Bouncing babies spell bouncing cheques
Many parents are finding themselves unable to cope with the costs of having a family and are getting into debt as a result.According to a survey conducted by Money Expert, as many as four in ten parents end up in the red before their baby reaches its first birthday, as all the costs of having a child add up and parents have to cope with a decrease in income.While the average parent ends £1,140 into the red in the year after they have a baby, seven per cent end up owing £2,500 after the first year and two per cent find themselves owing more than £7,000.Around 39 per cent of those parents polled experienced a drop in income after having their child, with one partner giving up work or reducing their hours to care for the new baby.When it came to bridging the financial gap, three in ten people turned to their family for a handout, while 22 per cent were forced to use a credit card and ten per cent took out a loan.Sean Gardner, chief executive of Money Expert, said: "For most of us worries about money go out of the window with the joy of having a baby."It's hard enough coping with the sleepless nights and new responsibilities without thinking about budgets."But financially a new baby can cause havoc because of the combined burden of extra costs and reduced income."If money is already tight, it's no wonder that so many families have had to turn to borrowing to make ends meet."
Share this..
Related stories
Will the UK lose its place in the worldwide pecking order?
For a fairly small country the UK has always seemed to punch above its weight in the worldwide financial sector and international relations. However, as the economy continues to fall at an alarming rate and more and more taxpayer's money is poured back into the system there are concerns in some quarters that the UK's presence and strength on the international scene could be under pressure.
...
Victory for womens state pension rights
Under new proposals announced by the government literally hundreds of thousands of women in the UK will be able to receive a full state pension upon retirement. The group of the population in question are those who gave up their careers to care for children or family members and because they did not have sufficient National Insurance contributions they had not been allowed to claim the full state...
Read MorePricewaterhouseCoopers issues depressing property report
PricewaterhouseCoopers has today issued a report on UK property market which will not make good reading for UK homeowners and investors. The report suggests that the recent spate of upbeat statements with regards to the UK property sector may have heralded something of a "false dawn" and they expect prices to fall in 2010 and remain flat in 2011. This appears to be at direct odds with a raft of ot...
Read MoreInterest rates stay static
The Bank of England yesterday elected to keep interest rates on hold at 5.75 per cent for the third month in a row.Analysts had predicted that interest rates would not change this month, but many are forecasting that the bank's monetary policy committee (MPC) will be forced to cut them later this year, as the effects of the global credit crunch begin to be felt more widely.Many fear that an econo...
Read MoreNestlé looks at possible Cadbury bid
Late today it emerged that Swiss food giant Nestlé is "considering its options" with regards to Cadbury and the bid saga which has now taken in Kraft Foods, Hershey and Ferrero. As we covered in one of our earlier post, Hershey is believed to be on the verge of announcing a £10.3 billion offer although even though the Cadbury board has already indicated this is too low. While unofficially it i...
Read More