It used to be that when planning for a new child, you needed to start saving for college. Nowadays, it starts with saving for daycare and stem cells. College is way down the road.
We went to a financial seminar the other day to talk about how to prepare for our kids financial future. We discussed the pros and cons of working vs stay-at-home and discovered the average cost of daycare in Massachusetts is $16,000 a year. For each child.
We talked about the tax advantages of putting a percentage of our salary into a 529 College Savings Plan so that the money isn't taxed.
We also learned about the value of having a trust fund for the kids. It was explained that having a will is often not good enough. A will can get caught up in the courts and money that is supposed to go to the child may not be awarded for years. I would highly suggest that all parents look into the idea of setting up a trust fund for your kids. Once thought to only be for rich kids, this is not the case at all. Trust funds were really designed for middle income families.
But what really sent me reeling the other day was when my wife came home and asked me if we wanted to spend the money necessary to save our child's umbilical cord so that stem cells could be collected in case that our unborn son one day needed a blood transplant for cancer treatment or the like. Has science come this far? I said 'yes, we'll do it," without thinking twice. I don't know how necessary this procedure is but how can a father say 'no' to the futuristic thought that his child could be in a life or death situation but because the dad was saving for a big screen tv he passed on the opportunity to be a hero to his child in need. We also decided to save the tissue with the foresight that one day it may be possible to regenerate a damaged liver or other organ. Because my wife is a scientist, we have many friends in this field and have been told that science is moving us closer to this reality at the speed of light. Another gift to our child that was not even possible until earlier this year.
I have always been concerned about saving enough to retire and as our baby gets closer to being born, I realize retirement isn't even the issue. The question is, "How can we afford to raise our child through college.
And then I stop thinking about it because it hurts my head. With the economy in a constant state of flux, we can't control the future. We live our lives as best we can and hope that things work out. And we pray that our son lives a long healthy happy life and is at peace with himself and others as he travels an adventurous life here on Earth.