A new child is one of the most significant financial events in a person's life — not just because of what it costs, but because of what it means for your income, your insurance, your super, and who you're building a future for.
Having a child is one of the most significant financial restructures you will ever go through — and most couples don't begin planning until they're holding the baby. By then, the decisions that would have made the biggest difference are already behind them.
At Ferncourt Advice, we work with Sydney couples — many of them dual-income professionals with combined incomes that look comfortable on paper — who are surprised by how exposed they are when one income steps back. The parental leave period is rarely the problem. It's the decisions made on the run during that period, under sleep deprivation and time pressure, that tend to cost the most.
If you're expecting, or planning to start a family, the window right now is the most valuable one. Here's what we focus on.
Dual-income households in Sydney often operate with both salaries fully committed — mortgage repayments, living costs, and savings goals calibrated to two pay cheques. When one parent steps back, the income reduction is rarely a minor adjustment. For many professional couples, it's a cut of 40 to 60 per cent of household cash flow for six months or more.
Employer-paid parental leave varies significantly. Some employers offer full pay for 18 weeks; others pay the government minimum. Understanding exactly what your leave entitlements look like — and whether they can be combined with your partner's leave — is the starting point. From there, we model what your household actually needs to run through that period without drawing down savings or restructuring debt under pressure.
The goal isn't just to survive parental leave. It's to enter it with a clear plan so neither parent is making financial decisions from a position of stress.
For self-employed parents and business owners, parental leave has no employer behind it. There is no paid leave entitlement from the business — only what you plan and fund yourself. The government's Paid Parental Leave scheme is available, but eligibility depends on recent income history and your business structure.
Beyond the income question, a business-owning parent stepping back raises issues that employed parents don't face: who manages client relationships, what happens to revenue continuity, and whether existing income protection policies actually cover the step-back from a business. Most don't, or not adequately.
We work through this dimension separately for clients with a business interest. The planning required is more involved, but it's entirely manageable when addressed before the birth — and very difficult to fix after it.
Most people's insurance arrangements reflect their life before dependants existed. Life cover was set when you were single or a couple with two incomes and no obligations to a child. That number almost certainly needs to change.
The question we work through with clients: if the primary earner died or was unable to work, would the surviving parent be able to remain in the family home, maintain childcare costs, and not return to work before they were ready? For most Sydney families, the honest answer without adequate cover is no.
Income protection is equally important, and often poorly structured. Group super insurance tends to have significant gaps — waiting periods, benefit caps, and definitions of disability that don't work well for professionals. A policy review before the birth, when you're still healthy and insurable, is far better than reviewing it after a claim has already been triggered.
The career break taken by the primary caregiver has a compounding effect on superannuation that most couples underestimate. Twelve months out of the workforce means twelve months of no employer contributions. If that parent also works reduced hours for several years after returning, the gap widens further.
There are strategies to address this directly: spouse contributions, co-contribution eligibility in lower-income years, and catch-up concessional contributions once the primary caregiver returns to full-time work. These work best when they're planned early, rather than discovered at age 50 when the gap has already opened.
We also review beneficiary nominations at this stage. Super does not automatically pass through your estate — it requires a valid binding nomination to reach the people you intend. A new child changes who that should be, and nominations that were set years ago may no longer reflect your wishes.
Many couples don't have current wills. For couples without children, this is a significant oversight. For couples with a child, it is urgent.
A will determines not only who receives your assets, but who is named as guardian of your child if both parents die. Without one, those decisions are made by a court, not by you. It also determines how quickly and cleanly your estate can be administered — matters that affect your partner's financial security at the worst possible time.
We work alongside estate planning solicitors to ensure our clients' financial arrangements align with their legal documents. The superannuation beneficiary nominations, the insurance payout structure, and the will need to be consistent. We make sure they are.
Sydney childcare costs are among the highest in the country. Full-time centre-based care for an infant can run to $25,000 or more per year, before the Child Care Subsidy is applied. For higher-income households, the subsidy tapers — and for some dual-income professional couples, the subsidy is minimal.
This cost is often the thing that catches families most off guard when the primary caregiver returns to work. We factor childcare costs, the after-tax benefit of returning to work, and the medium-term cash flow picture into the planning we do for families at this stage. The numbers are sometimes more favourable than expected; occasionally they reveal that a transition back to work needs to be staged differently.
Starting a family is one of the moments we're built for at Ferncourt Advice. Alastair works with you on the full picture — income, insurance, super, legal, and childcare — so that when your child arrives, the financial foundation is already in place.
Book a Consultation with AlastairBook a no-obligation initial consultation — an honest conversation about where you are today and where you want to be.