My wife and I are expecting our first child this summer, and I couldn't be more excited. I'll be honest, as someone who spends his days helping families plan for their futures, I assumed I had a pretty good handle on what this process would look like. What I didn't expect was just how personal it all feels when it's your own family on the line.
So I figured, why not share exactly what I'm working through? If you're expecting, recently welcomed a little one, or simply want to make sure you haven't missed anything, this one's for you.
1. Get Your Estate Plan in Order
This is the one that hit closest to home for me. A new baby has a way of making you take estate planning seriously in a way nothing else quite does. If you don't have a will, that changes the moment your child arrives. Your will is where you name a guardian, the person who would raise your child if something happened to you and your partner. Without one, that decision gets left to a court. That thought alone was enough to move this to the top of my list.
Depending on your situation, a revocable living trust may also be worth considering. It can help your assets pass to your child more efficiently and without the delays and costs of probate. That said, a trust isn't the right fit for everyone, and it's worth having that conversation with an estate planning attorney before assuming you need one. What matters most, trust or no trust, is that your assets are titled correctly and your beneficiary designations are up to date. More on that in a moment.
Both you and your partner should also have an updated healthcare surrogate and durable power of attorney in place before the baby arrives. Labor and delivery carries real risk, and you want the right people empowered to make decisions on your behalf if needed. This is easy to push off. Don't.
2. Review Your Beneficiary Designations
This one surprises a lot of people. Your beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance policies supersede your will entirely. It doesn't matter what your will says if your designations haven't been updated. Review every account, every policy, and make sure they reflect your current wishes. A designation left unchanged from years ago can create real complications for the people you love most. It takes maybe an hour to get this right. Do it.
3. Get the Right Life Insurance in Place
If you have life insurance, have it reviewed now. If you don't, get it before the baby arrives. This is not optional when a child enters the picture.
A general starting point is coverage equal to ten to twenty-five times your annual income. You'll see different figures depending on who you ask, and honestly the range exists because the right number is genuinely personal. It depends on your partner's income, existing assets, debts, mortgage, and the lifestyle you want to protect. The important thing is not to underestimate it. When in doubt, err on the higher end and work with an advisor to find the number that actually makes sense for your family.
Term life insurance is typically the most straightforward and affordable option for young families, and locking in a policy while you're young and healthy means lower premiums.
One thing worth flagging, particularly for expecting mothers: pregnancy can complicate the life insurance application process. Some carriers may postpone issuing a new policy until after delivery, or may rate the policy differently depending on how far along you are and whether there are any complications. If you're pregnant and don't yet have coverage, talk to an advisor sooner rather than later. Waiting until after the baby arrives is generally the safer path for the application process, but every situation is different.
4. Don't Overlook Disability Insurance
Most people insure their lives and forget to insure their income. Your ability to earn is one of your most valuable financial assets, and a disability is statistically far more likely to interrupt your career than an early death. If your employer offers disability coverage, understand what it actually covers. If you're relying solely on a group policy at work, it may not be enough. A standalone individual policy is worth exploring.
5. Review Your Health Insurance Carefully
A new baby is a qualifying life event, which opens a window to make changes to your coverage outside of open enrollment. Don't wait until after the birth to look at this. Understand what your plan covers for labor, delivery, and newborn care. Know your deductible and out-of-pocket maximum going in. And once the baby arrives, you have 30 days to add your child to your plan. Missing that window creates headaches you really don't want as a brand new parent.
6. Dig Into Your Employer Benefits
This is worth more than a quick glance. Beyond health insurance, look closely at what your employer actually offers. How does your parental leave policy work, and how much time do you get? Is there a Dependent Care FSA available, which lets you set aside pre-tax dollars to offset childcare costs? What does your employer-sponsored life and disability coverage actually include, and is it sufficient? These benefits exist to help you. Make sure you're actually using them.
7. Organize Your Entire Financial Life
Here's a question worth sitting with. If something happened to you tomorrow, would your spouse know where everything is and who to call? For a lot of families, the honest answer is no. Before the baby arrives, create a master document or use a secure digital vault that captures all of your accounts, insurance policies, estate documents, attorney and advisor contacts, and login information in one place. It's one of the most practical things you can do for your family right now, and it's one of the first things I'm tackling.
