I always knew there was a possibility that either one of my girls could have been born with a disability, which scared me. I’m sure every soon-to-be new parent feels the same way, and considering how astronomical the emotional impact is, the last thing on a new parent’s mind would be finances.
Honestly, through all of my worrying, I never considered the financial side until I saw a video on CNN: There are huge financial decisions to make, if you have a special needs child. Digging a little deeper, I found a Scott Reeves article from April of 2005 on Forbes.com that discussed a survey by MetLife. The survey polled 1,718 parents of children with special needs, and the findings were a little surprising:
Two-thirds of people asked said finding enough information about financial planning for special needs children difficult. In fact, 85% of parents ask their doctor for financial advice. If you are a new parent and your child has special needs, by all means look for the financial planning help you’ll need.
MetLife has a ton of information available on their site. Hopefully, you won’t have to worry about it, but if you do, please look it up.
Like the couple in the video said: Having a special needs child is like planning for retirement for three people.
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