BANK ACCOUNTS, CREDIT CARDS
Bringing up children costs over £200,000
The cost of bringing up a child has increased to £218,000 according to the latest study.
Raising a child can be expensive and the cost of this process has increased by 3.3% in the last year. Now, as a result, 76% of parents now have to make cutbacks to the family budget.
The annual Cost of a Child Report from insurance firm LV= found that raising a child from birth until their 21st birthday was a record £218,024. That’s the equivalent of £10,382 a year, £865 a month or even £28.44 a day.
This high cost has led to a number of cutbacks being introduced by parents such as only buying ‘value’ goods in their weekly shop or spending less on hobbies and toys.
Over a third are buying items from second charity shops and 34% are selling goods on ebay.
The north/South divide deepens as the cost of raising a child in greater London is the most expensive location at £239,535, compared to the North East where it stands at £202,383.
Northern Ireland, East of England and Inner London, however, are all similar in costs at £228,363, £228,685 and £228,989 respectively.
Children also tend to be expensive at different stages of their life. In their first 4 years of life they will set parents back an average of £14,140 a year. However, once the child is old enough to go into higher education, parents will be spending an average of £17,459 a year. Higher university fees, cars and moving out costs all add up, leaving parents to foot the bill.
Parents are being urged to prepare for higher education fees which could shoot up to as much as £9,000 a year from September.
“Despite an uncertain UK economy forcing more pressure on the family budget, it’s clear that parents don’t begrudge the money they spend on their children, and would rather do without themselves than radically cut back on what they can provide for their children,” commented Mark Jones , Head of Protection at LV=.
One way that parents might try to raise cash to cover the cost of raising their kids might involve taking out a credit card.
Tags: cost of bringing up a child, cost of children, cost of living, CREDIT CARDS