Planning your finances around your family

Family means different things, but whoever you have around you, it’s good to plan.

Planning for your family

Our lives are mapped out by moments of reality that need planning, taking time off work through choice or necessity, children, education, separation, second families.

And while these draw on our money, we’d never deny financing these events once we have the means. Having the means comes with good planning, budgeting and saving.

If you'd like a chat about better money management, you can call our help only line on 01-7715625.

Using time and money to improve your prospects

Maeve knew that now was the best time to go to back to college to finish her Masters. She worked it all out; the cost of the education, how to survive with no salary for a year. As she planned it all out in advance, she saved as much as she could and took a small loan over five years. It was all worth it in the end as she got a promotion when she graduated and used her increased salary to pay down the loan early. 

We can help you figure out how a loan best fits with your finances

Growing families

The joy of children is in those precious moments. The first steps, the crayon drawings, the gaming console, music rehearsals, graduation. It takes planning and hard work to make each of those perfect moments.

If you’re on maternity leave or going back to study you may like to have a look at what options you have to manage your AIB mortgage.

Changing families

When relationships break down they put a strain not just on our emotions, but on finances too. Often the most difficult arrangements to agree with a former partner are the finances. Inevitably there will be reduced income, split resources, new individual accounts and perhaps as time moves on, new partners and families to consider.

Education

We all make a plan for education: what school, what course, what university? Education gets more expensive as children move through the levels and even university can extend to post graduate. All the while your child relies on your money for longer. It makes sense to plan it out well in advance and make sure there’s money available to invest in education.

If you are considering learning yourself, a career break is a good means of creating opportunity to earn more, but it takes a sacrifice in income. With money set aside you’ll be better able to smooth out the highs and lows of income.

Career breaks

Taking time out for education, caring for children longer than parental leave, or caring for an elder. A planned career break can be all the more manageable if there’s no financial pressure.

There are also times when we break from our career through no choice of our own. A redundancy, pay cut, closure. We don’t see these things coming, but having a cushion built up through saving or careful budgeting will help.

Budgeting for the family

To better manage your cost of living, consider projecting your future expenses and income, and devising strategies to finance or save the surplus. This type of proactive planning will help you prepare for unexpected changes in your financial situation and enable you to navigate life's challenges with greater ease.

Optimise your finances with our cost of living hub