Moms’ Money Concerns are Driven By the Ages of Their Children

For moms, their biggest money concerns depend in large part on where they are along the parenting timeline, according to a new survey.  

The website NerdWallet.com asked 600 expectant mothers and 600 moms who had teen kids about financial concerns. The top concern for the mothers of teens was getting ready to afford college, according to financial correspondent Farnoosh Torabi.

"I think that what teenage moms are telling us is that they wish they had sensed the urgency of this earlier on," Torabi said, referring to parents of teenagers.

And it seems that a lot of their concerns about paying for higher education is  rooted in reality. The average cost of four years of college has risen 42 percent in the last decade.

Torabi says second to that, staying at home with their kids was important.

"One of their regrets is that they didn't get the chance to stay at home longer than they did with their children," she said.

The 600 pregnant mothers surveyed said they were more concerned about the work-money-parenting juggling act, with that future college affordability still on the back burner.

"With expectant mothers, the biggest financial issues for them, the first is whether or not to stay home with their child fulltime," Torabi said. "And then the second is how to start saving for college immediately."

She calls it sort of a "flip" of concerns.

"The primary concern is figuring out how to navigate work and money and childcare in the present," she said.

The NerdWallet.com survey also found that for mothers of teenagers, the advice they wish that they had received as new parents - in addition to saving for college - involves getting  life insurance and making a will. "Estate planning was something that they were not prepared to do," she said.

Other financial concerns for expectant mothers include whether to buy used items rather than new ones. Torabi, a new parents herself, admitted that there is a tendency to want to purchase everything brand new.

"Being a new parent,  you kind want to just get everything new for your kid, you want to spoil your child," she said. "And the truth is, hand-me-downs are invaluable, I will say. So if you're an expecting mom wondering whether to put used clothes on your kid, do it.  It's worth it."