In the first episode, we sit down with our friend Thinesh, who just found out he’s having a baby. The catch? He wasn’t expecting it. While he’s excited about becoming a dad, the big question is — is he financially ready
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00:00you can skip lunch if you're on your own but your baby can't skip lunch right he had to prepare 50k
00:04before even deciding to have a baby how much have you figured out it's gonna cost you a month i'm
00:10assuming it's gonna cost me like a maybe around like thousand ringgit thousand ringgit it's either
00:14you have a really high income or your daily spending is very low you don't have to answer
00:18which one it has to be it has to be one of them what's up guys i'm emir and this is the money
00:27gold podcast so today i'm with dinesh dinesh i heard you are getting a baby soon so what do you
00:32want to know well you know um having a baby is a good thing so a happy thing for everyone but
00:38when it comes to finance it puts you in a very gray zone where you don't know what's going to happen
00:45because you know at this stage of life you just spend every money that you have you haven't even
00:50started thinking about financial planning investment system and suddenly you have a responsibility
00:56exactly that you can't skip yeah i think being irresponsible with your money when you only have
01:02to pay for all your own things it's fine right but once you have a baby suddenly someone's
01:05responsible like you're responsible for oh yeah yeah i mean when i'm alone you can run out of money
01:10and then you can make a call like mom need money mom and but right now when you have a kid exactly
01:16you can skip lunch if you're on your own but your baby can't skip lunch right definitely
01:20the choices can't be made because the baby needs the nutrients and then in its particular formula or
01:27like that particular meal but yeah you could just skip and go for instant noodles exactly exactly so
01:33is this baby something that you had planned were you ready for it or is it something that just
01:38happened um i mean i wouldn't say we plan for it but yeah i mean of course we expected to have a
01:45baby at some point in life okay we just didn't expect it to be this soon to be now right i mean
01:50i guess most guys would not think about like to have a baby at that moment but when it happens it
01:56happens yeah exactly how old are you by the way um in my 30s yeah 30s okay okay okay so i think before
02:03we even get into the baby part aside from the baby how are you guys doing financially um i would say we
02:08are doing good and comfortable um uh if it's just two of us i think we're very comfortable
02:15everything's fine yeah you're fine with your expenses no big debt nothing like that right um
02:19we we made that that choice very cautiously like we decided to keep our debt slow so yeah we are
02:25financially free from like smart you're a smart guy so we we didn't buy those luxury things like cars
02:32or big houses yep um i mean there are plans i mean of course we want to live the high life but
02:38with the current level cancel with the baby maybe maybe i would say a little delayed okay yeah but
02:46yeah we we did we we made that cautious choice of not getting stuck in the debt i think that's good
02:50that's smart i mean even though you didn't expect to have a baby at least you're in a good
02:54financial situation decent financial situation right you know how when you go on to airplanes and stuff
02:58and then like oh if the emergency mask comes on make sure you put it on yourself first uh before
03:03you put it on for anyone you're responsible for yeah at least your financial masses you guys are good
03:07right at least we're breathing okay so when it comes to babies okay i'm gonna be honest i don't have
03:13a lot of experience in this so i have i have cats but i heard that babies are a bit more expensive than
03:18cats so i guess pre-delivery is uh something that you have to prepare for right or leading up to your
03:23wife getting birth oh yeah i mean um i think the moment that i when we found out that we are
03:29pregnant yeah we were expecting to bring in a life to this world we are i started thinking about
03:34finance okay yeah for sure okay so how much am i gonna spend on this like how much money i should
03:39have before the delivery happens and what things i need to buy so i've i've been talking around with
03:46the pros the old timers the new ones and then no i had this friend um um i would say a really good
03:55friend that said that he had to prepare 50k before even deciding to have a baby and this was just for
04:02his wife to give birth or was it like just for the first year um just till she gave birth yeah and i
04:08freaked out i was like bro are you talking about raising the whole kid or just delivery and then he was
04:14like um you need to get a really good hospital you need to get a really good room for the delivery
04:19and then the checkups the the confinement you need to send her to this place where like they really
04:25take care of the mom and the baby and i was like i can't afford this baby right now i'm sure a lot of
04:31people feel like that and then that's when i had a chat with a really good friend that works with me
04:36okay um he gave me the reality of it like that's options that's that's exactly i was just gonna say
04:42surely there are ranges surely not everyone has to pay 50k for a baby right oh no no yeah definitely
04:46no it's way way way cheaper and then um we started exploring for good options like um government
04:52hospitals are really good exactly um you could do your checkups at kk they are really nice they're
04:57really good they are very way on the level of a private hospital and then um when it comes to
05:04delivery there are options of semi-governments like exactly i was gonna say um right um is a
