Married with Kids Archives – Marriage, Kids and Money

How Having a Baby Changed My Financial Goals

Hello all! Andy Hill here … We have a new guest post from Logan Allec from Money Done Right. Logan is a CPA, real estate investor, and full-time personal finance blogger. His article below shares how his life changed when he became a father. I can definitely relate! I hope you enjoy!

There’s no question that having a baby changed my life. I just wasn’t quite prepared for the impact it would have on my finances.

I was definitely prepared for all the expenses of having a newborn. However, I also found myself adjusting my long-term financial goals in a way I hadn’t expected.

If you’re a new parent — or are about to become one — you might find yourself thinking about new financial goals that probably weren’t on your mind before. You might also realize you have a different mindset when it comes to money.

Everyone’s experience is different, but here’s how the birth of my son changed my own financial goals.

How Fatherhood Sparked My Desire For Financial Independence

On one fine summer day in 2011, I was zipping around on my new moped headed to the local Rite Aid convenience store. I had an incredibly important purchase I was about to make.

After breezing through the sliding doors, I headed straight back to the pharmacy area. I was beaming. I was grinning ear-to-ear.

Given my excited state, the pharmacist probably thought I was a virgin looking to score my first Trojans. Nope. I was after something much more important.

4 Newlywed Debt Destruction Tips

In 2010, my wife Nicole and I got married and started our lives together. Financially speaking, we both really enjoyed the DINK (double income with no kids) status in our first year of marriage. We had a blast going to music festivals, vacationing in the Caribbean and treating ourselves to countless steak dinners.

But something was looming that I hadn’t addressed … My mountain of debt that I brought into the marriage.