Finance Friday: Stay at Home with Kids or Work to Hit FI Faster?

Financial freedom vs. family time. If done correctly, you can have both; but living the best of both worlds is impossible without sacrifice. For new parents, switching from a dual-income household to a single full-time income overnight can be a hard burden to bear. With less money comes lower retirement accounts, a longer time horizon to being debt-free, and financial freedom pushed years, or even decades, away. So, is being a stay-at-home parent worth the financial sacrifice?

On this Finance Friday, we talk to Patrick, who recently became a new dad (woohoo!). His wife has taken on the full-time job of being a stay-at-home mom, but with a massive amount of debt hanging over their heads, Patrick is debating whether or not returning to dual income is the right move to make. Not only is this choice a financial one, it’s also an extremely personal debate, as many parents would far rather spend their time with their kids than bring home a bigger paycheck. And while we can’t tell Patrick what to do next, Mindy and Scott can offer the financial options he and his wife NEED to know about.

But we’re not just talking about student loan debt in this episode. We also get into whole life insurance policies, HELOCs (home equity lines of credit), car loans, and whether or not buying rental properties is the right move for a new parent. You may be in Patrick’s position soon (if not already), and this topic is one you CANNOT afford to miss if you’re building wealth while raising a family!

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In This Episode We Cover

• Student loan debt and what you MUST do to become debt-free 
• Whole life insurance policies and whether they’re worth the high monthly premiums
• The true cost of college and what to know BEFORE you finance your degree
• Rental property headaches and when real estate investing may NOT be the right move
• Ditching dual income to become a stay-at-home parent and who is in the position to do so
• Reaching financial freedom as a new parent and the sacrifices you MUST make to retire early
• And So Much More!

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Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.