The cleanest pre-baby money work happens in the second trimester — between weeks 18 and 28 — when the headline news has settled, the leave window is in sight but not imminent, and there's still time to fix anything that needs fixing.
This guide is the punch list a careful parent works through before the baby arrives. None of it is exciting; all of it pays back when the newborn fog hits.
Start here — the Baby Budget tool
Before the checklist makes sense, you need a number for the first year. The Baby Budget builds it line by line and lays your PPL income on top so the cashflow gap is visible, not implied.
- 35 starter items pre-seeded across before-baby, ongoing, and one-off.
- Low / mid / high price columns to compare modest vs premium without re-keying.
- PPL income overlay so you see the months you'll need savings for.
- Auto-saves as you tick. Paid-tier.
Spend 15 minutes here. The checklist below makes a lot more sense once you've seen your number.
The 8-item checklist
| # | Task | When | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Build 3-6 months emergency fund | As early as possible | Ongoing |
| 2 | Lodge PPL claim with Services Australia | 12 weeks before due date | 30 min |
| 3 | Book childcare waitlist | 24-28 weeks | 1-2 hours |
| 4 | Update will + Enduring Power of Attorney | Second trimester | 1-2 weeks via solicitor |
| 5 | Update super binding death-benefit nomination | Second trimester | 20 min |
| 6 | Review life insurance and TPD | Second trimester | 1 hour |
| 7 | Confirm health insurance covers obstetrics | If not already on a Bronze+ tier with 12-month waiting period served | Varies |
| 8 | Restructure your cashflow for the leave year | Third trimester | 2 hours |
The detail on each is below.
1. The emergency fund
The single most-skipped item. PPL is government-paid but doesn't cover the pre-birth gap (the weeks between when you stop work and when the baby arrives), and it's only 26 weeks long for the FY2026-27 scheme. Even with a smooth leave + return, most families need to spend down a chunk of savings during the leave year.
Target: 3-6 months of household expenses.
What counts as "household expenses" — fixed bills (rent/mortgage, utilities, insurance, school fees, subscriptions) + variable basics (groceries, fuel, medical, basic kids stuff). It does NOT include discretionary travel, restaurants, or extras you'd cut in a tight month.
Park it in an at-call savings account separate from your everyday account. The high-interest accounts at most Australian banks (typically 4.5-5.0% in 2026) work fine. Avoid term deposits — you may need it at short notice.
Run the NestWise PPL planner → Enter your due date, leave start, and employer leave. The planner shows your week-by-week leave-year income and the cashflow gap your emergency fund needs to cover.
2. Lodge the PPL claim 12 weeks before due date
Most families lodge in the third trimester thinking that's "the right time". It's not — Services Australia accepts claims up to 3 months before your child's expected birth or adoption placement, and lodging early means:
- Residency + work test verification happens before the baby arrives.
- Payments land on time (not waiting 4-6 weeks while Centrelink chases proofs).
- If something's wrong with the application, you have time to fix it.
- If you go into labour early (it happens), you're not lodging a claim from a hospital bed.
The claim is at my.gov.au under Centrelink → Make a claim → Family assistance → Parental Leave Pay. You'll need:
- Your due date (from your treating doctor)
- Your tax file number + your partner's (if partnered)
- Your individual income for the reference year (FY24-25 if claiming for a baby born in FY26-27)
- Family income if claiming via the family income test
- Bank account details
See the PPL income test guide for which income year applies to your due date.
3. Book the childcare waitlist
The hardest "where do my kids actually go to childcare" reality is that good long day care (LDC) centres in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the inner-ring of all capitals run 12-18 month waitlists. If you're planning to return to work at 12 months and you haven't booked, you may not get the centre you wanted.
Right time: 24-28 weeks pregnant.
What to do:
- Pick 3-5 LDC centres within 15 minutes of home or work.
- Tour each (most do casual tours; some require a booking).
- Submit a waitlist application. Most charge $50-$100. Some require a $100-$200 deposit on offer of a place (refundable if you decline).
- Bring proof of due date (your 12-week or 20-week ultrasound usually works).
Family Day Care (FDC) and In Home Care (IHC) have shorter waits and are worth keeping as backup options. The CCS guide walks through how Child Care Subsidy applies to each care type.
Open the NestWise CCS calculator → Plug in the centre's daily fee, your hours of activity, and household income — the calculator shows your exact out-of-pocket per day. Use it to compare two centres before you accept a place.
4. Will + Enduring Power of Attorney
A new baby is one of three life events (along with marriage and a property purchase) that legal advisers universally flag as "update your will". Two reasons:
- Guardianship. Your will is the legal document that names the guardian if both parents die. Without it, the courts decide. Even when you trust your extended family, "we'll work it out" is a worse outcome than a written nomination.
