Income on Leave

In the last few months I've gone through countless iterations of our budgets for when I'm on maternity leave, for the new house, for carrying both mortgages for short time until our Alberta house sells....sooooo many budgets.

Before I delve into the current one, I thought I would share our income situation.

With Jordan's new job in BC, he got a bit of a raise.  Of course income taxes, benefit deductions and the like are all different too.  This has resulted in a larger than expected change to our net take home for him (woohoo) - a little more than $1,600/bi-weekly.

I'll be receiving my regular salary until I go on maternity leave in October - so we're banking a lot of that between now and then - but I will have benefits while on leave.

I plan on taking the full leave that I'm eligible for, which in Canada is 52 weeks.  For 50 of those weeks, I will receive Employment Insurance.

In Canada, Employment Insurance benefits is 55% of your average insurable weekly insurance, up to a maximum.  In 2015 that maximum is $49,500.  So, because my annual salary is larger than the maximum, and I have contributed fully to EI, I will receive the maximum benefit amount of $524/week.  Of course, there are income tax deductions on this.  I've used the Canada Revenue Agency's Salary Calculator to determine that my benefit will work out to be about $440/week or $880 bi-weekly.

I should also mention that my employer provides a generous top up.  They will top up, or supplement, my EI payment to 70% of my salary for 15 weeks.  This is an awesome benefit to help you transition down to EI benefits.

I'll also be eligible to apply for the Canada Child Benefits which include:

• Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB)\
• Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB)
• GST/HST credit, and
• Any other applicable provincial programs.

Phew!  I think I'll save writing about those for another day.