Are you a stay at home mom, or do you wish you were?
Well, there's actually great value in being a stay at home
mom for yourself, your family, and your community.
You might think you can't afford to quit your job, but my next
guest says it's possible with the right know how.
As we continue our money matters series with Tricia Brown from
BrightPeak Financial.
It's always great to have you in the studio.
Thank you.
I'm so happy to be here.
You always have great tips.
Let's start right off the bat with talking about the benefits
of being a stay at home mom.
For the mom, and the family, if it's right, the benefits can be
tremendous.
As you probably know, early childhood is a really critical
time for kids.
Critical.
You can't get it back.
Yeah.
And the quality of care can really impact a child's academic
achievement for years to come.
So, if you're able to be a stay at home parent, you have
complete control over what that care is.
What people aren't familiar with are some of the other benefits.
Balancing work and life, and the family life, is really
challenging.
It's stressful too.
For dads, moms and the kids.
So, if you're able to have one parent focus on the home, and
another parent focus on the work, many families have found
that there's diminished stress and strife within the family.
I'm sure.
Now, there have got to be statistics out there somewhere,
and if anyone knows them it's you, about stay at home moms.
Actually, an organization called Salary.com that does
investigations on salaries for all kinds of jobs, looks at what
a fair wage will be for moms.
The typical stay home mom works over 96 hours a week, is a chef,
a teacher, a financial manager, a million other things, and so
what they've found is that if you were to compensate them
fairly for what they're doing, it would be nearly $119,000 a
year.
Wow.
Moms, are you listening?
You're worth it.
That's a big number.
There's great value in what moms are doing.
So, help me understand how to make it financially possible to
stay at home with your kids.
You know, it does cost to give up a paycheck.
It really does cost a family, but not as much as most people
think.
There are tremendous savings that people realize when they
are staying at home.
The first, and most obvious, is that you're not paying for those
expensive child care costs.
They can be enormous.
If both parents are working.
Big ticket, right there.
Exactly.
But, beyond that, really, families have seen a big
reduction in food costs, because they're eating out less.
Right.
Transportation costs can also go down because you're not
commuting and putting all that wear and tear on a car, and some
families drop cars who feel that they can survive with one car.
And, actually see reductions in clothing costs because you're
not having to do laundry, and get those expensive work
clothes.
And dry cleaning.
You know, work clothes, those are five or six huge cut outs.
Exactly.
You know, what about families?
What can they do about, I know this is a big question, about
insurance, and if one leaves and only one works.
Talk to me about that.
Yeah.
That's a really important thing for people to think about before
they make a move.
What we would suggest is that they talk to their husband's
employer.
Or their wife's.
You're right.
And see what kind of insurance will transfer over.
For the most part, health insurance is one that is open to
the whole family, but it's important to find out when they
can qualify for that health insurance, how much it's going
to cost and what it is going to take to get it.
But, disability and life insurance do not transfer, so
that's something you need to take a look at.
No, unfortunately, they don't.
They are so important to help a family help protect the economic
value that they bring to a family, and yet employers are
typically only offering that to the employee, and it doesn't
transfer to the stay at home spouse.
There options out there, and we work with many families, and are
able to help them navigate both the employer landscape and
figure out what they can get there, and then what their
options are for purchasing independently.
You know, such great information.
Where can our viewers find you if they're thinking about doing
this for their family?
Yeah, our website has great resources.
It's BrightPeakFinancial.com and they can find both books and
blogs about it, as well as resources for accessing
financial professionals that can talk through what their options
are.
I've seen your website and there's so much free information
there, and videos and blogs.
It's just a great resource.
Thank you so much again for stopping by.
Thank you.
Great to see you Tricia.
Thank you.
You too.
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