8. Build Up Your Emergency Fund
The standard guidance is three to six months of living expenses in liquid savings. With a baby on the way, I'd lean toward the higher end of that range. I'm not speaking from experience here, but everyone I've talked to says the same thing: the unexpected expenses add up faster than you think. A solid financial cushion means you can handle what comes without derailing everything else you're building.
9. Plan for Childcare Costs Early
I've heard this one from just about every parent I know. Depending on where you live, full-time childcare can rival a mortgage payment. Run the numbers now, before you need it, and factor those costs into your monthly budget well in advance. The Dependent Care FSA mentioned above can help offset some of it, but the broader point is simply this: know what's coming so it doesn't catch you flat-footed.
10. Start Thinking About Education Savings Now, But Wait Until After Birth to Open Anything
A 529 college savings plan is one of the best tools available for education savings. Contributions grow tax-free, withdrawals for qualified education expenses are tax-free, and many states offer a deduction on contributions. The earlier you start, the less you have to set aside to reach the same goal.
In most cases, you'll need your child's Social Security number to properly designate them as the beneficiary, which means you're typically looking at a few weeks after birth before everything is in place. My plan is to have everything researched and decided now, so I can get it set up as soon as that Social Security card arrives.
That said, not every child will take the traditional four-year college route, and that's completely fine. If you're open to your child pursuing vocational training, entrepreneurship, or another path, a UTMA account, which stands for Uniform Transfers to Minors Act, is worth considering. A UTMA has no restrictions on how the funds are used, giving your child flexibility to use the money however makes sense when the time comes. The tradeoff is that it doesn't carry the same tax advantages as a 529, and once the child reaches the age of majority it becomes entirely theirs to use as they see fit.
For many families, the answer isn't 529 or UTMA. It's both. A 529 for the education-specific piece, and a UTMA as a more flexible complement alongside it.
And for those who worry about over-saving in a 529: recent legislation expanded the flexibility of these accounts significantly. Unused funds can now be rolled into a Roth IRA for the beneficiary after fifteen years, and qualified expenses now include vocational programs and certain K-12 costs. A 529 is more versatile today than it has ever been.
11. Look Into the New Trump Account
This is brand new and worth understanding. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a new tax-advantaged investment account is being created for children under 18, set to launch on July 4, 2026. Children born between 2025 and 2028 are eligible for a one-time $1,000 federal seed deposit, and parents, grandparents, and employers can contribute up to $5,000 per year. The funds grow tax-deferred and are invested in U.S. stock index funds. Think of it as a long-term wealth-building complement to a 529, not a replacement for it. For our child, this is going to be an "and" not an "or."
12. Have the Conversation With Your Own Parents
A new baby has a way of bringing families closer together, and it also has a way of surfacing conversations that have been put off too long. Are your parents financially prepared for their later years? Have they done their own estate planning? Do they have a plan in place if they ever need long-term care?
That last one is important. Long-term care costs can be significant, and without a plan, that burden often falls on the next generation, right when you're most stretched raising your own family. Options worth exploring with them include traditional long-term care insurance and annuities with LTC riders, which can offer meaningful coverage without some of the drawbacks of a standalone policy. The right answer depends on their age, health, and financial picture, but the conversation itself is always the starting point. A grandchild on the way has a funny way of finally getting people to the table on this one.
13. Think About the Financial Values You Want to Pass On
This one is less of a checklist item and more of a mindset, and honestly it may be the thing I've thought about most. What do you want your child to understand about money? The value of giving back, the power of patience, the importance of living within your means? Financial literacy doesn't start with a lesson. It starts with what children observe. The habits and conversations they witness at home will shape how they think about money long before they ever open their own account.
I don't have all the answers on this one yet. But I'm thinking about it, and I think that's the point.
A baby changes everything. But it also clarifies everything. Working through this list has felt like one of the most meaningful things I've done as a soon-to-be parent. You can't control everything about what lies ahead, but you can control how prepared you are for it.
Here's to the next chapter.
Have questions about any of the above? We would love to help. Reach out to me directly at evan@afc-ais.com or call me at the office at (954) 983-5604.
-Evan Vladem