Becoming a mum changes the way you think about almost everything. Your time, your career, your priorities and, inevitably, your money.
Suddenly there are prams, childcare fees, swimming lessons, school costs and what feels like an endless stream of shoes that are outgrown almost as quickly as you buy them. At the same time, many women take maternity leave, reduce their working hours or step away from paid employment for a period.
With so much attention naturally focused on your children and the household, it can be surprisingly easy to stop paying attention to your own financial future.
But becoming a mum shouldn’t mean putting your financial independence on hold.
In fact, this can be one of the most important times to stay connected to your money — even if the amounts you can save or invest are much smaller than they were before children.
Don’t disappear from your own financial picture
Before children, managing money can be relatively straightforward. You earn your salary, pay your bills, save something, perhaps invest and contribute to super.
Then a baby arrives.
Household income may temporarily fall just as expenses increase. Priorities change and money starts flowing towards things the family needs.
None of this is unusual.
The danger is that temporary changes can quietly become permanent habits.
A year away from investing becomes five. You stop looking at your super. Savings are continually absorbed into household expenses. One partner becomes responsible for all the family’s finances and the other gradually loses sight of where everything is.
That’s why one of the simplest financial habits for mums is also one of the most powerful:
Keep an overview of your money.
You don’t need to become obsessed with spreadsheets or check your bank balance every morning. You simply need to know where you stand.
Know your financial starting point
Every few months, take a financial snapshot.
How much cash do you have?
What is sitting in your savings or offset account?
How much is in your super?
Do you have investments?
What debts do you have?
How much is coming into the household each month and roughly how much is going out?
And importantly, what assets and savings are in your own name?
Put everything together and you have something much more useful than a collection of bank balances. You have a picture of your financial position.
Do the same exercise again six or twelve months later and ask a very simple question:
Are we moving forward?
You don’t necessarily need a complicated financial target. Initially, seeing that savings, investments or debt reduction are gradually heading in the right direction can be enormously motivating.
Don’t wait until you have “enough” money to invest
One of the traps many people fall into is believing investing is something they’ll start when they have more money.
“When I’m back at work.”
“When childcare isn’t so expensive.”
“When the mortgage isn’t hurting quite so much.”
“When the kids start school.”
The problem is that there is nearly always another expense waiting around the corner.
Instead of waiting for the perfect financial moment, consider whether you can keep a small amount of money working towards your future.
It doesn’t necessarily need to be hundreds of dollars.
Depending on your circumstances, it might be $10, $20 or $50 a week.
Micro-investing platforms and other investment options have made it possible to invest relatively small amounts regularly. The objective isn’t to get rich from $20 next week. It’s to establish the habit of putting some of today’s money towards your future.
Small amounts invested consistently can accumulate over time, and investment returns can potentially generate further returns through compounding.
Of course, investing involves risk and isn’t appropriate for money you may need tomorrow. An emergency fund and expensive debt may deserve attention first. But the broader principle remains valuable:
Don’t assume an amount is too small to matter.
Give your money different jobs
It can help to stop thinking about all your savings as one big pile of money.
Different money has different jobs.
You might have an emergency fund for the unexpected, an offset account helping reduce mortgage interest, savings for a family holiday, super for retirement and a longer-term investment account designed to build wealth.
Once money has a purpose, financial decisions can become much clearer.
That $1,000 sitting in an everyday account suddenly isn’t simply “$1,000 available to spend”. Perhaps $500 belongs to your emergency fund, $300 is for an upcoming bill and $200 is money you’re building for the future.
The numbers will be different for every family. What matters is knowing what your money is supposed to be doing.
Make investing boring
There’s a temptation to think successful investing requires constantly watching financial markets, finding the next hot share or becoming an expert on economics.
For many busy mums, the opposite approach may be more practical.
Make it boring.
Consider setting aside an affordable amount automatically each payday or each month. That might go towards savings, an investment, additional super contributions or paying down debt, depending on your circumstances and priorities.
Automation removes one of the biggest obstacles to building wealth: having to make the same decision over and over again.
If the money is automatically moved before it disappears into everyday spending, you are effectively making your future one of the household’s regular expenses.
Don’t forget about super
Superannuation can become particularly important for women who take time away from work or move from full-time to part-time employment while raising children.
Less paid employment can mean fewer employer super contributions during those years.
It’s worth knowing what is happening with your super rather than simply opening the annual statement and putting it in a drawer.
Check your balance. Understand your fees. Know where your super is invested. Check whether you have multiple accounts and understand what insurance you hold through your fund.
Depending on your circumstances, you may also want to investigate additional contributions or other super strategies. Because superannuation and tax rules can change and everyone’s situation is different, professional financial or tax advice may be appropriate before making significant decisions.
The important point is simply not to forget about it.
Retirement can seem a very long way away when you’re trying to get a toddler to sleep, but those years are still part of your financial life.
Stay involved in the family finances
In many relationships, one person naturally takes responsibility for particular jobs. Someone handles school forms, someone books holidays and someone pays the bills.
There’s nothing wrong with dividing responsibilities.
But there’s an important difference between your partner managing the finances and you not understanding them.
Both partners should ideally know the basics.
What is the mortgage balance? Where are the savings? What insurance policies do you have? Where are important financial documents? What debts exist? What investments do you own? What are your regular household expenses?
You don’t necessarily have to manage every account yourself.
You should, however, be able to understand your family’s financial position without needing someone else to explain your own finances to you.
That knowledge is part of financial independence.
Create goals that actually mean something
“Save more money” isn’t particularly inspiring.
Saving for something you genuinely want is different.
Maybe you want enough financial breathing room to take another year away from work.
Perhaps you want to work four days instead of five.
Maybe it’s a family holiday, paying off the mortgage earlier, starting your own business, buying an investment, helping with future education costs or simply reaching a point where an unexpected $2,000 bill doesn’t cause panic.
Put a number beside the goal.
Then put a date beside it.
If you want $6,000 in two years, for example, that’s $250 a month before considering any interest or investment returns.
Suddenly a distant goal has become something measurable.
If $250 isn’t realistic, that’s useful information too. Extend the timeframe, change the goal or look for another way to fund it.
The point isn’t perfection. It’s direction.
Give yourself a regular financial check-in
We schedule children’s dentist appointments, vaccinations, swimming lessons, school events and seemingly everything else.
Why not schedule time for our finances?
Once every three or six months, sit down and look at the numbers.
Check your savings.
Check your investments.
Check your super.
Look at your mortgage and other debts.
Review subscriptions and recurring expenses.
Compare your position with your previous check-in.
And then ask:
Is my money moving me towards the life I want?
You might discover you’ve gone backwards during an expensive period. That’s okay — sometimes that’s exactly what money is there for.
What matters is that you know.
Your money should be doing something for you
Motherhood understandably changes financial priorities.
There may be periods when building wealth simply isn’t the priority. Having a baby, taking parental leave, paying for childcare or managing a single income can make finances tighter.
But staying financially healthy doesn’t necessarily mean saving enormous amounts of money.
Sometimes it simply means staying engaged.
Know what you have.
Know what you owe.
Keep an eye on your super.
Maintain savings where possible.
Invest small amounts if it’s appropriate for your circumstances.
Automate the good habits you can afford.
And keep checking that your financial position is moving in the direction you want.
Because while you’re busy investing an extraordinary amount of time, energy and money into your children’s future, it’s worth remembering one other person whose future deserves some investment too.
Yours.
This article contains general information only and does not take into account your personal financial circumstances, objectives or needs. Consider seeking professional financial advice before making investment or financial decisions.
