Was having kids a financial decision for us?

I was reading a post on a FIRE subreddit about how kids impact finances, and I noticed how people have such different perspectives on when is the best (financial) time to have kids.  The post asked how much money you had when you had your first kid, and it struck me that Mr. 4kFIRE and I had very minimal savings when our first kid, big A, was born. The link that people have between finances and having children is quite strong and yet it seems that kids are often discussed as a hindrance to FIRE rather than how they can be a reason to achieve FIRE.  For us, having kids was something we always wanted and when we decided to have them it was about it being the right time in our life to have them (e.g. relatively young (late 20s), had been married and together a while, lined up with the academic year and summer for time off) rather than the right financial moment. As we’ve had more kids, our finances have evolved, and yet having our next kid has never been a financial decision, but rather about what we value (family, time together) and about when we haven’t been too tired to add another to the mix.

Financial transparency and anonymity

The Reddit post reminded me how encouraging and useful it is to see people’s financial progression towards FIRE and the decisions that have been impactful in helping them reach FIRE. For example, what decisions did they make that helped them build their savings?  What did they decide to spend their money on that maybe lengthened their timeline? What priorities were revealed in how they chose to spend their time and money? 

I really love being able to look at both savings and spending, and it’s for the reason of full transparency that Mr. 4kFIRE and I have decided to write this blog anonymously (at least for now).  There’s a certain level of vulnerability in displaying your finances for the world (or small number of people reading this blog) to see, but being able to be fully transparent with our finances is important to us.  The rest of this post is going to explore our finances over the past 10 years and some of the big life events along the way that corresponded to our finances. I’m hoping this sheds light on how quickly finances can change and also what big events have led to our current savings.

2013/2014

Net Worth: NEGATIVE net worth($0 in investment accounts, student loans from university (about $75,000))

Life Events: we paid off Mr. 4kFIRE’s student loans including a LOC we used to pay for living expenses when Mr. 4kFIRE was unemployed and Ms. 4kFIRE was in school; after paying off our loans in 2014, we purchased our first home for $255,000 with plans to duplex it and to use the purchase plus improvement program (our mortgage was for $285,000 post-renovation); Ms. 4kFIRE earned a big financial scholarship which was enough for a house down payment

2015

Net Worth*: NEGATIVE ($0 in investment accounts, LOC from home renovation, interest-free student loans remain for Ms. 4kFIRE)

Life Events: paid for a big home renovation converting our SFH (single family home) into a duplex ($80,000-$100,000); had our first baby (Big A); Mr. 4kFIRE took off 4 months of work; Ms. 4kFIRE took off 12 months of work; had our first tenant (success!)

2016

Net Worth*: $16,414.28 in registered savings accounts; some debt remains (mortgage on house, interest-free student loans for Ms. 4kFIRE, LOC)

Life Events: continued renting to same tenant; started investing through Mr. 4kFIRE’s work matching RRSP plan

2017

Net Worth*: $22,864.31 in registered savings accounts; some debt remains (mortgage, interest-free student loans for Ms. 4kFIRE)

Life Events: had our second baby (M); Mr. 4kFIRE took off 5 months of work; Ms. 4kFIRE took off 12 months of work; continued renting to same tenant; paid off LOC from home renovation

2018

Net Worth*: $29,260.12 in registered savings accounts; some debt remains (mortgage, interest-free student loans for Ms. 4kFIRE)

Life Events: first tenant moved out and we began to short-term rent our apartment (airbnb) which brought in more income

2019

Net Worth*: $47,534.71 in registered savings accounts; Kids’ RESP: $2,281.76; some debt remains (mortgage, interest-free student loans for Ms. 4kFIRE)

Life Events: received an inheritance ($20,000); bought a new house for ourselves ($500,000); refinanced our previous home (now our rental) to pull some equity out

2020

Net Worth*: $140,723.73 in registered savings accounts; Kids’ RESP: $5,037.52; some debt remains (mortgages, interest-free student loans for Ms. 4kFIRE)

Life Events: refinanced our rental house again to pull more equity out and to begin the Smith Manoeuvre (using a HELOC); had two new tenants in our rental apartments; bought our new (used) mini-van and sold our car (-$3,000 difference); had our third baby (S); Mr. 4kFIRE took off 5 months of work; Ms. 4kFIRE took off 16 months of work; paid off portion of student loans for Ms. 4kFIRE that was going to begin accumulating interest

2021

Net Worth*: $160,604.40 in registered savings accounts; $81,000.00 in unregistered savings accounts; $30,000 invested in cryptocurrency; Kids’ RESP: $9,256.48; some debt remains (mortgages, HELOC, interest-free student loans for Ms. 4kFIRE)

Life Events: pulled out some money from our HELOC to invest

2022

Net Worth*: $157,753.58 in a registered savings account; $72,302.27 in an unregistered account; ?? in cryptocurrency**; Kids’ RESP: $9,313.79; some debt remains (mortgages, HELOC, interest-free student loans for Ms. 4kFIRE)

Life Events: stock market has been down which is reflected in our investment amounts decreasing; had our fourth baby (little a); Mr. 4kFIRE took off work for 18 months; Ms. 4kFIRE took off work for 17 months; used our HELOC to pay expenses for our rental; continued investing in Mr. 4kFIRE’s work RRSP

2023

Net Worth*: $164,652.55 in registered savings accounts; $99,880.61 in unregistered savings accounts; ? in cryptocurrency**; Kids’ RESP: $10,762.09; some debt remains (mortgages, HELOC, interest-free student loans for Ms. 4kFIRE)

Total current net worth (not including RESP): $264,533.16

Life Events: market is still down a bit; Mr. and Ms. 4kFIRE both still off work so savings are minimal; continued investing in Mr. 4kFIRE’s work RRSP

*Net Worth does not include our house equity, which currently (2023) between both houses is about $700,000

**Value of cryptocurrency is unknown as the market is in quite a low and Mr. 4kFIRE doesn’t want to feel too much despair at our losses