Recently we just welcomed our third son, Sloane Jeffrey Rose into the world, weighing a respectable 6 pounds 15 ounces.
Not quite the bruiser as our second son, but it’s a good weight.
He had a good solid cry when he came out so I’m sure he is going to have a good strong voice and cry.
We are expecting many sleepless nights to come.
But we’re still very excited. 🙂
This is our third go-around at doing this, but we still had to remind ourselves of the items that we had to check off the list upon Sloane’s arrival.
For those first-time parents or maybe even second, third, fourth, or fifth (God bless you if you are this ambitious), here is a quick checklist of the items that you need to do once your child arrives.
Table of Contents
Request Your Kids Important Documents
First and foremost, you’re going to need to request their social security card and birth certificate. Typically, the hospital where you deliver will help you with this. We know that we signed a bunch of forms to request them.
6 weeks later we finally received his Social Security card but still waiting on his birth certificate. It just depends on your hospital and your state, but I think we had to pay for ours – a very small fee.
Adjust Your Taxes
If you’re going back to work you may want to adjust your W4. You may need to have some more taxes taken out or maybe not as much now that you have another dependant to take care of.
Eventually, going with the tax theme, you’ll want to notify your accountant or CPA. If you’ve met with them then most likely they know that you’re expecting a child so therefore you’ll know to have that tax deduction for the current year or the next year, whenever that may happen.
School Days
If you haven’t started thinking about college, now is the time. Check out another video post I did that talked about the rising cost of college. If you haven’t started a college savings plan, now is the time.
You’re going to need a social security number to get that open. Technically, you don’t need it to get it open, but it makes it much simpler.
What College Plan to Use?
Typically you’d stick with your state plan as you should get a state tax deduction for whatever money you put into that college savings plan.
Illinois, for example, just raised the state tax deduction to 5% from 3% making it more attractive for parents to save for their kid’s college. Be sure to do your research before you invest. I also have some resources on the blog that will help you out too.
Although it is not very exciting to do and I know you didn’t really want to do it, you do have to notify your health insurance provider letting them know that you now have another dependant, another individual covered on that plan.
Plus, I’m sure soon you’ll be getting tons and tons of bills from your hospital from all the deliveries. I know it seems like they come in every single day.
We actually have good insurance, but they still send all the notifications of all the different procedures and all the different things that happen. Make sure to notify your health insurance provider letting them know that your new child has arrived.
Beneficiary Updates
Another thing that goes overlooked time and time again is updating your beneficiaries on not only your retirement accounts; that could be your IRAs and if you have multiple IRAs in a brokerage firm or a bank make sure you get all of them updated.
Also, make sure that you have your beneficiaries updated on your 401K plan if your employer offers one or if you have a pension plan. I see so many times that a family’s parents forget to do that, always putting it off thinking they’ll get around to it, but they never do.
Don’t procrastinate. Get it updated as soon as possible.
The other thing you want to get updated would be any type of legal documents, wills, trusts, or anything of that sort. I know we just had our wills drafted. I remember talking to my attorney and saying, “Hey, I know we have #3 on the way. What are the steps that we need to do?”
He said, “When #3 arrives just give us a call. Make sure you have the social, and we will get everything updated and make an amendment to the existing will.”
Make sure you get that taken care of too, because you don’t want to leave #3 or whatever number child it is in the dark. If you don’t have a will, this is another opportunity to address that.
Now that you have children it is something that you want to think about. I have another video that talks about the importance of having a will. Be sure to check that out.
Bottom Line: Third Baby: Essential Checklist for Parents
Welcoming a new child requires careful preparation beyond immediate baby needs. Essential steps include requesting vital documents like social security cards and birth certificates and adjusting your taxes to account for an additional dependent.
Preparing for future education costs with a college savings plan is crucial. Updating health insurance and notifying them of the new addition will ensure coverage.
Moreover, revisiting and updating beneficiaries on retirement accounts, 401(k) plans, and legal documents like wills is imperative. Prioritize these steps to secure your child’s future and ensure a seamless transition.
