[quote=scaredyclassic]right now, my wife is working A LOT, and frankly, i can’t believe how we are back to a healthy level of savings, in spite of throwing more money into our house recently for a refinance and some other large expenses.
i always wondered who in the hell could afford one of those catered bike tour vacations in the catalogues I would get that desperately made me want to hit the road. tuscany. southeast asia. long roads through south america…all supported and deluxe…. Actually, that would probably be us, right now. we could actually afford that. woah. weird….
of course, it would cause me too much physical pain to write the check. but we could afford it! hell, i might just break down and go…
i think i prefer to spend the money on really expensive wood floors, a few fine oriental rugs,some other strangely expensive furnishings, and college tuition, but even then we might have a few bucks left over…more than enough for a cheap vacation somewhere local…[/quote]
Let’s be honest: your wife is a doctor. Yes, the opportunity cost for her to remain out of the workforce to be a SAHP (for life?) would be quite high. Still possible that it would be worth it, though, especially if you were HS’ing all of the kids F/T, and/or if you had a family member who needed chronic care. It just depends on her outside opportunities, and the specific needs of your individual family. And it depends on your non-monetary priorities, beliefs, and desires, as well.
But a family with a spouse who perhaps just has a high school diploma or is in a low-paying field that has little potential for upward mobility? It could very well be that this family would be better off with a SAHP, even 20, 30 or 40 years later; yes, even financially.
And that’s the point I’m really trying to make. Every family’s situation will be different, so we should push to have as many options available to us as possible. Forcing everyone into the paid workforce dramatically reduces the number of options available, not only for a particular family, but for everybody (see Elizabeth Warren’s lecture that I’ve posted here; read her book if you get the chance).
