The cost of stay at home runs very high and can dramatically lower the retirement savings. However, you don’t have to choose to ignore it even if you’re staying at home. You can open an IRA and keep contributing on your own. The continuation of saving for your retirement is far more important than putting away large sum to catch up once the children are in college or after you finish paying for colleges. The earlier you start the better. Even if you put away $3,000 a year, after 20 to 25 years, the nest egg will grow.

Many women think that they should fund the children’s education before funding their own retirement, you can do both. Just split the savings into equal amount each month.

Before you take a job, check with the HR and find out what are the options. Sometime there are not many options during hard economic times such as now since most people will take whatever they can find. Negotiating retirement plans is not an option. Just keep in mind, even if your employer doesn’t offer the plan yet, you can always start your individual IRA.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

The most common match is 50 percent of the employee’s contribution up to a maximum percentage of wages or salary (usually 6 percent). Although many companies are cutting back on the matching, you can still expect the find somewhere between 2-4 percent. That’s like getting free money! Although most temp and part-time employees do not get matching 401K, but if your job does, then join without hesitation.

The younger you are, the better your long term savings returns. Your savings will grow and your earnings will compound over time. Time is the best and most important factor in retirement savings. If you wait until 35 to start, then you’ve already lost 12-13 years of compounding opportunities. If you just recently graduated from college and luck enough to have a job, start now. Even just little amount each month.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

Even at $50/month, you can expect a large return after 30 years’ of nonstop investing. If you’re just starting out, save little and gradually add as your life changes. Getting married and having kids can put your retirement on hold, but keep at it, whether through 401K or IRA, discipline is the most important message. Market goes up and goes down, but the return on your contribution is for the long term plan.

The simplest retirement investing for women is the employer sponsored retirement plan. If your employer offers a retirement plan, join it as soon as you can and contribute as much as the plan allows. Most employers with a 401(k) plan match a fixed percentage of the employee’s contribution.  You will find out about the employer retirement plan before you start your job. Study carefully and take advantage of it.

Remember, by saving early you have time on your side. Your savings will grow and your earnings will compound over time.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

Many retirees are facing now running out of money towards the end of their lives. Many people are taking on part time jobs to help paying bills. Today’s 30 and 40 years olds will not be able to receive 100% of their social security income by the time they reach full retirement age.

The safest way for a women to plan for retirement is to save in 401K or IRA, or both. Stay-at-home moms should keep contributing to their IRA. Even if less than the maximum allowed amount of current $5,000.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

If you are waged and your employer doesn’t have a retirement plan, you can open an IRA. Start by talking to your bank and open an IRA account. Most of them have a very small minimum requirement. You can put in very little each month. Try to setup a small amount that you truly feel comfortable and stick to it and forget about it. If you have a land phone line that you don’t really need at home, cancel it and use that money to fund your IRA.

If you are 25 years old right now, open your Roth IRA with $250 down and put in $50 each month until you’re 65. At 8% of interest, you will have $173,300 of tax free money when you’re 65. You can’t retire happily on that, but if you have other investments, and social security checks, you can be comfortable. Plus that’s just the savings from your land line phone bill. How can you beat that? With the same calculation, image yourself skip movies, shop second hand, skip Starbucks and manicure and put in $200 each month, with everything staying the same, you will have $676,906. Now you can really live comfortably with that on top of your social security checks.

Now how about skip lunches and bring your own sandwiches, at $7 a day, you can probably invest another $150 each month. Now the monthly contribution is $350. At 65, you will have $1,180,511. Congratulation!

You can use the person’s benefits on his or her behalf. Therefore, you must know what your relative’s needs are so you can decide how benefits can best be used for his or her personal care and well-being. First, you must make sure that food and shelter are provided. Then, you can use the money to pay medical and dental bills not covered by health insurance and for personal needs and recreation.

Source: SSA Publication No. 05-10127

She should invest in mostly stocks when she is younger and slowly put it in more conservative things as she grows older such as bonds. If a women has children she should put more money in a retirement fund such as an IRA than a college savings account until the IRA is fully funded. College can be funded with things like scholarships and student loans, but retirement must come from a woman’s own pocket.

If the workplace has a retirement fund that can be matched, this is not to be passed up. The match is essentially free money that the company is giving her. Fund the retirement fund up until the match, then place the rest of money that is going towards retirement into an after-tax fund.

A frustrating situation that bankruptcy attorneys are often faced with is meeting clients who have drained their retirements in an effort to avoid bankruptcy, only to end up filing anyway. In a bankruptcy situation, funds in a qualified retirement account are exempt to over $1 million dollars – a limit not generally approached by most debtors.

People sometimes use loans and disbursements as a band-aid for their financial troubles. If this approach is not going to “cure” the problem, then you should avoid these false “solutions”. The best decision you could make in considering resolution of your financial difficulties is to seek the advice of an experienced bankruptcy attorney.

There is extensive planning that can be done to seek to maximize the amount of assets you keep while minimizing the repayment to creditors. Your number one goal should be to seek a fresh start with as many assets as possible.

Speaking to a bankruptcy attorney doesn’t mean that you will need to or should file a bankruptcy. A good bankruptcy attorney is experienced in many different areas of financial distress and can offer a comprehensive and creative approach to solving the problem. They deal with these issues on a daily basis and will have a broader range of experience and insight than the average person.

There may also be additional relief available to you in stripping mortgages, adjusting interest rates, IRS issues and so on that can be explained by a bankruptcy attorney. People often are misled by false information on the Internet or from well intentioned friends with only partially true information.

In short, meet with someone experienced in financial issues before raiding your retirement, you may be surprised at the options available to you.

About The Author

Ms. Marrs is a 1992 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point with a degree in Business Administration and a minor in Economics. She received her law degree from Thomas M Cooley in 1998. Ms. Marrs practices in the areas of bankruptcy including adversary proceedings. http://www.marrsterry.net