When to Start a Family

Many young men wait until they're "on their feet" before entering a relationship. I believe a family should be started when the feelings are real, not when the finances are perfect.

Earlier I wrote about how a man’s income affects the climate inside a family. You can read the first part of this topic if you want the full context.

The main point there was this: if a man earns well, he can properly provide for his family, and his wife will be happy with him, because she isn’t forced to take on stressful work just to keep the household afloat.

Today let’s talk about the guys who are still single.

Young men have told me many times that they don’t want to start a family until they’re “on their feet.”

First they want a stable job, a place to live, some kind of financial base — and only then will they enter a relationship.

At first glance that sounds very logical and very sensible. But this approach has its downsides.

From my point of view, a family is worth starting when the feelings are real, not when the material conditions are special.

You can meet the person you love at 19, when there is no serious financial base anywhere on your horizon.

So does that mean the relationship has to be dropped because there’s no money? Plenty of people say in that situation: “Why breed poverty?”

From my point of view, that isn’t a wise position.

Because you can become financially secure at 35 and still never meet the right person who will genuinely love you.

So a family can be started when you truly love each other, even if you don’t have big incomes.

And once you have become a family, that’s exactly when you roll up your sleeves and start working on your finances, building your career or your business very actively.

You can start in debt, from zero, on a tiny income at a thankless job — and still build a good life, as long as you keep developing and don’t stop.

Your starting conditions matter far less than your own healthy ambition and work ethic.

I come from an ordinary family. My parents were able to provide the basics of life, but no more than that.

I had no starting capital (thank God!) and no connections at the start. I began every one of my projects from zero, sometimes from below zero.

I had no generous investors, and no relatives eager to put money into my business.

But in our country nobody stops you from growing on your own. We have the lowest taxes in Europe — 5% for sole proprietors, the standard status for small entrepreneurs in Ukraine.

Everything depends on us and on the quality of the decisions we make.

If you try to learn something new every day, look for opportunities, change, ask questions, then with God’s help you’ll be able to provide for your family properly.

So I’m not a supporter of the idea that you should only start a family once you’ve already achieved a lot. You can start where you are — what matters is not stopping.

Do you agree that a family is worth starting when the feelings are real, and not only once some financial milestone has been reached?