Babies are big business. Nobody wants to be a bad parent, so there is great pressure to be sure you have not just the essentials, but the best essentials for your new baby. If you're a first-time parent, you have no experience to guide you. The helpful salesperson at the local Baby-Mega-Super-Store will be more than happy to provide you with a mile-long list of what, you're assured, are really and truly the essentials.
Well, I'm here to tell you different.
My fourth child is scheduled to make her appearance in just a couple of months. My oldest child is not yet five years old. For the last several years of my life, I've been a card-carrying, dues-paid, full-fledged member of the baby club. Many of those "essentials" you see for sale just turn into extraneous stuff that you have to keep cleaning, moving, and, at times, paying for. Save yourself some money and space, and stock up only on what you'll actually use. Here's my list of needs. (See also: Which Baby Products Are a Waste of Money?)
A Place to Sleep
A decent crib, a good mattress, and enough bedding to keep baby comfortable are essential. You don't, however, have to buy a crib new to get a good one. Search your local classifieds for a used crib; just make sure you get one that isn't more than five years old. It should be sturdy, with small spaces between the slats and all hardware intact. Most cribs that have been made within the last five years convert easily into toddler beds.
Salespeople at the Big Baby Box Store will scare you with talk of scoliosis and try to get you to buy the premium mattress for your crib. I bought the mid-grade; it's obviously firmer and nicer than the cheapest option, but it's also as firm and nice as I need it to be for peace of mind.
As far as what to put on the mattress, keep it simple. Bumper pads are not necessary and can even be a suffocation hazard. Same goes for big, fluffy comforters, pillows, stuffed animals, or piles of blankets. For the first six months or so, you'll want to have a mattress cover, five crib sheets (frequent spit-ups and diaper incidents make extras really nice to have around), and a couple of lightweight blankets. When the weather is cool, dress baby warmly so she won't get cold during nap time and night time.
A Place to Play
For the first several months of your baby's life, mobility won't be an option for him. This means, basically, that you can plop him down on a blanket, and he's not going anywhere. This also means that baby doesn't really need a swing, a bouncer, a play center, a play pen, a walker, a baby papasan, or any of the other play area options out there.
The caveat on this is when your baby does start to get mobile. Rolling, scooting, and then crawling will introduce a whole new world of possibilities. At that point, it's nice to have one or two confined play areas handy, so you can keep your baby entertained and safe while you need to do something else. But you don't need all the options.
Before you buy, test out what your friends have; go have a play date and put your baby in your friend's swing. If he's screaming in five minutes, don't spend $100 on a swing. If he's happy, it might be worth the investment. I've had the best response from my children with a very basic baby swing, a little reclined baby seat, and a Pack 'n Play that serves as a confined play area and can be moved to any room of the house, the yard, a friend's house, or Nana's house.
A Way to Travel
A safe car seat and a sturdy stroller are investments worth making for your new baby. You'll get the best deal on new items by purchasing a car seat/stroller combination; those will start at about $150 new and go up from there. The same advice applies to car seats and strollers as to cribs. If you're purchasing used, make sure the car seat/stroller isn't over five years old, and inspect it thoroughly to be sure it's in good condition.
The only other "travel" item I've used over the years is a front-pack baby carrier. I got a good brand, and it's lasted through heavy use with three babies. These seem to be mainly a matter of personal preference, however; if you can't picture yourself walking around with a baby strapped to your chest, don't buy one.
Clothes
Brand-new babies, prone to random bouts of spitting up and explosive diapers, can go through quite a few outfits in a day. Stock up on essentials that are comfortable for your baby and easy to get on and off: ruffles, ribbons, bows, zippers, buttons, and extra clothing "decor" tend to make the dressing process complicated and long (not fun when your baby is screaming), and, generally, the more "stuff" on an outfit, the less comfortable your baby will be in it.
Zecco iPhone app. Zecco recently released their free iPhone app, Zecco Mobile Lite, which is already among the highest rated investment apps in the iTunes store. The iPhone app also works on the iPod Touch and iPad. The good news is that anyone can use it for stock research, updates, tracking your portfolio, maintaining a watchlist, real time streaming quotes, and free push alerts. The downside to the app is that you can’t make trades from it at this time. And if you’re like me and have an Android based phone, then don’t worry – the Android app is currently in development, but the Zecco rep I recently spoke with wasn’t allowed to give me a launch date at this time.
Zap Trade. This is a truly unique feature which Zecco holds a patent to, so you won’t see it elsewhere. Zap Trade is a FireFox browser plugin which gives you the power to make trades from any web page once you are signed in. Zap Trade will automatically scan the website you are visiting and highlight any ticker symbols to give you easy access to more in-depth research on that stock, or the ability to trade that stock from that page. It’s a powerful tool for traders who know what they want.
Premium investing tools. If you are a day trader, you will want a tax planning tool to help you make the best decisions regarding which shares to sell for the highest tax efficiency. Zecco offers a free integrated cost basis tool for all shares purchased in 2011 and going forward. Zecco also offers Gainskeeper, which is an industry recognized tool for tracking cost basis. There is an associate fee with the latter tool.
Account records. Zecco keeps their costs down by automatically enrolling you in e-statements. You can receive paper statements for a fee.
Zecco Customer Service
Zecco offers e-mail, live chat, and telephone support through a free customer service number – 1.877.700.7862. Zecco’s FAQ section can take care of many questions, but if you need immediate assistance, you will need to call between the hours of 9am-6pm est, Mon-Fri.
Security and insurance
Your money is safe with Zecco. Zecco is a member of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which is the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. Zecco is covered by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which is an organization that acts as insurance against your broker filing for bankruptcy or otherwise going under. Funds are available to meet customer claims up to a maximum of $500,000 in cash and securities with a $100,000 cash maximum. Zecco has additional coverage from Lloyds of London insurance and is secured through a VeriSign SSL Certificate to assure your confidential information remains secure.
Trading Key. Before making a trade, Zecco members must enter a trading key – this is a separate step that occurs after logging in to their account. This prevents unauthorized users from causing some major damage to your account.
My overall opinion of Zecco
I think Zecco is a quality trading platform, which certainly can’t be beat for the price. Zecco is a flexible brokerage and will meet the needs of many different types of investors – from the investor who buys and holds ETFs (such as myself) to the day trader who makes dozens of trades in a month. The biggest complaint that some people have is the additional expense of certain premium tools. But in my opinion, if you are trading often enough to need those tools, you are most likely saving a lot more money based on the average trade commission with Zecco compared to the average trade at another brokerage. You can learn more about Zecco at: https://www.zecco.com/
Other brokerage reviews: How to choose and online brokerage, Sharebuilder review, TradeKing review, Zecco, ShareBuilder, and TradeKing comparison, Free Stock Trading and Investing Tools.
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