Planning for maternity or paternity leave
Getting yourself ready for maternity or paternity leave involves more than just organising your time away from work. It’s about setting yourself and your family for success for one of the busiest times you’ll ever have, while ensuring your finances are in order.
If you’re the primary care giver, you may be eligible to receive parental leave pay from the government. To qualify for this government leave payment, you’ll need to meet certain eligibility criteria, opens in new window. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s parental leave and related entitlements online toolkit, opens in new window provides comprehensive guidance and is filled with information regarding parental leave benefits.
It’s a good idea to refer to this resource while you’re considering how your parental leave will impact your finances, especially your mortgage obligations. Learn how to manage your home loan repayments while on parental leave.
How much leave should you take?
Everyone's circumstances are different, and how much time you should take off can depend on a range of factors. These factors include, your savings, any debt you may have, your current income and your partners income too.
If you’d like to work out the financial impact of taking time off, a great place to start is ASIC’s parental leave calculator, opens in new window.
Other payments that could help
There are a number of government benefits you may be able to claim, including:
- family tax benefit
- parenting payment
- dad and partner pay (which is available to secondary carers of any gender).
The Department of Human Services’ Payment finder, opens in new window can help you find and compare the payments you may be eligible for.
Planning for a reduced income
If you’re managing a mortgage on top of credit card and personal debt, it might be helpful to consolidate your debts into one. See NAB’s Debt Consolidation Calculator to see how this could affect your repayments.
You might want to start budgeting as if you only had one income. This will help you to start saving ahead of time and can help you get used to living on a reduced income.
Your super
Maternity leave is one reason women tend to have less super later in life. One expert tip is to start making extra contributions now – while you’re still working. You could also look into your partner making contributions on your behalf.
Useful resources for budgeting
For more information be sure to check out these tools and guides to help you with your budgeting and planning:
- NAB Budget Planner
- NAB Financial Planning
- NAB Budgeting and Saving guides
- Moneysmart, opens in new window
- If you’re in financial difficulty, you can chat to a free government funded financial counsellor or see how NAB can help.
Use our budget planner to help you set up and stick to your budget as new parents.
Explore other life moments
Five useful budgeting tips for a growing family
Top tips on how to be financially prepared for a baby.
Top things to consider when returning to work
How to transition back into work after being a stay at home parent.
Buying for your baby on a budget
Tips on keeping your baby budget under control.
Related prooducts and services
Savings accounts
Whatever you're saving for, our savings accounts can help get you there sooner.
Transaction accounts
Access your money with our everyday bank accounts with no monthly fees.
Home loans
Home loans for every need with tools, calculators and guides to help you choose.
Get in touch
Customer Support Tool
Solve problems quickly online with our easy-to-follow guides. Simply select a topic and we’ll direct you to the information you need.
Contact us
Explore our personal banking contact information and get support with a wide range of products, services and topics.
Visit a NAB branch
Visit us in person at your nearest NAB branch or business banking centre.
Important information
Apologies but the Important Information section you are trying to view is not displaying properly at the moment. Please refresh the page or try again later.
The information contained in this article is intended to be of a general nature only. It has been prepared without taking into account any person’s objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on this information, NAB recommends that you consider whether it is appropriate for your circumstances. NAB recommends that you seek independent legal, financial and taxation advice before acting on any information in this article.