Parenting

For today's LGBTQIA+ families, there are no accidental families.

• You might be parenting and single with kids, parenting solo with kids, parenting and partnered with kids, (yours, theirs and ours), dual parents with kids, co-parents, foster parents, adoptive parents, or even adoptive parents of kids with additional needs (just beautiful!).
• You might be a lesbian co-parenting couple or super involved 'Guncles' or Aunties. You might not even identify with the broader LGBTQIA+ community but find yourself a parent in a same-sex relationship, or perhaps something a little more complicated.

When it comes to parenting in the LGBTQIA+ community, there's really no such thing as average.

However you're doing it, Love makes a family.

Love protects a family

More LGBTQIA+ singles and couples are adding children – and the related extra expenses – to their households with about 11% of Australian gay men and 33% of lesbians raising children.

These diverse Australian families are often navigating jumbo mortgages, concerns about school bullying, religious discrimination, spending their money with purpose and creating safety and community for their kids.

A big part of parenting is safely solving problems. As families expand, there are usually a few key financial details to put in place;

• A top priority for a growing family is protecting your income, which covers you in the event something happens that prevents you from working.
• The next step is usually establishing life insurance and disability cover sufficient to pay out all debts (and future debts and mortgages) and provide for living expenses and could even go towards University fees should you not be around.

While you might already have some compulsory level of insurance through your work or a super fund, which is a good start, it’s usually only a token amount and doesn't provide a family with the full coverage you need.

Several of our LGBTQIA+ clients have children and none of them have said any of them were 'unexpected'. Drew Browne, Financial Adviser Unusual Risks Insured

Why LGBTI parents need specialist financial advice

The world looks different today for many LGBTQIA+ families who face a wide array of issues that don't affect our heterosexual counterparts.

• Many people in the LGBTQIA+ community have to choose their family, when their own biological family may not be the most welcoming.
• While these options offer same-sex couples more choices in their pursuit of a family, they can be expensive and need additional planning and protection.
• Even though marriage equality is now law in Australia, we still need to consider there may be a lot of family dynamics going on with family members who may not accept them, or adoptions by non-biological parents.
• LGBTQIA+ people are much more likely than the general population to say that they need to gain more knowledge in order to tackle their financial goals. Many don't feel fully prepared because they don't know their options, don’t know how best to evaluate their options or don’t know how to get started.

Learn what's right for you

If you’re parenting, it's time to learn all about your family's options and then what needs to happen to protect a fabulous future together.

• And while you're getting sorted, make sure you have a family backup plan in place, have updated the documents in your families estate plan to make sure nobody is left out, and confirm you have the right 'beneficiary details' listed in your super funds and life insurance policies and check your current 'Power of Attorney' is up to date and stored safely, just in case.

We’d love to help you with all of that too.

Despite now having full marriage equality, the LGBTQIA+ community has a lot of ground to make up when it comes to succeeding financially.

We need to stay informed and help each other succeed. Collectively, we can be the village that raises our children, ultimately helping every child grow up in a safer, more inclusive world.

Other considerations:

• Are you co-parenting and need to protect children from a biological family and chosen family equally? Let us help you with that.
• Parenting means needing to regularly review and update your Power of Attorney, Wills, Responsible Person nominations and other necessary key legal family documents.  We can help you with those too, and the strategy and the products to bring it all together.
• Are you running a family business? You probably have additional business risks to manage and need to protect your family from your business's financial risks. Let us help you with that.