A new mom's dilemma: Stay home or go back to work?
Posted
Feb 12 2008, 02:16 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Those facing a decision about staying at home with a new child or returning to work could do no better than to read Madison's personal analysis at My Dollar Plan. She figures in the obvious factors -- lost pay, reduced work-related and child care expenses -- and others that many people probably wouldn't think of.
For instance: How would reduced family income affect any future plans to refinance the mortgage? How would happen to her future Social Security earnings? How would staying at home now affect her plans to have more kids later. And this: "If I didn't go back, would I resign, or would I take a leave of absence (which preserves my start date)? How does it affect my pension calculation?" she writes. She also asked readers to point out any factors she missed.
Madison used several online calculators, including one here at MSN Money, and then compared the results with her own spreadsheet. It's an exercise she recommends so "you'll have a complete picture of the true value of your job."
The conclusion she and her husband reached is that Madison should return to work. "While I ultimately want to stay home, I do feel that I owe my family a level of financial security that my job currently provides," she writes. But, as she is known to do, Madison has devised another dollar plan. "What I'd like to do is financially set ourselves up so that when we have another child in the next two to three years that it wouldn't make any difference financially which decision I make."
