<prompt> Human: So, I just found out about half an hour ago that Im going to be a father! Thats great and all, but Ive always been very money-conscious grew up below poverty line and Id like to make a plan and help take some of the anxiety away and help me partly enjoy the experience. We dont have much in the ways of plans or long-term investments and really dont know where to start, especially since were citizens of two different countries.About the only thing I know is that we wont be in Beijing for more than a few more years, but were international school teachers so its hard to pin down whenwhere our next location will be.Anywho, heres where we are at so far:Debt - 0Savings - me: 14000 USD wife: 12000 USDCombined monthly take home after tax: 7000-7500 USD, depending on hrs and conversion ratesRent: currently 1500 USD a month for a 2 bedroom apartment, our landlord sold our apartment, next rent will likely be 1700-2000 USD Beijing is expensive for a 2 bd, 1 bth, 100 sm. place.Transportation: 450 USD cant really cut thisFood Going out: 1,000 USD can definitely do better hereUtilities: 100-150 month gas, electric, internet, waterHealth insurance is taken care of, but our employer offers no 401 K. Pregnancy is unfortunately not covered by our insurance otherwise its awesome, and thatll probably be around 7000 USD.Any advicesaving plansuggestions for retirement or college would be greatly appreciated.  <response>: I can only offer some advice as a fellow American expat international school teacher in China 27, single, no children; Sure its definitely important to plan appropriately and budget for the kid congratulations, by the way!, but dont forget to plan for yourselves as well! By this, I mean retirement, of course!I understand the whole school-doesnt-offer-401K thing mine doesnt either, and it seems that your income isnt above 101K either, so you likely arent contributing to an IRA back home. Unfortunately you can see that, as expats with incomes under 100K, contributing towards retirement in the same vein as our fellow Americans living stateside is not so easy.My recommendation would be to budget a monthly contribution towards some sort of Vanguard Target Retirement I contribute monthly to the Target 2055 Fund at the very least. Perhaps someone around here more suited to parentingfamilies can advise you as to how to budget towards those sorts of expenses. Good luck to you and your new family! 