How Do I Pay For IVF—And How Much Is Too Much to Spend?

Every Monday on the Money Confidential podcast, host Stefanie O'Connell Rodriguez, a nationally recognized money expert, delves into your (confidential) money problems and delivers smart, practical, and completely doable solutions that will help you work toward your ultimate financial goals. This is the place to come for real talk about money—and real solutions that actually work.

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Fertility treatments like IVF and IUI are expensive, and for most Americans, not covered by insurance. Not to mention, there are no guarantees it will work on the first try, making it difficult to know how much these treatments will ultimately cost. This week on Money Confidential, we talk about how to pay for the fertility treatments you need and navigate a financial plan in the midst of so many unknowns.

"Nora" is a 35-year-old marketing and advertising consultant based in the Bay Area. After trying to conceive for a little over a year, Nora reached out to her general practitioner for advice and decided to start IVF, short for "in vitro fertilization." With the cost of a single IVF cycle ranging from $15,000 to $30,000—depending on the location, center, and the patient's individual medication needs—Nora and her husband have been confronting difficult conversations around how much they're willing to spend to try to get pregnant and how they can budget the procedures into their overall financial plan.

Stefanie is a nationally recognized personal finance expert ready to talk work, worth, and money with unapologetically ambitious women. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Oprah Magazine, and Stefanie has appeared on ABC World News, CBSN, Fox & Friends, Fox Business, Bloomberg, The Dr. Oz Show, The Doctors, and more to share her smart, practical solutions to any money problem.

Natalie Torres-Haddad is an international award-winning author, financial and mental health educator, and bilingual podcast host of Financially Savvy in 20 Minutes. She's a two-time TEDx speaker, known for her talks, "The Foreign Language of Financial Literacy" and "The Confidence Gap." She's a first-generation college graduate from California State University, Long Beach, where she earned a bachelor's degree in finance and international business. She also earned a master's degree in public administration from California State University, Northridge. She has been featured in Forbes, HuffPost, LA Times, and more.

• When planning for IVF treatment, shop around and compare prices across providers, clinics, and pharmacies. — Natalie
• When considering your budget for IVF, consider what's doable alongside your other financial obligations and ask yourself, "What is my limit?" — Natalie

• "Money is always about so much more than just the bottom line. Especially when it comes to decisions around fertility, they can be as emotional as they are expensive—if not more so." — Stefanie

Download the transcript for this episode.

• Follow Natalie Torres-Haddad on Twitter and Instagram
• Visit financiallysavvyin20minutes.com
• Listen to Financially Savvy in 20 Minutes
• Check out the find a grant tool at cofertility.com

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