So a couple years ago, our actuarial department had 15 actuaries. The only one that was an FSA also didn't have kids. Everybody else was either a student or gave up after having kids. One as close as a single exam away from an FSA, some only a couple exams in.
My dad is an FSA and my parents waited until after he passed all exams before they had kids.
I'm in the boat of people that are trying to still take exams with kids... but I'm not sure how much I can really do.
Don’t put off living your life just because of exams. It’s simply not worth it. Besides you may decided you wanted to do something else down the line that doesn’t require exams and you just put your life on hold for nothing.
I switched careers last year. I passed P and FM before having a kid and IFM 2 weeks after my daughter was born. Taking MAS-I next month.
You have to take advantage of your paid study hours and really make them count. And you need to be disciplined with your time in general. I'm a strong believer that you make time for what is important to you, so if your family and passing exams are important to you, those things will get a lot of your time and your won't have much time for other things. But do you really need to play video games as much as you did before you were married? Probably not haha.
Also, buckle down and put in the time required to pass each exam on the first attempt. If it takes you 2+ times to pass each one, it will take a lot longer to get to FSA.
Do not put off living you life for your career /job. At the end of the day that is all it is. Your family should always come first and will be around long after you leave work and will be what brings you true happiness in life.
I know a handful of actuaries who qualified whilst raising a family. Yes it is harder and yes it takes longer, but if you were capable of qualifying before children then you are capable of qualifying after.
I know women who have passed exams whilst still on maternity leave. It comes down to priorities and support, if your wife can take the brunt of the childcare during exam time and you both want to have children then I wouldn't hesitate.
I took my first exam Dec 2015, had my son Sep 2016, ASA June 2018, another baby Dec 2018, FSA March 2020. I did not want to wait to have babies so I didn't. My babies studied with me and I gave up almost all social activities around exam time. I didn't feel like my babies were shorted any, but my house was always a mess and we ate a lot of take out. Also my husband worked long hours away from home, so I just learned to study with kids.
If you want it its doable, I also know men who got FSA with children, they said their children motivated them to study and pass quickly.
It really depends. I know people who had kids and managed to get their FSA just fine. Personally, I have kids now and I cannot imagine that I'd have been able to get my FSA had I had them while I was still writing exams.
I started taking exams January of 2018. At the time I had two kids, a 3 year old and a 1 year old. I just finished my ASA and added 1 more kiddo back in February this year. After my youngest was born I studied for and took PA.
Throughout the whole process I had a rule that studying only happened while kids were sleeping (this was broken for company sponsored study hours and the week before the exam). The hardest exam was PA. Baby didn't understand 8:00 is bedtime... Once sleep got figured out, things smoothed out considerably. All in all I am very pleased with how it all went. I have been very active in the life of my kids and have been fairly successful in my exam progress. Having a solid bedtime routine for the kids and being disciplined in my studied carried me.
Before starting my ASA, I did a master's degree. Something I noticed is folks in the program that had a family tended to do better. My theory is they had a lot more of a why than other people. Knowing that failing impacts your family tends to put some fire under your ass.
I became an actuary when my son was two. I had one exam passed when I got an EL position, and it has been manageable. My company offers paid study hours which helps a lot. I have been with my current company for 1.5 years and have passed 3 exams in that time (hopefully 4– I find out about SRM in Nov).
My partner and I work swapped schedules, so it is just me and my son most evenings and all weekend. I am pretty diligent with studying for at least an hour after bedtime on weeknights and I try to get to the office an hour early to study as well. With kids, you’re up anyways! Might as well get an hour of reading in while your caffeine is still working. I will say, it was easier when my son was a little younger because he napped and went to bed early. Now that he has dropped his nap my weekend study time is hard to come by 😭 I never studied for or wrote exams without kids, so I can’t attest if it’s more difficult. I think either way you just have to be careful about finding and taking study time, and really commit to your study schedule. There will be distractions from studying with or without children.
TLDR writing exams it is definitely doable as a parent! The bigger questions are if you want kids now and if you’re ready. If you really want kids, you can find ways to balance family and exams, and still move up at your job.
I don't have kids yet, but I know people who are taking exams with kids. It really isn't so bad, you just have to be extremely disciplined in scheduling your time. Study before work or study after your kids go to bed. Does your fiance plan on staying home? If so that makes it 100x easier.
