Tuesday 23rd of March 2010
It’s a dream for many women across the country to start a big, happy family and be there to support their children as they grow from toddlers to teens.
However, the cost involved in bringing up a child often means that this dream is impossible to turn into a reality - which could cause people to seek answers on individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs).
According to a recent YouGov survey, commissioned by the National Housing Federation, four out of ten young adults in the UK are having to put their plans to start a family on hold, as they can’t afford to find a place to live.
Add to this LV=’s prediction that it costs over £200,000 to raise a child from birth to the age of 21 and you can see why Brits are having to shelve their plans of having a baby.
Commenting on the data, Catherine Hanly, associate editor of Mumsnet - a parenting website - said: "A quick look at the Mumsnet boards will show you many mums saying that if people looked at life logically rather than emotionally, the financial cost of starting a family would be very off-putting and hard to justify."
Nevertheless, she explained "it’s an almost universal fact that you just have to jump in, have kids and you’ll survive".
However, plunging headfirst into bringing up children could end up pushing would-be parents dangerously into the red - especially if they already have large unsecured debts on credit cards or personal loans.
For this reason, many harbouring plans of domestic bliss - and a healthy bank account - in the future may want to look into asking IVA questions as soon as possible.
That’s because an IVA can clear such debts - if they are worth more than £15,000 - over a period of five years, potentially freeing up extra cash to spend on starting a family and making that dream finally come true.
Written by Kimberly Parsons
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