5 ways to ease baby’s bottom line
Having a child costs a lot—outside the delivery room. For a child born in 2005, even without factoring in college, parents are looking at more than $300,000 to raise a child to adulthood. Add a postsecondary public education and you're at about $460,000.
Yikes
Yes, that’s a whole lot of money. We would suggest starting a savings account of some form to help with college if you intend to financially help your child through college.
Let’s look at some ways to save when your family hits a growth spurt:
- Flexible Spending Accounts—use them. If your employer offers FSAs, they can be used to set pre-tax money aside for medical costs, dependent care and even health/dental insurance premiums. This can add up to hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in your pocket every year.
- Buy secondhand. Whether you go to flea markets, secondhand stores or yard sales, you can save hundreds on things that are used and many of these items show barely any use at all.
