financial woes

[mzee]

hi mums,

i'm still quite new here (and to the married world), and i'm just wondering what i should anticipate if i were to have a baby.

i'm working on rotating shift, and husb is working normal retail hours. the gross income that we bring home monthly is about $3k per month. after deducting this and that (for our fixed expenses, bills, parents, etc), we barely have a thousand left for our monthly expenditure, let alone setting aside money for savings!

btw, i earn twice more than husb, thus that's my concern. if i were to conceive, it would be a strain on the financial expenses IF i decide to stop working.

help! i'm in a dilemma. how should i cut down on the fixed expenses? )=

does any of you experience this as well ?

 

[Dilys]

hi mums,

i'm still quite new here (and to the married world), and i'm just wondering what i should anticipate if i were to have a baby.

i'm working on rotating shift, and husb is working normal retail hours. the gross income that we bring home monthly is about $3k per month. after deducting this and that (for our fixed expenses, bills, parents, etc), we barely have a thousand left for our monthly expenditure, let alone setting aside money for savings!

btw, i earn twice more than husb, thus that's my concern. if i were to conceive, it would be a strain on the financial expenses IF i decide to stop working.

help! i'm in a dilemma. how should i cut down on the fixed expenses? )=

does any of you experience this as well ?

Hi ..

U don't need to be very rich to raise a child! Depends on how u want to bring up ur child ?? Just contented growing up or luxury bringing up??
Nothing is prefect in this world... U want a child u have no $. You have lots of $ but u might not have a child. So just take it naturally!!

Look at those people who r not well to do.. They can even bring up 4- 5 kids. Look at those people in the olden days.. Who worry abt such $ issue?? Is really how much u want to spend on the kid..!

 

[crystalpink]

hi mums,

i'm still quite new here (and to the married world), and i'm just wondering what i should anticipate if i were to have a baby.

i'm working on rotating shift, and husb is working normal retail hours. the gross income that we bring home monthly is about $3k per month. after deducting this and that (for our fixed expenses, bills, parents, etc), we barely have a thousand left for our monthly expenditure, let alone setting aside money for savings!

btw, i earn twice more than husb, thus that's my concern. if i were to conceive, it would be a strain on the financial expenses IF i decide to stop working.

help! i'm in a dilemma. how should i cut down on the fixed expenses? )=

does any of you experience this as well ?

Hi,

I feel that since u are still young, why don't u wait for a couple of yrs before u guys decide to hv yr first child? Cos since u also agree that after deducting both yr mthly expenditure, u hardly hv any savings! Frankly speaking, to hv a child is easy but to bring up a child in S'pore, needs $$, Im not talking abt just basic needs, I mean a gd education, insurance coverage for yr child, medical expenses etc which u need to take into consideration.
On top of that , you still need to input inflation rate yrly as well. Besides, u did mention u may want to stop working after u conceive, it is definitely be a financial burden to yr hubby as his income is lesser than u. Do think twice as I hv heard couples quarrelling over financial issues after hving a kid due to lack of financial planning.

Well, since u say its fixed expenses, then its unlikely to cut much on this area. Why don't u think of ways to increase both of yr income like for eg, doing some partime jobs. You can only cut down on luxury expenses. Besides, I feel no matter what, one needs to set aside emergency funds for unexpected circumstances. U don't want to end up borrowing $$ from relatives n frds rgt??

 

[mzee]

Hi,

I feel that since u are still young, why don't u wait for a couple of yrs before u guys decide to hv yr first child? Cos since u also agree that after deducting both yr mthly expenditure, u hardly hv any savings! Frankly speaking, to hv a child is easy but to bring up a child in S'pore, needs $$, Im not talking abt just basic needs, I mean a gd education, insurance coverage for yr child, medical expenses etc which u need to take into consideration.
On top of that , you still need to input inflation rate yrly as well. Besides, u did mention u may want to stop working after u conceive, it is definitely be a financial burden to yr hubby as his income is lesser than u. Do think twice as I hv heard couples quarrelling over financial issues after hving a kid due to lack of financial planning.

