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Five Steps To Take To Financially Prepare For A Baby

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With a new addition to the family on the way, it’s easy to forget the need to financially prepare for their arrival. While it can take a good amount of time, it proves to be worth it for the family and the baby. There are different ways to save a lot of money on a baby which are practical.

Create a Budget

Budgeting helps to prepare you both mentally and financially for a baby. A zero-based budget may be used to take into account each dollar spent on a baby. Three are many different costs associated with the baby that will need to be taken into consideration. Not only does this help one save up enough for a baby but also, they are better able to make other plans to track their spending.

For example, the average baby uses up between six and ten diapers per day which can cost $900 a year. Maintaining a diaper chart can help to track the amount of diapers that used for a baby. A diaper chart can also help in comparing the use of different types of diapers.

Create a Baby Fund

With a budget, it can be a lot easier to create a savings plan . The plan can prepare you and your baby for unexpected costs that may arise. To get started, you can start a special savings account for your baby.

Save Early as Though You Already Have a Baby

You don’t have to wait till the baby is born to see how effective your budget and savings plan is. You can use your budget and savings plan for your baby to estimate the monthly spend on your baby and measure it against your current spending activities. This can give you deeper insights into the outflows of money that will take place once you have a baby.

Get Life Insurance and Create a Will

Reviewing your existing insurance policies and will not only helps with financial planning but gives you the peace of mind, knowing that your baby’s future is more secure if something unexpected happens to you.

Find the Most Cost-Effective Childcare Services

Childcare is one of the biggest contributors to the costs of raising a child. Finding an au pair. Child care providers need to be paid at least minimum wage. The costs of an au pair can be reduced by negotiating with an au pair agency. Some agencies are more willing to lower their prices than others for reasons unique to them. If an agency has a lot of competitors, it may provide special offers.

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1 In 4 Kids Will Be Victims Of ID Fraud Before Age 18

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1 In 4 Kids Will Be Victims Of ID Fraud Before Age 18It’s hard for young Americans to leave the security of their childhood home and find their way in the real world. It’s even harder when identity thieves have stolen their identity and ruined their credit before they even have a chance to establish their own record.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported just under 14,000 cases in 2017 and over 15,000 cases in 2016 involving identity theft of Americans age nineteen and younger.

The credit bureau Experian reports that around 17 percent of their annual fraud cases target children, and they estimate that 25 percent of children will experience a form of identity theft or fraud before they turn eighteen.

ID Fraud Before Age 18

Identity thieves consider a child’s ID a gold mine. Parents don’t think to check for fraudulent accounts established in their minor child’s name.

They may not find out about the identity theft until bills or collection notices arrive or tax forms are rejected – perhaps years after the damage is done.

How do thieves get children’s information? A Social Security number is generally all they need – the rest can be pieced together with a basic Internet research.

Your Child’s Number

Think of all the places that your child’s Social Security number is collected and stored – schools, medical facilities, tax forms, day care centers – even sports leagues and summer camps often require Social Security numbers for identification.

Every reveal of your child’s Social Security number is an opportunity for hackers to steal that information. Hold back your child’s Social Security number and other personal information unless it’s essential. Safely store any documents containing your child’s personal info and shred the non-essential ones.

Consider your definition of “safe” very carefully – family members and friends can also perpetrate child identity theft.

Social Media

Social media also provides plenty of information for thieves to use. They may not find a Social Security number, but they may find enough information (place and date of birth, etc.) to successfully open accounts. Be careful about what you post online.

If your child has a credit report, you can place a credit freeze in your child’s name with the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion).

If your child has no credit file, you can create one and place a freeze on it. The recently-passed Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act will make these actions free starting in September 2018.

Freeze It

A credit freeze prevents anyone from accessing your child’s credit file – even you or your child – and prevents thieves from opening an account in their name.

You can unfreeze the file when your child reaches age seventeen or is ready to establish credit – but be sure you properly store the PIN number required to unfreeze credit when the time comes.

If you haven’t checked to see if there is a credit report on your child, do so now. You can limit the damage caused by any identity theft and start the long process to clear your child’s name.

Other Resources

The Identity Theft Resource Center is an excellent resource for helping you assess the problem and walk you through the reporting and repair process.

Hopefully, there’s no damage and you can take pre-emptive action to keep identity thieves from opening accounts in your children’s names. Do your children a favor and protect their identity and their credit to the best of your ability.

Give them every opportunity to start life on their own with a clean slate – and then you can discuss whether their old room will be a craft room or a mancave.

This article was provided by our content partners at MoneyTips.com. Photo ©iStockphoto.com/Imgorthand

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Get Free Birthday Meals for Kids

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free birthday meals for kids
Heading to a restaurant is a great way to celebrate a birthday. After all, you get a tasty meal without any of the cleanup. But did you know that there are restaurants that give out free birthday meals for kids?

