Having babies: Does money factor into your decisions?

How much does (or did) money factor into your decisions about having kids?

Are too many women putting it off for reasons of career and money? An interesting report from Relationships Australia has revealed that concerns about job security and the cash required to raise a child are causing more women to put baby-making on their pile of Things-I-Want-To-Do-One-Day-But-Not-Just-Yet-Thanks-Very-Much.

According to News Ltd,
THE cost of having children is putting young women off motherhood until they get older. Other major factors prompting women to delay childbirth include the failure to find true love and the impact on their career. More than three-quarters of women aged 18-39 surveyed nationally by support service Relationships Australia said they planned to be a mum. But only 16 per cent said they were thinking about having babies soon.

More than 60 per cent of Gen Y women – aged 18-29 – said they would put off having kids because they were concerned about the cost. Almost half said their career was more important, one third were worried about losing their freedom, and 29 per cent had not found “Mr Right”.

For Gen X girls – aged 30-39 – half said they had not yet met a man who was husband material, half were concerned about the cost, and a quarter did not want to lose their freedom. Only 17 per cent of working Gen X women said their job was a priority over babies.

Marketing manager Angela Brand, 34, said she had seen the positives and negatives of parenthood through her friends who had kids. “There are parts of it that scare the hell out of me,” she said. “It’s silly really because it is not like I am having a life where I take off overseas at the drop of a hat. But it’s the idea that I could if I wanted to. But I am sure that desire is gradually outweighed by the desire to settle down. It hasn’t kicked in for me – it feels like a prolonged youth that gets longer and longer.”

Relationships Australia vice-president Anne Hollonds said the survey highlighted how tough the decision to have children was, especially at a time when money and job security were uncertain.”We have a lot more choices today and for many young women having babies is understandably not the key priority,” she said. “But if women are thinking they may want to have kids in future, it’s important to plan ahead.”

Ms Hollonds said women needed to be aware of when fertility declined, and “gambling” on a relationship that was going nowhere could lead to regret later.

Meanwhile, Fairfax reports,

Economic concerns were raised by more than 60 per cent of women who took part in a survey that sought the factors involved in their decision to delay having children. Next came a woman’s career being “too important to me right now” (40 per cent), not having found the right partner (37 per cent) and concerns about baby delivering a “loss of freedom” (31 per cent).