How to afford twins and triplets?

Everyone will tell you that "babies cost a lot of money", even when that is not usually true. What certainly costs money is IVF, and then imagine you are expecting twins or more after spending over $20,000 on fertility treatment. How do you afford twins and triplets, and what are the biggest expenses? There is nobody better to ask than a financial expert, you'd think.

Kevin O'Reilly is a financial adviser from Scottsdale, Arizona. But when he and his wife found themselves expecting triplets after fertility treatment, they had a lot of planning to do! The couple planned to be a two-income family, and Rebecca a project manager wanted to return to work and keep her good salary after becoming a mother. But, those plans changed a little when they found they were actually pregnant with three babies.

O'Reilly told Reuters Money: "We had to buy a minivan because we needed a vehicle that could fit three car seats. That set us back about $30,000. Then there's the cost of diapers, formula and everything else you need." They also set up a savings accounts for each of their triplets, but cut back heavily on contributing to their own pension funds. The story is clear expecting multiples can mean a heavy financial blow. With children all reaching important milestones, like going to college, at the same time, expenses do not come gradually as they do for families with different-aged kids, either.

A friend of mine going for IVF was concerned about the cost, until her husband pointed out that the repayments for IVF were not unlike a "car repayment". Now, she sees IVF as a solid investment in the future. The question is, if she ends up with triplets, will she be able to make actual car repayments and cope with other expenses too? Multiples bring a lot of change, and when planning fertility treatments, it may be wise to look at the impact triplets would have on your family's finances as well.