That means you can enjoy dining out and get a discount, which certainly sounds like a win-win. Here are a few of these promotions to check out.

Bob Evans

By joining the Birthday Club, your child can eat free on his or her special day. As long as you’re a member, and you purchase an adult entrée, birthday meals for kids don’t cost you a dime.

Options for kids include spaghetti, chicken tenders, cheeseburgers, and mac and cheese — for lunch or dinner. Breakfasts can include pancakes and French toast.

Bonanza Steakhouse

If your child loves the Bonanza Steakhouse buffet, then make sure to sign up for the restaurant’s EClub. They give away free birthday meals for kids in the form of trips to the buffet. All you’ll need to do is purchase an adult meal, and you’re set.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

Sign up for Bubba Gump’s email club for the option to get a free birthday meal for your kid — it’ll save you about $6 off your bill. Your child can choose from a wide range of options, including ribs, grilled cheese, and popcorn shrimp.

California Pizza Kitchen

Members of the CPKids Birthday Club get a free CPKids meal during their birthday month. That means you have some flexibility as to when you go, so you don’t have to schedule the trip on your child’s birthday.

Captain D’s

Captain D’s gives out free birthday meals for kids as part of their Kid’s Birthday Club program. Plus, your child gets a special message straight from Captain D on the big day. Chicken, shrimp, and a few fish options are available on the children’s menu

Zaxby’s

Sign up for the Zaxby’s Kidz Club, and your child will get a free meal on his or her birthday. Chicken fingers, chicken sandwiches, and grilled cheese are all on the menu.

More Free Birthday Meals for Kids

If you plan your child’s birthday right, he or she might be able to eat for free at multiple places, creating an event they won’t forget. Speaking of which, it’s possible that restaurants not listed here might also provide free birthday meals for kids, so don’t be afraid to ask your favorites if they do it,

Free Birthday Meals for Adults

In some cases, you can also find free birthday meals for adults as your favorite establishments. Au Bon Pain, Black Angus Steakhouse, Jersey Mike’s, Red Robin, and a range of others have loyalty programs that let adults eat free on their special days, too.

Readers, do you have a favorite restaurant that lets kids eat free? If so, please tell us about it in the comments section beneath this post.

Read More About Family Finance

If you’d like to learn more about how to save money on parenting, please check out these family-focused articles in our archives:

The Financial Consequences of Divorce

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Financial consequences of divorce are a bummer.

The financial consequences of divorce can set people back for several years — and when they don’t remarry, it can impede any wealth creation.

One estimate of the average cost of divorce puts it at $20,000 in legal fees and alimony payments, although that figure reflects the fact that the vast majority of cases go the way of no-fault divorce, where neither party contests the terms of the split.

Legal fees for divorce escalate quickly due to the fact that two sets of lawyers are involved. As is the case with other areas of law, judges and even attorneys encourage parties to negotiate settlements out of court to bring down expenses.

Divorcees Shell Out Big

Although it’s possible to pay just a couple hundred dollars if you file your own divorce (by filling out the paperwork yourself and submitting it ot the court), most people shell out for a lot more than that. If children are involved, and a fight over custody or alimony ensues, a divorce can easily run $100,000.

The cost of alimony is based on the length of the marriage, and the difference in each spouse’s income, but the exact formula differs by state. Child support determinations may have less to do with the length of the marriage and more to do with the ages of the children.

You can find online calculators to run the numbers on alimony scenarios but only some of these apps break out variations based on location.

Losses Start Before the Divorce

Interestingly, the losses can kick in even before the divorce — four years beforehand, according to U.S. data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which found that it affects both women and men.

Half The Revenue Needs To Cover All The Expenses

It’s not a matter of an income being lost to one party to the split. Even if both spouses work, expenses may nearly double following a divorce. As a household separates into two, one spouse has to find a new place to live, and with that pay separate rent or mortgage plus pay for two sets of utilities bills, groceries, transportation, and other living expenses.

The Financial Consequences of Divorce Include Loss of Assets

In most jurisdictions, divorce courts typically distinguish divisible marital estates, usually acquisitions made during marriage due to both persons working together, and pre-marital acquisitions and gifts and inheritances received during the marriage, which are usually not divisible. Assets acquired jointly like cash producing real estate, stocks or business are typically divided between both partners under most state laws.

Stocks and other assets that were shared often need to be sold in order to be divided in two, and that sale can trigger a capital gains tax that might be larger than expected — and if any of it is in a retirement account, that might mean a withdrawal takes place before the age of 59.5, which could add a 10% penalty to the tab.

Financial Consequences of Divorce

The costs of divorce are substantial enough to make even people in unhappy marriages try to stick together to avoid taking a financial hit. It might also contribute to skittishness about marriage — or at least motivate people to wait longer before popping the question.