Well, since u say its fixed expenses, then its unlikely to cut much on this area. Why don't u think of ways to increase both of yr income like for eg, doing some partime jobs. You can only cut down on luxury expenses. Besides, I feel no matter what, one needs to set aside emergency funds for unexpected circumstances. U don't want to end up borrowing $$ from relatives n frds rgt??

yes precisely!

on my part, i'll surely want to give the best for my child, see him/her grow up and manage to secure a good job. *i think i am thinking muchmuch too far ahead* from my personal point of view, yes, one may not need to be rich to have kids, but in the end, will i be able to provide the best for him/her? for my husb's side, his parents cant even afford to send his other siblings to higher education(poly education) due to the strains in the $$$.

i may wait out before i plan to have kids, but then the doc told me that due to some conditions that i have, i may have a difficulty conceiving. *sad* thus was thinking, if the little one comes along, then it's meant to be. all up to gods will right?

haish.. why must living in xinjiapor be so expensive... )=

 

[Dilys]

yes precisely!

on my part, i'll surely want to give the best for my child, see him/her grow up and manage to secure a good job. *i think i am thinking muchmuch too far ahead* from my personal point of view, yes, one may not need to be rich to have kids, but in the end, will i be able to provide the best for him/her? for my husb's side, his parents cant even afford to send his other siblings to higher education(poly education) due to the strains in the $$$.

i may wait out before i plan to have kids, but then the doc told me that due to some conditions that i have, i may have a difficulty conceiving. *sad* thus was thinking, if the little one comes along, then it's meant to be. all up to gods will right?

haish.. why must living in xinjiapor be so expensive... )=

This is life in Singapore!! I have got friends who Save $ for years planning to have a baby. By the time they want it...they don't have it ! Then .. They spend the $ save all these years on consulting doc on fertily & IVF. The right time comes you miss it !! Thats it !

It really depends on what u actually want..

 

[mzee]

Hi ..

U don't need to be very rich to raise a child! Depends on how u want to bring up ur child ?? Just contented growing up or luxury bringing up??
Nothing is prefect in this world... U want a child u have no $. You have lots of $ but u might not have a child. So just take it naturally!!

Look at those people who r not well to do.. They can even bring up 4- 5 kids. Look at those people in the olden days.. Who worry abt such $ issue?? Is really how much u want to spend on the kid..!

helo .. you have a point there...

heard of the term "money is the root of all evil" ? got money, no money, problems come.

sure i'm aware i dont need expensive stuffs for my child, but what if my child can't wear cheap diapers/develops allergy to cheaper milk? i'll still have to find other alternatives too right...

oh well ...

 

[mzee]

This is life in Singapore!! I have got friends who Save $ for years planning to have a baby. By the time they want it...they don't have it ! Then .. They spend the $ save all these years on consulting doc on fertily & IVF. The right time comes you miss it !! Thats it !

It really depends on what u actually want..

umm . i know what i want, but it's the question of affordability.

 

[Dilys]

helo .. you have a point there...

heard of the term "money is the root of all evil" ? got money, no money, problems come.

sure i'm aware i dont need expensive stuffs for my child, but what if my child can't wear cheap diapers/develops allergy to cheaper milk? i'll still have to find other alternatives too right...

oh well ...

My hubby always say this to those friends....just do it !!! U never know what will happen the next moment & future !! Chinese saying : "tian Sheng tian yang".

