Congratulations! You will go through a period of adjusting and that's okay.
While my wife and I religiously saved for retirement during our child-free lives, we wasted a lot of money on meals out, expensive trips, unused gym memberships, etc. I kick myself for being so wasteful, but It became real when we received the hospital delivery bill. My son had a one week stay in the NICU which threw us for a series of unexpected large medical bills. Then the sudden realization of having to pay for daycare for an infant was quite a shock. An in-state college education was less expensive then daycare. So it became glaringly apparent that we needed to get laser focused on our income and expenses, and this is when I found Bogleheads. I think the first year we paid $18k for daycare and they kept telling us, "Don't worry, once your son gets to this milestone it'll be cheaper!", but that never materialized. The cost of daycare was always expensive. After five years of daycare we spent a little over $80k. Which is crazy amount of money.
The time they're a baby goes by so fast! Pay attention or you'll miss it.
Best advice is to start saving now. Having a cushion of cash will help absorb any financial shocks.
Then make sure you have a budget. Live within your means.
I read many of the Wiki pages and followed the advice.
Best of luck.
While my wife and I religiously saved for retirement during our child-free lives, we wasted a lot of money on meals out, expensive trips, unused gym memberships, etc. I kick myself for being so wasteful, but It became real when we received the hospital delivery bill. My son had a one week stay in the NICU which threw us for a series of unexpected large medical bills. Then the sudden realization of having to pay for daycare for an infant was quite a shock. An in-state college education was less expensive then daycare. So it became glaringly apparent that we needed to get laser focused on our income and expenses, and this is when I found Bogleheads. I think the first year we paid $18k for daycare and they kept telling us, "Don't worry, once your son gets to this milestone it'll be cheaper!", but that never materialized. The cost of daycare was always expensive. After five years of daycare we spent a little over $80k. Which is crazy amount of money.
The time they're a baby goes by so fast! Pay attention or you'll miss it.
Best advice is to start saving now. Having a cushion of cash will help absorb any financial shocks.
Then make sure you have a budget. Live within your means.
I read many of the Wiki pages and followed the advice.
Best of luck.
Statistics: Posted by RANkiDEr — Sat Dec 16, 2023 8:28 pm