<prompt> Human: Hello PF! As the title suggests, my girlfriend and I just found that were pregnant. I am a 25 year old man almost 26 and she is a 21 year old woman. We plan to keep the baby and although Im still a little bit in shock and feeling all sorts of emotions, I am especially worried about our finances and would like input. First, here is my situation:Monthly net income: 2000The following are my fixed expenses:My portion of rent I live with a friend: 487My portion of utilities: 80Cell phone: 25Car payment: 184 the car is a 2008 Toyota Rav4 and is worth 14,000. I owe 10,000Car insurance: 100Gas: 200That leaves me with approx. 900month for food, fun, and savings.My girlfriend works in retail and makes 9hr and usually gets 30 hours a week. It is also worth mentioning that I will finish my masters degree in psychology in about a year and my earning potential should increase substantially I think I can expect to start in the low 40k range.Here are my questions:-Is it a good idea to open a joint bank account with my girlfriend now to start putting money away for the baby?-How much do babies cost? Im pretty clueless...-Should I get life insurance immediately to cover my girlfriend and future child in case anything happens to me?-Is it feasible for my girlfriend and I to live together in an apartment that might cost 700month? Especially once the baby comes? She will probably become a mostly-stay-at-home mom at that point.-Do you parents out there have any other advice especially young parents?Thanks!Assistant: First off, you need to actually track how much you paying for the separate categories of food, fun, and savings. Assuming your girlfriend isnt fired prematurely from her retail job for being pregnant as in assuming she makes enough to cover some of the rent and all of her own food, you can afford to live together. I mean, how much is your current apartments rent? Presumably, shell be able to shoulder the costs like a roommate.Get her on medicaid; breastfeed instead of bottle-feed; haggle the hospital bills down.Some working class parents make it work by working opposite shifts. Others switch off watching their children with a friend or neighbor or do a mini at home day-care; there are ways to get car seats for free, and youll want second hand baby clothes; wearing a baby across your chest is cheaper than a stroller. Your highest priority is to find a higher paying job; once you get that job, you need to put money into a retirement account, even though this means youll have to be depressingly frugal. Once you and your girlfriend are living together it makes more sense to open the joint account. Right now, just stop spending any fun money and be as frugal as you can be.What degrees does your girlfriend have? Try to get the kid into a Head-start program or public school as early as possible so your girlfriend can go back to work. One option is for her to stay at home full time while she goes back to school, for example to get her nursing degree.On the question of life-insurance, I say you shouldnt get it now. If you die, she can get government assistance. Id say you cant afford life insurance now. When the two of you have been living together for a while, and co-parenting thats when you should get insurance.Can you get a second job for a couple of months, until the baby is born? Or could you switch your class schedule to take harder classes in the fall? Or could you self-study for spring classes.Human: I have been contributing 50month to my IRA, but am unsure whether to continue. I need to spend much less on food than I have been Id like to spend no more than 300.My gf unfortunately does not have any degree above a high school diploma right now. She was going to go back to school this fall, but that seems unlikely now. As for my jobschool situation, I work 32 hours a week at my paying job, but my degree requires a 600 hour unpaid internship at 20 hrsweek. I was going to start that in mid august, but maybe I should try to take a leave of absence to work more. Or go the other way and see if I can take care of the internship as quickly as possible with hopes of landing a higher paying job.Thanks for the advice!  <response>: Take care of the internship as soon as you can. This will probably mean your gf stays living with her mom. You need to focus on long term providing for your child. 