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I have been a SAHM for well over 12 years now and in that time I haven't paid in any social security or contributed to a retirement fund. Every once in awhile I get an update from social security telling me how many hours I've turned in, how much I have paid in so far and how much I would be able to collect at various ages. Which in all honesty isn't very much if I had to live on it.
Now I know I have been married long enough to my spouse that I could collect at least half of his social secuirty. But what about couples who divorce before they are together long enough to be able to collect part of thier spouses and yet one was a SAHP not paying in social security the whole time they were together? That means they, the SAHP, has lost those years in what they will be able to collect and when they can collect it.
Also, if there is only one retirement account and it has only been cushioned by the working partner and it was divided during a divorce would the divided amount be big enough to sustain a person once they retire? Or if the couple stays together and lives off of the retiement funds would there be enough to sustain two people?
Have any of you looked into having the working partner pay in social security for you? If so how does it work? I've only heard about it through an old landlord, but I was never able to find out how he did it for his wife who was a SAHP/S. (S= spouse)
Do you have some sort of retirement account set up for you in the event that you divorce and will need your own retirement funds for yourself? Or better yet a larger retirement fund for the two of you to retire on together?
This whole question is solely based on the idea that social security or Retirement accounts will even be in existance in the near future.
I worry about when my spouse retires. Thats why we try to be careful financially. On the up side, I only have to do a few more years to get my pension. But I can't do that until my kids grow up and are on their own at last, so it may be awhile for me.
Not sure what we can do other than what we're doing though.
I'm a SAHM and have my own Roth IRA. We contribute the full amount every year to it so I'll have "my own" retirement. SAHP's are permitted to have Roths, they're great investments anyway.
We have the same idea of "earning" one's pension here in Canada. Do I worry about it as a SAHM? I guess we chose a different approach to life. It sounds relevant right now, but it started about 8 years ago. We are decidedly moving to self-reliant life, to providing for a large portion of our needs ourselves. Part homesteading, part small businesses. There will be no time when we will have to live purely off cash, as in traditional retirement. Just like people lived on the land in older times
I know how you feel. I worry about this too. I need to make $4000 in order to get full benefits when I retire. I don't worry about it too much because I can't imagine SS will even be around in 30 years. I guess my husband and I would split the 401K and I would have to work to keep contributing. We are going to open our own Roth IRAs this year and contribute the full amount.
Another thing I worry about is if he died I wouldn't have medical insurance.
Just make sure you have enough life insurance on your husband. It was recommended that we have 1.1 million on my husband. Moms shoud be insured too because Dad would have to pay for daycare or before/after school care and holiday/summer camps etc.
Just make sure you have enough life insurance on your husband. It was recommended that we have 1.1 million on my husband. Moms shoud be insured too because Dad would have to pay for daycare or before/after school care and holiday/summer camps etc.
As should there be some for children, as sad as that sounds, due to very high costs of funerals, burials, and hospital care.
We pay $2/mnth for our children & $5/mn for me on my dh's policy. I'm covered up to $500k & our children are $100k each.
We have Traditional Roths & we advised to continue contributing to his 401k (it was completely destroyed as was everyone elses) b/c his company matches 100%. It is recommended to diversify instead of contribute to a 401k if there is no company match.
I'm also going to start stacking CDs.
We don't plan on retiring. We don't see it as possible. We hope to reach a point were we can work very minimal hours, though, as we get older. Maybe we can retire...we just are not counting on it.
My folks divorced after 25 years and mom was a SAHM. She went to work - kids were already out of the house. When she started to collect SS years later she gets more on her own than if she would taking half of my dad's. She was not awarded any of my dad's retirement money (6 figures) in the divorce. Not one penny of it.
We don't plan on retiring. We don't see it as possible. We hope to reach a point were we can work very minimal hours, though, as we get older. Maybe we can retire...we just are not counting on it.
My folks divorced after 25 years and mom was a SAHM. She went to work - kids were already out of the house. When she started to collect SS years later she gets more on her own than if she would taking half of my dad's. She was not awarded any of my dad's retirement money (6 figures) in the divorce. Not one penny of it.
But does she make enough to be comfortable? My grandmother who was also a SAHM for many years before she and my grandfather divorced didn't pay in enough even after she went to work to live on it and she went to work when her oldest child was a pre-teen. So she collects half of my grandfather's because it was more than hers. But she struggles every month because she happens to fall in the gap of where she makes to much to qualify for low income housing, but not enough to afford regular rent or what qualifies as an "affordable" house mortgage. As it satnds right now almost half of her check goes to housing, then she still has utilities on top of that and that takes another big chunk even with her getting some assitance on her electric and gas bill. The biggest blessing is that she is overall healthy, because if she wasn't and had to buy a bunch of meds and see a doctor constantly she would never be able to afford enough food to survive on.
She is constantly pinching pennies and has to live so frugal which is really sad because that is not the way someone should have to spend their golden years. She was always good with money so it's not like she went out and bought a bunch of garbage she didn't need or couldn't afford. It was more of a case of not being paid her value when she was working.
as a SAHD, knowing I could actually have gotten by 20 years in by now really burns by butt. Its so close yet so far. My spouse and I both have retirement funds, Thrift Savings Plan, that federal employees current and former can contribute to and it earns interest monthly. With the economy it hasn't been doing so well.
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