Financial Considerations for Starting a Family

photo credit: nattu

A recent post at Girls Just Wanna Have Funds looked at the interesting question of when is the right time to decide to start a family.

There are obviously advantages and disadvantages to both sides of the coin - having children young (in your early 20s, say) or later (in your 30s). From the financial side of things, these are the main pros and cons that could tip your decision making:

• If you have children young, they will probably be out of college before you retire, so you won’t need to worry about college costs coming at the same time as you stop working (or having to retire later because of college costs)
• On the other hand, if you hve children young, you’re likely to be financially less stable and then might find it harder to save for the future when you have child-related costs at the same time.
• If you have children later, you will have a chance to build up financial security first and probably own a good portion of your home.
• But again, on the other hand, if you have children later, you might be accustomed to living a more high-spending lifestyle, having done it for a long time, and have trouble adjusting to more financial pressures and possibly a much lower income.