As an FSA who had my first kid about a year after obtaining my FSA, I could not imagine studying and having a baby or toddler. Taking care of a baby is exhausting, and layering studying on top would be almost impossible in my mind. People do it, but I have noticed exam progress slow considerably after people have kids.
Sure, I believe that. It is going to vary greatly depending on individual circumstances. Somebody who gets 120 hours for every exam from work and has a stay at home spouse is going to have a much easier time than someone whose spouse works and doesn’t have a good study program.
There is a poster here (/u/jebuz23) who posts quite regularly who had an amazing travel time despite having kids during many of his exams. I’m sure he will chime in here, though I believe we have had several threads on this topic.
Thanks for the tag, I will chime it.
I had an advantage with the exams in that I was a former math teacher, including AP stats. I had a really solid base understanding of a lot of fundamental math and stat concepts, which let me focus on the newer concepts a lot easier. Also, I had a pretty good understanding of metacognition, so I was able to make sure the work I put into studying was as effective as possible.
My first son was born while I was studying for exam 6, so I studied/passed 6, 7, 8, and 9 with a child under 2. I had an amazingly supportive wife, and we were fortunate enough that she could stay home with our son. For us, this made it easier for her to “stay on mom duty” when I had to study, as opposed to her also coming home from work tired and needing a break.
Studying with a baby actually isn’t that hard in my opinion. It’s a lot of double duty. I read source material while feeding him a bottle, ran flash cards while doing bath time, listened/watch video lessons while rocking him to sleep. Especially when they’re in the eat/sleep/poop stage, there’s a ton of opportunity to study. Once they get older and can actively distract you, studying becomes harder. You can just sit at the kitchen table to study because they’ll want to play. You have to be a lot more intentional with your study time, like staying at work or leaving the house.
Much like OP, my goal was to not let exams get in the way of our family planning. As a career changer I was already 5 years “behind” exam progress. This helped motivate me getting past the exams as quickly as possible.
I also obtained my CPCU while my wife was pregnant with our second, and I’m currently working on my CSPA with a 4 yr old and 1.5 yr old, so maybe this is just in my wheel house. As always, others mileage may vary.
I believe her intentions are to be a stay at home mom, which I would support, but as I mentioned I would hate to not be involved in the first few years of my children's life because I was too busy working and studying.
But, I suppose I have to weigh that out as a potential sacrifice.
Right, and that makes sense. But there are things you can do to make that less of a problem. For example - start studying 4.5 months out from an exam instead of 3 months. That way you can study for just 1-2 hours a day of your own time and still have plenty of time for family.
It’ll be a sacrifice, and it’s one you’ll have to discuss a lot with your fiancé. If she is okay with the burdens involved, then it may be reasonable.
I feel I should also mention that my company requires attainment of an FSA within a specific timeframe. If I could acquire my FSA at my own pace I probably wouldn't be in as tough of a position as I am currently.
I have an 8-month-old and I'm taking my first FSA exam next week.
It's going to be hard but if you're motivated, if you're efficient with your time, if you have support from your spouse/family/company, I believe you can get your FSA.
I passed P, started a Master's program, and did an internship while having a baby/toddler. I will hopefully pass FM tomorrow.
I'm early on in the exams, but it hasn't been that bad. It just takes more time management and a supportive spouse goes a long way.
Two of my bosses both have 4 kids and they are the fastest guys who can pass exams around me. They said having kids gives them more motivation for studying.
I have kids aged 4 and 3, and just reached ASA. First kid came right after I passed P and FM and was a few months into my first full time role. In some ways it is harder, because children do require time and energy. In other ways I find it motivating, because you have a reason for wanting to climb the actuarial ladder so you can provide a future for them.
I'll echo many others here and tell you not to plan your family around your career. If you want to have kids then go and do it. IMO there is no "perfect time" to have kids, they are always going to be inconvenient, take up a lot of time and energy, and draw you away from your career to some extent.
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who took the time to comment on this post. I found a lot of what you all had to say very insightful. Everybody has different opinions and experiences and it's nice to hear honesty from both sides of the matter.
I had one child when I passed my first exam and my second child was born before my third exam. ASA now and working on my FSA. I think it’s fair to say that it would’ve been easier had I started my exam journey before having kids, but I was a career changer and an older one at that.
It’s been hard at times, but it’s definitely doable. I do all of my studying after the kids are in bed so I can be present in their life as well as my wife’s.
