From the moment your little bundle of joy makes a first appearance to the first birthday celebrations, its thought that the average cost of your baby’s first year is around €4,000. With each passing year, as new expenses such as childcare kick in, that figure will only rise.
You may also have to factor in school fees and extra-curricular activities (even though these may be slightly less frequent in the Covid era), plus birthdays and Christmas. We’re not saying they’re not worth it, of course, but it pays to plan for these expenses.
If you'd like to read a little more on this topic, here’s some practical and useful advice on saving for your young family
The sooner you start saving, the easier it is
Saving for a baby, a teenager or a college student is all about taking action sooner rather than later. If you open a dedicated savings account (such as our Goal Saver Account), you're in a much stronger position to make sure that you’re never side-tracked by unexpected outgoings. These days, the unexpected has almost become the norm. It also helps to make sure that you give your children a great start in life and continue to support them as they grow and their financial demands increase.
Sticking to the savings plan is the key to success
Regardless of whether you're saving for a new arrival or your child’s wedding, sticking to your savings plan is the way to make it work. Having a regular monthly direct debit in place is a good idea, as the money leaves your account each month and after just a few months, you no longer miss it any more.
Get serious about your finances
The key to being able to save is to manage your outgoings. When you keep a diary of your spending for a month or more, you’ll have a better understanding of how much you spend on your weekly shopping, or those top-up visits to your local store.
Once you’ve established what your outgoings are and where you can cut back you're then in a position to decide how much you can save each month.
Our Financial Wellbeing self-assessment can help you understand your finances. To find out move click here
Are your savings needs short-term or long-term?
You may want to save for the arrival of your first baby, you may want to save for the day when you’ll have childcare fees to pay, or you may want to save for future education costs.
Whatever your savings goal, we’ve got a solution for you. Here are some ways to help make the savings habit work for your family.
Open a GoalSaver Account: Pay into it via direct debit and keep your savings safe in a dedicated savings account for all things baby-related.
Save your child benefit: Having your child benefit paid into a separate account from your normal current account is a good way to ensure that cash keeps flowing into it and that your children’s fund does not evaporate in response to day-to-day spending needs.
Investing your money: If you have a long time before your children go into further education, you might consider investing your money instead.
If you can commit to investing for more than 5 years, there are a range of investment options for you to choose from which could potentially provide better returns than deposits in the longer term. However, if you are looking for a better return you will have to accept the risk that comes from investing. Finding which one is right for you is really important - and we are here to help.
Investment Product Warnings
Disclaimer
Life assurance and pensions products are provided by New Ireland Assurance Company plc., trading as Bank of Ireland Life. New Ireland Assurance Company plc., trading as Bank of Ireland Life is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
Advice on Bank of Ireland Life products is provided by Bank of Ireland, trading as Bank of Ireland Insurance & Investments. Bank of Ireland trading as Bank of Ireland Insurance & Investments is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
Bank of Ireland is a tied agent of New Ireland Assurance Company plc trading as Bank of Ireland Life for life assurance and pensions business.
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