Your client just had twins, now what?

Couples usually plan to have one child at a time, but in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is becoming increasingly common among urban clients aged 35 and up, which raises the likelihood of twins and triplets.

Kelly Ho, a partner at DLD Financial in Vancouver, has several clients with twins and large families. While first-time parents who have multiples don’t typically choose to have more children afterward, those who already have one child and want more may end up with multiples on their second attempt.

“I have a few sets of twins within my clientele,” Ho said. “In one case it was IVF, so they knew there was going to be a chance that they were going to have twins.”

When clients find out they’re joining the minivan mafia, experts recommend balancing childcare spending with retirement needs, reassessing insurance coverage and considering the long-term implications of having one parent stay home.

Childcare vs. retirement

Couples may plan to have children, but they don’t always have a specific “diaper fund,” said Scott Sather, president and financial planner at Awaken Wealth Management in Regina. Once clients know how many children they’re expecting, planning should include reallocating budgets and reprioritizing goals. Children’s expenses and retirement savings often become competing priorities with limited cash flow, said Gabriel Leclerc, a financial advisor with Edward Jones in Arnprior, Ont., who at one point had four children at home. If a client has a matching pension or group retirement savings plan, those should be prioritized first, since employer matches are “use it or lose it,” Leclerc said. RESP grant money, by contrast, can be caught up later.

It’s also important to look at longer-term needs, Ho said. The first five years of childcare costs are typically the most expensive, often reaching thousands of dollars per month for daycare or nannies—especially for families with three children. Costs usually decrease once children begin primary school. During those early years, it may make sense for clients to focus more on building an emergency fund through a TFSA rather than maximizing retirement savings, said Sather, who has two children and two grandchildren. This provides flexibility when expenses are unpredictable. As “living gifts” become more common among older clients, grandparents may want to contribute directly to grandchildren’s RESPs, Leclerc said.

“I do family meetings with our clients and the other generations on how to best utilize those gifts so that the grandparents feel the funds haven’t just been used to buy a car or go to Disney, but for something substantial that they feel good about.” Grandparents can also be a valuable childcare resource in the early years, helping reduce financial strain—especially since it can be difficult to find a nanny willing to care for twins or triplets, Sather added.

Insurance needs

Some immediate costs don’t scale proportionally with the number of children. For example, clients may need to upgrade to a larger home or purchase a new family vehicle. As financial commitments increase, Ho reviews clients’ insurance needs to ensure the surviving spouse could support the children and service debt if one parent dies.

In addition, insurance premiums are lowest when a child is just 15 days old, so parents may consider purchasing a whole life policy for a child as a tax-sheltered savings vehicle, Ho said. In most cases, parents can later transfer insurance policies to their children tax-free, and the accumulated savings may eventually be sufficient to offset premiums.

To work or not to work?

Several provinces offer $10-a-day daycare, but spaces are extremely limited – getting multiple children into the program can feel like winning the lottery, Ho said. Without subsidized care, daycare costs in Vancouver can exceed $1,000 per month per child, even after provincial fee reductions.

Beyond whether a second income covers childcare costs, clients should consider the long-term earnings impact of stepping away from a career, Leclerc said. Career progression, Canada Pension Plan benefits and pension eligibility are all affected by years of service. “Even if the net benefit of going to work today is small, you’re still giving up some future income,” Leclerc said. “Are you continuing to contribute to the pension plan while on parental leave? And how do you plan on buying back pension years after returning to work?”

From a tax perspective, advisors can illustrate the net impact of giving up one income using financial planning software. Parents may qualify for additional tax credits and can deduct daycare costs against the lower-income earner, Leclerc noted. Sather’s family didn’t even reach a 10% savings rate during the early years of raising two young children—but financial trade-offs aren’t the whole story.

“Do I look back now and say, ‘Darn, I wish we would’ve put more money into the savings account?’ Nah man, it doesn’t matter,” Sather said. “There’s some grace that needs to be given. If you’re working 35 or 40 hours a week, that’s time someone else is spending with your child instead of you. That has to be part of the equation.”

JONATHAN GOT, ADVISOR.CA
PUBLISHED JAN 22, 2026