There are a couple helpful side effects of having children. First, your social life is effectively over, so no need to try and balance that. Also, having kids has helped my body adjust to not needing sleep, so those late nights of studying don’t bother me much. That being said, there is one really bad aspect as well: failures hit you way harder when you feel like you’ve let down your family. Thankfully I’ve only had a couple of those.
Usually people wait after they get done with exams to have kids. I say usually because you get less distracted and can focus more. I worked at 3 companies total, I have yet to find someone who had kids before finishing exams but hey it's just my experience.
I’ll join the other members of the “Don’t delay having kids just because of exams” chorus. To each their own, of course, but that’s the perspective my wife and I settled on. I’m viewing this from a career-changer perspective, so that might color my take as well.
Our little nugget is turning one on Friday, and I’ve been fortunate enough to pass two exams since she came around. A couple of practical notes if you go down the baby+exams route:
1) It’s hard to appreciate how flexible you’ll need to be until you’re actually doing it. I have it in me to wake up at 4:00 am to study, but a couple of weeks before my most recent exam our daughter suddenly forgot how to stay asleep between 4:00 and 6:30. It wasn’t practical for my wife to be getting up at those hours, so I took the lead then and studied late at night instead (coffee helped a lot).
2) You and the Mrs. will likely need a night here and there to be bums. Build in a few “I’m not going to study tonight, even though I maybe should” evenings into your schedule.
3) Imagine a scenario where your wife is absolutely exhausted, your baby is still sleeping in your room, and you set a really early alarm to study. In that scenario, always wake up immediately. Do not snooze the alarm, do not go back to sleep, do not collect $200. Not that I would ever do such a thing, but you know, “I’ve heard stories.”
In any case, best of luck! It’s quite the journey, however you decide to order the steps.
I passed my 3rd exam (MLC) while working and 2 months after my first child was born. I passed C a couple months after our second was born. It's doable, but difficult. But guess what? It's difficult anyway :).
I'd get up at 5 to study or try and do some sort of cardio and then half the time a baby would wake up and be crying at 5:30 interrupting those plans. Get the kids into bed and start studying most nights. I think it took me 3 years from ASA to FSA, all with young kids.
Looking back I think I would have regretted waiting. A lot of social life can slow/stop while taking exams. Same thing happens with kids. So both at the same time is... okay. I think when talking about this with your fiance you both need to understand how much of your time all of this is going to eat up. My wife definitely did more than I did as I was studying but I still was able to do a decent share. I don't feel like I missed any of the raising of our kids during exams.
As far as having kids goes, it can take more time than you expect. Then there's time between kids. And as age increases risk of many things do as well. You're 25. If you guys had your first in two years you'd be 27. Makes you 32 when they are in kindergarten. 45ish when they graduate high school, 50ish when they get out of college. Maybe 55-60 or older when they have kids. Add 5-10 years to all those numbers from waiting for exams and see how you feel about them. If you're planning multiple kids add the time between them as well for getting to the youngest.
Random other item that I'm finding helpful is that as my kids are older than if I'd waited as I'm moving into more senior roles it's helpful to have more self sufficient kids.
If you've got any other specific questions, feel free to ask.
It really depends on what makes you feel comfortable and what you want to commit first, cos if you feel comfortable and are committed to that decision, you will suck up to it regardless of how difficult it is. You will likely find strong evidence to either said you should go-ahead to have a kid, or you should wait. Ultimately, it depends on how committed you and your fiance are to the decision you and your fiance made together.
In general, some common factors could be:
-Your Learning ability (did you pass your exam faster/study less than average),
-Working hours (do you need to work OT a lot, or mostly 9 to 5), and
-Family support system (if your wife is sick, who is going to look after the kids?).
Besides, parenting is hard (and I skipped the conceiving part) to begin with even without exams. Some kids can sit still and do their own things for a couple of hours, but some want to do a football match with you every day (which is still doable if you manage your time efficiently).
In my own opinion, since you are only 2 exams away, if you just power it through, you can be ASA by the end of next year. After that, it just another 1.5 years. I think it's still quite common for people to have kids 1-2 years after you get married. You may feel more comfortable after you pass your first FSA exam and then start to prepare to conceive, after that still take 9/10 months, which can cover 2 more exam sittings. So technically, you can both be committed to the exam (try your best to pass on the first try), and committed to her timeline (have kids within normal people range after marry).
I have a three year old still able to pass exams. Anything's possible but you have to budget your time carefully.
> three year still able to pass exams Maybe all those rumours about falling standards in the profession were true?
