Where you financially stable??

Thanks i will look it up.

There was a big study on it, can't remember who with. Think it was last year.

Found this from 2010 though. Based on stats from Mintel.

About half of people have less than £500.

'21 per cent of people still have no savings or investments at all. Around 35 per cent of people have less than £500 set aside, while 36 per cent have between £500 and £10,000 and 29 per cent have saved more than this amount, including 12 per cent who have savings and investments worth more than £50,000.'

Ihatemyphone: you mention that it is unusual for people in the uk to have any savings at all, i was wondering if this statement is based on data or anecdotical information?
I am not being a smartass here, i am genuinly interested.

kelman in answer to your question, we are 'secure' BUT it took us 20months to conceive. We really thought it wasn't going to happen. i'd take this into consideration. If you say wait another year to start trying then it takes 20 months ... That's a long time. Just my experience and I'm more the exception than the rule. Good luck

Glad to see this post as it's something I've been worrying about too.

We've just started TTC now I'm finally in a (charity sector) job which gives reasonably decent mat leave, but my organisation is far from stable and I can't guarantee I won't be re - structured out of a job in the midterm future. My husband is on minimum wage with London weighting and his job prospects aren't great as he has no degree or formal training. We rent, have no savings and scrape by on our combined £45k salary, not uncomfortably but do struggle to afford things like clothes and extras, and holidays are pretty much out of the question.

I'm saving now so that should we manage to conceive we'll have enough put by to make up my loss of earnings during mat leave but this doesn't account for any surprises or redundancies etc!

I feel fine with it all as we're lucky enough to have a supportive (if distant) family who'd be happy to help if things got tough, and I just don't think we should leave it much longer - my husband is nearly 38 and who knows how quickly things will happen.

Glad to hear of the range of different levels of financial preparedness out there!

People who own their own homes - you mean outright, right? Otherwise you're in an even more precarious position than you would be renting if you get sick/lose your job etc. And income is relative to where you live and your costs.

Op it is highly unusual to have any savings at all in the UK. Everyone is right that you should budget effectively and save what you can. But Mumsnet is full of people with £40k in the bank. It is not normal or necessary.

Good luck ttc!

Hey - ifyouwereariver - think that's great advice we are trying to do that too. We also have a special "baby" bank account we each put £40 a month in;

but I have to ask as I don't know anyone who falls into this category!!!! Who has 40k in the bank? The majority if people who have that have it tied up in equity in their home but none of our friends (a wide range of people ranging from part time workers to friends who have professional careers) have those kinds of funds available to them - I agree it would be nice but not very likely unless I won the lottery!

We had no debts but no savings either. No mortgage but private rent. Was put at risk of redundancy in first pregnancy, fought that successfully, but had already low wages cut by 10% instead. SMP only. Found a new job straight after mat leave with better pay and luckily some really good maternity benefits. My husband lost his jobs a few weeks before No 2 was born, and was unemployed for about 6 months, but we could get through that thanks to my much better position.

There is no such thing as "secure" in my view as circumstances can change quickly and unexpectedly.

To a certain extent, yes, I had a permanent well paid job but DH was self employed so his income was up and down. Though we had no debts bar out mortgage and car repayments.

My DP and I don't have savings as such (we are saving for our wedding next year) but we do earn a good salary (£65k between us) and we own our own house. DP has much better earning potential than me (he's training to be an actuary) so I could afford to give up work if I needed to (we worked out that I would need to earn about £10k a year to keep our current level of living).

So I don't think you need thousands in savings. Just try to be debt free and comfortable :) (oh and I don't think age means anything, we are both 24)

Yes - but we had been happily 'child free' for many years and having children wasn't really something that we had expected to do - as agreed before we got married . By the time DH had changed his mind and persuaded me we were both in our 40s and in a comfortable financial position. I also made it clear that if we had a child I would give up work - not because I was devoted to bringing up a child but more because it seemed a genuinely nicer way to live without the stress of combining work and looking after our child. .

We are TTC now - the two of us have been working our butts off to pay everything off that we possibly can so direct debits will be minimal while I'm on mat leave - and we're saving money for all the baby essentials. Together with paying a big chunk off our mortgage in the summer I'm hoping we won't really have to tighten our beIts too much as we've done the hard work beforehand.

