How much should I save up?

[EdnaGold]

I am currently trying to get pregnant with my partner. We've been trying for 5 months, no luck yet but fingers crossed!

I wantnto be financially prepared. I work for a private company and they just give you, what I understand to be, the statutory minimum for maternity pay. So I think I get 6 weeks full pay, after that its just statutory maternity pay which I think is £500 a month? I've been working full time for this company for 6 months and earn £50k so am pretty sure that's what I would get in statutory pay.

My partner earns a lot lot less than me, so I can't rely on his income to support us whilst I'd be receiving statutory pay. I have the means to save up quite a bit of money now with my wage, so I guess I wanted advice on how much people think isn't good lump sum to save up in advance so I could be on maternity leave for at least 9 months. I was thinking about £10k but then wondered if that was sufficient? We are not big spenders, our only major outgoing is the mortgage which is £500 a month.

Does anyone have any thoughts or recommendations on an amount to aim for in savings?

Also be interested to hear how long others go on maternity leave for and what length of time you recommend.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Edna I was in a not dissimilar position to you. I saved £10K took 4 months maternity leave and had a bit left over when I went back to work. If you are going to use Nursery when you go back remember you will need to probably find a full months fees as deposit and then fees are always paid in advance so if you go back to work at the start of the month you will need another full months fees.
I'm glad I saved that much I was able to buy new clothes before I went back to work not have to think twice about anything I did on maternity leave.

[EdnaGold]

So you just took 4 months leave? So if I'm thinking of more than that i might need more than 10k. It's essentially enough for me and the baby to live off. I didn't know how early you can start putting a baby in nursery whilst you work?

[flowery]

How much to save depends entirely on what you have spare now and what you think you can strip your outgoings down to. I'd personally just start saving as much as you can now, then whatever you've got when baby comes, can be used to live on while you're off, then to cushion the blow of reduced income from childcare costs when you go back.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Most nurseries accept babies from 12 weeks. I am the boss so not working leaves the business without it's captain hence short maternity leave.

[EdnaGold]

Thanks for help. I know there's no such thing as too much money, so in theory save whatever I can- but I'd like to have a rough idea of what a good amount is. For all I know £10k might only last me 3 months as opposed to 8-9 months. It's just so hard to tell.

[redskyatnight]

No one can tell you what amount you should save because it really depends on your outgoings. What I would suggest is writing down a full budget of absolutely everything you spend at the moment.

I'd then consider what your situation is going to be post baby. Are you intending to go back full time or part time? What will your childcare costs be (appreciate you may not have worked out childcare yet, but get some prices from childminders and nurseries and take an average figure).

First of all, you need to make sure that you can "cut" enough from your current budget to afford everything when you're back at work. If you can't, you not only need to consider saving enough for the time you are off work, but for the time when your child is small and childcare costs are high.

I'd then look at the minimum amount you "could" live off when on maternity leave. If you earn 50K you will get "some" child benefit but probably not any other benefits.

For what it's worth, we organised our budget to live off DH's salary plus maternity pay. When I went back to work I went back part time and found that once childcare was taken into advance we were very little better off than when I was on maternity leave.

One thing we did do, was to make no "big" purchases during maternity leave and when the children are small. If you need to sort your car do it now. If your boiler has a limited life, replace it now.