Why I built this

My daughter was born in November, and two weeks later we closed on a house. Between the move and the newborn chaos, I lost track of the 30-day window to add her to my health insurance — and by the time I noticed, it had closed.

I built this because I couldn't find a single place that told me what to do, in what order, and why it mattered. Every resource I found was either too generic, too overwhelming, or trying to sell me something before I even understood the basics.

This site is organized around one idea: when you have a new baby, you have limited time and unlimited anxiety. The checklist is ordered by urgency — the things that have real deadlines come first, the things you can do later are clearly marked.

I'm Shamus, and I'm writing this from the middle of it — somewhere in the Northeast. What saved me was luck: my company's open enrollment happened to fall right then, so I could add her anyway. Most people don't get that second chance, which is exactly the point — a simple checklist would have caught the deadline before it became a problem at all.

This site may include affiliate links in the future. If it does, they'll be clearly marked, and they'll never change what I recommend — I only link to things I'd actually use. You can read the full disclosure here, and how I build the checklist.

I'm not a financial advisor. This is general information; check the details for your situation.

Questions? Reach me at hello@babyfinancialguide.com. Spotted something wrong, or think the checklist is missing something? Tell me at feedback@babyfinancialguide.com.