Full Pay or Half Pay??

Hi,

Through my work I get 6 weeks paid mat leave and I was wondering if it is better to take it at full pay or half pay....

I get paid quite well (over $50k) have no hecs or anything but we do have a lot of bills to pay due to DH and I having badly paying jobs before we scored our current ones.

Is there any benefit to take it at full or half pay? Apart from at half it would be stretching out for longer???

I do plan to take at least 6 months off.

there are additional benefits to taking your leave at half pay in that, cash in hand wise, you tend to get more over the longer period as your tax liability is lower for those smaller pay amounts... i've taken rec leave at half pay and gotten well over half my normal pay in the bank...

personally, i think taking your leave at half pay would be, from a budgetary perspective, a lot wiser if you're planning on having at least six months off - FTB isn't a whole lot of money, your mat leave payments will be taken into account and impact your FTB anyway, so having a higher amount in your pocket for a longer period of time would be more beneficial

hope that helps

thats exactly the kind of advice I was after thanks!

I was gonna leave any FTB benefits we may or may not be entitled to til the end of the tax year anyway cause doubt we would qualify for much so if we get a little lump sum at the end even better.

I think the stability of the half pay would also be good for us too cause least there is always SOMETHING coming in rather than nothing, and if they let me take the baby bonus in installments then our weekly input would be manageable.

everyone is eligible to get the baby bonus in installments - and with how far along in your pregnancy you are at the moment, you'll have no choice! from january 1, all baby bonus recipients will be paid in installments of approx $385 a fortnight for 6 months. one thing to keep in mind though is that it IS dependent on yours and your partners income in the six months immediately after bubs is born - if it's more than 75k, you won't get the baby bonus (just not sure what "quite well paid" meant, so thought i'd drop that in there for you!)

ooh had a mild panic cause combined we get more than $75k a year, but then realised its $75k in 6 months which we certainly won't get. I get $54k and dh $52k so for what we do its quite good money. So we will be under $150k per year cut off

PHEW! Whilst I won't be buying goods with the bonus it is helping me with Mat leave

excellent - glad i could help (well, not with the panic attack, but you know what i mean!)

I agree with BG - last time I took half pay and it worked out a lot better from a tax perspective and it stretched the money out over 2 financial years so it worked better froman FTB perspective as well. Not to mention the budgeting was made easier by having money coming in for longer.

I am planning to take all my 7 weeks A/L at half pay to stretch my time out too - I work in a private bussiness so no paid matt leave for me! Taking 1/2 pay actallu makes me come out $50 bucks a week better off dues to paying less tax.
Briggsys Girl - where did you find out all that info about the Baby Bonus?? I have been looking for info but all I get is gov'mnt sites that I dont understand fully! Is it after Jan 2009 that you get installments? My due date is Nov 30th so would I qulaify to get it in a lump sum? And if my husbands amdn my wages combined are approx $100K would we qualify to the bonus at all?
Sorry - new to this whole baby bonus thing!

Kafer_Girl

You will get yours in a lump sum and qualify for the bonus. Nothing is changing until 1 Jan next year.

Megaminz - I totally agree with BG :)

Due to a loophole in the way our pay system operates (Comm Govt Dept), if you take one day's annual leave at full pay on either side of the public holiday, then you get paid the public holiday at full pay, without using mat leave. This includes the annual Christmas closedown. If you take mat leave over the same period then you don't get the extra pay. I'm not sure where you work but it's worth asking about this with your pay department because strategically taking a week of annual leave at points throughout your leave without pay can stretch your dollar - and therefore the time you can afford to stay home with bubba - further.

Thanks Muppity! Im glad I will qualify! Now I can spend some more time at home with bubs!

Ohh Marydean - that is truly inspired !

Muppity, our pay section does not advertise it but it's perfectly kosher. There's a network of pregnant ladies who pass the word along ;)!

Kafer girl - muppity is completely right hunny - nothing changes for you - just from January 1. i kinda have the inside scoop cos i work for the government.... it WAS all released with the 2008 budget last month though... i probably just have a bit more understanding than most cos i have to deal with it all the time! lol