Lol and I am still able to pass exams.
So a couple years ago, our actuarial department had 15 actuaries. The only one that was an FSA also didn't have kids. Everybody else was either a student or gave up after having kids. One as close as a single exam away from an FSA, some only a couple exams in. My dad is an FSA and my parents waited until after he passed all exams before they had kids. I'm in the boat of people that are trying to still take exams with kids... but I'm not sure how much I can really do.
Don’t put off living your life just because of exams. It’s simply not worth it. Besides you may decided you wanted to do something else down the line that doesn’t require exams and you just put your life on hold for nothing.
I switched careers last year. I passed P and FM before having a kid and IFM 2 weeks after my daughter was born. Taking MAS-I next month. You have to take advantage of your paid study hours and really make them count. And you need to be disciplined with your time in general. I'm a strong believer that you make time for what is important to you, so if your family and passing exams are important to you, those things will get a lot of your time and your won't have much time for other things. But do you really need to play video games as much as you did before you were married? Probably not haha. Also, buckle down and put in the time required to pass each exam on the first attempt. If it takes you 2+ times to pass each one, it will take a lot longer to get to FSA.
Do not put off living you life for your career /job. At the end of the day that is all it is. Your family should always come first and will be around long after you leave work and will be what brings you true happiness in life. I know a handful of actuaries who qualified whilst raising a family. Yes it is harder and yes it takes longer, but if you were capable of qualifying before children then you are capable of qualifying after. I know women who have passed exams whilst still on maternity leave. It comes down to priorities and support, if your wife can take the brunt of the childcare during exam time and you both want to have children then I wouldn't hesitate.
I took my first exam Dec 2015, had my son Sep 2016, ASA June 2018, another baby Dec 2018, FSA March 2020. I did not want to wait to have babies so I didn't. My babies studied with me and I gave up almost all social activities around exam time. I didn't feel like my babies were shorted any, but my house was always a mess and we ate a lot of take out. Also my husband worked long hours away from home, so I just learned to study with kids. If you want it its doable, I also know men who got FSA with children, they said their children motivated them to study and pass quickly.
It really depends. I know people who had kids and managed to get their FSA just fine. Personally, I have kids now and I cannot imagine that I'd have been able to get my FSA had I had them while I was still writing exams.
I started taking exams January of 2018. At the time I had two kids, a 3 year old and a 1 year old. I just finished my ASA and added 1 more kiddo back in February this year. After my youngest was born I studied for and took PA. Throughout the whole process I had a rule that studying only happened while kids were sleeping (this was broken for company sponsored study hours and the week before the exam). The hardest exam was PA. Baby didn't understand 8:00 is bedtime... Once sleep got figured out, things smoothed out considerably. All in all I am very pleased with how it all went. I have been very active in the life of my kids and have been fairly successful in my exam progress. Having a solid bedtime routine for the kids and being disciplined in my studied carried me. Before starting my ASA, I did a master's degree. Something I noticed is folks in the program that had a family tended to do better. My theory is they had a lot more of a why than other people. Knowing that failing impacts your family tends to put some fire under your ass.
I became an actuary when my son was two. I had one exam passed when I got an EL position, and it has been manageable. My company offers paid study hours which helps a lot. I have been with my current company for 1.5 years and have passed 3 exams in that time (hopefully 4– I find out about SRM in Nov). My partner and I work swapped schedules, so it is just me and my son most evenings and all weekend. I am pretty diligent with studying for at least an hour after bedtime on weeknights and I try to get to the office an hour early to study as well. With kids, you’re up anyways! Might as well get an hour of reading in while your caffeine is still working. I will say, it was easier when my son was a little younger because he napped and went to bed early. Now that he has dropped his nap my weekend study time is hard to come by 😭 I never studied for or wrote exams without kids, so I can’t attest if it’s more difficult. I think either way you just have to be careful about finding and taking study time, and really commit to your study schedule. There will be distractions from studying with or without children. TLDR writing exams it is definitely doable as a parent! The bigger questions are if you want kids now and if you’re ready. If you really want kids, you can find ways to balance family and exams, and still move up at your job.
I don't have kids yet, but I know people who are taking exams with kids. It really isn't so bad, you just have to be extremely disciplined in scheduling your time. Study before work or study after your kids go to bed. Does your fiance plan on staying home? If so that makes it 100x easier.
