what was your financial position if you had children in late 20s/early 30s?

Kids mid twenties.

deliberately had them before we had any real cash so we were still used to living on tuppence ha’penny.

no savings, house worth 200k with 90% mortgage.

We had a higher income but less savings than you. I’d think you’re in a good position, as long as you have decent childcare options that you can afford.

We were renting, 1000 a month if I remember rightly. I saved throughout my pregnancy to supplement my maternity pay. We both had good jobs back then but no real savings. We ended up buying our first house for 250k when our DC was 3, had to borrow deposit from relatives which we then repaid with an inheritance.

Had my first at 30, second at 34. We were homeowners with a 3 bed semi new build bought for £150k. Joint income then was about £50k. My mat pay for the bare minimum, during pregnancy we managed to save about £5k as a buffer as DS was a happy surprise.

Kids early 30's (this was 16 yrs ago). 3 bed terrace worth around£200k at the time. No savings at the time. Salaries were around £30k each. Had to sell things to afford pram and mat leave. Went pt so salaries became combined £50k. Was skint for about the first 10yrs, only did camping holidays or cheap Sun holidays caravans. I remember when number two came along my inlaws paid one lot of nursery fees for the year when they were both at nursery.

Hard to compare as this was 14-18 years ago, but when we started we had a £240k mortgage on a two bed flat, earning about £90k (in London), savings I can't remember but in 5 figures and that was pretty much where we were throughout their whole early childhood. I look back at it and wonder how the hell we paid nursery fees and mortgage TBH, but evidently we did. Obviously energy and food costs were quite a lot lower then, at least.

There is no such thing as enough money or the right time etc.
You have a house. You are working.
Go for it. You'll be fine.

Comparing yourself to other people doesn't get you anywhere (apart from depressed).

😀x

My eldest is 22 now, so these figures may not be relevant. We had just bought a 3 bedroom house with a mortgage of about 75% of the house value. It needed a new kitchen and bathroom and was a bit shabby inside. On the baby pictures I can see holes in the walls where we'd had to strip out some electrics. It was our second house and the profit on the first one paid the 25% deposit.

Our combined income was about a third of the size of the mortgage. We only had one car and it was a fairly rural area. We had hardly any savings at all, so the house wasn't updated until my eldest was about 6. We just lived with the 70s style kitchen with doors falling off.

We didn't holiday very often. I think I'd been on 4 foreign holidays and the previous 10 years and we didn't holiday abroad (by ferry to Holland) again until our eldest was about 8.

This.

My dc are adults now, so even if I remembered them the figures are irrelevant, but we were very broke. But, you manage. You find a way, that fits with your circumstances.

Better than when they were teens due to life changing disability.
Went from owning a home to renting.
Went from high income to low.

You figure it out.

Costs were different when I bought that said we didn’t have luxuries or expectations of today, quite different. Buying meant packed lunches and no car, no subscriptions etc pack then. No gym either. I’m older now and dc / dsc have all bought houses in mid 20’s, two with partners (one had help from his father, the other had an inheritance, one bought alone , saving up no help

Had DC in my mid 20s. Eldest are young adults now.

we owned a (very mortgaged) house, but no holidays, extras or treats, watching every single penny. It was tough, i remember declining social events and knowing my friends just thought I was flakey and exaggerating.

out position is significantly different now and I’m so glad to be approaching 50 with both the parenting and financial slog well behind us

We were mid twenties. In a rented flat. No savings. Crappy car.

Most friends delayed having kids until maybe 10 years after us. Sometimes my DH would get a bit bummed out that they have their own homes, earned more, did more.

However it’s evened out now. We’ve got our lives back, no early wake ups or worrying about baby sitters, have the house, well paying jobs and nice car. We’re glad we did the sleepless nights and non-stop preschool kid stage whilst younger!

It’s a bit pointless asking anyone who had dc even a decade ago as the financial landscape is so different.