Readers, would you put up with an unhappy marriage to avoid the costs of divorce? And what kind of financial challenges have you seen among your friends who’ve gotten divorced? Or for those of you who are divorced, how do the costs described in this article compare with what you went through? 

Grandparents Day Activities

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Grandparents Day Activities

Grandparents have given so much, first as your parents and then as helpers and teachers for your kids. They remind us of where we came from and what a difference one person can make in our lives. Help your kids honor their grandparents by sharing one of these thoughtful activities on Grandparents Day.

A Visit Today and More Often

Many don’t realize that Grandparents Day started in 1973. West Virginia’s Marian McQuade noticed how many nursing home residents had been forgotten by their families. She stated Grandparents Day was meant to “honor grandparents, to give grandparents an opportunity to show love for their children’s children, and to help children become aware of the strength, information, and guidance older people can offer.” So honoring grandparents starts with a visit. But one visit isn’t enough. Set a schedule so you can visit them often and acknowledge all the joy and love they brought to your life.

If your parents have passed on, contribute to the happiness of other seniors who may have lost the connection with their families. Visiting seniors is a great way to teach your kids the value of senior citizens while helping others.

Bring or Give a Pet

If there’s one thing that kids and grandparents both love, it’s pets. A dog is the obvious choice to bring on a visit with grandparents, but any fuzzy critter will do. Your kids and parents will enjoy a bonding experience that offers enormous benefits. Interacting with pets improves the level of happiness for seniors while lowering blood pressure. Seniors who own pets enjoy the added benefits of being more active as they love and care for their pets.

Interviews with Grandparents

Many websites offer sample questions you should ask grandparents to both make them feel appreciated for their accomplishments and to help friends and family learn from their experiences. Ask them about their brothers and sisters, their spouses and their heroes. Ask them for the most important advice they wish they had received when they were younger. Questions like these refresh memories, and the answers can teach you a lot about your family and its history.

However you celebrate, make sure the activities bring joy to the life of a grandparent who otherwise would be lonely on this day!

 

According to the CDC, 1 in 68 Children are Autistic

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According to the CDC, 1 in 68 Children are Autistic

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, autism is becoming more and more prevalent:

1975: 1 in 5,000 children were diagnosed with autism

2002: 1 in 150

2012: 1 in 68

That’s a roughly 65 percent increase between the year 2000 and 2010.

What does this mean for our children? What does this mean for our wallets?

What’s coming out is that more kids aren’t being born with autism, it’s rather the way we diagnose the disorder that is changing. That’s a relief. At least our population isn’t all suffering from a rapidly spreading disorder. So kids are basically the same as they were when the first study was conducted in the 1970’s. However, the world has changed. Since we diagnose so many of these kids, we are seeing the financial impact. Autistic children are children with special needs. Those special needs cost money to manage.

Special education enrollment figures show a 97 percent increase in enrollment between 2000 and 2010. This would be alright except we’re simply sending more and more kids into expensive programs instead of dealing with the student body as a whole. With so many children being diagnosed, one must ask if regular classroom shouldn’t just be built to better handle the many children who have autism.

A study conducted by the Special Education Expenditures Program (SEEP) outlined that the price tag of educating a special needs student is between $10,558 and $20,000. Whereas, an education without costs $6,665. Mothers and fathers who hear their kid has autism will push them to be placed in special needs classrooms. After all, they are just looking out for their children. The (possibly) over-diagnosis of Autism can have major repercussions on the US tax system. Many school budgets aren’t able to keep up with the ever-increasing diagnosis of this disorder.

According to a recent study from JAMA Pediatrics (funded by the nonprofit – Autism Speaks), the lifetime costs of a person with autism can exceed $2 million. The study takes into account everything. It includes medical, educational, and residential costs as well as lost opportunity costs such as lower employment wages. It’s really a study about what society is losing by having so many people diagnosed with Autism.

What’s especially worrisome is that many people being diagnosed today would not have been diagnosed years ago. Would those other people be more or less productive had they been diagnosed. It’s dangerous to diagnose a person unnecessarily as doctors may be doing today. All through life, they may feel inferior to people without these special needs. Autism may just become an excuse for them when they are feeling lazy. They may use it as a crutch. Alternatively, going undiagnosed could lead to confusion, depression, and a low self-worth.

What needs to happen is more accurate diagnoses needs to happen. This will not only help people live fuller lives but it will likely also help taxpayers. Funding an education system where 1 in 68 kids need an extra roughly $10,000 to finish school is a lot to ask.

If your child has autism, the JAMA Network cautions you not to overreact. They say it’s important to realize many of these costs are societal, indirect costs. The $2 million won’t necessarily come out of the parents’ pocket.

Do you believe the way we diagnose autism is correct?