 

[crystalpink]

yes precisely!

on my part, i'll surely want to give the best for my child, see him/her grow up and manage to secure a good job. *i think i am thinking muchmuch too far ahead* from my personal point of view, yes, one may not need to be rich to have kids, but in the end, will i be able to provide the best for him/her? for my husb's side, his parents cant even afford to send his other siblings to higher education(poly education) due to the strains in the $$$.

i may wait out before i plan to have kids, but then the doc told me that due to some conditions that i have, i may have a difficulty conceiving. *sad* thus was thinking, if the little one comes along, then it's meant to be. all up to gods will right?

haish.. why must living in xinjiapor be so expensive... )=

Yup, since u also want yr child to hv gd education, then u shd plan properly. Cos I don't believe that without proper financial planning can give a kid gd life, well, er nowadays I feel in order to get a "decent" pay, at least a Bachelor/degree. That is my expectations of my children! Singapore is sooo competitive! U may not give him/ her the best of everythg but I feel education is extremely impt. With medical advancement, many of them can still conceive if u hv the $$ , somemore u r still young, many of my frds also hv some prob conceiving, but can always seek for TCM help or other alternatives, it is just a matter of time. U also don't want to keep thinking of $$ not enough once baby is borned rgt?? For me, I don't want to live life with misery esp when comes to money matters. I do heard many cases of failed marriage due to $$ matters. Don't think this type of marriage is blissful.

 

[crystalpink]

helo .. you have a point there...

heard of the term "money is the root of all evil" ? got money, no money, problems come.

sure i'm aware i dont need expensive stuffs for my child, but what if my child can't wear cheap diapers/develops allergy to cheaper milk? i'll still have to find other alternatives too right...

oh well ...

Yes u r absolutely rgt abt it! There are a lot of "hidden cost" which u never find out until u are at that situation. That is why it is always better to plan ahead. I also don't wish to get stuck whereby I can hv a choice for my kid to consult a private Dr rather than going to a polyclinic. Sometimes due to emergency cases, you really got no choice but to see a GP asap rather than to queue for a Dr at the polyclinic though it is much cheaper.

 

[GrowingProtection]

If you really love to have a child, affordability will never be an issue. Because the child will be so precious to you that you would rather cut down on some personal expenses for yourself and have a child that money could never buy for.

I feel its not expensive to afford one child in Singapore as long as both parents are working. Dont worry one child is definitely affordable with 2 working parents.

If you wait till you are too old, pregnancy complications might surface and you would have more stress than this affordability issue.

I myself love kids, they are the creations that symbolises you and your husband love. so I hope you will have one for your family too. Your child will bring colours to your life in a brand new way, though the first few months maybe tough as you are newly adapting to motherhood. But no worries, your love for your child will overcome all difficulties

I also created a blog a few days back, you may drop by to share your stories with me at Growing Protection

 

[Dilys]

If you really love to have a child, affordability will never be an issue. Because the child will be so precious to you that you would rather cut down on some personal expenses for yourself and have a child that money could never buy for.

I feel its not expensive to afford one child in Singapore as long as both parents are working. Dont worry one child is definitely affordable with 2 working parents.

If you wait till you are too old, pregnancy complications might surface and you would have more stress than this affordability issue.

I myself love kids, they are the creations that symbolises you and your husband love. so I hope you will have one for your family too. Your child will bring colours to your life in a brand new way, though the first few months maybe tough as you are newly adapting to motherhood. But no worries, your love for your child will overcome all difficulties

I also created a blog a few days back, you may drop by to share your stories with me at Growing Protection

Hi

I totally agree with u .. It's not difficult to raise a child ! Sometimes by the time.. One need to save enough to think of having babies..maybe even medical advancement doesn't helps.

 

[Dilys]

Yup, since u also want yr child to hv gd education, then u shd plan properly. Cos I don't believe that without proper financial planning can give a kid gd life, well, er nowadays I feel in order to get a "decent" pay, at least a Bachelor/degree. That is my expectations of my children! Singapore is sooo competitive! U may not give him/ her the best of everythg but I feel education is extremely impt. With medical advancement, many of them can still conceive if u hv the $$ , somemore u r still young, many of my frds also hv some prob conceiving, but can always seek for TCM help or other alternatives, it is just a matter of time. U also don't want to keep thinking of $$ not enough once baby is borned rgt?? For me, I don't want to live life with misery esp when comes to money matters. I do heard many cases of failed marriage due to $$ matters. Don't think this type of marriage is blissful.

