The National Consumer Agency (NCA ) has launched a new guide, Baby Steps, to help expectant parents to prepare for the financial changes that having a baby brings. The guide is part of the NCA’s strategy to provide information to help educate specific groups of consumers at key life stages by tailoring personal finance education material to their needs.
It comes as research, carried out by IPSOS Mori on behalf of the NCA, revealed that 58 per cent of 30 to 39-year-olds with children said they are worse off financially, compared to three years ago. Forty four per cent of people in this age bracket do not have a household budget, while just over half have not made any financial provision for their retirement. Despite this, CSO figures show that the number of births increased by 14 per cent between 2006 and 2009.
The Baby Steps guide aims to help parents and their families prioritise their needs, form good money habits, and become more confident about managing their finances when they have children.
The guide will be available to download in pdf format from the NCA’s website and more than 60,000 copies will be distributed to expectant mothers at their 12-week appointment, in maternity hospitals nationwide.
As well as the Baby Steps guide, the NCA has also recently completed a pricing survey on crèche fees nationally. The pricing survey and additional resources for parents, are all available on www.nca.ie
