美国养大一个孩子的成本有多少

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？在美国，大多数婴儿都出生在8月份，婴儿出生数量第二多的月份是7月。如果这种人口出生模式今年依然有效，那么夏季这几个月美国的婴儿出生数量将超过70万人。

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.

养一个孩子得花多少钱？对于普通孩子来说，估计数字超过24万美元（以今天的不变美元计算，不包括上大学的支出）。如果孩子患有自闭症等病症，那么抚养孩子的花费就要增加140万美元到240万美元（其中包括医疗补助计划等政府支出）。

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.

与此同时，你的支出将增加，而家庭收入可能减少。现在，你该对自己的财务计划做一个更新，从而能够更好地反映需要面对的一些新的现实情况。

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.

加大应急资金的规模。位于伊利诺斯州罗克福德的Savant Capital Management的财务顾问勒舍尔(Jake Loescher)称，从预算角度来看，这是第一步，也是最重要的一步。勒舍尔最近初为人父。

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.

勒舍尔称，假设你已经有了能够保证未来三到六个月生活支出的现金储蓄，你得增加这笔应急资金的数额，使其能够负担所有新的支出。这些新支出可能包括婴儿配方奶粉、婴儿的衣服以及纸尿裤，尤其是最后一项。根据勒舍尔自己的经历，他认为纸尿裤的支出“贵得吓人”。（纸尿裤的使用速度也令他吃惊。）儿子出生后，勒舍尔每月的家庭支出增加了200到300美元，纸尿裤一项就占去一半。

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.

很多投资者不愿加大应急资金规模，原因是认为在财务拮据时，可以暂停向退休计划缴款。在勒舍尔看来，这是新晋父母的第一号错误。一开始，你只是少向401(k)缴一些钱，结果账户余额就不够让你的孩子上完大学了。不要这样做。

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 Care.com, an online matchmaking service for families and care givers.

为儿童看护做好预算。勒舍尔感到幸运的一点事，他岳母可以帮他带孩子，他和妻子就可以上班。儿童看护的成本平均为每年1.8万美元，这是很多家庭最大的一个支出项目，甚至比食品和住房的成本还高，但根据Care.com近期所做的一项调查，将近一半的新晋父母不会为此做预算。Care.com为需要帮助的家庭和护工提供在线配对服务。

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

调查发现，大约84%的家庭，父母中有一人要去工作，63%的家庭父母两人都要工作，因此通常而言，儿童看护是一个必要项目。

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.

勒舍尔说，即使夫妻当中的一方专职在家照顾孩子，那么显而易见，你们就失去了一份收入，这也是需要在预算中加以考虑的。

'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.

一项对自闭症的研究发现，每年的父母生产力损失总额为18,720美元。宾夕法尼亚大学(University of Pennsylvania)精神健康政策及服务研究中心的负责人、这项研究的第一作者曼德尔(David Mandell)说，这一数字代表的是，父母为了照顾患有自闭症的儿童而放弃的薪水，这是此类家庭最大的支出项目之一。

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.)

保护你自己。勒舍尔说，人们也会犯下另一个大错，不会想到夫妇当中一人或另一半意外身亡的情况。如果最主要的养家者过早死亡，那么余下一人可能要勉力负担按揭、车贷、生活费以及可能有的其他各种债务，并在有意愿的前提下承担子女的大学学费。（如果你将私立大学的教育成本包含在内，养育一个孩子的总成本估计将升至近50万美元。）

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 2017 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.

寿险有助于填补上述空白，但是你年龄越大，你的寿险成本就越高（在你能得到寿险的前提下）。美国疾病控制和预防中心(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)的数据显示，晚育夫妇数量继续上升。2017年，年龄不低于35岁的、首次生子的女性数量是40年前的九倍多。TIAA-CREF芝加哥办公室的董事总经理古柳扎(Sheila Gugliuzza)说，年龄较大的父母要么可能无法获得寿险，要么其寿险成本可能更加昂贵。

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，对于一名健康的40岁男子来说，TIAA-CREF价值50万美元的、有现金增值功能的万能寿险将带来约3,600美元的年成本；对于50岁男子来说，年成本为5,700美元；对于60岁男子来说，年成本为9,300美元。TIAA-CREF新的在线规划工具Life Wizard能帮助你评估自己的寿险需求。