SAHM- how much husband's income is enough?

[MsKoh1973]

hi all,

i recently became a stay at home mum (going on my 3rd month now) and i must say it's not as easy as i thought! Agree with what most said about money management cos really you earn more, you spend more.

to be frank, now i am feeling kancheong cos not used to having no $$ into my own account...it's kinda depressing! But there are plus points in terms of having the time to take of the family and doing my own things. i really...really wonder how people do it!

I counted, my fixed cost is about $3500 per month, now abit kan cheong liao. think I going to save this few months salary in separate account, hehehehe......slowly spend so that I can have some "si fan qian"......dun need always stretch hand to take fr husband.

My husband oso agreed that I can auto transfer money fr his bank a/c to my every month after I resigned.

 

[MsKoh1973]

oso worry if 2 yrs later want to go find job, dunnoe got pp want or not..............

 

[meiteoh]

Well, I quit my job in 2007 and I'm back at work now - been working since May this year. It all depends on one thing - how well you make of your time as a SAHM (employers always love to hear what you have done with non-work time). Me? I used my part-time online store and 2-hour-per-week job to showcase my skills and abilities. I also told them that I went for language classes and spent time picking up new skills as well as hobbies.

 

[stonston]

Well, I quit my job in 2007 and I'm back at work now - been working since May this year. It all depends on one thing - how well you make of your time as a stay at home mum (employers always love to hear what you have done with non-work time). Me? I used my part-time online store and 2-hour-per-week job to showcase my skills and abilities. I also told them that I went for language classes and spent time picking up new skills as well as hobbies.

These are the things employers look out for. If you are 'kept updated' or keep seeking to improve yourself.

I'm taking PT studies next year for self-interest also. Taking something totally unrelated to my current job. Now got alot of subsidies for courses, make full use!

BTW, you should have an agreed monthly amount with hubs for 'personal spending', even as SAHM. This will reduce the need to 'stretch out your hand for money'. It's like 'salary'.
Most of my friends who are SAHM have this arrangement with their hubs and they don't feel bad with empty bank acct. And at least they have some freedom to decide what they want to buy (either for kids or for themselves). And at least they still have some money to buy gifts for hubs (though it may have come from hub's pocket, it is afterall a gift from the wife).

 

[meiteoh]

True! A lot of people think that learning stops after you finish school but that's not true. Education is a lifelong process and a simple thing such as cooking, baking or even sewing can be used to showcase your abilities and skills such as patience, diligence, persistence, effort, focus, etc.

 

[tanyuksey]

i am a housewife with 1 baby girl who just celebrated her 1st birthday last month.
For our case, my husband earn about 5.5k per month.but after CPF, bring home $ is abour 4.5k per month.
For us, YES, we are quite tight with current condition.
Seen like $ alway not enough for my case.
~1k for my family insurance per month.
~500 for my baby expense
~600 for dining expense
~600 for other home expense
~500 for my child monthly saving
~1000 for my own saving and expense.
~300 for my hubby.. hehehe..
we still have 25 years home load to go....wow..seen like living in singapore is very tough fr us..

thanks all the above mummies for sharing...
i was still struggling whether to go back to work or continue to stay at home and wait for my 2nd one to come..

cheerss everyone

 

[keefu]

i am a housewife with 1 baby girl who just celebrated her 1st birthday last month.
For our case, my husband earn about 5.5k per month.but after CPF, bring home $ is abour 4.5k per month.
For us, YES, we are quite tight with current condition.
Seen like $ alway not enough for my case.
~1k for my family insurance per month.
~500 for my baby expense
~600 for dining expense
~600 for other home expense
~500 for my child monthly saving
~1000 for my own saving and expense.
~300 for my hubby.. hehehe..
we still have 25 years home load to go....wow..seen like living in singapore is very tough fr us..

thanks all the above mummies for sharing...
i was still struggling whether to go back to work or continue to stay at home and wait for my 2nd one to come..

cheerss everyone

I at the insurance and child saving...

 

[MsKoh1973]

I oso counted my expenses
- maid n levy $600
- PUB/ SCV/ SC & CC $300
- Food & grocery $500
- Parent allowance, insurance $800
- DD's tuition, childcare $1000
- husband's spending $500

total $3700 or more, take home pay cash of $4k+ also abit tight, only can depend on bonus to build up savings.........

lucky thru our last few yrs of combined earnings, we have built up some savings.........can tong for emergency...

 

[soapsoap]

I also counted my expenses
- maid n levy $600
- PUB/ SCV/ SC & CC $300
- Food & grocery $500
- Parent allowance, insurance $800
- dear daughter's tuition, childcare $1000
- husband's spending $500

total $3700 or more, take home pay cash of $4k+ also abit tight, only can depend on bonus to build up savings.........

lucky thru our last few yrs of combined earnings, we have built up some savings.........can tong for emergency...