05:09semi-government that's not as expensive as private yes we're actually planning to deliver
05:14in ul um we love the facility there so we decided then there are other options as well like um hospitals
05:21that are tied up with universities yep like those kind of hospitals really give good treatment without
05:27the extremely high price tag right yes somewhere that we could save up and afford okay okay yeah i think
05:33that's what is more realistic i think some people who maybe don't have kids the first time they
05:37listen to this podcast like 50k they're not gonna have kids so obviously there are ranges to it right
05:41oh yeah there are also options where you don't really spend that much at all so much yeah i mean
05:47dorm hospital really good yeah and you just have to pre-book a hospital nearby your home which
05:54would probably be like a few bucks only oh yeah yeah yeah exactly the good thing about malaysian
05:59healthcare yeah i think i think a friend of mine that recently had a baby just paid like
06:04five ringgit five ringgit five ringgit yeah baby yeah that's crazy i'm not sure about the room
06:10chargers but that's why he said you just paid five ringgit okay okay okay okay so let's go in
06:15between i assume you're the person who is in between the five ringgit and the ten thousand
06:19ringgit the 50k guys i won't lean closer to the five ringgit okay okay so so i'm sure you've done your
06:26research right you figure out what kind of cost you need to pay this is before your wife even gives
06:30so how much did that figure come up to okay so when when i did my research at stage four right so
06:36we so we decided like let's let's not go too high yeah in case of emergency we probably need to have
06:44emergency fund of like 10k smart so um it gives a complication delivery or like we need to do a c-section
06:52yep um 10k was roughly the average price okay so um we did i mean we decided to do checkups in both
07:00government and at um okay so um checkups not that expensive okay and the scans are really reasonable
07:08maybe like a quarter of what you would pay at a hospital okay okay yep so that's that's that so maybe i
07:16think you should probably have emergency fund of maybe like 10k 10k to be ready to be ready and like
07:24maybe monthly you probably need to spend around like 300 to 400 for checkups and stuff maybe another
07:30before getting above even right yeah okay and if you factor in the nutritious food or like if like the
07:37person is seeing supplements yep maybe another hundred ringgit okay 400 to 500 ringgit a month and then
07:43um 10k towards the delivery and maybe if you factor in the expenses of like preparing for maybe
07:49the clothes yep the baby cord or diapers and everything maybe that would come up to another
07:55five to 10k that's like the bills keep stacking up man oh yeah it does but again it all comes to
08:02choices yeah there are always cheaper choices that you make and i think as a first-time parent i would
08:09i would say i i'm all cautious towards the brands that i choose yep since we don't have experience we
08:17choose the best we we assume that we're choosing the best um but again the good friend at work said
08:24the the most expensive is not the best brand every baby is built different and we just have to
08:31give a trial and error process goes on honestly if i had a kid i feel like i would just buy the most
08:36expensive things only the best for my kid but obviously that's not the smart choice right
08:40yeah but i think that's what all our first friends do exactly exactly okay but before we get into ways
08:45that we can save on some of these things right so what you said when you had a kid or when you just
08:49found out that you guys were pregnant you weren't expecting it right yeah so how much do you think
08:54it was gonna be and and how did you react when you found out the real cost of things we got
08:58pregnant very recently after we got married okay so we also you had the wedding cost that you
09:04were just covering financially from ah okay so that was going on and when we i mean the initial
09:12reaction was um i mean of course i was happy i was glad that you know we were pregnant but although
09:18i was a bit worried about um the responsibilities comes with the package yeah like am i financially
09:23ready for this yep um so what was your immediate reaction yes or no um to the to the baby yeah
09:30financially as in financially financially yes we we did the math but immediately like we say okay
09:37you make this much i make this much so we need to pay off this this this and we make sure we don't
09:42add on anything yeah we should be fine okay okay that's good that's good at least at least you know
09:47you had all of those and immediately you calculated your finances and stuff and you guys knew that you
09:51could afford it right that and so all these upfront costs that you had to prepare for let's say 10k for
09:56delivery and stuff did you had that cash ready or was it something that you're saving up right now
10:00um it is something that i'm saving up right now okay yeah guess you know um i mean the at this point
10:08of life where i am newly married yeah so we are also building a house so that's that's expenses going
10:15on we we know i need to accommodate the needs of like the family yeah so usually whenever i save up
10:22it goes there okay then we start off again and again but yeah we do have a bit of savings
10:28kept aside for emergency funds but yeah we are building towards the end angle of like okay this
10:36is a comfortable month we want to have before the baby comes honestly it sounds like you know you just
10:41got married you found out you have a kid you're building a house it's either you have a really high
10:46income or your daily spending is very low you don't have to answer which one it has to be it has to be
10:50one of those i mean i would love to say it's the first option but actually i would say neither
