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Originally Posted by Tapioca
Where does your wife work?
If it's in the public sector, a top up to 90-100% of pre-maternity leave salary is almost guaranteed. In the private sector or not-for-profit sectors, you seldom see any type of top-up while on mat leave.
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She works for PHSA, so public sector. From my limited understanding, they provide a top up of 85% or 90% up to 4 months. Then it reduces after that. Better than private sector, but not the best out there either. It will be helpful though!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tapioca
Making choices for your family is tough. For us, we had to buy a small townhouse in the suburbs and tough it out for a few years so that we could balance our reduced income during my wife's maternity leaves. I also had to get out of my habit of buying old BMWs, along with the usual stuff like reduced vacations and less eating out. We also put both of our kids through full-time licensed daycare, which is not the norm for most typical members on Revscene, so the sacrifices that we made are probably very foreign to most, including possibly you.
I also had to pivot careers and leave the security of a modest-paying public sector job behind for more money and less security in the private sector. My wife also had to level-up in her job too.
A den is good enough for a nursery, but eventually, you'll need more space. I take it that you do have work within the constraints of most people, so you will have to make compromises somewhere in your life - whether it's commute and/or living space.
It gets better though... we traded up to a detached house last fall because our finances improved following the transition of one of our kids into the public school system.
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This really hits home for me. I was telling my wife that we are going to have to make some difficult decisions coming up. We love the Riley Park lifestyle and my wife has a 6 minute commute to work. Mine is 20 minutes most days. We are definitely spoiled in certain aspects. Wherever we move, the commute is going to increase and we won't have the walkability and amenities we enjoy. It is going to be a big compromise for much needed space, especially for my wife.
Big decision is whether we try and move later this year and get it over and done with even before we start trying for a kid.