You’re probably reading this article because you’re planning for a baby or are already pregnant. Congratulations on this new chapter in your life!
You’re in the right place. In fact, it’s good to plan in advance! When the baby arrives, you’ll be too busy trying to catch up with your baby’s feeding and sleep schedule to even think about these peripherals or research which one is best for your family’s needs.
From knowing how to manage working arrangements to hiring a confinement nanny, read on to find out what you’ll need.
1. Be prepared
It never hurts to be over-prepared, especially when it comes to unforeseen circumstances and emergencies for your baby! Although we all hope that the pregnancy journey would go smoothly and complication-free, it has never been a disadvantage to prepare for the worst.
Arm yourself with maternity insurance from the 13th week of pregnancy onwards.
MediShield Life and Integrated Shield Plans have limited coverage and most of the time is not sufficient for common complications.
2. Book a confinement nanny
Many new parents opt to hire a confinement nanny for the first month after giving birth. This is to help with getting used to the routine of taking care of the newborn while recovering post-childbirth.
Confinement nannies are trained in cooking confinement meals for the mum, including 24-hour baby care & simple housekeeping. They also assist mum with breastfeeding. There are also other options of hiring a house help or choosing to cater confinement food too.
Do take note to book early if you decide to go with this option as they tend to be booked out months in advance.
3. Work arrangements
It’s also helpful to consider what your work arrangements and plans will be when you do give birth. For example, you might want to think about how long you will be taking your maternity leave.
However, this can also be dependent on whether you have other family members or helpers to help with taking care of the baby. It’s also best to consider who will be the primary caretaker when you go back to work.
4. Start building an education fund
They say education is the most precious gift you can give to your child. However, with the cost of education trending upwards, this is not going to be an easy feat. That’s why it’s important to think about building an education fund, especially if you’re planning to have a baby.
To illustrate this better, let’s compare the average cost of local university fee vs university fee overseas. In a local university, (assuming it’s NTU and NUS and not taking specialised courses such as medicine or dentistry with Ministry Of Education (MOE) grant), it could cost up to SGD 9,400/year.
On the other hand, tuition fees overseas are significantly higher. Factoring in living costs and flights, an average fee in a university overseas could amount up to SGD 68,500 yearly or sometimes even more!
While this is a long term financial goal, it helps to start saving early. Saving early enables you to have more time to set aside money for your child’s education. If you can, you may also want to look into building an emergency fund. This is to prevent yourself from tapping into your child’s university fund for emergency purposes.
Many families may tap into their child’s education fund in the case of an emergency, but you shouldn’t do this.
Invest in your child’s education today
There’s a lot to prepare for when starting a family. You think about baby essentials, your own needs, as well as protection to the latest addition to your family. There are a lot of things to consider and to think about, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all of them.
It’s best to seek professional help, especially when you’re just starting out. With a financial advisors’ years of experience, they can help you decide what’s best for you and your baby’s future.
If you want to find out more, we can refer you to people in the financial consulting industry.
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