New parents Scott and Emily sit down with Lynne to discuss the financial challenges of bringing home their two and a half week old daughter Lila for the first time, seeking advice from financial experts Scott and Katelyn on budgeting, savings and planning for the future. Tune in as our experts provide tips for setting financial goals, managing expenses and preparing for unexpected costs that come with new parenthood.

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00:00:07.0 Lynne Jarman-Johnson (LJJ): Money, I’m Home. In this week’s segment we have coming your way, brand new parents, two-and-a-half-week-old baby and, oh, the sleepless nights that might come if they’re not financially savvy. We’ve got the experts for you to listen to and also ask your questions on Money, I’m Home. I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union. Let’s get right to it. Today we have got such a great experience to talk about. And that is the wonderful experience of new motherhood, fatherhood, parenting, bringing that new baby home. And helping us to really wrap our arms around the financial aspect of it is Katelyn Huntington and Scott Dobson. Katelyn and Scott are experts here at Consumers Credit Union and all things financial education for all ages and stages. And we have wonderful guests to also introduce you to: Emily Pickel and Scott Pickel and little baby Lila. I see her peeking out a little bit. Holy cow, new parents, tell me about the new parents. It’s really new, isn’t it?

00:01:11.8 Emily Pickle (EP): It’s very new. She’s two and a half weeks old. She came about four weeks early, much to our surprise. But we wouldn’t change it for the world.

00:01:20.2 Scott Pickel (SP): She graced us pretty early. But, you know, we have had just such a great time getting to know this little one. And Emily has been a great mom, an amazing mom, and we’re just so excited to be on today.

00:01:31.9 LJJ: This is my granddaughter. So, Scott and Katelyn, you both are parents. Does it seem like just yesterday that you were in Scott and Emily’s age group? Stage group?

00:01:42.7 Scott Dobson (SD): Yeah. I’m thinking about a two-and-a-half-week-old baby or an 18-day-old baby. My youngest is 18 years old, so it’s been a little while since I went all through those. And I would call parents like this “in the thick of it” for the next five to eight years. So— Boy, you got, you got some financial decisions to make, but you’re in the right spot.

00:02:00.9 LJJ: Scott, give us some questions that you have running in the back of your mind when you’re trying to go to sleep.

00:02:06.4 SD: I always think of young parents, and I talk to people all the time who think about their finances, and they wonder, “Should I be taking care of my kids long term finances now that I just took time off work and I spend all this money, or should I be taking care of my own long-term finances?” Have you guys struggled with that and what have you decided to do?

00:02:26.7 SP: We definitely have, you know, we have things like 401(k)s. We have things like a 529 that we want to start with her. And it’s just been a conversation each week we have. We usually sit down on Sundays, and we talk about, you know, where we want to put our finances. And it’s, like you said, it’s a good balance to look at that and determine where the funds need to go. But it’s really difficult.

00:02:55.3 SD: In our family, we’ve kind of— we’ve all decided that as parents, you should take care of your own retirement, make sure that you’re set, because if you’re always financially set, you’ll always be there to help your children.

00:03:05.6 LJJ: Katelyn, you had mentioned that it went in a blink of an eye. Tell us the things that you have done as you’re, as you moved into—now you’re in elementary school—and how fast that happened. And give some suggestions to Scott and Emily.

00:03:20.2 Katelyn Huntington (KH): Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, Scott mentioned thinking of the long-term financial goals as you are parents, but also thinking about the short financial goals. So, to help yourself staying on track, building a monthly budget if you haven’t had one in place, to maybe think about building one for yourself as you are incurring new expenses that you didn’t have before, such as diapers, formula. And then she becomes one and two and three things are going to change. You may not need those diapers anymore or that formula, but you’re going to think about daycare and events and activities, camps for her to be— to participate in. And so, you want to start thinking about that now as you have the time before she starts crawling and walking, because that will happen in a blink of an eye. And think about what you want to do for a monthly budget if something you haven’t thought about.

00:04:10.6 SD: The other thing I thought of that really struck me when I was a young parent was unexpected health care expenses because when I had a brand-new baby, we went to the emergency room a lot because we were scared and really didn’t know. And we were going to err on the side of safety. And that— especially in today’s high deductible health plan world, it could— you could spend a few thousand bucks. So, if you’re not prepared for that, like, boy, there will probably a few times when you’re like, “Well, we probably didn’t need to go, but for safety’s sake, we went.” And to be able to be prepared for those proactively can help reduce your stress level and make it easier to be a parent.

