<prompt> Human: I have been around this sub for a little bit. I did a quick search and I looked through the sidebarwiki and couldnt find anything related so if a resource that addresses this question already exists, I do apologize.I wont go into specifics about my personal situation as my hope is this post would be able to serve as a general guide for all of us here but the question is this:What is the opportune time in someones financial picture to have children? What are important financial goals people should try to reach before having children?Of course children arent always planned, but in the case that they are I think that answers to these questions can be useful. Thanks in advance for your input!!Edit: Formatting  <response>: Well Im newly married and 8 weeks pregnant with my first. Im 27. Will be 28 when my babe gets here. I wanted to be married before having a child; not for religious reasons, just because I want us all to have the same last name, and having children is a life long commitment to someone else. If youre not willing to make me a wife, why would you make me a mother? I also wanted to own my own house before having children. This was even more important to me than the marriage thing, because to me, renting is a stepping stone and my ultimate goal would have always been home ownership. Having children before having a house would have been a step backwards, and I would always be pining for my home. I want my child to have a childhood home, and not be moving around all the time. Due to increasingly high costs of renting, and an attractive bank offer, we bought our first house at 23. We struggled - pretty heavily at times, put basically all of our extra money into renovations over the past 4 years, and finally feel comfortable. After that, we got married this year - a small destination wedding that did not cost a lot, but was a ton of fun.We have a lot of equity in our house - thanks both to an insane boom in the real estate market here, and all of the renovations we have done. Our house is worth about double what we paid for it 4 years ago. We dont have any debt aside from a very low interest mortgage. We have two vehicles. We have a big yard and a pool. We live in a nice neighborhood. We have RRSPs saved up. We just do whatever we want, when we want, and I feel like there is no purpose. We just go through the motions day in and day out, making mortgage payments, buying groceries, etc. My husband commutes 3 hours a day, and I am home by myself 16 hours a day I work from home. Half my friends are married with children and the other half are single and drunk. Im over the partying stage, and have felt very much in limbo for a couple of years now. We arent rich; and it will probably be a huge adjustment, but we are comfortable, and Im ready for a baby. People say, youre never ready, and while I dont expect it to be easy-peasy, I dont really know when could possibly be a better time than now. We are young enough that we can probably still retire at 50, and our kid will be in college. My literal only concern is that I have 2 large dogs, and 1 of them has some mental issues. Im not sure how he will be with a baby, or how Im going to handle it. Nothing bad happened to him, he has just been a little psycho since he was a puppy. He has taken so much patient over the years, but hes 6 now, so are at least half way there. Literally, my dog is the biggest piece of stress in my life. I love his guts, but he is so hard to deal with. I imagine one day, I will look back and wish my biggest concern was a dog. I admit we lucked out a little, but its also been a very boring 4 years doing nothing but paying bills and doing house renovations. Im looking forward to the change in lifestyle, and having a lot of firsts with our babe. 