Of course, there are lots of free baby stuff in Canada that you can sign up for to decrease the cost. It never hurts to be over-prepared and luckily most pregnancies are a sizeable amount of time to plan ahead. Does 12 months or 18 months leave Make More Financial Sense? If you’re self employed and you don’t pay into EI benefits, you don’t get access to maternity leave or parental leave. Whichever option you opt for, don’t forget to get organized before baby comes so you can apply for benefits as soon as you’re done work. . It’s enough worrying about whether to do a 12 month or 18 month leave, but once your child is born there is a whole lot of other stuff to sign up for. You can apply for benefits online on Service Canada’s Website. Which means that even if you make $75,000 annually, you will still be paid out the maximum amount on a weekly basis which is 55% of $53,100 up to 35 weeks, or around $573 each week for 2020. I would say the percentage of moms to be that I know who are planning to take the extended 18-month leave is around 30%. We know that it’s not just about the finances though when you become a parent. The extended parental benefits pay out 33% of your average weekly insurable earnings, up to the same maximum amount, for a maximum duration of 61 weeks. Does anybody know what the 18 month leave amount is after taxes? 12 months was hard enough. I don’t know. Here are the differences between the US and Canadian maternity leaves according to Investopedia. I think 90-100% of pay for 18 months paid for by employer AND $100 a month daycare. A year is a long time to be away, and depending on your profession, a lot can change at work during that time. While you can still make the most of this exciting time during evenings and weekends, it’s hard to replace the quality time you get when you’re home during the day. Depending on your employer benefits or even whether you are self-employed, you have to budget for your maternity leave unless you’re lucky enough to be taking maternity leave in Sweden, which pays 80% of your income for the full 18 months. Being Canadian, we are super lucky to be able to take advantage of a paid parental leave program. It’s only 12 weeks(about 3 months) here in the US. However, the confounding factors are access to childcare (and how much it is and how soon you can access it) and whether both parents can take parental leave at the same time (the answer is no but it can be shared). There are a number of costs associated with starting a family, and adding unnecessary financial stress is undoubtedly something you want to avoid. Also, on the flip side, having a lower family net income may qualify you for more Child Care Benefit (CCB) payments. usually after 17 weeks for the rest of the time). We do pay into these benefits though. The maximum EI payment is around $2000 a month. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. @Owen- Good point. For the 18 month leave, at around $337 each week over 61 weeks, that works out to be $20,557 in total received as a benefit. My ‘mom brain’ took a bit of time to wear off. Hopefully they will at least stretch it to 20 weeks in the near future so mothers do not have to use as much vacation or sick pay as they do now when they are on leave. blog updates and a free dividend yield spreadsheet. EI maternity and parental leave in Canada. ), if you’re still feeding your baby at night (not sure if you feed overnight) stop. You must give your employer at least 8 weeks’ notice if you want to change your return to work date. I wish you did a comparison for those of us who do not receive a “top up.” The only people I have met with that option is teachers, nurses and government officials. Usually, the earliest you can start your leave is 11 weeks before the expected week of childbirth. You may qualify if your net family income is under $25,921, you have kids, and are receiving the Canada Child Benefit. On the one hand, so many milestones happen in your baby’s life between 12 and 18 months. Yes, I felt it was super hard going to just EI parental leave payments too, lol. Can you switch from 12 to 18 months maternity leave? You can apply for benefits as early as 12 weeks before your due date or the actual week you give birth. This would mean that baby is not quite a year if they only take 12 months. Congratulations on your baby!! Canadian Moms and Dads, did you pick the 12 month or the 18 month leave? Whichever option you opt for, don’t forget to get organized before baby comes so you can apply for benefits as soon as you’re done work. For more accuracy, here is the maternity leave calculator from the Government of Canada. It will still not be ideal from a financial standpoint, but it is less expensive for the household budget for sure if you have a generous top-up for parental leave. If money is not an issue, and job security is not a problem (like working for the government, or unionized jobs), probably 18 months is better? You’re barely recovered from the trauma of birth at 6 weeks too…. Best wishes, -Joe. How long do they get for the paternal leave? For the 12 month leave, you get $573 each week over 35 weeks, that works out to be $20,055 in total received as a benefit. Financially speaking, the 12 months maternity leave makes financial sense. I remember during my one year of maternity leave, I was so exhausted as my baby wasn’t sleeping through the night until around 6 months. Statutory Maternity Leave is 52 weeks. past four weeks), you risk losing your benefits! @Joe- Yeah, so true. On the last day of work you can start to apply for EI maternity and parental benefits. My poor husband had to bear the brunt of my irritability. Or the opportunity cost of not being present for your company’s annual salary review or increases and losing out on that with a longer leave. You can get back and get on with your life. While the system may not be perfect, over time it has changed and improved to try to meet the needs of more Canadians. Because of COVID, the government made some special changes in 2020. While staying home with your new babe is an appealing option for many new parents, there are some important things to consider when weighing the options of whether to take extended parental leave. Thank you. TD Canada Trust has a handy Parental Leave Calculator on their site so you can estimate how much you will receive. Here’s a complete financial checklist for new parents in Canada to keep you organized. Almost 1! Also, keep in mind that if you don’t return to work after your maternity or parental leave, you may be on the hook to pay back your top up for your maternity or parental leave from your employer. If you’re planning to go back to work, I think 12-month leave makes more sense. I found this to be pretty accurate. Following that, parents or caregivers receive 33% of their salary for up to 61 weeks, to a maximum of $337/week (which can be increased if you qualify for the Family Supplement). Learn how your comment data is processed. Related:  A Tale of 4 Maternity Leaves:  Comparison Between 4 Countries. Determining how much you will actually make in both benefits scenarios is an essential first step. Here’s the government website to apply for your EI maternity and parental leave in Canada. My friend’s husband gets a better top up than her, so she will go back to work around 4 months post-baby and he will use the parental leave the rest of the year. It will take only 2 minutes to fill in. It’s great that y’all can get 12 months or even 18 months of parental leave. Running the numbers with the above scenario, it makes more financial sense to opt for the 12-month leave. I had a summer baby, the end of July. Hilary Hoogsteen works in Marketing for a craft brewery and is Mom to a cheerful one-year-old. Which one made more financial or family sense for you? While you can still make the most of this exciting time during evenings and weekends, it’s hard to replace the quality time you get when you’re home during the day. This then would imply that the leave cycle of 12 months continues to accrue annual leave, irrespective of whether that 12 month leave cycle is interrupted by maternity leave or not. A few months after my daughter was born, the Canadian government opened up the option for an 18 month parental leave, rather than the previously allotted 12 months.

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