00:04:47.5 LJJ: Emily and Scott, you have the financial experts here. Are there any questions that you have top of mind that you’d like to ask?

00:04:53.6 SP: I think you talked a little bit about saving for long term expenses, like a college fund, for example. What are some things that Consumers can offer for that long term— long term help?

00:05:09.2 SD: I’m not an investment advisor, so I’m not going to say anything investment advisor side. But over a long term like that, speaking to one of our investment advisors, they have limitless options for how long you want the money to, to be invested— what it’s going to be used for. Is it going to be used for education? Or maybe just for a down payment on a house. There’s lots of options in there. Of course, we have regular savings accounts, CDs, Christmas accounts. Sometimes you just want to, you know, have money in there until the end of the year. But we have limitless options. And the goal— really the key is to get started and pick one of them. And even if you just get started with a really small amount and know how to let your friends and family contribute to that, I know personally over a decade or so, it really, it really adds up.

00:05:54.6 EP: Right. And then you guys mentioned kind of, you know, the digital envelopes, kind of from the physical that it used to be to doing things online which— through the app or on the web. I would say, would you guys recommend kind of having multiple for, for Lila or maybe having just one baby fund and kind of contributing that way? That way we can kind of use as needed should something come up and not have to pull from one envelope to go to another. Or would it be better recommended from a savings standpoint, especially in the short term, to have them spread out? Kind of more goal specific and have the money that way?

00:06:30.8 SD: I got a weird answer. My weird answer is whatever feels better to you. When I started, all of my bills—I use the digital envelope system—make like my mortgage payment. I saved money and then it made the payment for me. And they had all separate accounts because it made me feel good to see each one of those working together. I got to a point where now all my bills are just in one account that says “Bills.” And savings is just one that says “Savings.” And I earmark it. But for me, it’s whatever made me feel the most comfortable when I was looking at it. What was the easiest for me to see and manage, and what made the most sense to my own brain. I think it was the best way— we can do it different ways. So whichever way works best for you, is the way that I think that you should do it.

00:07:14.0 KH: And let technology help you. So, you can set up auto transfers from your primary checking or your bills checking, and you can move it electronically to all that separate, you know, digital envelopes that you need or want. And so, you can just set it and forget it. And it would just be easier for you, especially with a newborn. Sometimes you forget things …

00:07:32.9 SD: And I’ll say with the set it and forget it— you guys talked earlier about sitting down and doing your fi— I do not like doing my own personal finances, I don’t know why I work at a credit union, but my own— I want to just set it and forget it. So, to— my wife and I, we sit down at the beginning of the year and say, “We’re going on vacations or we’re putting in for our retirement. Let’s set it up and then make it digital. And now we’re done for the year.” It comes out when it’s supposed to. All my bills get paid when they’re supposed to, the amount of savings. And now I don’t have to worry about it on payday. It’s just how much I have— my own spending account is really all I worry about.

00:08:05.6 SP: That’s great. And you know, you said something there that made me think of another question is like: here we are just a two-and-a-half-week-year-old. We had pregnancy brain. [laughs] So we are very forgetful right now.

00:08:17.7 SD: Yeah.

00:08:19.2 SP: Are there ways that Consumers can kind of remind us to set up those accounts or pay into those accounts, things like that?

00:08:28.5 SD: You can definitely have alerts and set up reminders. I always just have all my transactions happen on payday. So, you know, I every other Thursday at midnight I get paid. First thing Friday morning, all my money gets moved around to where it’s supposed to go, so I can just look at it and everything’s been distributed to where it has to go. And I just get to see the results either on the app or on the website.

00:08:50.6 EP: So if we wanted to get started with that, you know, or kind of add to that, is it the best way to do it just through the app and kind of start ourselves, or is it talking with someone, or how do we best get started or expand on, you know, our savings short term and long term with these digital envelopes?