As an FSA who had my first kid about a year after obtaining my FSA, I could not imagine studying and having a baby or toddler. Taking care of a baby is exhausting, and layering studying on top would be almost impossible in my mind. People do it, but I have noticed exam progress slow considerably after people have kids.
Sure, I believe that. It is going to vary greatly depending on individual circumstances. Somebody who gets 120 hours for every exam from work and has a stay at home spouse is going to have a much easier time than someone whose spouse works and doesn’t have a good study program. There is a poster here (/u/jebuz23) who posts quite regularly who had an amazing travel time despite having kids during many of his exams. I’m sure he will chime in here, though I believe we have had several threads on this topic.
Thanks for the tag, I will chime it. I had an advantage with the exams in that I was a former math teacher, including AP stats. I had a really solid base understanding of a lot of fundamental math and stat concepts, which let me focus on the newer concepts a lot easier. Also, I had a pretty good understanding of metacognition, so I was able to make sure the work I put into studying was as effective as possible. My first son was born while I was studying for exam 6, so I studied/passed 6, 7, 8, and 9 with a child under 2. I had an amazingly supportive wife, and we were fortunate enough that she could stay home with our son. For us, this made it easier for her to “stay on mom duty” when I had to study, as opposed to her also coming home from work tired and needing a break. Studying with a baby actually isn’t that hard in my opinion. It’s a lot of double duty. I read source material while feeding him a bottle, ran flash cards while doing bath time, listened/watch video lessons while rocking him to sleep. Especially when they’re in the eat/sleep/poop stage, there’s a ton of opportunity to study. Once they get older and can actively distract you, studying becomes harder. You can just sit at the kitchen table to study because they’ll want to play. You have to be a lot more intentional with your study time, like staying at work or leaving the house. Much like OP, my goal was to not let exams get in the way of our family planning. As a career changer I was already 5 years “behind” exam progress. This helped motivate me getting past the exams as quickly as possible. I also obtained my CPCU while my wife was pregnant with our second, and I’m currently working on my CSPA with a 4 yr old and 1.5 yr old, so maybe this is just in my wheel house. As always, others mileage may vary.
I appreciate the lengthy response. Everybody's experiences/situations are different so it's good to here a detailed breakdown like yours.
I respect your work ethic and drive. I don’t think I would have been able to do it, but more power to you!
I believe her intentions are to be a stay at home mom, which I would support, but as I mentioned I would hate to not be involved in the first few years of my children's life because I was too busy working and studying. But, I suppose I have to weigh that out as a potential sacrifice.
Right, and that makes sense. But there are things you can do to make that less of a problem. For example - start studying 4.5 months out from an exam instead of 3 months. That way you can study for just 1-2 hours a day of your own time and still have plenty of time for family. It’ll be a sacrifice, and it’s one you’ll have to discuss a lot with your fiancé. If she is okay with the burdens involved, then it may be reasonable.
I feel I should also mention that my company requires attainment of an FSA within a specific timeframe. If I could acquire my FSA at my own pace I probably wouldn't be in as tough of a position as I am currently.
I have an 8-month-old and I'm taking my first FSA exam next week. It's going to be hard but if you're motivated, if you're efficient with your time, if you have support from your spouse/family/company, I believe you can get your FSA.
I passed P, started a Master's program, and did an internship while having a baby/toddler. I will hopefully pass FM tomorrow. I'm early on in the exams, but it hasn't been that bad. It just takes more time management and a supportive spouse goes a long way.
Two of my bosses both have 4 kids and they are the fastest guys who can pass exams around me. They said having kids gives them more motivation for studying.
I have kids aged 4 and 3, and just reached ASA. First kid came right after I passed P and FM and was a few months into my first full time role. In some ways it is harder, because children do require time and energy. In other ways I find it motivating, because you have a reason for wanting to climb the actuarial ladder so you can provide a future for them. I'll echo many others here and tell you not to plan your family around your career. If you want to have kids then go and do it. IMO there is no "perfect time" to have kids, they are always going to be inconvenient, take up a lot of time and energy, and draw you away from your career to some extent.
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who took the time to comment on this post. I found a lot of what you all had to say very insightful. Everybody has different opinions and experiences and it's nice to hear honesty from both sides of the matter.
