A Mother’s Day Retirement Wish

Dear Dads, sons of mothers and father’s of daughters who will one day be mothers:

Today we celebrate the women in our lives. And although Mother’s Day falls but once a year, the other 364 days are not to be ignored. It is in this gap, the greatest gift of all can be bestowed: the gift of retirement. But have you asked yourself about the future as you plod through the present – as if it doesn’t exist?

You should know, well in advance, that for new or as-yet-to-be moms, the opportunities to invest for your future is now. But how many of us give this a consideration when we choose to have kids, take time off from work to raise them and effectively put our careers on hold?

More than simply saying “hey, let’s start a family” are you asking what the career interruption will do to your wife thirty years down the road. The lost investment opportunity that is part of the “start early” mantra we all advocate is often lost during this period and believe me guys, they can’t get it back.

Oh sure, you can make more contributions later on. But you will never have the chance to make a little bit of due diligence grow like could during those early years. Here’s what you need to do: Find a away to keep her retirement funded each year she is taking care of your offspring. I know you’d like to start a college fund; but mom is more important.

For you sons of mothers: when was the last time you checked how they were doing financially? I know you don’t want to ask and many a mom will brush aside the query but it is important that you stay at it. She has a lot on her mind as she ages and it is extremely important that she share it with you, rather than spring it on you unaware someday.

You can help for a surprisingly little amount of money. It might mean groceries or yardwork or simply paying her utility bills. Not asking for help, as mothers often don’t do, is not a reason to fail to ask, even insist that you can help.

If the old saying goes: a son is a son until he takes a wife; a daughter is a daughter for life” and you are currently unmarried, this sort of attention to where your mother is now, before you marry can be key in understanding where your new family will be in terms of future obligations.

Dads of daughters need to teach them self-sufficiency at the earliest age possible and the importance of running a household as if it were a business. If and when they get married, the odds of eventually be on their financial own at some point after that event are too great to ignore. Even if the odds for success is tiled slightly in their favor, the flip-side is disaster. Teach them now.

So on this mother’s day, it is the guys in your life who hold one of the keys to your future when you become the mother in their lives. This isn’t to suggest you couldn’t go it on your own. Instead, you shouldn’t have to when you are so significant in so many lives.

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