Personal Finance

My wife is a stay at home mom and I'd like to set aside money for her, but don't know the best options. What's possible?

Maurie Backman

Published: February 21, 2025 10:41 am

Given the cost of childcare and the challenges of raising kids, it can sometimes make sense for a couple to decide that one parent will work full-time while the other parent stays home with their children until they reach a certain age. And that seems to be the arrangement in this Reddit post.

Here, we have a mother who’s a stay-at-home parent and probably will be for the next 10 years. The poster wants to set their wife up with a financial cushion but they’re not sure how.

I think it’s great that the poster is looking out for their wife’s financial wellbeing. And here are some ideas they can look at.

1. A spousal IRA

A spousal IRA is a special IRA that allows a working spouse to contribute funds to a non-working spouse’s retirement account. Usually, IRAs have to be funded with income you earn yourself. But if your tax status is married filing jointly, you may be eligible for a spousal IRA.

Spousal IRAs have the same contribution limits as traditional and Roth IRAs. So in 2025, that means $7,000 for savers under age 50 or $8,000 for those who are 50 or older.

2. A taxable brokerage account

It’s a good idea to spread your long-term savings out over different accounts. Since the poster above states that they already have a 401(k), it could be a good idea to invest funds for their spouse to use in a taxable brokerage account.

With a taxable brokerage account, there’s no tax break on contributions or gains as is the case with an IRA. But there’s more flexibility to take withdrawals at any point in time, and there are no contribution limits to worry about.

3. Life insurance

Any time I hear that a given household has only one breadwinner, I like to talk about life insurance. In a situation like that, it’s important to put protections in place in case something happens to you and you’re no longer around to support your family.

I tend to recommend term life insurance over whole life insurance because it can be far more affordable. But you should know that term life insurance does not accumulate a cash value, whereas whole life insurance does. So for many people, whole life insurance is a type of forced savings.

However, the poster above states that they don’t earn a ton of money. So I’m thinking a term life insurance policy will be more affordable for them.

If possible, they should try to buy enough coverage to replace at least 10 years of their salary plus extra to pay off debts they hold jointly with their spouse. For example, if the poster makes $60,000 a year and owes $150,000 on their mortgage, then it would be wise to purchase a $750,000 policy if that’s doable.

There are different terms the poster can choose from. Since they seem to have young kids, I’d suggest at least a 20-year term. But depending on their age and their wife’s age, they want to go with 30 years, which could potentially carry their wife until she’s eligible for Social Security.

One final suggestion I have for this poster is to think about consulting a financial advisor. An advisor can help them explore different options for taking of their wife as well as walk them through various life insurance scenarios.