As you say anything is better than nothing, when it comes to managing a reduction in household income. And good on you for keeping clear of credit card debt, which can be a real killer.

There are other ways that could make things more manageable while one wage earner is not in “paid” employment – like locking in some or all of your mortgage at a fixed rate so you have certainty while your wife is on leave. Depending on individual circumstances, moving your loan to “Interest Only” for the period of matwrnity leave can also reduce pressure on the family budget – at a time when there are a whole bunch of new expenses to have to deal with.

These are the sort of things that our branch staff discuss with our members when they conduct a financial “health check”- for free!

Hope all goes well for you and your wife come August, and I hope you get to access the paid leave provisions when number 2 come around, and 3, and……

Kind Regards
Ray

We’re just about to have our first child, due end of August, and my wife is taking 6 months leave only…. Looking at the above information I wonder if it’s too late to emigrate to Sweden!

In regard to the minimum wage question, well currently our combined income is under the $150,000 and once my wife takes her leave we’ll be losing another 40k so anything would actually be helpful when it comes to paying the mortgage and bills..fortunately we no longer have a credit card to worry about.