<prompt> Human: Im seeking commentary on those who have chosen to intentionally live as a single income family. How has this been working for you? Do you regret the decision? Has it brought an enlightening experience to your family? Are you still saving for retirement and if so, how much? Do you fear the what ifs of job loss, major illness, unexpected catastrophes?Right now we are a dual income family with children. Our yearly gross income combined is on average 125,000 to 165,000. Heres the kicker, only the past few years have I been introduced to personal finance. Before this, I had no concept of money nor the appropriate responsibility to handle it. That has changed dramatically and we are nearing the Debt Free goal But The Home. I understand a mortgage is debt and were not blind to this fact, though our progress made and education discovered is quite simply remarkable. We live in a very modest home that quite frankly could be paid off in three years or less once we are DFBTH.My personal challenge is that my spouse has begun to express interest in being a stay at home parent. Im really struggling to even consider the possibility as I cant help but think, we literally just arrived to the land of personal finance. Only now have we discovered what saving for retirement looks like. What living debt free can mean to ones family tree. How investing for our future can reap the reward of stability and dignity. Our retirement savings is non-existent. Up until now the plan has always been to plow into retirement savings once weve eliminated the massive debt monster thats been around for over a decade. Weve finally figured out what to do and how to do it, and heres a possibility that we could reduce our income by a sizable amount. The entire idea really scares me.This idea is very much a mutual discussion and Im not being forced to accept it. Only its important to my spouse to be at home with the kids versus their being in the daycare system. I do see immense value in this, and I would like for this to be possible. How can I get past the only if I made more money mentality.We effectively would be living on 70k to 85k upon moving to one income. The daycare cost today is small as its for one child and reasonable in cost. The argument that its cheaper to stay home with the kids does not apply here. Im not so naive to think that living on this amount isnt possible. Im worried about not being able to invest appropriately given our age and lack of retirement savings for our future and afford the goals of paying for our childrens college, buying a different home, and facing unexpected major events with little buffer room in income.pf can you please share your thoughts and experiences? I am greatly for the wealth of information in this community.  <response>: Hey! Im a stay-at-home dad. We sort of intentionally made this choice, but partially because the finances make a lot more sense to us. I may try to answer some of your specific questions later, and obviously you cant quantify ALL the values of having a full-time homemaker in the mix, but here are some measurables that you may or may not be already considering:1 More food from scratchless take out 2 No cleanerfewer professional services needed 3 You have more free time when youre home 4 Savings on her professional wardrobe 5 ALL your income is at a lower tax rate 6 You have more timeenergy to devote to your career, which might mean more money 7 way reduced transportation expenses can you become a one-car familyNow there are also plenty of more intangible benefits: quality of child rearing, less stress and more free time for both partners provided the homemaker assumes a lot of burdens that used to have to wait until bedtime.I wish wed sat down and made a budget when we started this, as I think I would have waaay underestimated how much money I save our household via my efforts at home. Today I air sealed the windows in my basement after watching a few Youtube videos. This will save us money in the course of about a year on our heating bill. It already saved us money in that we probably would have hired a professional a few years back for this work. Even if you couldnt imagine your wife doing something like this: what if your house were clean, your bills were paid, your errands were run, and your food was prepped on a Saturday morning? Could you imagine having more energy to do that kind of thing yourself? What about the value to you of playing with your kidsreading between getting home and bedtime instead of the business of dinner prepcleanupquick house pickupbedtime ritualsetc.?Anyway, I didnt mean to type this much, but I totally want to ensure that youre fully considering all the ways in which a stay-at-home parent could improve your family life that you might not be considering. This might make considering the reduction in after-tax income from 100,000 to 65,000 a little easier to stomach. Good luck no matter what you decide. 