One of the most helpful things you can do before getting pregnant is to set yourself up financially. Here are some financial preparations to make before having a baby.
Save for Medical Costs
Depending on your health insurance you may enter parenthood with a lot of money owed in medical bills. Find out how much your health insurance covers when it comes to pregnancy and delivery and how much you’ll be responsible for.
Start saving up the portion you’ll need to pay in a separate savings account.
Save an Emergency Fund
The next item on your list should be an emergency fund. In my opinion a healthy emergency fund should come before paying off debt, especially if you’re about to bring another life into this world.
The truth is you never know what could go wrong. You want some financial cushion so that you’re not stressed out by money as a new parent. (What would happen if you lost your only source of income?!)
Save up at least three months’ worth of regular expenses.
Anything Else You Can Do to Lower Your Stress About Money!
In a perfect world you’d have enough time and earn enough money to check every little box off of your financial preparation list. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world.
If you’ve got savings for medical bills and an emergency fund with time to kill start working on all the other items that will reduce your financial stress.
These could be:
- Paying Off Debt
- Saving More Money
- Building Up a Humungous Stash of Diapers
- Fixing Vehicles
- And anything else that you really need to do.
What if It’s Too Late?
It’s not.
While it’s nice to be prepared before the baby comes I’ve personally found (and also witnessed countless times) that being responsible for another human life will motivate you to make the improvements you need to make.
There’s nothing like having a baby to force you to grow up fast. If baby is already on the way and you’re finances are a mess I’m willing to bet that as soon as you meet your new family member you’ll be more than ready to turn things around!