Baby Fund

cookies754 · January 2016

Hey all! Happy Sunday!

My DH and I have been putting off TTC to become more financially responsible. We decided to open up a baby fund savings account. This money will be dedicated to buying baby gear, paying hospital bills, etc. Has anyone else started something like this? We're wondering how much we should save and what a good goal would be. Obviously the more the better because we will always have baby expenses. We are hoping that I can be a SAHM when the time comes, but I figured that the money needed would come more from our savings account and efund.

Thanks!

bmo88 · January 2016

We opened a baby fund account two months ago. Our goal is to save $5,000 specifically for the baby fund (out of pocket max, gear, etc) and also have 6 months e-fund expenses and no debt other than a mortgage when we TTC. Currently, we have $2,200 in the baby fund, 5 months e-fund expenses and have $18,000 left in student loan/car debt. We are on track to meet our goals by January 2017.

cookies754 · January 2016

@bmo88 it sounds like you have a great plan in place. $5,000 sounds like a good amount to have in place. It's hard to think about since baby expenses can be so unexpected!

Sirius37 · January 2016

@bmo88 - what are e-funds? I have never heard of those before.

cookies754 · January 2016

@Sirius37 E-funds are emergency funds. We have it set up in case of a job loss or something else catastrophic. We are aiming to save up six months worth of living expenses in our e-fund. I believe that some people use their e-find differently though. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, @bmo88.

bmo88 · January 2016

cookies754 said:

@Sirius37 E-funds are emergency funds. We have it set up in case of a job loss or something else catastrophic. We are aiming to save up six months worth of living expenses in our e-fund. I believe that some people use their e-find differently though. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, @bmo88.

Yep, that's what we use our e-fund for!

Sirius37 · January 2016

bmo88 said:

cookies754 said:

@Sirius37 E-funds are emergency funds. We have it set up in case of a job loss or something else catastrophic. We are aiming to save up six months worth of living expenses in our e-fund. I believe that some people use their e-find differently though. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, @bmo88.

Yep, that's what we use our e-fund for!

Jeeeeesum, I feel less than intelligent right now. It's always so obvious after the fact. Thanks for clearing that up for me @cookies754 and @bmo88 !

E-funds are a very good thing to have, especially if there are any plans on taking extended time off from work or to stop working completely. DH and I are all set with an e-fund (unless something catastrophic happens) so we should probably start thinking about a specific baby fund. Hmmm....

BluesGal10 · January 2016

We started one using Synchrony Bank online. They're percentage rates are really high right now, and their CD rates are even higher. Once it gets to $2,000, I plan to move it over to a CD and let it grow. The hope is the LO can use this money to help pay for college.

kldillon14 · January 2016

For hospital bills me insurance gave me a break down on how much I would have to pay for me. I'm still looking into for baby. Also if you know anyone that just had a baby that your close and comfortable you can ask how much they paid. My cousin just had a baby last month and I would be having my baby (when ever I get pregnant) at the same hospital. So she let me see her bill so my husband and I have some idea on what we may have to pay.. I hope that helps

cookies754 · January 2016

That's a good idea, @kldillon14.

Knottie1442268460 · January 2016

I have a new baby and $5000 seems low. But that's not considering the fact that the majority of kids are accidents. You have efunds and you're way ahead of the game starting a baby fund!

cookies754 · January 2016

Just curious, why do you think $5000 seems low? Have there been a lot of expenses that came up unexpectedly?

borgie05 · January 2016

The amount needed for a baby fund could vary for each person based on their insurance coverage, but I agree $5000 is on the low side if you are planning to use it for ALL costs for a new baby. Still could be doable. With my son, I spent around that on medical bills alone... And I had no complications. Then you have to add in the baby gear on top of that. I have other friends that had medical bills came closer to $9000 so really it depends on your coverage.

Xstatic3333 · January 2016

$5,000 is the number we have in mind, too. That's based on hitting our family OOP max, plus a few hundred dollars for start up costs. We don't plan to "go big" on any baby gear except our car seats and maybe a jogging stroller. I already have plenty of the other baby-related furniture and a very nice twin bed set, so won't be doing a fancy convertible crib. Most small purchases like diapers and formula if needed I'm considering "cash flowing" out of our regular budget, do they wouldn't come from this fund. Some things may be gifted, but of course I'm not counting on that

This number also accounts for me living one of the only three states that offers some public maternity benefits. Go little Rhody! It's far below my normal pay, but enough to get us through my maternity leave. Without it, we'd also need to save some wage replacement.

strickland8052 · January 2016

We saved about $8,000 for our baby fund, but I have pretty good insurance, short term disability, and we have an additional emergency fund. If it weren't for those things, we'd probably save anymore.

I recommend determining your baby fund by adding these three expenses:
The family Out of Pocket maximum on your health insurance plan
+ The amount it will cost you to take off work (Consider how much vacay/sick leave you have, how much your short term disability (if you have it) will pay, and how long you want to take off)
+ Start up costs (This depends on how much you are willing to buy new/used. From what I've read, I estimated about $2,000 by buying most things used.)