00:09:06.6 SD: I’ll give you the same answer I gave before. Whichever makes you feel better. I’m pretty tech savvy, so I just go in on the app in like two minutes you can add a new account and set up. But if that’s not your thing, walk into an office and any anyone can get that sub-account open for you.

00:09:23.1 KH: And one thing also to add, even though Lila is two and a half weeks old, is you can also create a youth account for her as well, even though she’s that young, and get her started saving now.

00:09:33.5 LJJ One of the things that I think is important to know is Emily and Scott live in Saint Louis and they are members of Consumers Credit Union. So everything that Scott and Katelyn have talked about, they are doing right in the city of Saint Louis. And so, the only thing is, is this is now become face to face. And how joyful is that? Well, listen, you have any other questions before we wrap up, or do you guys have any questions of the new parents?

00:09:58.8 SD: How are your overnights going? And are you guys getting in any sleep?

00:10:02.4 EP: For the most part, you know, she’s, she’s fortunately, for being really early, she sleeps a lot, which is a nice benefit of pre— of being a very healthy, premature baby. So, we’re really kind of leaning into that sleep, especially at night. She was flipped a little bit. So, we’re trying to get her more of understanding: it’s nighttime is nighttime. And daytime is, you know, when you can be awake a little bit more. We’re taking turns of him taking some shifts and me taking shifts. So that we were both not going crazy, attempting to both not go crazy. But it’s a very fun tired I would say.

00:10:39.7 SP: It definitely is, and we’ve been trying to fit in naps here and there to try to catch up with this little one. So, if she’s sleeping, maybe it’s a good time to think about taking it easy, lay down on the couch for a little it.

00:10:52.3 SD: Well, it seems easy from our perspective because she’s been a perfect angel this whole time.

00:10:55.8 EP: She has, but you know the minute we probably turn this off, she’ll probably start screaming as soon as I take her off.

00:11:01.1 SD: That’s, that’s how real parenting goes.

00:11:02.9 LJJ: I think I just saw Luna in the back saying, “Hello,” who’s our puppy.

00:11:07.8 EP: You did. She’s been pretty good too, despite trying to bark or growl. But she’s been a good podcast—

00:11:14.6 LJJ: Good protector. You guys head out and take a nap with her right now. And we can’t thank you enough for your time. Two and a half weeks. We do know you’re tired, but, I’ll tell you, Katelyn and Scott are here for you. If you have any questions that you need down the road.

00:11:29.0 EP: Well, thank you so much. We’re really excited and we’re really grateful to be on and have learned a little bit. And to been able to have this conversation.

00:11:36.9 SP: Thank you guys so much.

00:11:38.3 SD: Sure thing. Thank you.

00:11:39.3 KH: Bye, guys. [music]

00:11:45.7 LJJ: And now it’s time for our Money Minute. Expert Josh Summerfield is with our mortgage department here at Consumers Credit Union. Josh, we’ve got a member who called. Has a very important question for you.

00:11:55.6 Josh Summerfield (JS): Sounds great.

00:11:56.1 LJJ: Let’s listen in.

00:11:57.5 Joey: This is Joey calling, and I’m actually looking into purchasing a home for the first time. Now, I was just wondering if you guys could give me any advice for a first-time homeowner. I just need to know what the smartest way to go about this is, and it’s my first time, so I want to make sure I do everything right. Thank you.

00:12:14.9 JS: Joey, that’s actually a really good question. And I think you’ve done the first step already, which is seeking education. That’s what I would have told you to do to begin with. Getting a team around you: your mortgage loan officer, your realtor, really starting to get yourself prepared for the whole process. There are things that you don’t know what to ask yet. This team that you put around you is going to help you through that process. We have some great resources on our website, a checklist that’s going to go through all the things that you’re going to probably need to know to get yourself prepared will be on there. So that’s a good place to start, as well. But I would suggest you get with a mortgage loan expert here at Consumers Credit Union and we’ll definitely help you through the process.

00:12:55.5 And if you are interested, just like Joey, go on to our website and then you can actually see all of our mortgage loan officers that are ready to serve you. And that’s this edition of Money, I’m Home. Thanks so much for joining us. And don’t forget, you can call us anytime, day or night, to ask your questions for our financial experts. 269.488.2764. That’s 269.488. 2764. Leave your questions, 24/7. And we’ve got your answers on Money, I’m Home.

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