Parenting eats up a large part of the budget of families with children and adolescents. Specifically, almost 40% of the average disposable income – around 37,500 euros – of households made up of two adults and one or more dependent minors, according to the report on the cost of parenting by Save The Children. A situation, aggravated by the inflationary crisis, that “not only affects families in poverty, since many others find it very difficult to make ends meet,” warns Carmela del Moral, head of childhood policies at the NGO. In this situation, saving becomes a difficult challenge.
The organization estimates that a child costs on average between 556 and 736 euros per month depending on age, although the amount is higher in homes that opt ??for concerted or private education. Food and conciliation – daycare, babysitting and extracurricular activities – are the main expenses of maintaining a minor, followed by books and school supplies, among other expenses, such as clothing and footwear. To avoid holes in the bank account, it is recommended to plan your domestic finances very well, accounting for income and analyzing whether “controllable” expenses can be reduced, explains Josep Soler, executive advisor of the Spanish Association of Financial Advisors and Planners (EFPA Spain). .
The ideal, according to the expert, would be to generate a savings fund for this purpose before the arrival of the child, especially when the couple plans this important moment in their life in advance. Although he admits that it is impossible in a home where only a minimum wage comes in, in other cases it can be achieved by withdrawing a percentage – even if it is small – of the income received at the beginning of the month. And sometimes there is no choice but to give up the lifestyle that the couple had before the birth of the child.
In fact, Save the Children warns that having children is “a risk factor for poverty.” Thus, while a family with a disposable income of 62,000 euros spends on average 26% on children, another with an income of 31,000 euros spends 52%, a percentage that represents the entire disposable income of families with less income. The NGO believes that the implementation of new measures to support parenting would alleviate the situation and encourage births. “Spain is an anomaly in this sense with respect to European countries,” declares the person responsible for childhood policies at the NGO.
Among the main aids in force, the maternity deduction of 1,200 euros per year in personal income tax for each child under three years of age stands out – extendable up to 1,000 euros more for daycare expenses. Or the childhood supplement received by vulnerable families who request the Minimum Vital Income (IMV). There are also deductions for dependent descendants and aid for the most disadvantaged minors, such as scholarships for meals, materials and transportation, although the access threshold in these cases, del Moral laments, “is very low.” In addition, single-parent and large families have specific aid.
