PEORIA, Ill. — Studies have shown that parents will spend up to $20,000 within their babies first year and upwards of $230,000 by the time they are 18.

Some of these expenses include paying for college, a car, and childcare.

“One of the biggest ones honestly is childcare. If you and your spouse or partner both work sometimes you have to have the conversation of maybe one of you stop working to take care of the child instead of paying for childcare,” said Kingdom Purposes Investment Financial Advisor Kendall Stahl.

The high cost of a child can be intimidating, but you can plan for the expenses. Stahl says starting to save for college as early as possible can make a big difference.

“If you just start putting a hundred bucks or fifty bucks a month away or something like that it can make a huge difference over those 18 years and at the end of those 18 years have a pretty substantial chunk for college,” said Stahl.

A lot of parents often forget that they still have to care for themselves and will put off saving for retirement until it’s too late. Then they are stuck asking their kids to help with retirement funds.

Kingdom Purposes Investment has a life insurance calculator on its website to help get you started with planning.