Tips on Planning for your Children
One of the things that will be most immediate if you are expecting is with regard to pllaning for your new arrival.
When you have children there will be saving for the future.
Research and common sense show that to a large extent it is not actually how much money you have that matters so much as what you do with it - or put another way, those on a similar income can result in children having a very nice nest egg set aside or very little, with no particular difference to the parents.
That's because if you save a small amount weekly from birth for your child until the age of 18 for instance then you won't miss it week on week or even notice it but by the end of those years, there will be a really nice little nest egg sitting there for your child, to hopefully not squander on whatever is fashionable and the must-have accessory in 18 years time!
Also when you have children there is the separate issue of what will happen to them if something were to happen to you, quite apart from any money that you set aside.
As soon as you have dependents, you must start thinking about planning for the unexpected. For instance if you die unexpectedly then what will happen to your dependents? Or if you are laid off work with a serious illness then what will happen and where will the money to pay the bills come from?
People naturally get put off thinking about morbid scenarios as no-one likes to think about and plan for bad news - however it does happen and when it does the effects can be devastating, and adding financial woes on top of that can only compound misery at the time, so plan, plan and plan some more.
On a cheerier note, there is also the idea of giving financial gifts.
If you are going to have a reasonable estate then giving gifts can be tax efficient as there are certain amounts everyone can gift to people tax free each year, and so using this allows there to be an avoidance of tax on passing money down the line in this way.
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