When you have a baby on the way, it’s natural for your thoughts to turn to knitting booties and picking out onesies. However, you have more work to do before your precious bundle’s arrival.
Raising a child is an enormous financial and emotional obligation, and the more you can prepare for the coming changes, the smoother your transition will be. Please do these eight things before baby so that when your delivery day arrives, you’re set with everything you need.
1. Pad Your Emergency Fund
If 2020 taught folks one thing, it’s that life sometimes throws curveballs. Even if you have some money in your emergency fund, it pays to pad it more.
Tragically, the pandemic has left many people with zero savings — and nowhere to turn but credit in an emergency. Relying on high-interest cards is like selling off parts of your future. Sock away as much as you can.
2. Buy a Home
Unfortunately, rent prices continue to outpace inflation, and when you couple that reality with wage stagnation, it’s clear that homeownership offers considerable advantages. It’s no longer a matter of getting rid of your landlord but remaining economically viable.
If you have a visible bump, please do your due diligence when applying for mortgages. Many lenders will request things like proof of your estimated date of return to your job after your maternity leave as your debt-to-income ratio is one of the principal qualifying factors.
3. Secure Life Insurance
When you have a baby, you have another human being reliant on you for the next 18 years of life, if not beyond. What will your child do if something happens to you?
The younger you are when you buy life insurance, the better. Underwriters evaluate your likelihood of dying before your next birthday when setting rates, and the older you get, the more you pay. Whole policies provide considerable advantages over term, but they do cost more — look for an option to convert before the coverage period ends if you can’t afford such protection now.
4. Take Your Vitamins
Your developing baby needs adequate nutrition, and eating for two isn’t always sufficient. Find a quality prenatal vitamin to ensure that your baby gets all the vitamins and minerals they need to develop.
Inadequate folate intake, for example, can lead to neural tube defects like spina bifida and anencephaly. The latter is always fatal, and the former can lead to lifelong disability. You owe it to your child to take your supplements.
5. Design Your Nursery
Hey, not everything you have to do before baby involves contemplating grim realities. Sometimes, you get to have a little fun — and designing your nursery falls into that category.
You have so many questions to consider. Will you go with a separate room from the beginning or invest in a bassinet for your bedroom for the first few months? What kind of theme do you want? Winnie the Pooh? Mickey Mouse? Baby Shark?
6. Find a Dentist
It’s understandable that, as an adult, you skip your dental appointments. In 2012, only approximately 35% of adults saw their provider, typically because of costs. However, even if you rely on toothpaste, floss and luck to keep your pearlies in your mouth, you shouldn’t do the same for your child.
Most experts recommend taking your baby for their first dental appointment at approximately six months of age — you should go before their first birthday. After that, they recommend visits every six months, although some children need more or less frequent treatments depending on their unique needs.
7. Start a Side Hustle
Fun fact — wages have stagnated for the past 40 years, while the cost-of-living continues rising. Another interesting tidbit is that there are only 24 hours in a day, and you can’t work all of them. Sadly, relying on hourly labor alone will eventually lead you to the poorhouse unless you hit the jackpot with a progressive employer.
The only realistic way for many folks to get ahead in today’s economy, given the limitations of human labor, is to start a side business. Depending on your structure, you could reap considerable tax advantages. Talk to an accountant and consider your options — creating a residual income stream is one of the few ways to build when you start with zero capital.
8. Adopt a Healthy Stress-Management Practice
Having a baby is one of life’s most coveted joys — but it’s also stressful AF. If you don’t find ways to tame your tension now, you’re in for a rocky ride.
Now’s the time to adopt techniques such as yoga and meditation so that you have these stress-busting go-to habits ingrained by the time the baby arrives. When practicing asanas, please avoid supine postures, as these can put pressure on your vena cava and compromise your developing infant’s blood supply. Seek out a guide who specializes in expectant moms if possible.
Parents-to-Be, Do These 8 Things Before Baby Arrives
You want to spend the weeks leading up to delivery picking out onesies, and those cute little booties are adorable! However, if you want peace of mind, please also do these eight things before your baby arrives.
Speak Your Mind