Survey: COVID-19 left many parents feeling financially unprepared to raise a child

Managing family finances is tricky enough. COVID-19 made it tougher.

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Myelle LansatNews EditorMyelle Lansat is a former news editor at Policygenius, where she covered insurance and personal finance. Previously, she was a personal finance writer at CNBC and Acorns, and a reporter for Business Insider.

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Managing family finances is tricky enough. The pandemic made it tougher. One in four (26%) parents said the pandemic made them less financially prepared to raise a child, according to Policygenius’ 2021 Parents & Money survey

We asked 1,500 parents to weigh in on how the pandemic affected their finances. One in three said they tapped their emergency, retirement or travel savings to pay for extra expenses. For a handful of parents, COVID-19 led them to shore up their finances. Nearly one in five respondents said they purchased life insurance either for themselves or their partner.

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Having that financial protection is key, said Jude Boudreaux, certified financial planner at The Planning Center.

“Providing for your little person is critical and you’ll need a few things to be in place. One is life insurance so your family can pick up the pieces if [you die],” said Boudreaux.

You can read the full survey results in our white paper, attached below. You should also sign up for the Easy Money newsletter, where we’ll feature expert advice on the results of the survey over the next few weeks.

Download the Parents and Money Survey white paper here.

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