<prompt> Human: Im 27 years old. I bought a house last December and a new used car in May. I make about 55K per year now with a recent promotion and another one on the horizon potentially JanFeb that should put me closer to 65k. My girlfriend is 26 years old, finishing her last year of school working part time as a bartender and makes decent cash especially for part time. I have a mortgage that is roughly 1000month and total bills right now that are roughly 3000month. I have about 18K in student loan debt myself but no degree to show for it. I am however finishing real estate school within the month to potentially move into that market however I plan on staying stable in my job now until I know I can make the money in real estate. All of my debt house included comes to about 190K. I have about 11K in an IRA, 7K in my 401K at work. I guess what I am looking for is advice on how to plan, what to plan for, what things to do to prepare for the financial side of having a baby. Im as excited as anyone would be in this situation because it certainly could be worse in many ways. I also love the girl very much. So fro. Here I need numbers and a plan because I am completely in the dark on baby stuff. Thanks ahead of time!Assistant: The first thing you and your girlfriend need to do is figure out child care. Whether it is one of you stays at home or daycare, either way is expensive. So hash that out first as it will inform your baby budget - the budget you will be using once the baby comes.There is, of course, the possibility of doing opposite shifts so that you both still work with no daycare expenses, but that is a tough life with a brand new baby, so I would check the other options first.Once you have that figured out, make the baby budget. Also, now is a good time to discuss next steps with your girlfriend. Do you both want more children? How will they fit into your career plans? Do you want to raise them in a particular place? If so, when would you want to move there - ASAP, in a year or two, once they are ready for school? These sorts of big questions are essential to discuss so you can make realistic financial plans around them.Human: This is great stuff so first off thank you! As far as the baby budget what kinds of things should I be considering? Obviously daycare is a big part of that and then the basics like food, medical, etc. What things are generally forgotten about or missed? Like what should I be thinking about that Im probably not thinking about? Im a bit of an over planner but I feel like I cant fully prepared for something like this. Again, thanks so much for the help and any information is certainly welcome!!Assistant: Childcare is really the biggest expense you will have with the baby. Not even just a big part, but an oversized chunk of it. Daycare is expensive, yes, but so is losing one parents income not only for now if they stay at home but also future growth of their income. Cant stress enough how this choice will pretty much eclipse the other possible choices.Oh, and if you do daycare, realize that if the baby is sick, they will send the kid home to prevent the other children from getting sick. Which means either the two of you will be using a lot of sick days if you have them, will need some flexibility to do work from home days, or else have a babysitter willing to watch a sick baby.After that, check out your medical insurance. Most of the babys normal scheduled checkups should be covered at no or low cost, but babies and little kids get sick a lot and it is common for new parents to want to rush them to the doctor every time that happens. So figure out how much those extra trips will cost with your plan. Also, be sure to find out how much adding the baby to your health insurance will raise your own premiums. Families cost more to insure than just one single person.Then there are diapers. If one of you will be staying home with the child, cloth diapers can be a more economical choice. Otherwise, lots of diapers.As for the rest, babies dont need much. In terms of gear, you can get most of the stuff used very cheaply, though spring for a new car seat. If the baby is healthy, all of the above will cover most of the big items you will encounter.But dont forget to see the forest for the trees. Big time decisions - like having more children after this, having a stay at home parent, private school versus public school, etc - are really the big drivers of your future finances. Plan for them as well as the immediate short term items now so you can start setting into motion whatever things need to start happening now to prepare for those choices. For instance, if it must be private school for your child, then your baby budget should start a expense category now for saving up for it.Human: This is fantastic! Thanks again. I think the biggest short term questions I need to answer are regarding health insurance and baby budget. Like you said, medical seems to be the biggest chunk aside from daycare. Sounds like we have some quick decisions to make and start planning for. Fortunately I overbought my house in terms of size. But its going to need some changing around.  <response>: Does your girlfriend have health insurance?Once the baby is born it will be considered its own person and you can add it to your policy but if your GF doesnt have coverage youll want to figure it out, that can get very expensive, Good news, open enrollment for ACA policies runs from 111-1215. 