I am certainly no expert! But I can share with you what we have recently been encouraged by...
Personal issues
- We contacted the agency that we are planning to use and found out that the costs were less than what we thought they would be.
- We also got our 401K statements and realized that we had more vested than we thought.
General issues:
- I am sure you probably already know about the $10,000 federal income tax credit (for qualified expenses). We found some banks that do loans especially for adoption, basically it is an advance of the $10,000.
- If you borrow from 401K, the interest that you pay goes back into your account. We borrowed a small amount for the down payment on our house 2 years ago, and because of how bad the market was, we ended up making a better return on the money that we borrowed.
- Some states also offer income tax credit for qualified expenses on top of federal. Our state offers up to $1200.
- Some employers offer reimbursement of qualified expenses. Mine is considering implementing a $5000 plan in the new year
Considering that totals $16,200, it made the expenses much less daunting.
Hope this helps, but maybe someone who has already been through the process could give you better advice.