10:57because um the day expenses is still i think um post-covid is really expensive yep the same things
11:05that i enjoyed during uni is way way expensive right now you know economical rice is so expensive
11:11right now yeah exactly exactly i see bujang is expensive guys it is even chop fun and everything
11:16right you think it's cheap yeah you take a bit it's like 15 20 ringgit it's crazy yeah yeah so okay
11:21so back to it so i guess in preparation for your wife giving birth it seems like you got everything
11:26under control nine months you have which i guess is not an extremely long time but it's enough time
11:31for you to save up that amount of money right yeah true true okay hopefully is it hopefully i mean
11:36it's not a long enough for it to to do an investment and get the but step by step i mean obviously yeah you
11:42can't you can't prepare for everything right you just have to take things as it goes i mean
11:46with finances it's like that not just with your kid with just everything in general right you can't
11:50get to the end right now right it's step by step i think we need to put in like um like touch points
11:58where we we plan out things like okay from point a to point b we need this and then from when we reach
12:04point b then we will plan out the next stage for now we are planning for the baby's arrival
12:09yep okay once the baby's here we will prepare for you know the next step the baby growing up the
12:15education the additional monthly cost right yeah so have you done any research on okay once the baby
12:20is born up till they're i don't know 18 for as long as you're responsible for them like monthly
12:24costs and stuff do you guys have this factored into your budgets um honestly not yet i guess um
12:31again i've been chatting with my good friend at work okay this good friend is really knowledgeable
12:36yes yes yes and um you know uh expenses actually grow as your kid grows up um and um another mutual
12:47friend of us we had a chat and then she is sending a side of fun for her kids in case the kid wants to
12:54like study abroad okay so she started saving now and then she wants to give that huge chunk of amount
13:01when the kid is ready to like even move abroad or like if the kid wants to start a business
13:05so that that's the idea is in my head right now yeah and um we also need to look into the factors
13:12if i'm not there yeah so what happens yeah yeah what happens to the kid we so we need to do that
13:19investment as well because we need to think ahead and of course education options like are we gonna go to
13:26a government exactly are we gonna go for a private school yep if we do decide private is it really
13:31worth it and can we afford it exactly it's super expensive okay so i don't have kids but i have a
13:37lot of colleagues who have kids and this is the exact thing that they think about do i send to private
13:42um from six seven years old right and then if you decide that it's all the way till they're 17 and
13:48then there's university yeah a lot of choices right yeah but yeah again like um i would i mean it comes
13:54back to our financial stability i think in in my case my decision would be if i had the money to
14:00spend of course then i'm i would i would consider it if not i think our education system is great
14:06exactly at least there is that backup option right with kkm for healthcare with public schools public
14:11universities at least all these options right i mean those are really good options that we
14:16we should benefit from like um the education system is good it's just that if i've been uh it's an
14:23option that people can have that if like they could afford it yeah they could if they couldn't
14:27they still have good options yep yep yep okay going back to the investment part that you said your
14:32uh friend was saving up for your kids education for her kids education i mean i think this is a really
14:36cool idea so i read a lot about these things online as well and it's something that i want to do so
14:40you know that if you when you have a kid right um and if you save up just 200 ring a month so if
14:45you just do 200 ring a month from the first day that your kid is born all the way till they're 18 and
14:50you invest this money so i think 18 years is a long enough time frame where you can put it into
14:53the stock market for example and let's say you can get six percent return which is quite a good amount
14:57yeah right that would probably cover most of the uh i mean if they said in a local university that
15:02would cover most of the expense yeah exactly so you know i was thinking like for me if i have a kid
15:07right so i would save up all this money when you're 18 years old i tell them hey if you get a
15:12scholarship this cash is yours to start out your life by a car whatever it is if you don't get a
15:17scholarship then sorry this will go to your education and you have to start from scratch
15:20that to me sounds like a really good idea where you know you start saving for your kid you almost
15:25open their own investment account and just start putting money in oh yeah well i'm planning something
15:31similar like okay i've heard of this plan called a sspn account yep sspn yes sspn super good okay on
15:39that let's just quickly tax relief right for having a kid are you aware of all the tax relief yes okay
15:43okay that's good because i'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to this so i haven't i don't have kids
15:46but i still like just think about what i could save if i had kids so i think um having a kid you
15:51can save two thousand ringgit tax relief i think and then there is a breastfeeding equipment child
15:55care and all this and sspn since you brought that up i honestly think sspn is amazing if you have a
16:01kid yeah because eight thousand ringgit a year you put in you get tax relief and that money is earning
16:06you interest anyway and i think the best part is you can just take it out if you really if you really
