I WAS about 13 when I found out how much my dad earned. I remember opening his pay slip by mistake - we share the same initial - and being amazed by the amount.

Now I know the true value of money, it actually wasn't that great, but I remember wondering why my parents moaned about things costing too much, and why my dad didn't save loads and give up work, which caused him a lot of stress.

Of course, now I'm a grown-up myself, with two children (my parents had three), I know exactly how long wages last. And I know that the average family would need nothing short of a Lottery win to be able to retire early, sit back and feel finan-cially comfortable for the future.

When you're young, you believe that the future is paved with cash, but when you leave home to make your own way in life, you suddenly realise that your hard-earned pay packet is plundered by all and sundry.

You suddenly find yourself beholden to the likes of Yorkshire Electricity, British Gas, BT and local council. Then there's your rent or mortgage. So, the day after you've been paid, what's left for having a great time down the pub? If my life is anything to go by around £1.43.

Following research by a building society, Britain's 20-something home-makers have been warned that they will not be as well off again until they are in their 50s.

Abbey National say that there are financial peaks in a typical couple's life, the first around 27 to 30 when they set up home together and combine incomes, the second between 53 and 56 when the children have left home and both partners reach their top earning potential.

The time when money is tightest is between 33 and 35 when couples are most likely to live beyond their means after the arrival of their first baby and experience a drop in earnings when one partner gives up work.

I would agree that the arrival of a child heralds a drop in income, but it doesn't last a mere couple of years. It goes on, and on, and on. True, babies mean nappies, cots, car seats, stair gates, sterilisers and a vast range of stuff that doesn't come cheap. But these are things you can either borrow from friends or relatives, as I did, or buy for a snip at a car boot sale.

The inexpensive thing about babies is that they don't ask for anything. They don't come whining about trips to the cinema, ballet lessons, new clothes, or the latest Barbie. Babies bring a budget you can handle.

Beyond the age of two, children demand and expect to get. That's when real poverty kicks in. That's when you stop having your hair done every six weeks and have a £5 dry cut twice a year. That's when you stop buying premium cuts from Sainsbury's and force-feed yourself a grisly tinned economy brand. That's when you no longer excitedly flick through the latest Kuoni Holiday brochure but laboriously ponder possible camp sites in Filey.

And it doesn't stop. It gets worse. I think being well off once again in your 50s, as the research claimed, is optim-istic. With more people having children late in life, I reckon the bread-line scenario doesn't end until your mid-60s at the earliest.

That's when you're worn out, when you've got a dodgy hip and your body has more creases than Peter String-fellow's bed sheets. In other words, when, if you're not reliant on a paltry pension and you do have cash to spare, you're not in a fit state to enjoy it.

Updated: 10:46 Monday, April 15, 2002