However, I agree with others that if you are even thinking about this, you are way ahead of the game. I wouldn't stress too much if the exact goal isn't met prior to TTC. You'll have plenty of time to build it up while trying/pg.

cookies754 · January 2016

Lots of good pointers all around! I loved hearing everyone's opinions.

I guess I never paid too much attention to this, (and should have) but my employer doesn't offer short term disability. I found that out today during my research. So I'm only able to use my sick/personal days and then will be unpaid for the rest of the time. Yikes! Perhaps we'll need to bump up our baby fund..

bmo88 · January 2016

$5,000 is a good number for us because our OOP max is $3,500 and we don't plan on buying a ton of gear. I also have 8 weeks full paid time off and up to 13 weeks at 60% pay. I plan to take 8 or less weeks off. The $5,000 number doesn't include typical first year costs after birth, which we would cash flow.

als1982 · January 2016

We'll probably shoot for at least $10,000 but won't start saving until a positive test. I have good insurance and three months of sick days saved, but I'd like the option to stay home or scale back on work if that's something I want to do when baby arrives.

kiwi2628 · January 2016

We currently have 20k, with the goal being 35k to cover my lost wages from 3 1/2 months FMLA leave from my job (I get no PTO and no STD), pre-natal and birth costs, baby expenses and have left over for emergencies.

ashleighjade90 · January 2016

Sorry I know this isn't anything to do with what your asking but do you have to pay for been in the hospital when in labour with a baby in America????

cookies754 · January 2016

@ashleighjade90 Yes. You do need to pay. Depending on insurance, it can cost anywhere from $2,000-$10,000. It also depends if you have any complications during the delivery.

ashleighjade90 · January 2016

Oh my gosh. They should definitely do that in England people would think more about having children then.
We don't pay anything at all in England for any kind of hospital treatment. That's why I was reading this thinking 'why are you guys saving so much just to have a baby'

BlueBirdMB · January 2016

ashleighjade90 said:

Oh my gosh. They should definitely do that in England people would think more about having children then. We don't pay anything at all in England for any kind of hospital treatment. That's why I was reading this thinking 'why are you guys saving so much just to have a baby'

That's interesting. I know a woman who just a baby in England and paid about $2500 USD to have her baby, but she used a private doctor in a private hospital. People here in US don't even know that other countries have public vs. private health care. It's all private here.

aammyy33 · January 2016

I've started a "baby fund" which is really more realistically a maternity leave/ e-fund. My goal is to have a year of my half of mortgage payments and my monthly car payment covered-which are my monthly "fixed" expenses. This comes to $9,600 ($400 mortgage + $400 car payment monthly) and is the minimum amount I want to save. I've also opened a joint account with DH and we plan on putting $20 each pay into this account if/when I get pregnant. It won't amount to much, but will mean we have spare cash for a random case of diapers or minor un-budgeted expense that come up for baby. I will still be making 60% of my income for the year I'm off so are planning to "cash flow"(as others have mentioned) other expenses. Fortunately don't have to budget medical expenses!

Hope this makes sense. The reality is that I think it's important to save for the expenses you know will be there regardless of the variables. I'd rather be able to pay my mortgage over having the newest/best stroller.

cookies754 · January 2016

Definitely agree, @aammyybb. We don't plan on going crazy with high end baby gear. A lot of articles I've read and friends I've talked to have said that there is a lot of unnecessary baby gear out there. Having the best stroller in the world won't cover hospital bills or our mortgage payment.

wolleys10 · January 2016

ashleighjade90 said:
Sorry I know this isn't anything to do with what your asking but do you have to pay for been in the hospital when in labour with a baby in America????

Yeah, we pretty much pay for everything and then only get a few short weeks off to recuperate before going back to work.

NewbySweet · January 2016

Yes in England it is free for the whole thing, we don't have to pay any costs through out the pregnancy unless of course you do go through private care systems but the health care isn't that bad so I wouldn't even consider it personally. It seems crazy to me that you have to pay just to be having your baby in hospital in other countries...

Schumerator · January 2016

It blows my mind that as Americans we are considered to be very forward thinking yet we have to pay thousands of dollars to have a baby when there are plenty of other countries that do not require that. WE ARE SO BEHIND!! Don't even get me started on American maternity leave lol!

But we have started planning a baby fund and living on a budget that is based solely off of DH's salary so that I can be a SAHM, for hopefully at least the first year or two. I enjoy work and having that fulfillment but it's always been a dream of mine to be able to be there for my kids until they go to school. My mom was unable to do that due to being a single mother who had to bust her butt to provide for us. She says that she would have loved to do that for us though and thinks it will be great if I get the opportunity to do so! DH is supportive of the idea as well which is nice. But I will definitely go back to work eventually.

We will have all of our debts paid off prior to TTC besides student loans and our mortgage. We tried discussing trying to pay off our student loans before TTC but that would just put as too many years off and I don't want to put off life because of a monthly payment that we can easily afford, not worth it to me!

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