美國養大一個孩子的成本有多少

Expecting a child this summer? Most births in the U.S. occur in August, with July a close second. If recent patterns hold, the country will welcome more than 700,000 new babies over the summer months.

你的孩子是不是今年夏天就要出生了？在美國，大多數嬰兒都出生在8月份，嬰兒出生數量第二多的月份是7月。如果這種人口出生模式今年依然有效，那麼夏季這幾個月美國的嬰兒出生數量將超過70萬人。

How much is a child likely to cost you? Estimates range from more than $240,000 (in today's dollars and excluding the cost of college) for a typical child. Add $1.4 million to $2.4 million (including government expenditures such as Medicaid) for a child with a disability such as autism.

養一個孩子得花多少錢？對於普通孩子來說，估計數字超過24萬美元（以今天的不變美元計算，不包括上大學的支出）。如果孩子患有自閉症等病症，那麼撫養孩子的花費就要增加140萬美元到240萬美元（其中包括醫療補助計劃等政府支出）。

At the same time your expenses will increase, your household income may decrease. Now is the time to update your financial plan to reflect some new realities.

與此同時，你的支出將增加，而家庭收入可能減少。現在，你該對自己的財務計劃做一個更新，從而能夠更好地反映需要面對的一些新的現實情況。

Beef up your emergency fund. 'I think this is the first and most important step from a budgetary standpoint,' says Jake Loescher, a financial adviser with Rockford, Ill.-based Savant Capital Management, and a new dad himself.

加大應急資金的規模。位於伊利諾斯州羅克福德的Savant Capital Management的財務顧問勒舍爾(Jake Loescher)稱，從預算角度來看，這是第一步，也是最重要的一步。勒舍爾最近初爲人父。

Assuming you already have a cash reserve equaling three to six months of living expenses, 'you have to increase the size of that emergency fund to account for all your new costs,' says Mr. Loescher. These might include infant formula, baby clothes and especially diapers, which are 'crazy expensive' in Mr. Loescher's experience. (He also was surprised by how fast you go through them.) His household expenses went up $200 to $300 a month after his son was born; diapers alone were up to half of the increase.

勒舍爾稱，假設你已經有了能夠保證未來三到六個月生活支出的現金儲蓄，你得增加這筆應急資金的數額，使其能夠負擔所有新的支出。這些新支出可能包括嬰兒配方奶粉、嬰兒的衣服以及紙尿褲，尤其是最後一項。根據勒舍爾自己的經歷，他認爲紙尿褲的支出“貴得嚇人”。（紙尿褲的使用速度也令他吃驚。）兒子出生後，勒舍爾每月的家庭支出增加了200到300美元，紙尿褲一項就佔去一半。

Many investors skimp on the emergency fund, reasoning they can always pause funding their retirement plan in a pinch. Mr. Loescher calls this 'the No. 1 mistake new parents make.' What starts as skipping a few contributions to the 401(k) often ends with raiding the balance to put a child through college. Don't go there.

很多投資者不願加大應急資金規模，原因是認爲在財務拮据時，可以暫停向退休計劃繳款。在勒舍爾看來，這是新晉父母的第一號錯誤。一開始，你只是少向401(k)繳一些錢，結果賬戶餘額就不夠讓你的孩子上完大學了。不要這樣做。

Budget for child-care costs. Mr. Loescher is fortunate that his mother-in-law cares for his son while he and his wife work. At an average cost of $18,000 a year, child care is the biggest line item for many families -- even bigger than food or housing -- yet nearly half don't budget for it, according to a recent survey by , an online matchmaking service for families and care givers.

爲兒童看護做好預算。勒舍爾感到幸運的一點事，他岳母可以幫他帶孩子，他和妻子就可以上班。兒童看護的成本平均爲每年1.8萬美元，這是很多家庭最大的一個支出項目，甚至比食品和住房的成本還高，但根據近期所做的一項調查，將近一半的新晉父母不會爲此做預算。爲需要幫助的家庭和護工提供在線配對服務。

Some 84% of single parents work and 63% of families have two working parents, so child care is often a necessity, the survey found.

調查發現，大約84%的家庭，父母中有一人要去工作，63%的家庭父母兩人都要工作，因此通常而言，兒童看護是一個必要項目。

Even if one spouse becomes a stay-at-home parent, 'you have the obvious loss of income, which you have to budget for,' says Mr. Loescher.

勒舍爾說，即使夫妻當中的一方專職在家照顧孩子，那麼顯而易見，你們就失去了一份收入，這也是需要在預算中加以考慮的。

'Parental productivity loss' totaled $18,720 a year in a study of the costs of autism. The figure reflects wages parents forgo to care for children with autism, and is one of the largest costs to these families, says David Mandell, director of the Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research at the University of Pennsylvania and senior author of the study.

一項對自閉症的研究發現，每年的父母生產力損失總額爲18,720美元。賓夕法尼亞大學(University of Pennsylvania)精神健康政策及服務研究中心的負責人、這項研究的第一作者曼德爾(David Mandell)說，這一數字代表的是，父母爲了照顧患有自閉症的兒童而放棄的薪水，這是此類家庭最大的支出項目之一。

Cover yourself. 'Another big mistake people make is failing to plan for the unexpected death of one spouse or the other,' says Mr. Loescher. If the primary breadwinner dies prematurely, the surviving spouse might be hard-pressed to cover the mortgage, car loan, living expenses, any miscellaneous debts and, if it's your intention, college tuition. (The total estimated tab for raising a typical child rises to nearly half a million dollars if you include the cost of private college.)

保護你自己。勒舍爾說，人們也會犯下另一個大錯，不會想到夫婦當中一人或另一半意外身亡的情況。如果最主要的養家者過早死亡，那麼餘下一人可能要勉力負擔按揭、車貸、生活費以及可能有的其他各種債務，並在有意願的前提下承擔子女的大學學費。（如果你將私立大學的教育成本包含在內，養育一個孩子的總成本估計將升至近50萬美元。）

Life insurance can help fill the void, but the older you are the more it will cost you, if you can get it at all. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the number of couples starting families later in life continues to rise. In 2012 there were more than nine times as many first-time mothers age 35 and over than there were four decades ago. Older parents 'might not be able to qualify for life insurance, or it could be more expensive,' says Sheila Gugliuzza, a managing director in the Chicago office of TIAA-CREF.

壽險有助於填補上述空白，但是你年齡越大，你的壽險成本就越高（在你能得到壽險的前提下）。美國疾病控制和預防中心(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)的數據顯示，晚育夫婦數量繼續上升。2012年，年齡不低於35歲的、首次生子的女性數量是40年前的九倍多。TIAA-CREF芝加哥辦公室的董事總經理古柳扎(Sheila Gugliuzza)說，年齡較大的父母要麼可能無法獲得壽險，要麼其壽險成本可能更加昂貴。

For example, a $500,000 universal life-insurance policy -- which builds cash value -- from TIAA-CREF would cost about $3,600 a year for a healthy 40-year-old man, $5,700 a year for a 50-year-old, and $9,300 a year for a 60-year-old. TIAA-CREF's new online planning tool, Life Wizard, can help you assess your life-insurance needs.

例如，對於一名健康的40歲男子來說，TIAA-CREF價值50萬美元的、有現金增值功能的萬能壽險將帶來約3,600美元的年成本；對於50歲男子來說，年成本爲5,700美元；對於60歲男子來說，年成本爲9,300美元。TIAA-CREF新的在線規劃工具Life Wizard能幫助你評估自己的壽險需求。