What would you give up to stay home?
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| Sat, 08-05-2006 - 8:36am |
Hi everyone.
I have always said that staying home is so important to me that I would give up many things to be able to do that. We live in a very small home, I have no jewelry and we buy all our clothes at Walmart. I know that if I went back to work, we could afford more. But I would never trade being at home for a larger house or more luxuries.
However, after reading this board I have started to suspect that there are things I would not want to give up. If I couldn't send my kids to preschool a couple of hours a day, if I couldn't afford any after school activities like ballet lessons or if I could'nt afford any kind of summer program for them, I think I would have to find a way to go back to work. So basically, I'm perfectly happy to deny myself "things." But I would not want to take much away from the kids.
Of course I would probably have to find a new career becuase I could never work the 80 hours a week my old career entailed.

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If someone takes time off, she gives up income during that time period. That doesn't necessarily mean she will have less income the rest of their lives. And it certainly doesn't mean she will have less in the long run. The more you make, the more you tend to spend.
If my dh makes more money than yours does, or if I make more money than you do, or we both started saving earlier than your and your dh, or if our expenses are lower than yours, or if we are better savers than you are, we will have more saved for retirement than you will, regardless of whether I took a few years off. Sah/woh is only one factor in determining how much savings people have.
If you want your argument to have any credibility, you're going to have to prove that the typical sah family has less saved for retirement than the typical woh family. Your experience IRL doesn't cut it for me.
Actually, someone posted census figures a while back showing that median family incomes for sah families and woh families were pretty darned close.
But I actually think you're right that most sahms aren't sitting on a pile of money when they sah. Most wohms aren't sitting on a pile of money when they woh, either.
I totally agree. I have said the same "The more you make, the more you tend to spend."
I did, and I see a lot of my working friends do the same. They make lots and they spend lots and most (not all) dont even have any retirement savings. So I am way ahead of them even if I did decide to stay home for 5 (or more) years. And I have a feeling I will still be ahead in the future. Of course, there will be some dual WOH families that will be better off, and some WOHMs are great at saving and will do better them me. But, WHO CARES? LOL. As long as I know we have what we need, its all good.
"Sah/woh is only one factor in determining how much savings people have."
Again, agree
To me its more if a person is or/ is not good with money/finances. I dont see it as having that much to do with SAH or WOH.
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