The Wall Street Journal. Financial Guidebook for New Parents » (Original)

STACEY L. BRADFORD reports on personal finance, with a focus on family finance, as a regular online columnist and also appears frequently on television and radio.

A practical approach to affording your kids from cradle to college.

Bringing home your bouncing baby boy or girl should be an exciting time of celebration–not cause for worry about how you’re going to pay for feeding, clothing, and caring for your new bundle of expenses. The average family will spend between $11,000 and $16,000 during a new baby’s first year, and more than $200,000 before a kid’s eighteenth birthday. Unfortunately, a second child only doubles your costs, with little economy of scale for each additional baby.

Before you start using these statistics as birth control, take a deep breath and know that you can have a family and make a comfortable future for your children while saving for your own important goals. The Wall Street Journal Financial Guidebook for New Parents shows you the way, with information on how to:

• Safeguard your child’s well-being with wills, trusts, and life insurance
• Best weigh your child-care options and decide whether to go back to work
• Save on taxes with child-friendly tax credits and deductions plus tax-advantaged benefits at work
• Manage your family’s health-care costs
• Save for long-term costs by setting up a college fund
• Spend smart and save money at every stage of your child’s development
• Continue to contribute to your own retirement savings

From maternity (and paternity) leave to flexible spending accounts to 529 college plans, The Wall Street Journal Financial Guidebook for New Parents provides all the information you need to meet your child’s expenses while also protecting your family’s financial security.

Tracy Mohaidheen - Library Journal

Bradford, an associate editor at SmartMoney.com, presents a relevant and witty overview of the awesome task facing new parents—affording their kids. She covers all the major issues, including child tax credits, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, flexible spending accounts, and 529 plans; even wills, trusts, and disability insurance are considered. Bradford writes from a female perspective, and humor abounds: "Along with hemorrhoids and hormonal mood swings, meager maternity benefits are just one more harsh reality that no one warns pregnant women about." Considering the enormous and long-term expense of a new bundle of joy, her money-saving tips are sure to be popular. Bradford clearly grasps the mindset of new parents and keeps information complete but concise; the chapters on health care and college savings plans are so succinct that it would be nearly impossible not to understand them. Only the chapter "Where Should You Nest?" disappoints, as it is not broad enough to serve most readers. VERDICT Bradford's book offers a more comprehensive framework than Steve and Annette Economides's America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money. Here's one work that all new and prospective parents worried about finances should consider.—Tracy Mohaidheen, M.L.I.S., West Bloomfield, MI

Introduction Now the Fun Begins 1

Part One When Baby Makes Three

Chapter 1 Your Maternity (or Paternity) Leave 9

Chapter 2 Kissing That Cubicle Good-Bye 20

Chapter 3 Returning to the Grind 33

Chapter 4 Who Says Uncle Sam Doesn't Care? 43

Chapter 5 Where Should You Nest? 55

Part Two No One Ever Said Kids Were Cheap

Chapter 6 Finding (And Paying for) Mary Poppins 75

Chapter 7 Avoiding A Health Scare 93

Chapter 8 Paying for Harvard 107

Part Three Your Contingency Plan

Chapter 9 Yes, You Need A Will 125

Chapter 10 Trusts: They Aren't Just for the Wealthy 138

Chapter 11 Life Insurance: Better Safe Than Sorry 148

Chapter 12 Accidents Happen ... Are You Prepared? 161

Money-Saving Tips for Every Stage 170

Appendix 183

Acknowledgments 187

Index 189