Growing your family

Before you start turning the spare bedroom into a nursery, you owe it to yourself to calculate whether adding more kids to your family would be sustainable, given your budget. By now you no doubt know, kids aren’t cheap, and while adding one more doesn’t exactly equate to doubling your expenses (hello, hand-me-downs) it will put extra pressure on your finances.

Not only do you need to think about the added costs of having more kids, but you’ll also need to think about how your budget will be affected by the prospect of one partner having time off work for parental leave, possibly on reduced or zero income. Taking full stock of your financial situation and working out whether or not you and your partner will be able to stay afloat now may save some serious heartache and headaches down the track.

Timing is everything, right? When it comes to kids, there are a thousand different schools of thought about when to introduce siblings.

Really, the decision of when to grow your family will be yours and your partner’s, but here are some important points to consider:

1. What’s best for mum

First and foremost, the health of a mother needs to be the top priority when thinking about timing for growing a family. If a mother doesn’t feel 100% physically and mentally able to commit to the prospect of pregnancy and birth again, the conversation can’t really go any further.

2. What’s best for your kids

Depending on the age of your first-born, their temperament, emotional intelligence and personality, you’ll have an idea on when a baby brother or sister feels right. As they grow, the age difference will mean so much less, so don’t stress over this endlessly.

3. What’s best for your career

Often, mothers or fathers who have returned to work after baby number one take the opportunity of having a second child to re-assess their career. How will your family budget cope with the added cost of having your childcare costs doubled when both partners return to work? Is now the right time to explore alternative career options, like returning to work part-time, working from home or striking out on your own and starting your own small business?

There’s nothing like bringing home a baby to make you realise how small your house and car can feel.

Babies mean you'll accumulate stuff – there’s no way around it, and if you’re thinking about having another one, you might need a little more space.

House

Often, families are were able to play a bit of domestic tetris and make do with their existing home after the birth of bub number one. As soon as bub number two is on the cards, the writing is often on the wall. Whether you rent or own, having more kids can quickly make you consider your current living situation. If you’re looking to trade up, make sure you talk to a lending expert.

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Check out our home buying guides

Car

When you first installed that baby capsule in your car, we’re going to bet you thought something like: “Geez, it’s pretty big…”

We don’t mean to scare you, but now double it. If you made the step up to a vehicle with more space for your first baby, you’re in the clear, but if you’re after more room on the road, make sure it doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg.

Check out our New Car Loan

For most people, having kids is not the only major life-change that may be happening around them.

Your career may be really starting to take off, your parents may be approaching the time of life when they require more care in retirement – it can be pretty full-on.

You might also start thinking about the future from a long-term financial view for the first time.

A head-start

We all want the best for our kids, and what better way to get them off to the best financial start possible than opening them a high-interest savings account, and beginning to build them a nest egg.

Using an account that rewards good habits with bonus interest like our Life Saver may mean your small contributions become their first car or housing deposit, in time.