment is due. have tools you can use to day care well before your
Do your future, sleep-de- get estimates of total and baby arrives.
prived self a favor and start out-of-pocket costs, based Put the money into a sepa-
prepping your finances on your plan. rate savings account ide-
early into your pregnancy Use these figures to set a re- ally one that earns interest
so things can run on auto- alistic savings goal to cover every week or month.
pilot for a while after the them. This helps you adjust to the
baby arrives. Have access to a flexible new expense and allows
If you don’t already have spending account? If tim- you to bank a few months
a budget, start there, says ing allows, set your contri- of child care costs that you
Cecilia Williams, a mother, butions to save incremen- can tap for upfront costs
certified financial planner tally, tax-free for your hospi- like deposits and applica-
and the chief operating of- tal bills. When hospital bills tion fees.
ficer of Halbert Hargrove, a start rolling in, you can pay Not sure what child care
financial planning firm. directly from your FSA or costs in your area? Ask
“Outline all your current use a rewards credit card around your friend group or
income and expenses so and submit for reimburse- local parent group to get
you and your partner have ment. a sense of what day care,
a solid understanding of PLAN AHEAD FOR PARENTAL a nanny or other arrange-
where your money goes LEAVE ments cost.
each month,” Hargrove Paid parental leave is far You can also build other
says. “This will absolutely from guaranteed. In fact, baby essentials, like dia-
need to be adjusted as only 11 states and Wash- pers, formula and wipes,
you get closer to your due ington, D.C., have paid into your budget now, mak-
date, so having a starting leave laws, some of which ing an educated guess. It
point is priority No. 1.” won’t take effect for sev- doesn’t need to be per-
Then build a plan for man- eral years. And only 25% of fect; you can adjust down
aging the other costs, large employers offer some form the road.
and small, that come with of paid leave, according AUTOMATE BILLS AND
having a baby. to a 2019 survey of em- CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS
RESEARCH THE COST TO DE- ployer health benefits by Set any recurring bills to
LIVER YOUR CHILD KFF, the nonpartisan health autopay, ideally from one
The price tag for childbirth care think tank formerly account or credit card. If
is steep. The average cost known as the Kaiser Family you can, go one step fur-
for delivery can range from Foundation. ther and set that card to
$10,000 to $20,000, de- If you have paid leave autopay, too.q