3 Simple Tips to Protect the Financial Health of Stay-at-home Spouses
The decision to be a stay-at-home spouse may not be very easy. There are lots of emotional and mental considerations to make, and quite justifiably so. As a stay-at-home spouse, you need to think of out-of-the-box tactics to secure your financial future.
Taking all these factors into consideration, our Trust Life advisors recommend these 3 simple tips to protect your finances as a stay-at-home spouse.
- Plan ahead and think of saving for the old age
You have probably heard of RRSP already, the Registered Retirement Savings Plan that acts as one of the best retirement savings tool.
Ask your working partner to open a spousal RRSP. Spousal RRSP can be opened by a married or common-law couple to save for retirement and lower their overall taxes. It allows couples to split their total income after retirement, which, in turn, reduces the tax load.
This way, when your partner retires, both of you can withdraw a similar amount of money from the spousal RRSP.
- Go for a life insurance policy
You may argue saying that life insurance is only necessary when there is a case for income replacement. Conventional wisdom often says that if you are not bringing in enough income to the household, you do not require life insurance.
Honestly, that is a big mistake even for a stay-at-home spouse!
Remember, as a stay-at-home spouse, you may not be bringing in a paycheck to your home, but you are still performing a job. In fact, you are doing multiple jobs that can be related to elderly and childcare, cooking, and various other household responsibilities.
In case of an unfortunate mishap, the working spouse (who is now widowed) has to pay hefty fees for quality childcare, house help, as well caring for the elderly (if applicable). A life insurance policy in such a case can ease the financial burden tremendously.
Know more about affordable life insurance plans in Brampton, Mississauga, Toronto and Hamilton. Speak to a Trust Life advisor today!
- Last but never the least, consider part-time job
As a stay-at-home spouse, you must also remember that the situation may very well change over time.
As your children get older and start spending more time in schools, colleges or in other activities, you will have more time in your hand to pursue other things. These can be a hobby, a side hustle, or a part-time job.
This is an excellent way for a stay-at-home spouse to flex his/her brain in new ways and even bring in some additional income.
Final thoughts
We often talk about having financial safety in terms of paycheck. But what would you do if your job doesn’t come with any paycheck? Making these 3 simple considerations highlighted above can play a massive role in making a difference to the financial security of a stay-at-home spouse.
With that, we will bring this post to a close. We hope you had a useful read.