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KID’S COSTS CAN LEAVE YOU CRYING LIKE BABY

So, you’ve got a client who gave birth today. You might want to send her a card, but…

So, you’ve got a client who gave birth today. You might want to send her a card, but hold onto the itemized budget you’ve laid out to support the baby. You don’t want the kid to end up an orphan.

The new millennium will see a new era in cost increases. Sure, inflation is the lowest in decades, but costs for raising a child will still reach record proportions.

For starters, advisers say, parents of a child born in 1999 should have set aside about $3,000 for initial clothing, furnishings and formula. Don’t forget to add in the loss of wages for the mother, for however long she takes maternity leave.

Living expenses vary, but on average the cost is $400 a month per child in today’s dollars. The tab for the first year of little Buffy’s life comes to $4,800. By the time she’s a senior in high school, the one-year cost almost doubles — to $9,350. It’s all those incidental expenses: prom dress, $175; tuxedo, $150; Big Mac meal, $4.99. (And those are today’s prices; we estimate the burger will cost $10.13 in 2017, assuming 3.1% annual inflation.) Forget about braces, bat mitzvahs and broken windows.

As for education, public college now costs $3,243 a year for books and tuition; it will average about $8,605 annually when the child is 18, according to the National Association of Independent Colleges.

Private institutions now average $14,508 a year for tuition and books, and the association predicts the annual figure will hit $38,494 in 18 years. How much should you save to pay for a private college education? The recommended sum (including room and board) is $250,000.

To get there, one could invest $62,000 today in a portfolio that earns 8% annually over the next 18 years. Whatever strategy, the sooner, the better, experts say.

“College expenses are going up much faster than the rate of inflation, but there is no better return on an investment than money invested in a college education,” says Linda A. Barlow, a certified financial planner in Santa Ana, Calif. “The minimum that a college graduate would earn over a high school graduate in a lifetime is $600,000.”

The extra income certainly would help the child afford the future costs of housing — after the marriage, of course (today’s $30,000 wedding will be tomorrow’s $101,591 shindig the year she turns 25).

For the ultimate present from mom and dad — a down payment on a house — you better start saving now. A $220,000 house will be selling for $541,000 when the kid is 35.

How about microsoft at $3 million a pop?

Projected costs of various goods and services in the year 2100, based on historical rates of inflation and returns

Porsche 911 (fully loaded)

1999: $83,340 2100: $809,872

Tudor-style home in Greenwich, Conn.

1999: $519,500 2100: $23,602,618

Excellent bottle of Burgundy

1999: $1,000 2100: $19,238

One troy ounce of gold

1999: $259.40* 2100: $10,771,075

Subscription to InvestmentNews

1999: $43 2100: $922.49