It’s Mother’s Day weekend, which means that many families are getting ready to celebrate moms. However, the struggles mothers have to make and save money might be overlooked, even on their very own holiday.
According to a new analysis cited by KNX In Depth hosts Charles Feldman and Rob Archer, about half of moms across the U.S. have nothing saved for retirement. They talked to Natacha Chavez, a mother of two from Phoenix, Ariz., and Nicole Middendorf, CEO of Prosperwell Financial, about the issue.
“One of the things I think... that knocked me out sometimes is children getting sick or… you know, the cars sometimes need repair,” Chaves explained. “At the moment you do actually do start saving, and you’re like, ‘finally I got a little bit of a nest egg,’ there’s something that happens – and then, you know… rent goes up or things like that.”
Earlier this month, financial planning website WalletHub issued a report about mothers in the workforce. It said women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce and 73% of moms with children under age 18 were working as of last year.
“Working moms still face an uphill battle in the workplace, though, as their average hourly wage is only 82% of what men make, and only 8.2% of S&P 500 companies’ chief executives are women,” WalletHub said. “Such obvious inequality brings up not just financial questions but also deeply ingrained social issues.”
Middendorf, who is a mother herself, had some advice for those who want to start saving despite challenges such as inflation and interest rate hikes.
“As moms, we tend to put everyone else first,” she said. “And when it comes to your finances and your own security, you think of what do they tell you on an airplane? You put the air mask on yourself before you put it on the person next to you.”
She recommended using children’s allowance as a way to both control spending and teach them about money, explaining that there have been many “times where, you know, my daughter will be like, ‘can I have this?’ I'm like, ‘you know, you need to spend your money,’ It’s like, ‘oh, well, then I don’t want it.’”
WalletHub’s report also identified the best and worst states (and the District of Columbia) for working moms based on “17 key metrics” such as median earnings, the unemployment rate and jobs security.
Here’s the top five:
1. Massachusetts
2. Rhode Island
3. Connecticut
4. District of Columbia
5. Wisconsin
Here’s the bottom five:
51. Louisiana
50. South Carolina
49. Alabama
48. Mississippi
47. West Virginia
For those who can’t afford to pack up to one of the better states, Middendorf recommends that moms look into financial planning steps such as getting Roth IRAs for themselves and their children.
“I get it,” she said. “You know, your kids are always asking you, you know, ‘Mom, can I have this? Mom, can I have this?’ You know, there a constant suck of money… so it’s always putting things in priority and then utilizing the tools and accounts and things that are out there to put systems into place to help you.”
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