The Parents' Financial Survival Guide

Book excerpt: How much life insurance is enough to protect my children? What is a "good" yield on a nest-egg investment? Should I give my child an allowance? How do I choose a camp? What about music lessons? What kind of college will suit my child's educational needs and my financial resources? Questions asked by parents everywhere. Now, in one up-to-date resource, the answers to these fiscal issues are available in plain, unambiguous language. Covering topics from prebirth nest eggs to the tax implications of gifts to adult children, Hughes and Klein outline financial strategies to prepare for the expected and unexpected costs of raising a child. This is a valuable guide for parents at every stage of parenthood, whether just contemplating a family or sweating bullets over the cost of higher education. No other book presents the big picture as this one does: It can help make children not only affordable, but wonderfully worth it.