Short summary
Leaving paid work to care for your children can reduce childcare and work-related expenses, but it also means giving up salary, CPF contributions and opportunities for career progression. Families moving from two incomes to one need to weigh these savings against the longer-term impact on retirement savings and financial protection. Before making the switch, work out what the household will lose and how those gaps will be covered.
A stay at home mum is a mother who leaves or pauses paid employment to care for her children full time. For a stay at home mum Singapore household, that decision changes much more than the amount of salary coming in each month.
Some costs may fall, including childcare, transport, meals and other work-related expenses. At the same time, the parent leaving employment gives up CPF contributions, retirement accumulation and potential career progression. For families raising children in Singapore, these trade-offs need to...