Goal is to get to a point where we can live solely on DHs wage - so my mat pay & part time wage when I go back to work is what we save every month.

DP and I don't have any savings but we've worked hard to clear a lot of debts and we own our own home. We earn decent enough money between us and have done the maths to make sure we'd have enough to see me through up to about 9 months of maternity leave. I wouldn't wait until you are financially in a position to start ttc though, we waited about 2 years (been together for 4) and I'm now 35 and although it's only cycle 4 now of trying I certainly feel like the pressure is on because of my age and wanting more than one child. Thought I'd get pg straight away so I'm now regretting all that time lost waiting to sort out money first.

Yes, absolutely.

Pregnant with our first, I am just turned 30, he's 32. We are married, own our own house, both have stable, permanent jobs In public and private sector respectively with a household income of £80k a year, before tax.

We are equal earners and we had a conversation with a spreadsheet, looking at local childcare price ranges, household expenses etc before we conceived and were surprised by the expenses that pile up. We also established that I, in public sector, am on a progressively upward career path and upward salary spine and he is static but stable in his long term private sector job so affordability long term is fine. Once we had that established we started TTC and immediately conceived first month so there is no looking back!

No. Not in the slightest when I had my first! Two ex students in a rented studio flat and burdened with debt.

Yes, we felt it was very important to be financially stable before bringing a child into the world. We'll never be wealthy; I'm a primary school teacher and my husband is in the Army; but we're a good way into our careers and debt free. We don't want to scrimp and save when it comes to our child. He/she won't be at private school or anything, but we'd like to have a comfortable life and not be worrying about finances.

I think there is a lot to be said for doing it relatively young. I was 29 with my first, which was old back in the day but would seem quite young now. It meant I was strong and fit and able to work up to my due date and DH and I have had years with the health and energy to work hard to provide financial stability for our family. A baby is a big incentive to buckling down, so we really built up our financial stability after we became parents.

We began our marriage extremely financially unstable, and with my dd's from previous. We didnt add to our family until his career was settled and we were out of debt, besides our mortgage. Savings were minimal, but with no debt we felt we were on the road to savings. We were also done raising my DDs, one had moved out, the other was graduated from HS.

I would have tried when we were nearly at this point, but dh had his own mental issues from his childhood relating to money and stability. He became the absolute poster boy for correct condom usage after I decided I had been using HBC long enough and that I was open to the greater risks of other BC. His determination toward financial stability was immense and impressive. If he hadn't aquired a wife and dd1&2 in graduate school then no doubt he would be a truly wealthy man. As it is, he's done fine considering his childhood and the instant family he took on at age 23.

I would say, especially if you are under 30, it is well worth putting even just 1 year of concerted effort at living frugally, building savings, and getting his career/earnings UP before ttc. Live on just his income, and save every penny of yours. That gets you used to the reality of your lives post baby, when your earning ability will be reduced or cancelled entirely for some time. Plus gives you savings.

Or, don't. Most families muddle through and things work out well enough.

Good luck, either way!

Even if you are "stable" things can still happen unfortunately, like redundancy. Plan it out, factor in loss of income and childcare, be prepared for frugal years ahead but like pp said, babies don't need a lot and it can be done on a budget if you are careful. Having said that I probably wouldn't want to ttc without a securish roof over our heads and the ability to cope at least short term on one income.

No - happily married but recently located for my job & renting a one bed flat Nearly 18 years later, I wouldn't change a thing. Babies need very little, apart from love.

We had are tough times, but that is how it usually is for young families starting out. We are now stable with all the middle class trappings which is just as well, because teenagers cost a fortune (be warned!)

We are TTC at the moment. We both have good incomes but do have 10k of credit card debt. I'm 33 and feel time isn't on my side to wait until the debt is cleared. We'll manage, I think we are in a better position than many people who have children

We were yes. I didn't want to have constant money worries with children. But obviously things can change so not always a guarantee, but at least starting out half decent is better imo

We wanted to have a secure home ( we rent, but knowing we could afford on one wage if needed), secure enough jobs ( both would get a hefty redundancy now if ever left), and enough we could afford luxuries of life experiences ( ie not just stay at home for years with odd trip to park)

Yes and planned. I imagine when LO arrives though we will no longer be financially stable...