U gal husband take home pay is at least 4k wor my husband take home pay onli 2k plus I thinking to be SAHM next year onward and I think we should be able to make it by cutting down on our spending. If still not enough then I will do some part time work

 

[peacefulgal]

I at the insurance and child saving...

me too! i din do that for my little son you know? i plan to let him save up himself ,,

 

[MsKoh1973]

me too! i did not do that for my little son you know? i plan to let him save up himself ,,

but medical insurance is definitely a priority, should buy when he is young.

and if still got budget, can buy a little bit of life insurance, as for those others like education ones, think can keep as last priority.

now dun noe is is PLAS (post leaving anxiety sydrome)........suddenly started to think, is my job tat bad......wat if rest already cannot find a better job? Wat if resign liao, still not pregnant? Wat if not enough savings?

 

[hammiebao]

I think being SAHM is not easy to the family, I quitted my job in March when I know I'm pregnant (cannot work if pregnant for my job) and it reduced Hub and my combined income by almost 60%.. then recently my hub changed job.. from 4k+ job now become 2k+ (with commission but he is under training now so no commission)...

I would say that we are lucky as we saved up quite alot when I was working.. hub say I can remain as SAHM for a year after BB born(3 more weeks to go!) but def I will get a job when bb is more settled (as we are first time parents) and I think it is really not easy for hubby to be the only breadwinner..

Now hubby give me fixed allowance monthly from his "si fang qian" hahaha

 

[keefu]

me too! i did not do that for my little son you know? i plan to let him save up himself ,,

Hehe me too but I will plan medical insurance for my son but nt to ex to the extend that whole family will reach $1000 per month just for insurance...

 

[stonston]

Hehe me too but I will plan medical insurance for my son but not to ex to the extend that whole family will reach $1000 per month just for insurance...

Actually, for a family of 3, $1k a month is just right.
Don forget, you need to plan for yourself & hubs also (in case one of you leave earlier, then what will happen to your child?)

Cos I've seen friends, their dads passed on early.
Some of them had insurance, so not much impact on family finances & they could still go uni without much problem (some even went overseas uni w small loan).
Some of them had no insurance, whole family thrown off guard.
ESP those w sahm. No working experience for so many years, then suddenly must work & take care of family alone. Those friends had to get scholarship to be able to afford degree education (thankfully they are bright students!)

Must really plan carefully.
And a good insurance agent will plan properly for you, within your budget.
That's what my agent did for me. She even help mr consolidate policies I did not buy fm her to get good overview of my coverage (which areas well covered, which policies are overlapping, etc)

 

[j8anne]

eh...actually, $5k household income nowadays is not enough. Even though we can try to save, but we need to think long term.

Do we have sufficient $ for our kids' education? savings for raining days, in case, *touch wood*, the only source of income is also gone.

Somemore, the living standards is getting higher every year. By the time our kids are grown up, they might have a hard time to sustain us and our medical bills.

So, try to save as much as we can now.

For myself, I'm doing sideline to have more cash on hand. That's what I called security

 

[meiteoh]

Personally, I'd not expect my children to take care of me. I know of many people who have kids so that they can have someone to take care of them when they are old but our children should be allowed the freedom to care for themselves first. Plus relying on someone else is rather risky - what if your child dies before you *touchwood* or has other commitments/goes into debt/etc? As the older ones, we should be responsible for our egg nest and old age savings in a more rational, safe and logical manner.

 

[j8anne]

Personally, I'd not expect my children to take care of me. I know of many people who have kids so that they can have someone to take care of them when they are old but our children should be allowed the freedom to care for themselves first. Plus relying on someone else is rather risky - what if your child dies before you *touchwood* or has other commitments/goes into debt/etc? As the older ones, we should be responsible for our egg nest and old age savings in a more rational, safe and logical manner.

I agree...so tat's why we parents must try to strive for financially independent, so that we won't burden our kids when we are old and sick.

 

[MsKoh1973]

we got some savings, so hope we just need to rely on my husband's income and for emergency then use the savings.......

how much savings then consider enough? $100k? $200k? or more???

 

[j8anne]

we got some savings, so hope we just need to rely on my husband's income and for emergency then use the savings.......

how much savings then consider enough? $100k? $200k? or more???

Some financial consultants told me I need about at least half a million, but I think there's unrealistic goal for me.

A study shows that at the end of a 45-year career plan, 96% of pple are dead or dead-broke, 3% are self-sustaining, and 1% healthy. That's the ugly truth about our active income job. How sure r we that we can be the 3% or 1%?

So I think better start developing passive income, i.e. we stop working, but income still goes on. So we don't need to bother how much savings do we actually need for emergency times.

Juz my 2 cents' worth

 

[meiteoh]

I don't have a goal - just the words "save as much as possible, the more, the better".