Hi crystalpink,

Wow !u got too high expectation on your kids... that explained why nowadays some kids are so pressurize! personally I think I don't believe in providing my kid till bachelor/degree. It's really depends on the kids itself wherther if he wants to study or can study or not ! Haha ..for my kid will learn the hard way by teaching them to save up on their own to achieve what they want in life rather that we worrying about saving $$ enough to provide them till they grow old.

shouldn't be worrying so much just to plan for a kid... Not every marriage fails just cos of $$.. If that happens then sad to say .. Their marriage are just too fragile. There are too much things to worry in the upcoming years so we never ever know what will happen next. Just be contented with what you are having.. As every year goes by.. U will find that $$ is never save enough!!

 

[crystalpink]

Hi crystalpink,

Wow !u got too high expectation on your kids... that explained why nowadays some kids are so pressurize! personally I think I don't believe in providing my kid till Bachelor/degree. It's really depends on the kids itself wherther if he wants to study or can study or not ! Haha ..for my kid will learn the hard way by teaching them to save up on their own to achieve what they want in life rather that we worrying about saving $$ enough to provide them till they grow old.

shouldn't be worrying so much just to plan for a kid... Not every marriage fails just cos of $$.. If that happens then sad to say .. Their marriage are just too fragile. There are too much things to worry in the upcoming years so we never ever know what will happen next. Just be contented with what you are having.. As every year goes by.. U will find that $$ is never save enough!!

Oh Dilys,

I think u hv misintepreted my point. I did not agree to save up $$ for the kids till they grow "old". Haha... I don't believe in "qian ren zhong shu,hou ren cheng liang". Just my thought as since both of us can afford, then we shd help to support our child at least to university education. Both my hubby n I hold Bachelor/ Master (my hubby) n so we too want our child to at least achieve that as it is not only our expectations but the "society's expectations!" But i admit that diff people will hv diff expectations of their child.. pressurized?? Oh I feel it is pretty normal.. I hv been tutoring to kids many yrs ago n so Im quite familiar with the school expectations nowadays... Kids are diff from our days so u really can't compare them to us. We are now living in yr 2012, so everythg is very advanced, n so we shd not compare to the old days, n i don't like to compare to our previous education std etc. Kids are pressurized as society expectations is changing rapidly. I don't feel that a degree/ bachelor is considered as "high expectations" cos u can easily see many now. Haha..

I do agree with u that not every marriage fails just because of $$$, n that also explains not everyone can't conceive once they are more stable in their financial status. For me, I don't like to depend on my parents for any financial help n I hv seen some young couples without proper financial planning or stable job, gave birth to baby n yet still hv to rely on their parents to "finance" their baby!! Aiyo!! I really "despise" such couples! I really pity their parents still can't retire n hv to help giving financial needs to them!! Well, I feel hving some savings is pretty imp though one doesn't need to hv lots of savings to hv a baby but u still need to hv some spare cash in case one of them is jobless or critically sick, then it is definitely financially stressful to support a child if the other spouse's salary is insufficient to support a family of three.

 

[zenser]

hi mums,

i'm still quite new here (and to the married world), and i'm just wondering what i should anticipate if i were to have a baby.

i'm working on rotating shift, and husb is working normal retail hours. the gross income that we bring home monthly is about $3k per month. after deducting this and that (for our fixed expenses, bills, parents, etc), we barely have a thousand left for our monthly expenditure, let alone setting aside money for savings!

btw, i earn twice more than husb, thus that's my concern. if i were to conceive, it would be a strain on the financial expenses IF i decide to stop working.

help! i'm in a dilemma. how should i cut down on the fixed expenses? )=

does any of you experience this as well ?