First at 32, small 3 bed house that cost £350k, DH on 65k, I didn't go back to work as childcare+commute was more than I earned. Our oldest had one holiday in her first 4 years, camping in Norfolk. We were flat arsed broke, had to renovate the house which was painful. Second at 36, DH on more money, roughly 100k, debts from renovating house paid off, had a reciprocal childcare agreement with another mum allowing me to work 15 hours a week without using nursery which made a huge difference to our disposable income.
Pregnant with number 3 now at 40, DH making about 170k, house completely paid off (though we're gonna have to move because third kid in a 3 bed). Really genuinely comfortable, modest cars completely paid for, nice holidays a couple of times a year, able to save for the future and uni/house deposits for the kids

If you want kids, get started. Just because you'll be broke now doesn't mean you will be in 10 years. Especially now that funding for nursery is available.

Fairly small mortgage thanks to money from parents. DH earned well full time. I earned modestly 4 days a week (had mostly been FT for the preceding 8 years). I went back to work for 3 months after 1 year maternity leave, then left to be a SAHM. DH started studying for 2 years when DC1 was 6 months old, partly funded by savings. He was able to do paid work 1 day a week during termtime and 3-5 days a week during holidays. We had always lived very frugally & didn't have a car for the first few years. I was 30 when DC was born.

3 between us being 30 and 33. Constantly skint (this was early 90s). Never so we couldn't pay mortgage or live day to.day, but no holidays, big spending. Maxed out credit cards

We had ours when I was early-mid twenties he was mid-late twenties. We were renting relatively normal wages probably quite low. So we carried on renting for a year or so the scraped together a 5% deposit (included a bank loan) and bought a house. This was 2001
Looking back we were not prepared in the slightest and just winged it and luckily it worked out very well !

We were renting, living frugally in a tiny flat to save a deposit.

We didn't want to delay having children and I had actually quit my job due to a bullying manager.

Beyond £20k savings we had no pensions and owned one car outright

Found a job when DC1 was 8 months and negotiated to do it compressed hours. Had Dc2 and bought our first house 6 week later. No family help. We both worked different days

Both climbed the career ladder while working around the kids

I realise we were lucky in some ways but I think children enjoy simple pleasures in the early years so it was easy to be frugal

I don’t think your friends can’t afford a child as such, they just choose to prioritise other things like travel. I can’t imagine not going on holiday for 8 years in my 20s, for example. But to each their own, of course.

^ Also this with bells on.

Mine are in their 20s and 30s now, but when DS1 was born, interest rates went up to 16% and we were paying over £1000 pm month for the mortgage 30+ years ago. I had enough savings to cover 6 months maternity leave ( state maternity pay was very limited back then) and then went back to work part time, about 28 hours I think. Childminder was about £100 pw.
House was not fully finished, we did most of the decorating ourselves, but couldn't afford extensions/structural stuff or new bathroom/kitchen or even carpet.
DS2 came along, maternity leave was covered by Barclaycard, as savings all gone.
Couldn't afford CM cost for 2, and managed to find a part-time nanny who came with her own son. She stayed till eldest started school, and then DS went to playgroup and afternoon school nursery and I paid a neighbour to do the in between bits.
DS3 came along unexpectedly, had no savings and a maxxed out credit card. Had 3 months maternity leave, then back to work. He had various people looking after him, but couldn't afford formal registered childcare ( no state help with childcare then).
DH & I both had reasonable jobs but the mortgage and the interest on loan repayments took up almost all our money. We had one very secondhand car between us for years until job changes meant we had to get a second one so that we could both get to work. We often had to borrow from my mum to get the shopping. Very few holidays, foreign or otherwise except for going a couple of times to a family owned flat and once to an AI stay paid for by my mum.
Couldn't afford school lunches for the DC, so packed lunch for all of us.
My work was always limited by childcare arrangements as DH worked unpredictable shifts, and that had a financial cost.
We were really very skint for a long time, as were most of our friends. Meals out and takeaways were very rare, socialising was round someone's house.
But we have lovely DC who have always been an absolute joy.