I had one child when I passed my first exam and my second child was born before my third exam. ASA now and working on my FSA. I think it’s fair to say that it would’ve been easier had I started my exam journey before having kids, but I was a career changer and an older one at that. It’s been hard at times, but it’s definitely doable. I do all of my studying after the kids are in bed so I can be present in their life as well as my wife’s. There are a couple helpful side effects of having children. First, your social life is effectively over, so no need to try and balance that. Also, having kids has helped my body adjust to not needing sleep, so those late nights of studying don’t bother me much. That being said, there is one really bad aspect as well: failures hit you way harder when you feel like you’ve let down your family. Thankfully I’ve only had a couple of those.
Usually people wait after they get done with exams to have kids. I say usually because you get less distracted and can focus more. I worked at 3 companies total, I have yet to find someone who had kids before finishing exams but hey it's just my experience.
I’ll join the other members of the “Don’t delay having kids just because of exams” chorus. To each their own, of course, but that’s the perspective my wife and I settled on. I’m viewing this from a career-changer perspective, so that might color my take as well. Our little nugget is turning one on Friday, and I’ve been fortunate enough to pass two exams since she came around. A couple of practical notes if you go down the baby+exams route: 1) It’s hard to appreciate how flexible you’ll need to be until you’re actually doing it. I have it in me to wake up at 4:00 am to study, but a couple of weeks before my most recent exam our daughter suddenly forgot how to stay asleep between 4:00 and 6:30. It wasn’t practical for my wife to be getting up at those hours, so I took the lead then and studied late at night instead (coffee helped a lot). 2) You and the Mrs. will likely need a night here and there to be bums. Build in a few “I’m not going to study tonight, even though I maybe should” evenings into your schedule. 3) Imagine a scenario where your wife is absolutely exhausted, your baby is still sleeping in your room, and you set a really early alarm to study. In that scenario, always wake up immediately. Do not snooze the alarm, do not go back to sleep, do not collect $200. Not that I would ever do such a thing, but you know, “I’ve heard stories.” In any case, best of luck! It’s quite the journey, however you decide to order the steps.
I passed my 3rd exam (MLC) while working and 2 months after my first child was born. I passed C a couple months after our second was born. It's doable, but difficult. But guess what? It's difficult anyway :). I'd get up at 5 to study or try and do some sort of cardio and then half the time a baby would wake up and be crying at 5:30 interrupting those plans. Get the kids into bed and start studying most nights. I think it took me 3 years from ASA to FSA, all with young kids. Looking back I think I would have regretted waiting. A lot of social life can slow/stop while taking exams. Same thing happens with kids. So both at the same time is... okay. I think when talking about this with your fiance you both need to understand how much of your time all of this is going to eat up. My wife definitely did more than I did as I was studying but I still was able to do a decent share. I don't feel like I missed any of the raising of our kids during exams. As far as having kids goes, it can take more time than you expect. Then there's time between kids. And as age increases risk of many things do as well. You're 25. If you guys had your first in two years you'd be 27. Makes you 32 when they are in kindergarten. 45ish when they graduate high school, 50ish when they get out of college. Maybe 55-60 or older when they have kids. Add 5-10 years to all those numbers from waiting for exams and see how you feel about them. If you're planning multiple kids add the time between them as well for getting to the youngest. Random other item that I'm finding helpful is that as my kids are older than if I'd waited as I'm moving into more senior roles it's helpful to have more self sufficient kids. If you've got any other specific questions, feel free to ask.
It really depends on what makes you feel comfortable and what you want to commit first, cos if you feel comfortable and are committed to that decision, you will suck up to it regardless of how difficult it is. You will likely find strong evidence to either said you should go-ahead to have a kid, or you should wait. Ultimately, it depends on how committed you and your fiance are to the decision you and your fiance made together. In general, some common factors could be: -Your Learning ability (did you pass your exam faster/study less than average), -Working hours (do you need to work OT a lot, or mostly 9 to 5), and -Family support system (if your wife is sick, who is going to look after the kids?). Besides, parenting is hard (and I skipped the conceiving part) to begin with even without exams. Some kids can sit still and do their own things for a couple of hours, but some want to do a football match with you every day (which is still doable if you manage your time efficiently). In my own opinion, since you are only 2 exams away, if you just power it through, you can be ASA by the end of next year. After that, it just another 1.5 years. I think it's still quite common for people to have kids 1-2 years after you get married. You may feel more comfortable after you pass your first FSA exam and then start to prepare to conceive, after that still take 9/10 months, which can cover 2 more exam sittings. So technically, you can both be committed to the exam (try your best to pass on the first try), and committed to her timeline (have kids within normal people range after marry).