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The real cost of having a baby,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]
Got a lazy $600,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],000 lying around? Boy,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], do we have an investment for you.
Sleepless nights. Dirty nappies. Crying baby. Do young glamour couple Bec Cartwright and Lleyton Hewitt know what they've got themselves into? More to the point, do they have any idea what this parenting business will cost them?
Probably not. Most people don't, according to Dr Paul Henman from the University of Queensland's Social Policy Unit, part of the School of Social Work and Applied Human Sciences.
"Most new parents don't have much idea about the cost of raising a child,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," he says. "They look at whether they can afford it, but on a day-to-day basis. The overall cost of raising a child to the age of 18 comes as a surprise."
According to a study conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies back in 1994, a first child was calculated to cost around $3000-$13,000 in the first year alone. When you take into consideration the upfront costs of every year after that, along with the hidden costs of loss of earnings for the primary carer (estimated to be around $160,000 by the AIFS in 2001), well, the figure starts to look quite scary.
So what's the figure? Well, brace yourselves. "It can be up to $600,000," admits Dr Henman, "but that's the top end of the scale."
Hmm … makes the Government's baby bonus look a little insignificant, right? In that first year, when you're shelling out hundreds of dollars for the myriad pieces of strange equipment that infants apparently need,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], you could be forgiven for feeling as though this is the most expensive year of your life. You'd be wrong.
"In general,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], research shows that costs increase with age,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," says Dr Henman. "Young children tend to be cheaper, but that depends a lot on whether childcare is required. Generally, however, a teenager will cost more."
Beyond expensive sneakers and iPods, there are good reasons for this. When researchers sit down to work out the cost of raising a child,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], they take into consideration all kinds of factors that new or would-be parents don't. Things like housing (the one-bedroom unit probably won't cut it any more) and transport (ditto the convertible).
"The research that I've done breaks down costs into 10 groups," says Dr Henman. "Housing and childcare are the two most expensive, then food."
The 10 groups are:
housing
childcareenergy
clothing and footwear
household goods and services (this includes the much-feared education)
leisure
personal care
transport
health
Of course, there are other mitigating factors. The more you earn,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the more likely you are to spend more on your children (hence baby Cartwright-Hewitt will probably top out at the maximum $600,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],000 mark). Where you choose to live also makes a difference - and it might surprise you just how.
"Sydney is not the most expensive place in Australia in which to raise a child," says Dr Henman. "That's a fact that often surprises people."
Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane are the most expensive cities,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], then Hobart and Darwin,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], then Sydney, then Adelaide and Perth. The reason for this,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], according to Dr Henman,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], is that while housing is expensive in Sydney, the cost of upgrading from,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], say, one bedroom to two,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], is relatively cheaper than in the other cities. Country areas may not prove the most cost-effective either - the more isolated the town,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the more expensive transport and food can be. Note to Bec and Lleyton: cities such as Newcastle are perfect - cheaper housing but with good infrastructure.
And in good news for the Government's push for larger families, it seems that the principles of economies of scale work for children too. "Most research suggests that each successive child is cheaper,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," says Dr Henman, "but only to a point. Once you get to the stage where you need to move to a bigger house or buy a larger,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], more expensive car to transport them, then any benefits are lost."
The fact is that most of us don't go into parenthood with a P sheet in our hand. It's a much more organic experience than that,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]. But when you see the big picture you begin to understand the importance of having a financial plan for parenthood. Even if it's only changing your "shoe money" bank account into a savings plan.
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