I am in the same situation as you, our nett income combined with my wife is only, a child expenses is about 1k a month only on the diapers and milk powder and baby sitting. Beside working, we committed ourselves to saving with teamsmicap.com every month, we set aside an amount of USD200 to this financial game in which returns approx 20% - 30% depending how the market fare, so far we are fine and slightly better off from when we started.

If you are interested to know more, please feel free to drop me an email. viper.depezro@gmail.com , you can also visit their website @ Learn More About SMICap to read up more information on it.

 

[GrowingProtection]

Hi

I totally agree with you .. It's not difficult to raise a child ! Sometimes by the time.. One need to save enough to think of having babies..maybe even medical advancement doesn't helps.

Thanks Dilys..And Mzee, the governement will grant you a one time baby bonus and the Child Development Account which allows to put in $6K over 5 years, $1 to $1, so if you put in $6k, you will have $12K. This CDA account could take off your load to pay for your child's childcare and education expenses till Kindergarten 2. Primary and sec school fees will be cheaper.

Though its best you purchase basic health protection insurance and saving plan for their uni education, depending on what you want to provide for your child. This do not require alot of money, jus 10-20% of your pay will be sufficient to get all the basic plans, depending on the coverage you want.

Imagine you were to save alot now and wait till you are older. Then if unfortunately you need medical assistance to conceive, so you will be using the medical technology which will require you to pay alot too? How many thousands you guess to conceive one? So I feel you might as well spend this money on a child than on such medical expenses.

There are more benefits to have a child while you are younger You will have more energy, get back to shape faster and you could be a young mummy.

Furthermore, the education fees will only keep increasing due to inflation, so you are paying leasser amount if you start earlier..ha..E.g now I study uni is $30-40K, 20yrs later, its est to $70-80K, just for local uni.

And you could also retire faster too with a good retirement plan

Feel free to see my blog and email me to know more information about protection.

 

[darialim]

i'm in similar predicatment, we don't earn much, spend about $1000 a child a month. so we try to cut down on eating out, even bread we just buy 1 big loaf to last the whole week. no fast food, we handmake presents etc.

problem is prices are rising faster than income, then if we try to ask for more salary, scared kena replace by foreigner. so pay will remain low for a long time...

 

[Kaykay2009]

hi all,

Just curious, how does it add up to $1ooo per child per month?

To me , bringing up a child is really based on your affordability. And there are ways of cutting down. Buying milk powder from Chinese medicine shops or even JB for that matter already can save a lot for example. Cannot afford similac then let baby drink friso or breast feed even better.Diapers are pretty costly so you can use cloth nappy if you don't mind the washing up part.

I understand the cost for a nanny costly so that will be the bulk of the expenditure but most of the other items can be cut?

 

[Alisa]

$ is not everything but $ is needed for most of the things.

My son infant care is $577/mthly, we gave him cheap pampers, PetPet bought from TCM, $15 per pack can last about 2 weeks + , milk powder $58/tin can last about 3 weeks. each time marketing on pampers & milk powder, we have to buy x2 qty cuz 1 set is for school and 1 set is for home. His mthly insurance is around $190. Mthly expenses on him alone is around $913 and if we happen to buy pampers or milk powder twice that mth, it will be more than that.
This expenses still has not include his medical expenses. each time around $22 unless we only take his medication, will be lesser than $10.

All is about $. It will be good if you can have some saving.

i have a married friend, both husband & wife took home around $3k, their son is coming to 1 yr old, as they never celebrate their baby's 1st mth, they wanted to do a big event on his 1st yr bday BUT they cannot even afford $500 for the chalet... they are staying with in-laws so you can say they are still relaying on their parents. they often quarrel bcuz of $ issue.

 

[darialim]

Monthly breakdown
Infant care $700 as grandparents are working
milk powder $$150
Porridge and cereal - $50
Diapers - $30+
Health Insurance $50