Welcome to Money Moves: A 12-Week Guide To Investing In Yourself, our e-course in partnership withBlackRockthat aims to help more and more people experience financial well-being. Each week, we demystify the true cost of the milestones we want most in life—retirement, marriage, home ownership, business ventures, and more—and deliver the tools you need to achieve your money goals. That includes real stories, from real women, with *very* real financial dilemmas.
There are a slew of different ways to have a family if you want one. And many of these ways—like egg freezing or IVF, for example—are very much planned-ahead goals. “When you have a planned addition to the family, you tend to have a little more control over the savings and how much you need to save.” So, how should people interested in these alternative family-planning options prepare for them? We speak with Pamela Capalad, founder and financial planner (and soon-to-be mother!) at Brunch & Budget, to get the 411 on alternative family planning.
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
“I’ve had clients who took out medical loans to pay for things like IVF to pay back over time. A lot of doctors’ offices still offer zero percent interest loans or low-cost loans to be able to finance some of that. If there is an urgency around the timing, where you need to potentially take out a loan do it, it’s not that I do or don’t recommend it—sometimes it is what it is.” It doesn’t come cheap: The average cost for one round of IVF in the U.S. is $12,000.
Egg Freezing
“I’ve seen insurances, especially at bigger corporations, start to cover things like egg freezing, and also infertility treatments. Check with your insurance provider to see if something like this is actually covered. The trend is moving in that direction; people are starting families later in life, women are choosing to have children later in life and insurance companies are acknowledging that, and it’s pretty cool. If your insurance doesn’t pay for this kind of treatment, again it’s important to ask the questions, do the research, and either save up or take out a loan to do what feels right for you and our future.” On average, women spend between $15,000 and $20,000 per cycle of egg freezing, and generally opt for two cycles.
Adoption
While adoption fees can vary widely (“I’ve seen some adoptions cost between $10K to $15K, for example” says Capalad) something to note is that there is a significant tax credit for adopting. “The tax credit gets phased out as you make more money, so you may be phased out of getting the credit, but there is an adoption credit that you do get on tax return for adopting a child. It’s very encouraged to adopt kids,” says Capalad. For 2018, if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) was above $247,140, your tax credit was reduced or eliminated. If you made below $207,140, your tax credit wasn’t affected. In addition to typical adoption fees, you may also need to go through all the necessary processes—saving for childcare, schools, upgrading the living situations, and more—that’s associated with adding another person to the family.
For more stories from women finding solutions to their financial woes, sign up for our e-course, Money Moves, in partnership with BlackRock.
