Business Innovators Radio - Episode #68 – Childcare Costs – The 15 Minute Financial Feast Podcast – With Mark Triplett & Troy Westendorf

Episode Date: August 8, 2024

We believe that every dollar has a purpose and a timeline. When and how your retirement assets will be used should be understood before making important financial decisions.The Triplett-Westendorf Purpose and Timeline 5 Step Planning Process (PT5) begins with Discovery.Understanding where you are now, and then defining where you want to go (Your Purpose) and when you want to get there (Your Timeline), programs your financial GPS. Our Purpose and Timeline 5-step process (PT5) programs your financial GPS.Learn more: http://triplett-westendorf.com/ | https://mypt5.com/The 15 Minute Financial Feast Podcasthttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/the-15-minute-financial-feast-podcast/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/episode-68-childcare-costs-the-15-minute-financial-feast-podcast-with-mark-triplett-troy-westendorf

Welcome to the 15-minute financial feast podcast, bringing you 15-minute segments to help you retire with purpose on time. We're serving up food for thought and bread for the head. Are you hungry to learn? Here are your hosts, Mark Triplett and Troy Westendorf. Welcome to another episode of the 15-minute financial feast. Today, you are listening to the audio from a live television interview where one of our favorite local news station anchors asked us questions about a financial feast. topic on the minds of many hardworking folks in our community who are trying to make good decisions and get ahead. Well, Iowa families, they are being hit hard by inflation, according to a report

from the Common Sense Institute of Iowa. So in Iowa, the total bill for two working parents raising one child is almost $23,000 per year. Local financial professional, Mark Triplett from Triplett-Westendor Financial Group here to talk about just how you can prepare for all of this. Happy Tuesday, Mark. So first off, why does the cost of raising a child continue to rise as we see? Well, you mentioned inflation. I mean, it gets more expensive every year. Raising a child from birth through the age of 18 is estimated to cost households over a quarter of a million dollars at this point. And a lot of it boils down to things like child care.

You know, tip to have child care for one child right now is going to cost you somewhere around 11,500, which is up 3.7 percent. the previous year. And budgets are being stretched in. I'll also throw this out. Child care, when it starts to go away as the kids get to school age, then they get to replace with things like technology, cell phones, tablets, and my son's 14, are going to be 14. Pretty soon he'll be driving, and we're going to have an extra car, insurance, and fuel. So the cost just keep going up as they get older. And when you look at the cost of being a parent and the money you spend on children, what are some of the common things that people spend the most money on? Housing is probably the largest expense between mortgage, rents payments, taxes, insurance, repairs, maintenance, etc.

A recent study that I came across found that the median household was spending about $21,000 a year on housing alone. With a median household income of $74,000, we're talking about 33% or a third of the budget going to housing. And then food on top of that, family's got to eat. And with families spending somewhere between $975 to over $1,500 per month, food. That takes another big buy it out of the apple. If you're guilty like me, eating out more than probably should, stopping at convenience stores, that just only further inflates the cost. And Mark, I know when I speak to my friends who work full time, who have kids, one thing they always talk about is the cost of child care. How much do you think people are spending on that?

Well, it depends on the type of care, the number of children, and where you live. But in Iowa, Child care will cost you, you know, upwards of $11,000 to $12,000 per child for daycare. And if you go with the nanny route, you might be spending a double or triple that amount just on child care. So it can be really, really expensive. Some of our retired clients are actually staying home and helping out those adult children by watching the grandkids. And it's nice that we're able to do that here in Iowa, but oftentimes families have moved away. from their parents and the grandparents aren't there to watch the little ones. Yeah, any quick tips you have for people when it comes to raising children, like budgeting

or anything like that. Any brief tips you have for people? Yeah, creating spending plan. Track what's coming into the household. Track what's going out of the household. Make sure that you're accounting for those additional expenses when there's another mouth to feed to clothe. I mean, my 13-year-old seems like he's going through clothes every single week. He outgrews something, so we have to replace it. So it's really important that you plan and use. a spending plan and stick to it and then also have those tough choices or tough conversations with the children about what we spend money on and what we don't. All right, Mark, thank you so much for joining us all good things to keep in mind.

Always good chat with you, my friend. Thanks for having me. You've been listening to the 15-minute financial feast podcast. Remember, every dollar has a purpose and every dollar has a timeline. If you have questions about today's topic, schedule a call with a team member. www.mip5.com. Until next time, be sure you're taking steps to retire with purpose on time.

Mark Triplett is an investment advisor representative of and advisory services offered through Royal Fund Management LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor. Nothing contained in this program should be considered an offer to buy or sell securities. Different investments have different risks associated with them, and not all investments are appropriate for all investors.