16:10need oh yeah yeah i mean i have chatted with them and i assume that it's gonna be really hard to
16:15take it out like you need to go in person for a form or anything but apparently no you can just
16:20take it out from your app exactly you just transfer it to another account and just exactly exactly yeah
16:25so there are other tax reliefs for things like let's say epf right but the difference if you put
16:29into epf now if my kid really needs something i can't take it out right whereas with sspn that's
16:33why i think i think sspn is amazing good that you already thought about it i think as soon as you have a
16:37kid just yeah so as i have eight thousand ringgit there so i have the birth certificate with me
16:42open an account yeah okay okay so i think general expenses for your baby when they're just born
16:48uh how much have you figured out it's gonna cost you a month i'm assuming it's gonna cost me like
16:53maybe around like a thousand ringgit thousand ringgit this is just a really extreme estimation
16:59like i'm just i'm going above above and we are only the best i'm just saying like this might be it but
17:06i i'm now i'm hoping it's not that much we do factor in the diapers the formula of the the formula
17:13the the the creams yep how about daycare though since you said both you and your wife are working
17:20right yeah so yeah i mean daycare is expensive so you're planning on paying for it um at the
17:26moment um i'm not planning on daycare okay um i'm i'm hoping that one of the grandparents would
17:33exactly that's a money saving hack right get your parents to take care of your kid
17:38you can't take it for granted but it's definitely one of the ways you can save when you have a kid
17:43right for sure honestly i think in some parts of the world okay maybe not kala but daycare costs
17:49have gotten so high that if the wife's salary or the husband's salary doesn't match it they may as
17:53well just quit their job and uh take on the role as as uh yeah i mean makes sense yeah yeah rather
17:59than you pay more exactly yeah yeah but i guess in malaysia okay we're not there yet since you said
18:03you have found some options 700 ringgit right any other major costs that you've figured out um
18:07monthly i think uh the insurance for the kid oh are you planning on getting insurance for your kid
18:13um yeah we we're planning to get it before the baby arrives actually okay and this is medical
18:18insurance for your kid right um we are planning like medical plus investment okay yeah i think
18:24most people will go for those options now yeah yeah yeah you you because i think if you just go for
18:28medical though the the rate is quite flexible so yeah i go up and down when it plus in uh with
18:33investment you have a fixed rate there exactly exactly yeah and i guess also on insurance now that
18:40you have a kid you have someone who is dependent on you then you would need life insurance right
18:44is it something they already had or is something that oh now i have to add this on oh uh we already
18:48have insurance okay life insurance just to make sure if anything happens your kid would yeah be
18:54fine so my insurance agent did explain to me the benefits of dying okay yeah yeah i think i think i
19:01think um one thing that i don't know if you consider this as well but one thing that you need to also
19:06look at once people have kids right uh they start having to think about wills so wealth transfer they
19:11call this right so yeah if anything were to happen to you just make sure that you know epf nominee
19:15is to your kid you know you have all your other assets like in line with your kid and then
19:19if let's say touch wood in a worst case scenario right something happens to both you and your wife
19:23you need to appoint a guardian that will take care of your kid and these assets until they're 18
19:28years old all right i'll be honest i've never thought about this yeah okay it's okay it's okay i think
19:32let your wife uh deliver a baby first and then you like i said step by step sorry for overwhelming
19:36you i mean it's good to be prepared yeah exactly exactly you because you you do want the kid to be
19:44comfortable with or without you being there exactly exactly okay so i guess to wrap it all up having a
19:51kid of course is a blessing some people are prepared for it uh you know everything is really good to go
19:55before they uh actually get the baby which is perfect some people like yourself it's unplanned but at least
20:00like you said you're in a good scenario but i guess if anyone is out there who is planning on
20:04having a baby i guess you've listed down all the expenses that they can think of all the things
20:08about the future you know 18 years down the line so it can be i guess just to sum up what you've told
20:14me so far it can be expensive it can be a financial burden kids are not cheap that's for sure but i think
20:19with the right planning with the right sacrifices it is something that you can manage comfortably
20:25right all right so three key takeaways from this episode i guess number one do your research you did
20:31a lot of research to make sure you know all the costs you're prepared for it number two is you need
20:35to be prepared for it you've done the research make sure you save up make sure you've budgeted everything
20:39is good to go before your kids even here true and then number three uh like teenage said there are
20:44options there are options from very very expensive 50k just to give birth all the way to
20:49five ringgit delivery right so there are options you can just play within range
20:53i know everyone wants to have the best for the kids like tinesh said but you need to be realistic
20:58you need to be responsible and plan for the future true right so thank you so much tinesh
21:02this is the end of this episode of the money goal see you guys in the next one