I don't have children yet but I've always worried about being a SAHM. I'm talking mainly from the financial aspect.

Do any of you ever worry about your futures? I mean in terms of what you will do during your retirement years? If you're not working then that means you're not contributing toward a pension/401K...so is your plan to collect Social Security only for the years that you did work?

I would just like a little perspective from some of you SAHM's out there who aren't planning on ever going back to work or at least not in the near future.

Thankfully DH has a good job abd we should be fine.
I do worry about it at times but then I think that it's unimportant at this point because I want to be a SAHM and it does mean sacrificing somethings.
When Dylan is much older I may get a part-time easy job but I am happy the way things are.

DH has the "benefits" job in our family... we put more money away from his check than he did before when I was working too.

Honestly, I'm really not overly worried about things... being with my DD is the priority, not money. It's all fine and good to have money, but I'd be so depressed if I had to be at work and away from my baby.

There are so many great ways to save money while you are home, and that helps to keep everything "feeling" better.

It's not easy, and it's not an easy choice to give up things that you are accustomed to having, like security. But, for the sake of my DD, I'd willingly give up anything. :)

Jacqui

There are plenty of retirement accounts you can contribute to that have nothing to do with you holding a job or not! A 401K only relates to working if your employer is matching/contributing as well - you can certainly call TRowe Price or Schwab or any other investor of your choice to set up a 401K or Roth or IRA for yourself, whatever fits your needs best. My husband is an accountant and so planned out long before I was even pregnant what we would do for retirement money in my name when I wasn't working. Naturally most spare money goes towards Caroline's college fund, but we're also investing/saving plenty.

Naw...not really worried about the retirement years. I have this attitude that you just never know where life may take you, so I best enjoy life now and live it to its fullest. I dont know if I will ever go back to work, but at some point in time, once we are comfortable living on one income, we will start tossing some money into an IRA.

For the most part We are Like Karri. Dh also has a great Job and great 401k He also has a few other things to save money threw his work.

There are plenty of retirement accounts you can contribute to that have nothing to do with you holding a job or not! A 401K only relates to working if your employer is matching/contributing as well - you can certainly call TRowe Price or Schwab or any other investor of your choice to set up a 401K or Roth or IRA for yourself, whatever fits your needs best. My husband is an accountant and so planned out long before I was even pregnant what we would do for retirement money in my name when I wasn't working. Naturally most spare money goes towards Caroline's college fund, but we're also investing/saving plenty.
Thanks for enlightening me on this.

Before I quit working we set up a personal IRA account as well as a few other investments. I was definitely scared about my future retirement without working. I'm a planner, what can I say? I also continue to contribute to the 401K I set up while working.

DH's 401K is about 4 times what mine was when I quit working, so against most advice, we cashed mine out to pay off/down CC debt. When I quit, we had $11K in cc debt, and that's down to about $2K, which will be paid off this year. I worked from 1988 until June 2003, so I have 'some' paid into Social Security...but even if I kept working non stop until age 66, I wouldn't count on SS to be there when I retire!

Right now, we aren't making any retirement savings for myself, but I do plan to return to work in some fashion eventually...probably not ever full time, but I will return to the working world one day. DH is putting 10% of his salary into his 401K (which he calls 'our' 401K), and that will continue. Retirement years seem so far away, but I do know that by the time I'm 40 (7 1/2 years away) we'll have some $$$ put back for me.

We have enough to worry about with paying our bills every month. There's no WAY I can even think about retirement at this point. I would like to start putting away some money for the kids' college, if I ever go back to work.

I had a great 401K plan when i worked. When I became a SAHM, I had it all rolled over in an IRA. Even though that's growing, I still try to contribute a little something here and there. As for James, he makes great money with unbelievably awesome benefits. We will have more than enough by the time he retires just on his end with his pension & annuity plan. :)

I'll probably (unfortunately) go back to working once Katie is in school - at least part time. However, we're lucky in that we'll own a large chunk of our house soon (thanks to an inheritance) and Katie's college will be largely paid for my MIL and FIL, so we will be able to put more into a retirement account in the near future. Meanwhile, I'm desperately dreaming up WAH jobs so I don't have to re-enter the *real* work world ever again...

Honestly, even when I was working full time, I never thought about retirement. Yeah, I knew I was vested and had money towards my retirement, but I never really counted on it. When I left that job, I cashed it in, rather than transfer it to something else.

My husband has a great retirement plan (he is in the Army) and will be able to retire with a good monthly check and will still be young enough to start an entirely new career (he can retire from the military when he is 37)

I plan to go back to school and probably work again, but not for financial reasons...