Being a mother of two boys, I have realised that preparing for your family's future takes a whole lot more than writing down plans and waiting for them to happen.
It, in fact, takes a lot of organising, saving and in some cases compromising, to prepare for your family's future and even though my boys are still quite young (seven and four), I've found myself thinking about their futures and providing something for them so that in years to come they can have a little nest egg to set them up in life.
Here are 5 ways to prepare for your family's future. It's such a big topic in our lives a family right now and hopefully the
things we're doing will be helpful to others wanting to make
preparations too.
1. Start saving for a mortgage as soon as you begin working
This is so important if you're wanting to set down roots for your
family and own you're own home. We didn't own our own home before having our children and I'm not going to lie, having children, paying bills and rent and trying to save for a mortgage can seem impossible at times - but it can be done.
Working out your income and outgoings and then setting
up an affordable amount to save each month is the best way to do this.
We've found that setting up a direct debit that takes a percentage of
your wages each week into a separate savings account, is the best way of
building up a good sum and not feeling like we're doing without any
money. Financial institutions will also look for evidence of consistent saving when deciding how suitable you are for a mortgage and on how much to lend you, so it pays to do this and let the amount build up.
2. Invest in insurance
Insurance is something which we knew we had to invest in once we
became parents to two children, as not only would it give us peace of
mind that if anything did happen to us, the boys would be provided for
financially, but it's also a requirement for securing a mortgage in the
future.
As well as standard family life insurance, there are also add-ons such as income protection, which is a great insurance option to invest in. Income protection insures that you will have money to pay bills and other expenses should you become ill and unable to work. No one knows what will happen in our lives and usually we find ourselves in these difficult situations we we least expect it. Therefore, having the benefit of income protection in case any illness does affect your ability to work, is a great insurance option.
Insurance doesn't
have to be expensive either, usually it can be tailored to your needs, and for us, it's given us peace of mind that
our kids will be provided for should the worst happen and honestly, I
don't think you can really put a price on that.
3. Make bucket lists and enjoy ticking them off
I always find myself wanting to give my children all that I
possibly can and the best experiences possible, however, that's not
always possible due to timing or financial reasons and this is why I
make bucket lists.
Having a bucket list helps me to feel that even
though we can't do it right now, that we will do it someday and it's
nice to have something to look forward to.
As a family we have so many holidays and trips that we want to go on and
experience and obviously it's not possible to do them all in one year
due to work obligations, etc. so we're preparing in advance with our
bucket lists and honestly, there's no better feeling than eventually
ticking everything off one by one.
4. Set up savings accounts for your children
As soon as we had our first child I went and sent up a savings account
for him with both the bank and the credit union. I put money from the
children's child benefit into these accounts each month and also any
monetary gifts they get for Christmas or birthdays. If we can also spare
a little more here and there I put that in too, but it's not always a
given.
I think it's so important to prepare for the children's future by saving
some money up for them. It'll give them some financial security and
will make funds available for them to spend how they wish - whether it
be for a house deposit, travel, a car or third level education, the
money will be a nice little nest egg for them.
5. Save as much as you can, but remember to live!
Saving money is such an important thing to do for your family as not
only will it give you some security in life, but it will also help you
to one day get the things and have experiences you so wish for.
However,
as much as I am for saving, I'm also for living and there are certain
things which we will always spend money on as a family - namely our
annual family holiday and days out throughout the year.
Having these experiences is so important to us as a family and travel
and days out are our 'thing' so we will always be happy to spend some
money on these experiences as the memories they bring and worth far more
than the price we pay for them.
So remember to save when you can but to also embrace the things you love to do as a family also.
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