8 Financial Benefits You Can Enjoy As A Stay-At-Home Dad

One of the biggest concerns when becoming a stay-at-home dad is economic stability. But in my case, believe it or not, the deciding factor for staying home is its financial benefits. You can read the origin story here.

Stay-at-home dads can enjoy the vast business opportunities the internet offers today. But more than that, they can also take advantage of the savings they can get by staying at home.

Here are the eight financial benefits we can enjoy as stay-at-home dads:

1. No Need For Retail or Office Spaces

We are in a time when we no longer need an office or a physical store to make a living. We can now virtually work anywhere and sell anything online. That is pretty powerful. Think about it, earning money without those expensive rents!

I used to run a sports boutique for a couple of years before making it 100% online. My revenue diminished, but the profit increased. Even though I lost an income source, my expenses went down by $700 a month.

Having a rent-free business is one of the benefits we can enjoy as stay-at-home dads. It is an opportunity we should capitalize on. If you are unsure where to start, it is best to get yourself educated first. Get familiar with the jobs and businesses you can do online.

I shared in a separate post about the reasonable annual income we could expect as a SAHD. It also includes some ideas about what we can do to make money at home.

If you wish to become a freelancer or a website owner, you should check out Learn. It is an e-learning service tailored for people who aspire to profit online. You can learn digital marketing, graphic design, videography, and such for $15 to $150 per course. But they also have this free course on freelancing to help jumpstart your career.

The Learning Dad Blog is an affiliate of LearnYou can use this link to check them out.

2. Zero Wages To Pay

Since we are now home-based, there is a good chance we no longer need employees as well. We can now scratch out wages in our monthly expenses.

I saved about $1,140 on people every month when I moved my business online. Plus, I also do not need to hire someone to take care of the kids anymore.

Yet, of course, we cannot run our businesses all alone. We do not have all the skills in the world, and we also have an extra limited work time as stay-at-home dads. We will still need some assistance to take care of the little things in our trade.

For this concern, I hire freelancers at Fiverr and shop for software products in AppSumo. They help me with designing, content creation, and social media management. All in all, I have spent about $1,100 for the entire year.

The Learning Dad Blog is also an affiliate of both Fiverr and AppSumo. Follow these links if you want to check them out: 

3. Minimal Transportation Costs

Another benefit we can enjoy is the reduced transportation costs. We used to spend $48 a week on gas and parking fees. Today, we pay $40 a month.

We do not go out as much. Only once or twice a week. What we do is collate all the outside errands for the week and schedule them in one day. Deliveries, meet-ups, groceries, etc., are all done in a day. For the tasks we cannot accommodate, we will re-schedule them for next week.

We have been doing this in the past three years, and our budget seems to like it a lot. 

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Read: How We Killed 8 Credit Cards

4. Savings On Kids’ Education

My eldest is four and is about to start school. The average annual tuition fee in our city is between $2,000 to $4,000. — Books not yet included. But because my wife and I are stay-at-home parents, we can afford to homeschool our child instead.

We paid about $600 for the whole year, inclusive of books. To make the deal better, the school offers a 25% discount on the next child.

But I heard homeschooling is not for everyone. The program should complement the parent and the child for it to work long term. I have friends who homeschooled the first year but went to a traditional school on the next.

We are currently in our second month. We pray things will work out well.

5. Wifey Will Have Time To Work

My wife loves to work on her jewelry business. As much as I want her to focus on our family, I cannot deny her passion. She likes to work. If I didn’t become a SAHD, I am sure she will not have the time and energy to run her business. In turn, she may bottle up her frustrations for not being able to do what she loves. — which may lead to a type of marital problem.

But since I am at home, I can support her by adopting some chores. Our deal, however, is work will remain her least priority. Meaning, she has to make sure the house is in order before she gets into her business.

Other than having a less cranky wife, we also enjoy the benefit of having another source of income. For the record, I do not require her to contribute. All the money she earns is hers. Yet, out of her own will, she most of the time takes care of the groceries.

Praise God for giving me such a supportive and selfless wife.

6. Downsize on Clothing

This benefit seems obvious, and I am unsure if I have to even mention it. But yeah, I have downsized my clothing from two large cabinets into a medium-sized one. I donated about 60% of my clothes because I do not wear them anymore. My new go-to’s are my tank top and basketball shorts.

Shoes and clothing are no longer a priority nowadays. For the past two years, I have only bought a pair of slip-ons. It was a different story when I was still in the corporate world. There, I need to purchase clothes regularly.

Because of this, it opens up my budget to accommodate more useful things. I have redirected the clothing budget to books, online courses, and such.

I made a compilation of the best financial books I have read so far. Follow this link to check it out: 9 good financial management ebooks worthy of your time and money. These are the books that helped me stabilize my family financially.

7. Cut Down On Food Expenses

The tendency when we work outside is to eat outside. And it is a silent killer.

Did you know the average food mark-up can go as high as 60%? It means we can eat almost twice the meal at home. How about drinks? It will rattle you. Drinks can have a mark-up of as much as 500%! Imagine how much money we can save simply by eating at home.

But I understand. Restaurant food is something else. Even though we know the numbers, my wife and I still eat out. But we only do it on a special occasions.

