One of the biggest events in any woman’s life is having a child. This important event can affect much more than their everyday lives, it also can affect their finances.
Typically, women are the ones who take parental leave and become the primary care-givers for children, often working part time. This change in income can create budget headaches and can leave women worse off at retirement as they spend fewer years in full-time work.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have worked in partnership with the Commonwealth Government, to produce the Women’s Money Toolkit on ASIC's MoneySmart website.
The Women’s Money Toolkit is a free and independent online tool which takes Australian women on a step-by-step planning journey to look at money decisions at key life stages and help them enhance their financial wellbeing.
The toolkit shows the financial decisions having a child can involve and provides advice and tips on how to make them. For example:
Talk about it
Have detailed conversations with your partner or family about who will be the main caregiver for the child and whether you will need to address your spending and saving patterns ahead of time.
Budget for baby
Think about how to budget for the medical needs of the pregnancy and your baby’s needs after it is born using our budget planner.
Track your spending
Track your current spending using our TrackMySPEND app. This will also help you work out what you might need to change if you need to fund childcare while you work part time.
Get your entitlements
Ensure you know about all your financial entitlements – from maternity leave to Family Tax Benefit and Dad & Partner Pay.
Rethink your work
Think ahead to how you might want to return to your job and the hours you might want to work. Use our parental leave calculator to work out your income when you taking time off work to care for a child and then when you return to work.
Check out child care
Investigate the costs and availability of different forms of child care.
MORE INFORMATION
The more information women have at their fingertips, the more empowered they are to take control of their financial circumstances. See how ASIC's MoneySmart Women’s money toolkit can give you a personalised to-do list to make the most of your money.
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