Best Car Insurance Brokers in the UK

Review: The Wall Street Journal Financial Guidebook for New Parents

Every other Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal finance book.

In 2005, my son was born. To say we were unprepared for it is an understatement. We bungled through the entire thing, not saving appropriately for expenses and not really understanding how much this little child would change our lives, financially or otherwise. With a little bit of preparedness, we could have rolled through this, but his emergence sent us into a financial tailspin.

Financial preparation for having a new child isn’t really that hard, but there are a handful of key things that you really need to think about and take action on. The middle and late stages of pregnancy give you six months to get ready for that new arrival, after all, and there are several important things to do shortly after birth, as well.

Stacy Bradford’s The Wall Street Journal Financial Guidebook for New Parents was pretty much written for the exact place we were at in mid-2005. I think it makes a perfect complement for parents who read What to Expect When You’re Expecting and make a genuine effort to understand what’s going on with their pregnancy and early parenthood needs.

I truly wish we had a guide like this during Sarah’s pregnancy. It would have been incredibly useful. Let’s take a peek at what’s inside.

Your Maternity (or Paternity) Leave
Quite often, the impression of maternity (or paternity) leave is far out of line with the reality of it. A couple gets pregnant, then believes they’ll have all the time in the world off to bond with their child. After all, they have plenty of sick leave… right?

Not so fast. Many businesses and organizations have really draconian policies about time off for a new baby. They’re required to allow you to have twelve weeks off, but they don’t have to pay you for it. For example, when our first child was on the way, we believed for a while that my wife would have three months off to take care of the child with pay, and I’d have six weeks off.

...

Read more...