How financially prepared were you for a baby?

DD265

We're not in any rush to start a family (we're 32), but are starting to think about longer term finances. I have worked out that maternity leave would cost me circa £19k in 'lost' salary and that's quite a scary number. I'd had it in my head that we would save up beforehand and have difference set aside (I'm the higher earner)... I think we may need to move the goal posts nearer if we want to have a child this side of 40!

What steps did you take to become financially prepared? What did prepared look like for you?

BrassicWoman

your partner could take shared parental leave and you could go back to work...

Retireby40

Interesting post as I am in a similar position. Thinking of family that is.

Personally I believe you have to set yourself up the best you can which is what you seem to be doing.

Could yous live of one salary for a while? For say 6-9 months. Most families should be able to run a house on one decent salary even if it is just for a few months while savings, any maternity leave reduced payments etc top up that amount.

It may mean a few cut backs on unnecessary living but food/mortgage/modest car payments shouldn't be so much that you need both full salaries every month.

John_

We waited until we were very well prepared. We were aware that this came with risks, and downsides, but could not imagine jumping in until we were completely certain that we would never struggle to bring them up.

We both worked hard at advancing in our careers, and never spent all that we earned, so when the first baby came along we were bringing him home to a “forever” family home, with two parents capable of each covering all of the costs.

Retireby40

John_ said:

We waited until we were very well prepared. We were aware that this came with risks, and downsides, but could not imagine jumping in until we were completely certain that we would never struggle to bring them up.

We both worked hard at advancing in our careers, and never spent all that we earned, so when the first baby came along we were bringing him home to a “forever” family home, with two parents capable of each covering all of the costs.

That's exactly what you want. I often see many people rushing to have children or just throwing caution to the wind thinking things will be ok. They have no savings, renting a house, maybe only one parent working and it just spells future trouble and debt.

Your way you are giving the child the best possible start and while unexpected things can happen you have prepared yourself the best you can for that unexpected thing.

Fair play!!!

kingfisherblue

We were both working. My ex was in a job that paid the lower side of ok, and my job was low paid - this was almost thirty years ago, and there was no minimum wage at the time. We had saved for a mortgage and had no other debts apart from his car on finance. He needed it to get to work in the next town, for 6am start. We cut back on anything that we could, and saved a few hundred pounds over the next year. By then, I was starting maternity leave. We managed with my lower income, but could no longer save. I returned to work part time, with both sets of parents helping by looking after our daughter two half days a week each. My ex had her on Saturdays.

Three years later, we were able to move to a bigger house in a better area, and four years after that, we had our second child. I think that it helped that we didn't borrow the absolute maximum that we could have done. We also didn't go abroad - a caravan in Wales once a year was our holiday. We rarely ate out, and we cut our cloth according to our means. Car boot sales were popular when our daughter was born, so we bought a lot of items second hand (the pram, cot mattress, and car seat were all new).

Trina90

We were aiming for this year to start trying for a family but this is on hold for now due to the current situation. I will be 30 this year. We have been overpaying our mortgage for the last 4-5 years with the goal to make our mortgage small enough to manage on just my husband's salary when the time comes, as I really want to be a SAHM for the first few years at least. 

DD265

Thanks all. As it stands, my salary can cover all our expenses but my husband's cannot, and that's something we're already working towards irrespective of any plans to start a family.

A big chunk of the 'too much' is repayment of 0% debts; once those are gone we'll feel a lot better off. Our mortgage repayment is also high due to us only having a small deposit, but we're overpaying with a view to being able to bring that down when our fix ends in 4 years. Progress has been slowed a little with husband being furloughed and me earning 100% but no bonuses, so it seems like a good time to assess direction and priorities.

ceb1995

I'm 11 weeks pregnant and we'd paid off our credit cards before trying and have an emergency fund and about 1.5k saved for things for the baby. Having done the maths, our debt repayments are quite low and with maternity pay and my husband's wages we can cover everything being careful, our lifestyle is quite minimal anyway (the debt was from home improvements on our mortgaged property) so there's not going to be that much change in that case.
we have been very lucky and neither of us have been furloughed or lost income from this situation, we're 25 and 29 and we're in a good enough position we're comfortable with now, acknowledging that being a mum I wanted the best chances for being here for children as long as possible. 

strawb_shortcake

When I was pregnant with our first, financially we were okay not great but not on the bread line, but we well my husband wasn't in a great place at the time. The pregnancy did change that and things got much better, we moved back to my parents to save a deposit for a house as we knew we didn't want to bring children up where we living at the time. 
When I went on maternity leave I had 6 months full pay, we chose to save all of this and get used to living on one salary as we wanted one parent at home. Nearly 17 years later we still live on one wage, 11 years ago we swapped roles and I went back to work, and he's been a stay at home Dad. He now starts uni in September and we'll have another 4 years of one wage. 

I earn a good wage but no means a high earner, we have no debt but we aren't materialistic either, so it balances itself out, I think you just need to be on the same page and be happy with the compromises you make when you decide to start a family be it social, professional or financial or any thing else. Not everyone can start parenthood with 1000's in the bank, but it doesn't mean they shouldn't be having children they just find a way of making it work - you could always consider going back to work and your partner being a stay at home Dad if you have higher earning potential 

Savvy_Sue

It's worth remembering that while one of you is not working, there are no commuting costs for that person, and no need for 'work clothes' either. No coffees and lunches out either, at least not to the same extent!

You can spend more or less on bringing up a child: there are a few things which ought to be bought new, but clothes and toys can be obtained at very reasonable pre-loved prices. 

I think it's worth putting that kind of thing into the equation as well.