Zolo: Plan to spend around $14,000 in baby’s first year, says personal finance expert

Vancouver, BC, 2021-May-06 — /EPR Network/ — Exact costs on how much it costs to raise your newborn baby in the first year are hard to find. To help parents develop a realistic budget, Zolo personal finance columnist and mom, Alyssa Davies, tracked her spending for the first year of her daughter’s life.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the total average cost of raising a child to the age of 17 is $233,610 USD — or just under $13,750 per year.

In Canada, the average cost of raising a child from birth to age 18 is around $253,947 — just over $14,100 per year, according to Statistics Canada and accounting for inflation.

59% of millennial parents underestimate the cost of raising children

Sounds expensive but, it is possible to cut costs, explains Alyssa Davies, personal finance expert with Zolo Homebase, the information portal for one of Canada’s most popular national real estate marketplaces.

“Tracking my expenses as a new mom felt like the best way to help my peers prepare for what tends to be an overwhelming and scary time in a new parent’s life,” says Davies. “Real numbers are the best way to map out how much you can expect to spend on your child.”

In the first year of parenting, Davies spent $8,846, which breaks down into multiple expenses:

• $120 on childcare
• $825 on diapering
• $1,000 on clothing
• $1,100 on postpartum
• $1,280 on financial planning
• $1,282 on feeding
• $3,239 on baby gear

One year of raising a child is costly, particularly when you decrease your income on parental leave. The best thing expecting parents can do is to set a budget for year one by doing the following:

1. Assess your current financial situation – get to know how much you earn and spend each month and how that will change during parental leave
2. Create a savings goal – estimate how much you will need to cover the difference in lost income in year one
3. Open a high-interest savings account – start to save as soon as possible, in a safe place that is perfect for short-term savings goals

To see a summary, please visit:

How much does it cost to raise a child in Canada?

About Zolo

Zolo is one of Canada’s most popular national real estate marketplaces. Each month, over 10 million home shoppers use Zolo to level up how they buy, sell, rent, finance, and learn about real estate.

www.zolo.ca

Media:

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact,

Nicole Sullivan

nicole.sullivan@zolo.ca

Outreach Specialist at Zolo

416-895-5407

Source: Zolo