- Testamentary trusts. Children under 18 can't directly inherit a meaningful estate — it sits in trust until they're of age. A testamentary trust set up in your will gives you control over how and when distributions happen.
The NestWise wills cabinet walks through both alongside Enduring Power of Attorney (financial decisions) and Enduring Guardianship (medical/lifestyle decisions). Update all three at once if you're seeing a solicitor.
Open NestWise Wills → Tracks the made-on date, executor, beneficiaries, storage location, and next-review date for everyone in your family. Auto-nudges you when a review is due.
Typical solicitor fee for a couple's will + EOP + EG package in Australia: $400-$800 for a straightforward family, $1,500-$3,000 for complex estates (multiple properties, trusts, business interests). Public Trustee in some states ($0 will-drafting service) is a free alternative for simple estates.
5. Super binding death-benefit nomination
Your super doesn't pass through your will. The trustee of your super fund decides who gets your super balance + insurance payout when you die — and unless you've lodged a binding death-benefit nomination (BDBN), they're not legally required to follow your wishes.
What to do:
- Log into your super fund's online portal.
- Find the "binding nomination" form (sometimes "death benefit nomination").
- Name your partner as the primary beneficiary (or your estate, which then runs the distribution through your will).
- Sign in front of two adult witnesses (the form will specify).
- Lodge the form.
Most BDBNs expire after 3 years and need re-lodging. NestWise tracks the renews-on date and nudges you ahead of expiry.
Open NestWise Super → Records your BDBN renewal date and updates the family money picture if your nominated beneficiary changes.
6. Life insurance and TPD
Most Australians hold their life insurance and Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) cover inside their super by default — set when you joined the fund. The default cover typically scales by age (e.g., $200,000 at 30, $150,000 at 40) and is rarely calibrated to your actual family situation.
For a family with a baby, the rule of thumb is life cover = mortgage + 10× annual living costs (so the surviving family can pay off the house and have a long runway). For TPD, the figure is similar but adjusted for ongoing medical / care costs if you survive but can't work.
Two checks before baby arrives:
- Is the current cover enough? A 30-year-old with a $600,000 mortgage, $80,000/year living costs, and the default $200,000 cover is dangerously underinsured.
- Is income protection in the picture? Income protection (IP) replaces 70-75% of your salary if you can't work due to illness or injury, capped at typically 2 years. Worth holding inside super for tax efficiency.
Increasing cover inside super is usually a phone call to the fund. They may ask a health questionnaire or send you to a doctor for higher amounts.
7. Health insurance — covers obstetrics?
If you're planning a private hospital birth, you need:
- Hospital cover with obstetric inclusion (Bronze tier and above typically include it; Basic Bronze may exclude).
- You must have served the 12-month waiting period before pregnancy was confirmed.
The 12-month waiting period is the absolute rule. If you confirm pregnancy in month 8 of being on the policy, your fund pays nothing toward the hospital portion of the birth — even if you've been paying premiums the whole time. The health insurance pregnancy waiting periods guide walks through the rule + common edge cases (partner switches, fund switches, upgrades).
If you're heading public, you don't need any of this. Medicare covers the public hospital birth in full.
8. Restructure your cashflow for the leave year
The pre-leave income picture and the leave-year income picture are completely different. Most families don't restructure their budget until they're already in it, which means surprise overspend in the first few months.
What to do:
- List every fixed bill in your household — rent, mortgage, energy, water, internet, phone, insurance, childcare for older kids, school fees, subscriptions.
- Mark each as either "must keep" or "could pause".
- Pause the "could pause" ones (gym, streaming subscriptions, entertainment memberships) for the leave window if cashflow is tight.
- Re-baseline your variable spending — groceries probably go up slightly (formula or supplements for breastfeeding parent); fuel may go down (less commuting if you're on leave).
- Set a weekly check-in alongside your partner to review the actuals vs the plan.
Open NestWise Bills → Lists every recurring bill and lets you tag each as pause / keep for the leave window. The dashboard shows the weekly outflow during your leave-window dates so you can see the cashflow before it happens.
What you don't need to do before baby arrives
Equally important — what's NOT on the checklist:
- A nursery overhaul. Babies sleep in your room for the first 6+ months per Red Nose Australia safe-sleep guidance. The nursery setup can wait.
- A house move. Hard to do well in the third trimester; usually better to wait until baby is settled.
- A new car. Most existing cars fit a baby car seat with the right configuration. Wait until you're sure of what doesn't work.
- Buying every gadget. Australian baby retailers run constant sales. Borrow first, buy what you find you actually use.