Reading Time: 3 minutes Financial Guide To Becoming A Stay At Home Parent
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This is a collaborative post by Ellie Jo with financial tips for stay at home parents.
Staying at home to bring up your children is no simple task. Some profess that it might even be one of the most challenging jobs in the world. You are choosing to stay at home, maybe because you love the idea of significantly impacting your kid’s upbringing.
It could be because you miss them so much at work that you want to spend more time with them. Or perhaps remaining at work and paying for childcare leaves you with little to no money to spoil your family!
For those thinking about becoming a stay-at-home parent, creating a budget is essential, of course. However, there are other areas you would benefit from looking at also.
Financial Guide To Becoming A Stay At Home Parent
Squirrel Fund
Whether at home looking after the kids or working 40 hours a week, an emergency fund is necessary for everyone, particularly those with dependents to care for. It’s the money you put aside each paycheck into an accessible access account.
And it’s there solely to catch you when you fall into one of life’s many unexpected pits that demands payment for you to escape. Who knows, your partner could lose their job or become incredibly ill. Your squirrel fund will give you some money to support you through those tough times.
Cover Your Family
If you don’t have insurance to cover unexpected illness, death, or job loss in your family, it’s something that you should strongly consider when either you or your partner are thinking about staying at home with the children.
Realistically, your squirrel fund will only get you so far in helping you out with emergencies.
Retirement Plan
You may or may not have a period in mind where you think you’ll likely want to return to the workplace. Perhaps you don’t want to return to work at all. With employment comes a variety of benefits. One is that you are enrolled in a pension scheme or retirement plan.
This is when money leaves your account regularly and builds up a healthy sum for your retirement. When staying at home, it’s essential to consider how you will support yourself through retirement without a pension plan. It’s in your interest to consider setting up a private pension with a reputable provider. This will help to secure away your money until you are older.
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Staying at home with your children will be the most challenging and rewarding experience. Perhaps you won’t have a paycheck to show for it, but you will have the memories and satisfaction of bringing up your children on your own for a large part of their lives.
Finances can often be the wall that stands in the way of those wanting to be a stay-at-home parents. However, with some careful planning, your wish could become a reality.
Greg is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 22+ years experience in Financial Services. He has held numerous FINRA Securities licenses (series 7, 63, 65, and 66), and is an expert on Investment Products and Financial Planning. Greg has 22+ years experience as a real estate investor and degrees in Psychology and Philosophy.
Greg has been quoted/interviewed in Yahoo Money, Yahoo Finance, USA Today, Authority Magazine, Realtor.com, Business Insider, and others.
Greg is an avid runner, and the father to identical twin girls and their awesome brother. His love of budgeting and his kids led him to join The Great Resignation in 2021.
Disclaimer: Any Financial Tips on ChaChingQueen are general and informational. Speak with a professional about your specific situation.