Every month, we go on a date night. We save up for three weeks, and then splurge it on any restaurant we chose. Knowing that we have set aside the money for this purpose made our dates extra fun.

8. Easier Transition To Another Business

One of the earliest ways I made money at home is through being an internet middleman. I post ads for bus transportation services even though I do not own a fleet of vehicles. All I do is bridge the supplier and the customer, and then I get a cut from the income. I did this for two years until Covid-19 strikes.

It was devastating to see your hard work go to waste as all my bookings for the entire year got canceled. But the worse part is, I do not know if I can still expect anything from the business. We do not know when the pandemic will end and when people will go back touring again.

But when I compared my situation to other businesses, I feel like I am in a better position. They have to deal with various issues with their employees and landlord. They may also need to devise new plans and strategies to ease up their investors. But for me, I can start another business with a click of a button. I do not have employees to deal with, and not much money involved to stress me out.

Don’t get me wrong. I do not intend to oversimplify the process. It is not easy to build an online business. It takes a lot of learning and hard work to do it. But when you compare it to others, an online business can pivot much faster and easier.

With God’s grace, I got to set up a new business in a couple of months after my transportation business went on hiatus.

Bonus 1: Less Fixed Assets

We no longer need an office table, chairs, and whatnot. We can work in any part of the house.

Bonus 2: Maximize the Use Of Utilities

I can now have only one internet service provider and one air conditioner for both home and work.

Read: 10 Important Skills Of A Successful Entrepreneur As Per Starbucks & Disney

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More Stay-At-Home Dad Benefits (Non-Financial)

Can I be more transparent? The truth is, I never considered any other benefits when I decided to be a stay-at-home dad. I had a tunnel vision on the financials only. How my bottom line would look like is all that matters to me. By no means I thought about how this decision would impact my marriage and my kids.

Damn, I was selfish.

But praise God He restored my eyesight and made me see the non-financial benefits of being a SAHD.

Here are some of the critical ones:

1. The Opportunity to Seize our kids’ impact years

I have undergone a training entitled: The World Needs A Father. I discovered how different people influence us throughout our lives. We are like a lump of clay, molded by the potter — well, in this case, potters. 

In a sense, we parents are the predominant potters of our children. We should have established good values and character before we release them to the world. 

But we cannot randomly mold them any time we want. There is a ripe season to do it, and it is called the impact years.

Here is the chart they provided:

InfluencerAge
Mother1 to 5
Father6 to 11
Peer12 to 18
Father19 to 22
Culture23 and beyond

Fathers have the greatest influence on children during their formative years. Yet, it may also be the season when we are busy working towards our success.

Stay-at-home dads may be able to hit two birds with one stone. We can work towards our success, and at the same time, be there to seize our children’s impact years.

Read: Do This If You Want Your Kids To Treat You Well

2. Be Able to Keep An Eye on Our Love Tank

One of the greatest lessons I learned in parenting is this: Love your spouse.

To stay together and have a strong marriage is the best parenting we can give to our children.

I hope you are familiar with Gary Chapman’s five love languages. It is a concept we apply and take note of in our marriage.

The five love languages teaches us about the effective ways to give and receive love.

  • Acts of Service
  • Receiving Gifts
  • Quality Time
  • Words of Affirmation
  • Physical Touch

I may give my wife all the gifts in the world, yet she may still feel unloved. Why? It is because Receiving Gifts is not her love language. What she understands is Physical Touch. A hug, a pat on the back, or whenever I held her hands will fill her “love tank.”

Because I am at home, I can always keep my wife’s love tank topped up when it runs low. She can also do me the same.

If you are unsure of your love language, I suggest you take this quiz with your spouse to find out. It can revolutionize your marriage.

3. To Learn How To Become A Better Father

Let us admit it, many schools train us to be masters in business, but non for even a bachelor in fatherhood. The only way to learn how to be a father is by doing it.

But we only have 24 hours a day. If we deduct the hours we sleep and work, we more or less will only have eight hours to fit all other things in. Me-time, wife-time, travel, shower, and such. The question is, do we even have the time to become a father?

I know people whose kids spend more time with their nannies than their dads. Our busy schedule simply cannot accommodate the role and responsibilities of fatherhood.

SAHDs generally have the advantage of being better fathers. They can spend more time with their kids and have the luxury of trial and error. Furthermore, they can also study how their wives handle the children and take cues from them.

Fatherhood does not just happen. We should put the time and effort into learning how to do it.

Read: Dealing with Anxiety

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Closing Thoughts:

What do you think about these benefits? Did it make you excited to be a stay-at-home dad? While these advantages are true to me, it does not necessarily mean it will also be the same to you — and vice versa.

We all live in different scenarios. Our lives will always be unique from each other. Both of us can be stay-at-home dads, yet we benefit in different ways.

But one thing is for sure: these benefits are not guaranteed. We should not expect our family will get better magically when we become SAHD. Our marriage, children, and financials will only blossom if we put in time, effort, and faith.

To enjoy the benefits, we should go ALL-IN.


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Thank you for reading!

Jed Chan

Jed Chan is the principal creator of TheLearningDadBlog.com, a website dedicated to providing helpful resources on fatherhood. He is a passionate learner who would normally immerse himself in topics of his interest. Jed carefully studied the subjects of finance, e-business, and parenting before becoming a full-time stay-at-home dad.

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